Mould for forming a unitary article from pulp
AssigneeDiageo Great Britain Limited
InventorsAdam Richard Turner, Natasha Wilson, Joshua Lanzon-Miller, Jonathan Morris
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mould (14) for forming an article from a fibre suspension. The mould includes an insert with a cavity (27) in the negative shape of an article to be formed and two regions of different porosity/permeability (28, 29) about the cavity (27). In use the mould communicates a suspending fluid of the fibre suspension, e.g. by vacuum pump, through the at least two regions of different porosity/permeability about the cavity. A formed shape (22) of fibres is left behind on the cavity.
Claims13
A mould for forming a bottle shaped article from a fibre suspension, the mould comprising:
- a cavity in a negative shape of the bottle shaped article to be formed;
- wherein the mould is configured to communicate a suspending fluid of the fibre suspension through at least two volumetric regions of different porosity about the cavity;
- wherein a first porous region, having a porosity greater than 0% and less than or equal to 90%, is a first layer comprising a criss-cross structure of a consistent mesh and constitutes the substantive article facing surface of the cavity, and a second porous region, having a porosity greater than the first porous region but less than 100%, is a second layer serving as a supporting structure for the first porous region, the first porous region and the second porous region being configured to cause an overall pressure drop through the mould;
- wherein porosity denotes the ratio of void volume to total volume of the first porous region and the second porous region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.