Method for bathing vessel having wood-containing base board
View Patent ↗A method of manufacturing a bathing vessel includes forming a base by contacting an incompletely cured polyurethane material with a wood-containing composite panel. The polyurethane material is then cured while in contact with the wood-containing composite panel to chemically bond the polyurethane material with the panel. At least one wall is then attached to extend vertically from the base. The wall is a multi-layer structure of layers of acrylic material, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene material and the polyurethane material.
1. A method of manufacturing a bathing vessel, the method comprising:
forming a base by contacting an incompletely cured polyurethane material with a wood-containing composite base board;
curing the polyurethane material while in contact with the wood-containing composite base board to chemically bond the polyurethane material with the wood-containing composite base board; and
attaching at least one wall to extend vertically from the base, wherein the at least one wall is a multi-layer structure of, in serial order, a first layer of polyurethane material, a second layer of polyurethane material in contact with the first layer of polyurethane material, a layer of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material in contact with the second layer of polyurethane material, and a layer of acrylic material in contact with the layer of ABS material.
2. The method as recited in claim 1 , including spraying the incompletely cured polyurethane material onto the wood-containing composite base board.
3. The method as recited in claim 1 , including applying pressure to the wood-containing composite base board and the incompletely cured polyurethane material until the polyurethane material is substantially cured.
4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wood-containing composite base board is a composite of wood particles and a polymeric resin.
5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wood-containing composite base board includes phenol formaldehyde.
6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wood-containing composite base board includes methyl diphenyl diisocyanate.
7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wood-containing composite base board is oriented strand board.
8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the incompletely cured polyurethane material is a two-part polyurethane mixture.
9. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the polyurethane material encapsulates at least 50% of the wood-containing composite base board.
10. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the bathing vessel is free of an adhesive layer to bond the wood-containing composite base board and polyurethane material together.
11. A bathing vessel comprising:
a base;
at least one wall extending vertically from the base, wherein the base includes a wood-containing composite base board that is chemically bonded to a polyurethane material, and the at least one wall is a multi-layer structure of, in serial order, a first layer of polyurethane material, a second layer of polyurethane material in contact with the first layer of polyurethane material, a layer of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material in contact with the second layer of polyurethane material, and a layer of acrylic material in contact with the layer of ABS material.
12. The bathing vessel as recited in claim 11 , wherein the wood-containing composite base board includes phenol formaldehyde.
13. The bathing vessel as recited in claim 11 , wherein the wood-containing composite base board includes methyl diphenyl diisocyanate.
14. The bathing vessel as recited in claim 11 , wherein the wood-containing composite base board is oriented strand board.
15. The bathing vessel as recited in claim 11 , wherein the polyurethane material encapsulates at least 50% of the surface area of the wood-containing composite base board.
16. The bathing vessel as recited in claim 11 , wherein the bathing vessel is free of an adhesive layer to bond the wood-containing composite base board and polyurethane material together.
17. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first layer of polyurethane material is a bottommost layer and the layer of acrylic material is a topmost layer.
18. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein a combined thickness of the layer of acrylic material and the layer of ABS material is between 0.01 inches and 0.3 inches.
19. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first layer of polyurethane material or the second layer of polyurethane material is foamed.
20. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first layer of polyurethane material has a first density and the second layer of polyurethane material has a second density that is different than the first density.
21. The method as recited in claim 20 , wherein the first density is greater than the second density.
22. The method as recited in claim 20 , wherein the second polyurethane layer has a thickness, and a ratio of the thickness to the second density is between 80:1 and 1:1.
23. The method as recited in claim 20 , wherein the first layer of polyurethane material has a first density and the second layer of polyurethane material has a second density, and the first density is 25-65 pounds per cubic foot and the second density 1-10 pounds per cubic foot.