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US 6,634,415 B1Granted
Continuous extrusion using dynamic shoe positioning
AssigneeHolton Machinery
InventorsBrian Maddock, Martin James Smith
Life of this patent
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AssigneeHolton Machinery
InventorsBrian Maddock, Martin James Smith
Estimating the term…
A continuous extrusion machine has a chassis (1) supporting a wheel (2) for rotation by a motor. An endless groove (7) extends around the periphery of the wheel (2). A shoe (3) is mounted in the chassis (1) and has an enveloping surface shaped to closely envelop an arc of the wheel (2) periphery so that the groove (7) co-operates with the shoe (3) to form a passage. An abutment is mounted on the shoe (3) to extend into the passage at a downstream end. Tooling is mounted in the shoe (3) including a die such that a material such as aluminium or copper bar fed into the groove (7) is extruded through the die as a consequence of the energy transfer via friction from the rotating wheel (2). A gap (12) exists between the enveloping surface and the wheel (2). The gap (12) is used to provide the orifice of a sonic gap (12) sensor whereby the size of the gap (12) can be accurately and directly measured. The gap (12) size sensed is used to control the position of the shoe (3) in two directions mutually perpendicular to the rotary axis of the wheel (2) by adjusting support structures which support the shoe (3). The size and shape of the gap (12) can thus be safely adjusted while the machine is extruding allowing the size and shape of the gap (12) to be adjusted for optimum performance.
A continuous extrusion machine having a chassis (1) supporting a wheel (2) for rotation and a shoe (3) enveloping a span of the periphery of the wheel (2) and co-operating with a groove (7) formed in the periphery of the wheel (2) to form a passage,
A continuous extrusion machine according to claim 3, wherein one of the wedge assemblies is arranged to displace the shoe in the horizontal direction and includes an up hydraulic ram with which to displace the wedge up and a down hydraulic ram to impose a constant downward pressure on the wedge, so that the wedge assembly can readily be removed from the machine.
A method of operating a continuous extrusion machine wherein feedstock is entrained in a groove (7) formed in the periphery of a wheel (2) rotating in a chassis (1) and drawn into a passage formed between the groove (7) and a shoe (3), said passage being obstructed by an abutment supported by the shoe (3) so that friction between the shoe (3) and the abutment will cause the feedstock to extrude through a die supported in the shoe (3), comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.