Sika Automotive Awarded US Patent for Orifice Sealing Physical Barrier

MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich., July 29 -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Sika Automotive US Patent No. 6,691,468 for a new physical barrier sealing. The patent includes both the product and the method for installing the invention. Sika Application Engineering Group Leader, Raymond D. Helferty, developed this barrier.

The patent covers a new physical barrier for sealing an orifice in a panel member. The physical barrier includes a carrier that has one or more locating pins mounted on it. The pins are adapted to locate the carrier in the orifice. The physical barrier also includes a sealing material attached to the carrier.

Physical barriers are commonly used to seal orifices in certain objects, such as panel members in motor vehicles. These barriers generally prevent physical materials, fluids, gases, fumes, dirt, dust, moisture, water, etc., from passing through the orifice. These areas are typically barricaded with duct tape, butyl-based plastic patches, and sealing plugs made from foam, rubber, or introducing a foam product or a fiberglass matting to fill in the cavity. Known barriers, however, are unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons. Many require multi-part installation and are costly as well as labor- intensive. The new Sika patent overcomes one or more of these problems, providing automakers a cost-effective high-performance seal.

"This barrier design was developed around a customer's immediate need to seal a specific area in a vehicle from water penetration while maintaining easy installation for the operator," stated Mr. Helferty. "We were able to quickly come up with a solution for this application without adding new parts or manpower to install those parts."

Sika Automotive, based in Madison Heights, MI, a division of Sika Corporation, is an industry leader in the development and production of high performance acoustic, bonding, reinforcing and sealing systems. Sika Automotive provides automobile manufacturers with proven material, application engineering and validation expertise to improve interior sound quality and structural performance in vehicles worldwide. Sika Automotive optimizes cost effective, complete solutions in its dedicated, state of the art, Acoustic Test Facility, located in Madison Heights, MI. Visit the Sika Automotive website http://www.sikaautomotive.com/ .

Sika Corporation is a leading supplier of specialty chemical products and industrial materials serving construction and industrial markets including transportation, marine, and automotive. Sika Corporation is a subsidiary of Sika AG, Baar, Switzerland. Sika has annual sales of approximately US $1.8 billion (CHF 2.3 billion), over 8,500 employees and operations in 66 countries. Visit the Sika website at http://www.sika.com/ .