Abstract: A surgical buttress-dispensing assembly configured for releasably engaging a surgical stapling device. The surgical buttress-dispensing assembly comprises an one-piece cartridge for receiving and engaging therein an elongate buttress strip, and a carrier configured to slidingly receive, engage, and discharge the cartridge. The cartridge comprises a cylindrical end portion from which extends a pair of opposed elongate semi-circular sleeves. The cylindrical end portion is configured to slidingly received therethrough the closed closed jaws of a surgical stapler. The semi-circular sleeves are configured such that each sleeve slidingly communicates and cooperates with one of the stapler's jaws. The elongate edges of the sleeves are configured to engage and retain therewith the elongate edges of a surgical buttress strip. The carrier is engaged with a cartridge having a buttress strip installed onto the opposed sleeves, and is manipulated to slide and mount the cartridge onto the jaws of a surgical stapler.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for the pulverization of vulcanized rubber pea-size pellets. The apparatus consists of a barrel entrance, an extruder forcing section, a multiple rotor barrier section and an end discharge which presents the extrusion to a high speed wire brush-like member which shatters the extrusion into extreme small pieces. The hopper forcing section is provided with an extremely long hopper opening the design of which permits an insert which completes the barrel bore to 360 degrees. By adding inserts, the length of the forcing section is adjustable and adiabatic extrusion can be achieved. The now adjustable forcing section is followed by a section of rotor barriers, which consist of a wide top diagonal barrier crossing the extruder groove in a manner which requires all of the process material to pass through the clearance barrier top to barrel bore. The wide top barriers are provided with a set of circumferential grooves which start at capacity and end downstream at zero capacity.

Abstract: An extrusion apparatus for processing, mixing and extruding thermoplastic and rubber materials includes a feed hopper feeding two barrier type extruders. Extrusion rotors include diagonal grooves with a barrier that has a restrictive clearance or gap relative to the extruder barrel bore. Fine material can pass through this gap, but larger material is led to a downstream end of the grooves. An abrasive barrel surface opposite the downstream end of the grooves grinds this larger material until it can pass or lead off through the smaller gap. Stationary knives located downstream of the abrasive section cut the exiting material into flakes. The barrel and barrier sections are conical and the size of the gap can be changed by relative movement between the barrel and the barriers. The extruders can operate adiabatically so that there is no change in extrusion temperature with speed and the volume of process flow.

Abstract: An apparatus for shearing and straining polymeric process material, such a scrap tires includes a rotor and barrel. Large material pieces are feed into a hopper and the material is warmed, pressurized and transported to a rotor--barrel transfer section to initially chop the material to reduce its size. The material then passes to a rotor barrier or refining section where the material must pass over wide top barriers that extend across extrusion grooves. The barriers included multiple ridges and the barrier to bore clearance is progressively reduced as the material passes downstream. Ramp like grooves, where rejected material can be worked further, precede the barrier ridges. A rotor to barrel transfer section, having a conical barrel that can be longitudinally shifted, follows the wide top barriers, so the size to the discharged material can be regulated.

Abstract: An extruder apparatus for use in straining refining, separating and extruding thermo-plastic and rubber like process material includes a rotor positioned in barrel with a barrier section located between two barrel sections. The portion of the rotor in the barrier section has a smooth surface and the smooth surface and the barrier section are conical. The barrier section includes receiving and sending grooves separated by barriers. All material passing through the barrier section passes between the barriers and the smooth rotor section. Longitudinal movement of the smooth rotor section changes the clearance between the barriers and the rotor to restrict flow between a maximum flow and a closed position. The clearance can be adjusted so that different materials can be extruded in the same apparatus and adiabatic flow can be achieved. Discharge ports at the downstream end of the receiving grooves port rejected material to atmosphere.

Abstract: Side by side extruders provide an extrusion apparatus which has an imposed order of longitudinal displacement of the process material in relation to itself so that cross-shearing is directed to newly aligned material in a manner which achieves volumetric blending with little unproductive shearing. The extrusion apparatus mixes and extrudes polymer like materials with as little waste shearing as possible, so as to preserve the viscosity of the polymer materials and to produce a uniformity processed material of the highest quality possible from the starting materials.

Abstract: An extrusion apparatus or extruder for mixing and extruding of thermo-plastic and rubber like process materials has a rotor member rotatable within the bore of a barrel member. Interposed between the feed end and the discharge end, the rotor and barrel members are provided with one or more mixing stages, consisting of process material transfers, rotor to barrel, barrel to enlarged rotor, enlarged rotor to enlarged barrel, enlarged barrel to enlarged rotor, enlarged rotor to barrel and barrel to rotor. Each process material transfer has the rotor or barrel member provided with multiple grooves which communicate with co-acting receiving rotor or barrel member multiple grooves. Each revolution of the rotor transfers process material from each sending groove to all of the co-acting receiving grooves, an action which reduces the thickness of the transferred material in the ratio of one to ten.

