# US 11,305,461 B2 · Small piece supplying apparatus and fibrous body molding apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,305,461 B2 - Document ID: US11305461B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/005,523 - Filed: 2020-08-28 - Published: 2021-03-04 - Granted: 2022-04-19 - Earliest claimed: 2019-08-30 - Assignees: Seiko Epson Corporation - Applicants: Seiko Epson Corporation - Inventors: Takashi Abe; Makoto Sato; Koji Motohashi - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11305461B2 ## CPC - B27N 3/04: from fibres - B29B 15/08: of reinforcements or fillers (chemical aspects C08J, C08K) - B29C 70/30: Shaping by lay-up, i.e. applying fibres, tape or broadsheet on a mould, former or core; Shaping by spray-up, i.e. spraying of fibres on a mould, former or core - B29K 2201/00: Use of cellulose, modified cellulose or cellulose derivatives, e.g. viscose, as reinforcement - B27N: MANUFACTURE BY DRY PROCESSES OF ARTICLES, WITH OR WITHOUT ORGANIC BINDING AGENTS, MADE FROM PARTICLES OR FIBRES CONSISTING OF WOOD OR OTHER LIGNOCELLULOSIC OR LIKE ORGANIC MATERIAL (containing cementitious material B28B; shaping of substances in a plastic state B29C; fibreboards made from fibrous suspensions D21J; drying F26B17/00) - B29B: PREPARATION OR PRETREATMENT OF THE MATERIAL TO BE SHAPED; MAKING GRANULES OR PREFORMS; RECOVERY OF PLASTICS OR OTHER CONSTITUENTS OF WASTE MATERIAL CONTAINING PLASTICS - B29C: SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING (making preforms B29B11/00; making laminated products by combining previously unconnected layers which become one product whose layers will remain together B32B37/00 - B32B41/00) - B29K: INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS OR TO MATERIALS FOR {MOULDS, } REINFORCEMENTS, FILLERS OR PREFORMED PARTS, e.g. INSERTS ## Abstract A small piece supplying apparatus includes: a raw material supplying section that supplies a raw material sheet; a coarse crushing section that coarsely crushes the raw material sheet supplied from the raw material supplying section to produce small pieces; and a reservoir section in which the small pieces produced by the coarse crushing section are accumulated. The raw material supplying section includes a feeder roller that feeds out the raw material sheet, and a contact section that changes a course of the raw material sheet by contact with an edge of the raw material sheet fed out by the feeder roller. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A small piece supplying apparatus, comprising: a raw material supplying section that supplies a raw material sheet; a coarse crushing section that coarsely crushes the raw material sheet supplied from the raw material supplying section to produce small pieces; and a reservoir section in which the small pieces produced by the coarse crushing section are accumulated; wherein the raw material supplying section includes a feeder roller that feeds out the raw material sheet, and a contact section that changes a course of the raw material sheet by contact with an edge of the raw material sheet fed out by the feeder roller. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the contact section has a sloped surface inclined with respect to a feeding direction in which the raw material sheet is fed by the feeder roller. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sloped surface is a planar surface. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an angle formed by the feeding direction in which the raw material sheet is fed by the feeder roller and the sloped surface is 20° or more and 70° or less. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coarse crushing section includes a pair of rotary blades, and a direction in which the raw material sheet is inserted between the pair of rotary blades is different from a direction into which a course of the raw material sheet is changed by the contact section. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: a guiding section that guides, toward the coarse crushing section, the raw material sheet after a change in the course by the contact section. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a weighing section that that measures a weight of the small pieces discharged from the reservoir section. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a detecting section that detects an amount of the small pieces inside the reservoir section; and a control section that controls operation of the feeder roller based on a detection result of the detecting section. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the control section stops the operation of the feeder roller when the amount of the small pieces inside the reservoir section exceeds a predetermined amount. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reservoir section includes a foreign object catcher that catches, by using a magnetic force, a foreign object mixed in the small pieces. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) A fibrous body molding apparatus, comprising: the small piece supplying apparatus according to claim 1; a defibrating section that defibrates the small pieces supplied by the small piece supplying apparatus; a deposition section on which a defibrated material produced by the defibrating section is deposited; and a molding section that molds a deposited material produced on the deposition section.