Abstract: Plastics foil is shaped in a deep drawing apparatus by being placed in a mould, while the foil is below its deformation temperature, having heated wall surfaces and by applying a pressure differential to the foil so that it progressively stretches and contacts the mould wall. The progressive heating and stretching ensures that the corners of the moulded article are not thinner than the remaining portions of the moulded article, thus reducing the amount of plastics material necessary for an article of given strength.

Abstract: Particles being pelleted, e.g., flocculent carbon black being pelleted with water, are passed through alternating zones of increasing and decreasing pressure. An apparatus is disclosed in which a cylindrical shell comprises a rotatable shaft located substantially on the longitudinal axial center line of the shell. The shaft has pins positioned thereon forming at least one helix with alternate decreasing and increasing pitches along the helix thus to effect compression and expansion actions on the mass in the pelleter, thereby producing a narrow size range of pellets.

Abstract: A wet pelleting apparatus essentially comprises a cylindrical shell and a shaft having pelleting pins affixed thereto, usually in a helical arrangement. In cross-sectional area taken at right angles to the axis of the shaft which is substantially concentrically disposed within the shell, the annulus formed between the shaft and the configuration given to it and the shell inner wall and the configuration given to it decreases and increases as the plane of cross-section is moved from the feed end of the apparatus to the discharge end thereof. In one embodiment, the shaft has an undulating or repetitive hourglass configuration and the inner wall of the shell is rectilinear. In another, the inner wall of the shell can be given an undulating configuration. In a third, both the wall and shaft surfaces can be formed so as to cause, according to the invention, alternate compression and decompression of particles being pelleted.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for forming a heated end of a plastic pipe into a bell having a sealing groove therein arranged to receive a seal so that it may be sealingly joined with a plain end of a second pipe inserted therein. The apparatus comprises a mandrel base rigidly secured to a mandrel core having annular grooves formed thereabout communicating with a vacuum source through a passage formed in the core and base. A mandrel shell comprising four separable segments is secured on the core. The mandrel shell has a plurality of apertures formed therein communicating with the annular groove on the core such that a vacuum may be drawn through the apertures. A heated plastic pipe is forced over the mandrel shell until it engages a tapered shoulder formed on the mandrel base, thus forming a seal between the end of the pipe and the base. A vacuum is drawn on the cavity formed between the plastic pipe and the mandrel shell thus drawing the plastic pipe to the shell, forming an annular internal groove in the pipe.

Abstract: In a moulding apparatus for producing a plastics material container matrix, a lower mould member defining a bore from its lower surface to its upper surface, die means slidably displaceable within said bore for deforming said plastics material, cutter means slidably displaceable within said bore defining at least one cutting edge extending obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the cutter means, and an upper mould member having a pressure member displaceably mounted thereon, the lower surface of the pressure member defining a cavity aligned with said bore in said lower mould member, which cavity receives at least a portion of said cutter member and die means when they are displaced.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for cooling and collecting prills at the bottom of a prill tower including a fluidized prill bed and a rake rotatable therethrough.

Abstract: An apparatus for cutting openings at arbitrarily selectable intervals into a pipe which has a smooth inside or outside surface or a transversely corrugated inside or outside surface comprising a knife disposed inside or outside said pipe, and a movable element whose movement is responsive to a signal to move the knife and pipe wall into mutual contact so that the knife cuts into the pipe wall. Disclosed herein is an apparatus which cuts an opening through the surface of a smooth inner pipe disposed within an outer pipe having transverse corrugations. Also disclosed is an apparatus whose knife is disposed exteriorly and is employed to cut openings into the exteriorly disposed transversely corrugated pipe. The application further discloses an apparatus comprising a pipe forming machine, an apparatus which cuts a hole in a pipe from within the pipe and an apparatus which cuts a hole in a pipe from outside the pipe.

Abstract: A shuttle having the same shape as a mold cavity has a slidably removable bottom so that material distributed in the shuttle may be dropped into the mold by removing the slidable bottom with a series of baffles positioned in the mold serving to hold the material in the shuttle in position so it will not be moved out of position as the slidable bottom is removed.

Abstract: A process of manufacturing molded parts using a mold with relatively movable parts enclosing a mold cavity which is fed with plasticizable material, comprises directing grains of the plasticizable material into a vertically elongated vestibule having a lower end connected to the feed of the mold cavity and directing hot gases into the lower end of the vestibule and upwardly through the plasticizable material therein to make the material weldable and, thereafter, directing the weldable material into the cavity under pressure. The device for carrying out the process includes a feed conduit which is connected into the cavity which is disposed below a vertically elongated vestibule which has a closed top and a bottom opening into the conduit.

Abstract: A mold construction, method and apparatus for forming backing shells for skating ring dasher boards out of a single piece of material is disclosed. The mold comprises a vacuum box and oppositely disposed forming members loosely positioned in the box to form a mold cavity. A sheet of plastic material is secured in a frame and is softened by radiant heat. The softened sheet is brought adjacent the mold cavity and is drawn into the cavity to assume the conformation thereof by air being withdrawn from the cavity through cracks therein resulting from the loosely fitting forming members. One or more layers of fiberglass and polyester resinous material applied to a face of the backing shell completes the dasher board.

