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US 8,512,613 B2Granted
Extrusion kit and extruder
OwnerDouglas P. DuFaux, Maurice Belisleinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention provides methods and devices for manufacturing moldable materials including various types of natural and synthetic clays, edible materials such as cookie dough, and modeling compound by forming a moldable billet through various techniques, and reducing the cross section of said moldable billet such that features in the moldable billet appear in a similar arrangement in the resulting extruded product.
Claims20
A method of making a graphic billet, comprising:
- providing a plurality of graphic molds, each graphic mold including:
- an inner mold cavity having at least one injection port and an exit;
- an outer mold cavity having at least one injection port and an exit, the outer mold cavity being separated from the inner mold cavity by at least one cavity wall, wherein the outer mold cavity surrounds the inner mold cavity;
- forcing a first moldable material having a first color from a first storage vessel through the at least one injection port of the inner mold cavity of a selected graphic mold from the plurality of graphic molds;
- forcing a second moldable material having a second color from a second storage vessel through the at least one injection port of the outer mold cavity of the selected graphic mold;
- forming a moldable segment having a cross-sectional graphic from the forced first moldable material and the forced second moldable material simultaneously exiting from the exit of the inner mold cavity and the exit of the outer mold cavity of the selected graphic mold;
- arranging a plurality of moldable segments in an array to produce a moldable billet having a combined cross-sectional graphic;
- operating an inanimate extruder configured to receive the moldable billet, the extruder being operable to extrude the moldable billet to form an elongated extrusion wherein the combined cross-sectional graphic is substantially present in the extrusion in reduced scale.
5 more elements
A method of making a graphic billet, comprising:
- providing a plurality of graphic molds, each graphic mold including:
- an inner mold cavity having at least one injection port and an exit;
- an outer mold cavity having at least one injection port and an exit, the outer mold cavity being separated from the inner mold cavity by at least one cavity wall, wherein the outer mold cavity surrounds the inner mold cavity;
- forcing a first moldable material having a first color from a first storage vessel through the at least one injection port of the inner mold cavity of a selected graphic mold from the plurality of graphic molds;
- forcing a second moldable material having a second color from a second storage vessel through the at least one injection port of the outer mold cavity of the selected graphic mold;
- forming a moldable segment having a cross-sectional graphic from the forced first moldable material and the forced second moldable material simultaneously exiting from the exit of the inner mold cavity and the exit of the outer mold cavity of the selected graphic mold;
- arranging a plurality of moldable segments in an array to produce a moldable billet having a combined cross-sectional graphic;
- operating an inanimate extruder configured to receive the moldable billet, the extruder being operable to extrude the moldable billet to form an elongated extrusion wherein the combined cross-sectional graphic is substantially present in the extrusion in reduced scale;
- wherein the at least one cavity wall is less than 1 mm thick;
- wherein the cross-sectional graphic is selected from the group consisting of:
- a letter, a number, and a geometric shape.
8 more elements
A system for making a graphic billet, comprising:
- a plurality of graphic molds, each graphic mold including:
- an inner mold cavity having at least one injection port and an exit;
- an outer mold cavity having at least one injection port and an exit, the outer mold cavity being separated from the inner mold cavity by at least one cavity wall, wherein the outer mold cavity surrounds the inner mold cavity;
- a first moldable material having a first color being configured to be forced from a first storage vessel through the at least one injection port of the inner mold cavity of a selected graphic mold from the plurality of graphic molds, and a second moldable material having a second color being configured to be forced from a second storage vessel through the at least one injection port of the outer mold cavity of the selected graphic mold, the first moldable material and the second moldable material configured to form a moldable segment from the forced first moldable material and the forced second moldable material simultaneously exiting from the exit of the inner mold cavity and the exit of the outer mold cavity of the selected graphic mold, the moldable segment having a cross-sectional graphic;
- an automated device configured to arrange a plurality of moldable segments in an array to produce a moldable billet having a combined cross-sectional graphic;
- an inanimate extruder configured to receive the moldable billet, the extruder being operable to extrude the moldable billet to form an elongated extrusion wherein the combined cross-sectional graphic is substantially present in the extrusion in reduced scale.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.