Manufacture of structural members, in particular furniture components
AssigneeAgrifibre Developments Limited
InventorBrian Harmer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A molded article is molded from a mixed material comprising from 50-94% by weight of sub-divided straw or bagasse, from 6-30% by weight of a synthetic resin or plastics material which binds the straw or bagasse together, and from 0-44% by weight of non-vegetable fillers, the mixed material having a specific gravity of at least 1.0. The invention extends to a method for making a molded article and to compression and molding apparatus for forming a molded article.
Claims12
A method for producing an article comprising the steps of admixing form 50-94% by weight of sub-divided straw, bagasse, or mixtures thereof, from 6-30% by weight of a synthetic resin or plastics material suitable for binding the straw of bagasse together, and from 0-45% by weight of non-vegetable fillers, colorants or other additives to form a loose mixture;
- compressing the loose mixture in a feed auger having a portion, in which compression takes place, of decreasing diameter and pitch from an inlet towards an outlet of the feed auger to result in a partially compressed mixture at the outlet of the feed auger;
- introducing said partially compressed mixture into a cavity of a press-mold;
- and press-molding an article in said press-mold by further compression under conditions chosen to cause curing or hardening of said synthetic resin or plastics material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.