US 4,074,960 A · Manufacture of polymeric foam

Abstract

An apparatus for the production of a continuous length of polymeric foam from a liquid foam mix comprising an open-topped trough to the bottom of which the liquid foam mix is supplied to expand upwardly therein, until it flows therefrom over a weir structure associated with said trough into an open-topped channel shaped conveyor associated with said weir structure and arranged continuously to convey expanding foam away from the weir structure while it completes its expansion process, the open-topped channel shaped conveyor comprising a bottom wall and separate side walls which join said bottom wall downstream of the weir structure, the apparatus also including means operable to alter the length of the trough, and conveyor width adjustment means operable to alter the width of the bottom wall of the channel shaped conveyor and to move its said walls correspondingly in synchronism with width alterations of said bottom wall and sealing means for maintaining a seal where the side walls meet the bottom wall of the channel shaped conveyor during width changes whereby foam of varying widths may be produced without stopping the production run. In a preferred embodiment, the bottom wall is a single sheet of material formed with upstanding edge regions before said sheet joins up with the side walls to provide the moving open-topped conveyor, the or each upstanding edge region being folded down during width change operations to increase the width of the trough while still maintaining the required seal.

Claims9

Dependent claims

Apparatus for producing a continuous strand of polymeric foam from a mixture of liquid foam reactants, comprising

(a) a trough in which the liquid foam reactants may expand upwardly;
(b) means operatively assrested with said trough for supplying liquid foam reactants to the bottom of said trough;
(c) weir means arranged adjacent the upper portion of said trough for receicing in overflowing relation the foam that rises by expansion in said trough;
(d) open-topped channel shaped conveyor means for continuously conveying expanding foam away from said weir means while the foam completes its expansion process, said open-topped channel shaped conveyor means comprising a bottom wall, and separate side walls which join and form a seal with said bottom wall downstream of the weir means;
(e) guide means operably associated with the trough to keep partially expanding foam flowing over the weir means onto the bottom of the channel shaped conveyor out of contact with the side walls thereof until said seal between the bottom and side walls of said conveyor has been formed;
and
(f) conveyor width adjustment means operable to alter the width of the bottom of the channel shaped conveyor and to move its side walls correspondingly in synchronism with width alterations of said bottom while still maintaining the seal between the bottom and side walls of the channel shaped conveyor during width changes, whereby foam of varying widths may be produced without stopping the production run.

4 more elements

Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and further including downwardly inclined pour plate means adjacent said weir means, said pour plate means including a fixed central section, and edge portions movable laterally relative to said control section, and movable carriage means operatively associated with said pour plate supporting each of said edge portions, respectively. 10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, and further including a rigid side wall spaced from each edge of the pour plate by a distance corresponding with the thickness of a side sheet, thereby to permit the easy passage of said side sheet therethrough, each rigid side wall and a supply roll for its respective side sheet also being mounted on said

movable carriage means, respectively. 11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, and further including means connected between said carriages for displacing the same relative to each other in synchronism, thereby to
adjust the width of the pour plate. 12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, and further including an additional carriage upon which the sheet supply roll is mounted, said additional carriage being movable laterally with respect to the trough, said additional carriage being operably connected with one of said pour plate carriages so as to move laterally in
synchronism therewith. 13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the bottom sheet supply roll is mounted relative to the pour plate so that one edge of said roll extends laterally beyond one side edge of the pour plate by a distance corresponding to the amount of material required to form one
of the upstanding lips on the bottom sheet. 14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said distance remains constant regardless of lateral
movement of the pour plate carriages. 15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the cutting means is a blade movable along the length of the bottom sheet supply roll so that it can be positioned laterally beyond one or both side edges of the pour plate by a distance corresponding to the amount of material required to form the or each upstanding lip on the
bottom sheet. 16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said folding means comprises the upstream end of each rigid side wall, each said side wall being positioned to fold to its respective side edge of the bottom
sheet to form one of the upstanding lips thereon. 17. Apparatus as claimed in claim 38, and further including pour plate adjustment means for
adjusting a physical characteristic of said pour plate. 18. Apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein said pour plate adjustment means comprises a plurality of hingedly connected pour plate sections, each section having means associated therewith for moving that section vertically relative to
an adjacent section. 19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each
side wall comprises a film of polyethylene. 20. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said conveyor bottom comprises at least one paper sheet.
1. Apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein each paper sheet is coated with a layer of a synthetic plastic material.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Manufacture of polymeric foam

Life of this patent

Manufacture of polymeric foam

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims9