Method for processing thermoplastics or thermosetting plastics

In a method of processing plastics comprising supplying a batch comprising a predetermined quantity of material to be processed to a container having mixing members therein, causing the batch of material to be gelled by heat produced by friction as the mixing members are moved through the batch of material, expelling the entire batch of processed material from the container, and, only after said expelling step, repeating the supplying, causing and expelling steps with another batch of material, the improvement by which a batch of material may be continuously formed while another batch is being processed, comprising the steps of:

• continuously providing material to be processed in a continuous, constant, gravimetrically-determined quantity stream, whereby a constant weight of material is provided per unit of time, wherein the rate of material being provided is sufficient to provide said predetermined quantity batch of material in approximately the time necessary to complete said supplying, causing and expelling steps;
• temporarily storing the material being continuously provided in said providing step until a batch of approximately said predetermined quantity has been accumulated;
• and
• feeding the entire amount of temporarily stored material to the container at predetermined cyclic time intervals corresponding to the accumulation of a batch of approximately said predetermined quantity during said temporarily storing step, whereby said time intervals will also necessarily approximate the time necessary to complete said supplying, causing and expelling steps, and wherein said feeding step constitutes said supplying step.