| 摘要 |
An apparatus for forming an article from at least one layer of formable material includes a mold for receiving the at least one layer of formable material. The mold has first and second thin mold sections and a seal associated with at least one of the mold sections for effecting a sufficiently sealed relationship between the mold sections. Each mold section has a non-planar configuration, and one mold section has at least one aperture. A vacuum source is in fluid communication with the at least one aperture for applying a vacuum pressure to the at least one aperture when the mold sections are sufficiently sealed together in order to reduce air pressure within the mold. As a result, ambient air pressure is used to forcefully bias the mold sections sufficiently together so as to form the at least one layer of formable material to a contour corresponding to the non-planar configurations of the mold sections. Furthermore, each mold section is sufficiently rigid such that the mold sections do not substantially flex when the mold sections are forcefully biased together.
|
