Easy-to-load extrustion sizing device

A sizing device used in an extruder, comprising:

• an enclosure encompassing a chamber and having an extrusion entrance opening and an extrusion exit opening through opposite ends of the enclosure, the openings defining an extrusion path extending longitudinally therebetween through the chamber along which an extrusion is pulled;
• a series of sets of sizing dies, each of the sets of sizing dies including a first die element and a second die element, the first die element forming a first notch therethrough and the second die element forming a second notch therethrough, the first die element comprising a plate having a planar rearward face and the second die element comprising a plate having a planar forward face;
• support means for supporting the sets of sizing dies at longitudinally spaced apart locations along the extrusion path within the enclosure;
• and
• positioning means for moving the first and second die elements from an open position with the notched unoccluded to a closed position with the first and second die elements offset longitudinally along the extrusion path and in abutting relationship with the rearward face of the first die element contacting the forward face of the second die element along a plane substantially perpendicular to the extrusion path and the first and second notches partly occluded and overlapping to form a passage therethrough along the extrusion path, the support means further aligning the sets of sizing dies with the series of passages in longitudinal alignment, the sizing dies determining the size and shape of an extrusion pulled through the aligned passages in the chamber.