Material loader for injection molding press

Abstract

A material loader includes a material hopper, an air filter, a hopper support and a control box. The filter is positioned on top of the hopper, and the hopper is positioned on top of the hopper support. The entire unit is mounted directly over the throat of a plastic injection molding machine and feeds a mixture of virgin and regrind plastic into the machine. The control box, mounted on the side of the plastic injection molding machine, contains timers and other electronic equipment which run the unit to control amount, ratio and timing of conveyance of feed material to the hopper, and ultimately to the press. Two inlet tubes feed plastic into the hopper, one feeding virgin plastic and the other feeding regrind plastic. The control box contains load timers, which may be adjusted manually to control the exact amount of each type of plastic which is fed into the hopper.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.