Eyeglass Temple Manufacturing with Embedded Metallic Core Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing process for manufacturing eyeglass temples with ornamental elements is costly due to the need for numerical control precision cutters and requires skilled personnel, and it lacks precise alignment of metallic cores within the plastic material, leading to potential misalignment and increased production time.
Innovation Solution
A process that uses thermoplastic materials with embedded metallic cores, where the ornamental elements are securely fixed using undercut portions and shape coupling within a mold, ensuring precise alignment and irremovable attachment, eliminating the need for numerical control cutters and glue layers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If numerical control precision cutters are used to make shaped seats for ornamental elements, then manufacturing precision is improved, but production cost and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mold includes pre-formed guide pins and corresponding guide holes that establish precise alignment paths before the coring operation. The metallic core is guided along these pre-defined paths during insertion, eliminating the need for subsequent precision milling operations to create alignment features.
Solution Approach 2:
The mold structure itself provides the alignment functionality through its integrated guide pins and guide holes, rather than requiring separate precision cutting equipment. The system uses its own structural elements to achieve precise positioning of the metallic core within the plastic material.
2Ease of manufacture
If metallic cores are inserted without precise alignment guidance, then ease of manufacture is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Guide pins and guide holes act as intermediary elements that facilitate the insertion of metallic cores while maintaining precise alignment. These intermediaries provide a physical pathway that constrains the core to the correct position without requiring complex alignment procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical alignment systems (such as precision cutters and manual positioning) with a simpler mold-integrated guidance system using guide pins and holes, reducing both complexity and improving precision.
3Ease of manufacture
If ornamental elements are fixed with glue layers, then ease of manufacture is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to potential detachment
Solution Approach 1:
The undercut portions of the metallic core create a curved, non-linear geometry that prevents linear withdrawal of the ornamental element. This geometric feature creates a mechanical interlock where the ornamental element cannot be removed without damaging either the element or the core, eliminating the need for adhesive materials.
4Manufacturing precision
If production processes require skilled personnel and numerical control equipment, then manufacturing precision is improved, but productivity decreases due to increased complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The mold structure automatically provides alignment and positioning functions through its integrated guide pins and holes, eliminating the need for operator skill in manual alignment. The system self-corrects and self-aligns during the coring operation, maintaining precision while speeding up production.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple functions (alignment, guidance, positioning, and securing) into a single integrated mold structure with guide pins and undercut portions, rather than requiring separate operations and skilled manual intervention for each function.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This process reduces production costs and time by ensuring temples with ornamental elements are made quickly and affordably, with precise alignment and secure attachment of metallic cores, enhancing the aesthetic and mechanical stability of eyeglasses.
Implementation Method 1
The plastic material that constitutes the elongated body has a substantially pasty consistency, due to the preheating sustained
Data Source
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AI summary
Process for making a temple for an eyeglass frame, which comprises: a step of arranging an elongated body made of plastic material; a first heating step, in which the elongated body is heated up to its softening temperature; a step of housing the elongated body in a shaped concavity of a mold; a second step of heating a metallic core; a step of inserting the metallic core in the elongated body. In addition, the housing step is preceded by a step of positioning an ornamental element in a seat provided within the shaped concavity of the mold, in which the ornamental element is retained by means of shape coupling.