B29D - Definition

Definition statement

This subclass covers:

Processes and apparatus which are characteristic for the production of particular articles from plastics or from substances in a plastic state. The particular articles can be defined:

• by their global structure, e.g. flat, hollow, or tubular articles;
• by structural features, e.g. provided with screw threads, corrugations, grooves or projections;
• by their purpose, e.g. buttons, optical elements, tyres or footwear.

Relationship between large subject matter areas

As it is for the whole B29 class, this subclass does not cover the working of plastics sheet material in a manner analogous to the working of paper, which is covered by class B31.

B29D covers the production of plastic or plastic-like articles. This subclass is often connected with the following areas:

• B29K, related to indexing codes associated with subclasses B29D so as to provide information concerning moulding materials or materials for reinforcements, fillers or preformed parts, e.g. inserts;
• C08, related to organic macromolecular compounds, including polysaccharides, rubbers, natural macromolecular compounds, their working-up and composition thereof;
• B29C, related to shaping or joining of plastics, shaping of substances in a plastic state, in general, and after-treatment of the shaped products;
• B29B, related to preparation or pretreatment of material to be shaped, making granules or preforms, recovery of plastics or plastic constituents of waste material;
• B32B, related to layered products (products built-up of strata of flat or non-flat, e.g. cellular or honeycomb form);
• G02B, related to optical elements, characterised by the material of which they are made, and also optical systems or apparatus that make use thereof;
• B60C, related to several aspects of vehicle tyres, such as, tyre inflation, tyre changing, connecting valves to inflatable elastic bodies in general, devices or arrangements related to tyres;
• A43, related to footwear, including features, fastenings or attachments, machines, tools, equipment or methods for manufacturing or repairing.

References relevant to classification in this subclass

This subclass does not cover:

Making granules	B29B 9/00
Making performs	B29B 11/00
Manufacture of layers comprising fibrous parallel reinforcements of substantial or continuous length	B29C 70/20
Connection of valves to inflatable elastic bodies	B60C 29/00

Informative references

Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:

Collars made of plastic	A41B 3/16
Seats or covers made of plastic materials for all kinds of closets	A47K 13/02
Manufacture of rings from wire	B21F 37/00
Machines, devices or processes for grinding or polishing of optical elements	B24B
Conditioning or physical treatment of the material to be shaped	B29B 13/00
Pretreatment of the material to be shaped, e.g. of reinforcements, fillers or inserts	B29B 15/00
Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking, for shaping plastics; Apparatus therefor, e.g. for vulcanising	B29C 35/02
Methods or apparatus for making layered products; Treatment of the layers or of the layered products	B32B 37/00-B32B 41/00
Means for holding wheels or parts thereof for mounting, holding or assembling wheels	B60B 30/00
Construction of tires or parts thereof	B60C
Sealings formed by liquid or plastic material	B65D 53/00
Woven fabrics, methods of weaving and looms	D03D
Making nets by knotting of filamentary material, making knotted carpets or tapestries and knotting not otherwise provided for	D04G
Protection helmets of plastics or Plastic head-shields	F41H 1/08
Driving belts made of plastics with reinforcement bonded by the plastic material	F16G 1/16
V-belts made of plastics with reinforcement bonded by the plastic material	F16G 5/14
Testing of tyres of wheeled vehicles	G01M 17/02
Optical elements, systems or apparatus	G02B
Spectacles; sunglasses or goggles insofar as they have the same features as spectacles; contact lenses	G02C
Plastic bearings for clocks or watches	G04B 31/016
Information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer, the transducer directly producing, or being directly actuated by, modulation in the track being recorded	G11B

Special rules of classification

The working of plastics is, as far as possible, classified primarily according to the particular shaping technique used, e.g. in subclass B29C;

Classification according to production of particular articles in subclass B29D is restricted to:

• Aspects which are characteristic for the production of a particular article, and not classifiable in subclass B29B or B29C;
• combined operations for making the particular article which are not fully classifiable in subclass B29C.

Products per se are not classified in this class. However, if a product is characterised by the way it is produced and not by its structure or composition, the production method should be classified in this class;

In this subclass, it is desirable to add the indexing codes of subclass B29K.

Glossary of terms

In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:

Bearing	Plastic device to allow constrained relative motion between two or more parts, typically rotation or linear movement.
Bush	Thin plastic sleeve or tubular lining serving as a bearing or guide.
Carrier of records	a body, such as a cylinder, disc, card, tape, or wire, capable of permanently holding information, which can be read-off by a sensing element movable relatively to the record carrier.