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AssigneeUnited States Gypsum Company
InventorsSteven W. Sucech, Mark H. Englert, William A. Frank, Raymond John Mlinac, Srinivas Veeramasuneni
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The invention provides a board forming system comprising a forming table comprising a belt with a surface for conveying a backing layer; a mixer fitted with a mechanism capable of depositing cementitious slurry material over a top surface of the backing layer; and a slurry spreader positioned downstream of the mixer, wherein a portion of the slurry spreader comprises a plurality of apertures which are connected to a source of pressurized fluid. The slurry spreader is configured such that the pressurized fluid flows out of the slurry spreader through the apertures so as to provide a continuous film of fluid across an outer surface of the slurry spreader. The slurry spreader is positioned such that it can contact at least a portion of the cementitious slurry after the slurry exits the discharge and before the slurry is spread across the width of the backing layer such that the thickness of the slurry is approximately equal to the desired slurry thickness for board formation. The invention further provides methods for forming cementitious board comprising the use of the slurry spreader.
A board forming system comprising:
A gypsum board forming system comprising:
A method of forming a cementitious board material comprising:
A method of reducing the water-to-cementitious material ratio during board production comprising:
A method of reducing the number of undesirable large voids in cementitious board comprising:
A slurry spreader for contacting cementitious slurry after the slurry exits a mixer of a board line and before the slurry passes through a forming station, the slurry spreader comprising a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet in communication with the fluid inlet for discharging fluid from the slurry spreader, the fluid outlet comprising a plurality of apertures, wherein the slurry spreader is configured such that fluid flows out of the slurry spreader through the apertures so as to provide a continuous source of fluid across an outer surface of the slurry spreader, which contacts the cementitious slurry.
A slurry spreader for contacting cementitious slurry, the slurry spreader comprising a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet in communication with the fluid inlet for discharging fluid from the slurry spreader, the fluid outlet comprising a plurality of apertures, wherein the slurry spreader is in the shape of a rectangular box and three sides of the rectangular box comprise apertures.
A slurry spreader for contacting cementitious slurry, the slurry spreader comprising a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet in communication with the fluid inlet for discharging fluid from the slurry spreader, the fluid outlet comprising a plurality of apertures, wherein the slurry spreader further comprises a raised portion having a plurality of apertures and a parallel portion comprising a plurality of apertures, wherein an angle α is formed between the surface of the raised portion of the slurry spreader which contacts the slurry and the surface of the parallel portion which contacts the slurry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.