Abstract: A direct chill casting of metals, particularly hot top casting of aluminum and its alloy, is improved by applying a gas pressure to the metals from directly below the overhang of a feed reservoir for receiving a melt to be cast.The direct chill casting is further improved by supplying a lubricating oil from a slit for conveying the gas to the inner wall of the mold.By using the process and the apparatus according to the invention, ingots having excellent smooth surfaces and reduced segregation can be reliably produced with a reduction in the amount of the lubricating oil used.

Abstract: A vacuum molding apparatus of simplified construction utilizing a vacuum cleaner as a vacuum source. The molding apparatus includes a tray with upstanding side walls having upper outturned flanges for mounting a pair of horizontally positioned holder frames which clamp a sheet of thermoplastic material therebetween directly above a highly reflective, bottom surface of the tray which upon being heated uniformly heats the plastic sheet mounted parallel thereabove.The holder frames together with the sheet are manually transported and placed over a male mold pattern on a vacuum frame which comprises an air-tight box having a forominous top plate through which air is drawn beneath the heated plastic sheet which is draped over the plate, and the mold pattern thus forming the sheet about the mold pattern. The box has a vacuum chamber co-extensive with the perforated top plate which is connected to one end of a vacuum hose.

Abstract: A process and jig for field bending relatively large diameter plastic pipe, the jig being to guide the pipe at the point of tangency adjacent the bend after the pipe is heated and bent to form a smooth curvature to the desired radius and degree of bend as determined by the jig. The jig includes a two-piece spreader tube and a right and left hand guide, each adjustable in width, angle and spacing. The guides are U-shape and extend beneath the spreader tube so that the pipe may be placed on a flat horizontal surface. Each guide is provided with a protractor, one of which includes an offset scale so that offsets or curves with generally parallel tangents may be formed. The spreader tube includes a scale to ascertain the chord in terms of the radius for given degrees of bend.

Abstract: A machine is disclosed for producing reinforced cast pieces on a rope, which are to be spaced apart at a desired distance along the rope. Mounted on the machine bed are half-moulds having two aligned holes to receive the rope, a mechanism for closing and opening said half-moulds, a device for pouring a material into the half-moulds, and a device for moving the rope step-by-step. The machine is also provided with a device for fluffing the rope so as to reinforce cast pieces, the device being mounted on the machine bed nearby the half-moulds.

Abstract: A forage wagon or the like having components driven by a power take-off shaft and including apparatus for selectively disengaging the power take-off shaft and the driven parts. The disengaging apparatus includes a safety clutch having a circular drive clutch plate supported on a drive shaft of a power take-off shaft for rotation with the drive shaft and a driven circular clutch plate freely rotatably supported on the drive shaft. The driven clutch plate functions to drive the various driven parts of the forage wagon. In the normal operating condition, a drive pin, aligned parallel to the axis of the drive shaft, is received through bores in both the drive plate and the driven plate such that the driven plate rotates with the drive plate.

Abstract: A method for producing metal flake of small length-to-width ratio or small length-to-thickness ratio directly from a pool or like source of molten metal or molten inorganic compound, or from an unconfined drop of molten metal or an unconfined drop of molten inorganic compound having a surface tension and viscosity similar to that of molten metal, consisting of forming such products by the application of a rotating, generally circular serrated edge, heat-extracting disk-like member to the surface of the pool of molten material so as to form the material into discrete flake particles by extracting the flake particles from the supply of molten material; and controlling the final shape of the product by the physical shape of the member, the temperature and material composition of the melt, as well as the velocity of the member in contact with the melt.

Abstract: A grinder for material wherein a series of hollow balls is entrained for rotational movement between an upper ring and a lower ring, the rings being relatively rotatable about a control axis, and the balls being rotatable between the rings, and the material for grinding being fed into a zone between the balls and rings. The contact zone between the upper ring and each ball is defined by two annular lips and is substantially less than the contact zone between the lower ring and each ball.

Abstract: An improved rainshed binder is disclosed for protecting a book from environmental weather conditions. The binder has first and second covers each of which have rainshed protecting walls connected to inside surface side edges of the covers. An integral binder backbone connects the first and second covers. The backbone has a pair of linear polyethylene hinges positioned inwardly of outer rigid, non-flexible corners of the backbone. The backbone connects in integral manner with the first and second covers at the rigid corners. An attachment plate secures the book to be protected to the backbone between the flexible hinges. The rigid corners of the backbone are free to flex relative to the book attachment plate by the provision of the hinges. The binder is designed to hang downwardly in closed fashion when the book is not in use.

Abstract: A mold for producing anisotropic permanent magnets consists of a cavity defined by a thin-walled tubular lining element closely surrounded by an electrical field coil, reinforced by a metal ring enclosing the field coil so that a magnetic field of a given strength can be generated in the cavity with less power than in the case of the conventional field coil normally positioned at a relatively greater distance from the interior of the cavity. The lining element can be composed of a non-metallic material such as a ceramic, or sintered Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.

Abstract: A system for the manufacture of animal feed from food waste wherein the food waste is ground, sterilized, and then dried in a drum dryer wherein an even and continuous drying process is effected by feed control and by zone regulating the temperature of the surface of the drums of the dryer.