Method for making organically based polymer/thermoplastic products and apparatus
AssigneeMerizo Enterprises L.L.C.
InventorRodney Swank
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An extruding apparatus for manufacturing organically based polymer/thermoplastic products. A rotational screw cooking extruder includes an extrusion chamber having a receiving port for receiving extrudate ingredients thereinto. An ejection port is formed as part of the chamber, and a rotatable screw member is disposed within the chamber for compressing extrudate ingredients within the chamber and advancing the ingredients toward and through the ejection port. A channeling device is provided for holding a plurality of extrudate ingredients and channeling them separately and simultaneously into the cooking extruder to maintain the ingredients in a desired orientation with respect to each other at the time of their insertion into the extruder.
Claims23
An extruding apparatus comprising:
- a cooking extruder including an extrusion chamber having a receiving port for receiving extrudate ingredients, an ejection port formed on the chamber, and a rotatable screw member disposed within the chamber and being configured for compressing extrudate ingredients within the chamber and advancing said ingredients toward and through the ejection port;
- feeding means for separately introducing a plurality of individual extrudate ingredients separately and simultaneously along a plurality of segregated, open-top movement paths into the receiving port of the extrusion chamber.
A feeding apparatus for feeding extrudate ingredients into a rotational screw cooking extruder, said cooking extruder having an extrusion chamber with a receiving port for receiving the ingredients thereinto and a rotatable screw member disposed within the chamber for advancing the ingredients through an ejection port of the chamber, said feeding apparatus comprising:
- hopper means for holding a plurality of individual extrudate ingredients and discharging the individual ingredients separately and simultaneously;
- and
- channeling means disposed in communication with the hopper means for (i) receiving the extrudate ingredients separately from the hopper means, and (ii) selectively channeling said plurality of extrudate ingredients separately and simultaneously along a plurality of segregated movement paths, respectively, into the receiving port of the extrusion chamber and guiding and maintaining said plurality of ingredients in a desired orientation as said ingredients are channeled into said receiving port.
A method for manufacturing organically based polymer/thermoplastic products with a rotational screw cooking extruder, said cooking extruder having an extrusion chamber with a receiving port for receiving the ingredients thereinto and a rotatable screw member disposed within the chamber for advancing the ingredients through an ejection port of the chamber, said process comprising the steps of:
- (a) introducing a plurality of organically based individual polymer/thermoplastic extrudate ingredients separately and simultaneously into the receiving port of the extrusion chamber of the cooking extruder;
- and
- (b) simultaneously, (i) rotating the screw member of the cooking extruder, (ii) introducing the individual polymer/thermoplastic ingredients separately and simultaneously along a plurality of segregated movement paths into the receiving port as in step (a), and guiding and maintaining said plurality of ingredients in a desired orientation as said ingredients are introduced into said receiving port, and (iii) otherwise operating the cooking extruder to thereby introduce cooking heat and compression into the ingredients in such a manner that said ingredients become combined and subsequently ejected from the ejection port of the chamber in the form of an organically based polymer/thermoplastic extrudate.
An extruding apparatus comprising:
- a cooking extruder including an extrusion chamber having a receiving port for receiving extrudate ingredients, an ejection port formed on the chamber, and a rotatable screw member disposed within the chamber and being configured for compressing extrudate ingredients within the chamber and advancing said ingredients toward and through the ejection port;
- feeding and guiding means for (i) separately introducing a plurality of individual extrudate ingredients separately and simultaneously along a plurality of segregeted movement paths into the receiving port of the extrusion chamber, and (ii) guiding and maintaining said plurality of ingredients in a desired orientation as they are introduced into the receiving port.
An extruding apparatus comprising:
- a cooking extruder including an extrusion chamber having a receiving port for receiving extrudate ingredients, an ejection port formed on the chamber, and a rotatable screw member disposed within the chamber and being configured for compressing extrudate ingredients within the chamber and advancing said ingredients toward and through the ejection port;
- feeding means for separately introducing a plurality of individual extrudate ingredients separately and simultaneously along a plurality of segregated movement paths into the receiving port of the extrusion chamber, said feeding means comprising:
- a plurality of hoppers;
- a plurality of nonrotational channels disposed beneath the plurality of hoppers and extending into communication with the receiving port of the extrusion chamber, said nonrotational channels being characterized by an absence of rotational components;
- at least one duct coupled to one of the hoppers and extending downwardly therefrom toward one of the nonrotational channel;
- extension/retraction means for selectively extending and retracting the at least one duct in length.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.