Abstract: An extrusion apparatus having a rotor member rotatable within a barrel member longitudinal and cross-sectionally mixes and extrudes thermo-plastic and thermo-setting materials. The apparatus is articulated into sections including a barrel entrance and forcing section, a blending section, and an end discharge section. The barrel entrance and forcing section consists of helical extrusion grooves which terminate at an abrupt rotor to barrel and barrel to rotor material transfers. The blending section recognizes that blending is volumetric i.e. three-dimensional and therefore longitudinal displacement of the material in relation to itself is one of the dimensions. Longitudinal displacement is accomplished in the blending section by providing a double extrusion capacity main extrusion rotor and a single capacity backfeed rotor arranged to recirculate half of the material processed by the main stream rotor.

Abstract: The apparatus is for shredding and straining thermo plastic and rubber like materials to produce clear polymer pellets separated from oversize foreign materials, more particularly an apparatus provided with a hopper and forcing section adapted to feed hot or cold selected process materials into a shredding or granulating section which is adapted to granulate vulcanized rubber to pellets so small that they cannot harbor oversize materials or contaminates. The granulating section feeds warmed and under high pressure process material to the straining section which features multiple circumferential openings, adjustable in width in 0.0005 inch graduations, which lead off the fine and fluent phase materials and redirect the oversize and less fluent material to a separate discharge port. To avoid plugging the entrances to the circumferential openings of the straining section are composed of multiple plates, one set of which is stationary and secured to the barrel member.

Abstract: An extrusion apparatus is provided for the mixing and extrusion of thermo-plastic and thermo-setting materials and the pelletizing of thermo-set materials, in which a rotor member is rotatable within a barrel member. The apparatus is articulated into three sections including a barrel entrance section, a forcing section and a metering section. Each section is provided with helical rotor extrusion grooves, and is followed by a circumferential barrier and a rotor to barrel to rotor mixing zone. The circumferential barrier is provided with a clearance, barrier top to barrel bore, designed to pass fluent material and retarding the over-size and less fluent material. The leading edge of the circumferential barrier is provided with multiple dual purpose plows which, direct the fluent material downstream and the over-size and less fluent material upstream for additional working.

Abstract: An extrusion apparatus is provided for the mixing and extrusion of thermo-plastic and thermo-setting materials and the pelletizing of thermo-set materials, in which a rotor member is rotatable within a barrel member. The apparatus is articulated into three sections including a barrel entrance section, a forcing section and a metering section. Each section is provided with helical rotor extrusion grooves, and is followed by a circumferential barrier and a rotor to barrel to rotor transfer zone. The circumferential barrier is provided with a clearance, barrier top to barrel bore, designed to pass fluent material and retarding the over-size and less fluent material. The leading edge of the circumferential barrier is provided with multiple dual purpose plows which, direct the fluent material down-stream and the over-size and less fluent material up-stream for additional working.

Abstract: The apparatus is for the extrusion of thermoplastic and rubber-like materials, more particularly an apparatus which has a feed means or hopper adapted for hot or cold feed of the selected materials. The apparatus has an extruder screw-type forcing zone followed by a straining refining zone, a straining means adjustable to the acceptable particle size and arranged to refine agglomerates to the acceptable particle size, and numerous circumferential grooves which inherently develop the fast forward flow of the fluent phase material and is arranged to place the developed fluent phase material at the entrances to the straining or refining openings. The apparatus has an adequate straining opening length to provide for full extrusion capacity; intensively shears and leads off all of the process material, crossing the tooth top once only thereby achieving uniformity of processing.

Abstract: An extruder, including a rotor and a barrel having a mixing or working section therein, in which all of the material being worked is in barrel grooves and is moved only in a circumferential direction by a smooth cylindrical rotor. The barrel groove consists of wide tapering in depth area, which starts deep and progressively decreases in depth to the downstream end where the depth is restrictive to oversize and viscous material. Well worked material passing the barrier is separated from and directed downstream, thus providing fast forward flow of the fluent phase material, minimizing the rework of already worked material and exposing the less worked material to extruder action. The tapering depth area coacting with the smooth rotor generates progressively high pressure, and an increasing shear rate along its length and thereby provides the ideal conditions for dispersing powdered chemicals into the polymer.

Abstract: The apparatus is for the continuous mixing of rubber like polymers with chemical additives to form a homogeneous compound, using minimum unproductive work, such as mixing already mixed material, or massive batch blending to correct lean and rich mixtures previously produced. The apparatus consists of a feeding means adapted to continuously and uniformly advance baled polymer into a machine hopper provided with a multi-purpose rotor, adapted to cut the advancing bale into shreds, in the presence of the chemical additives, mix the shredded polymer with the chemical additives and advance the resulting compound into a continuous mixing means. Mixing with minimum waste motion is expected to produce a superior compound not possible to obtain with present day production equipment.

Abstract: The apparatus is for the mixing and refining of rubber-like materials, either hot or cold feed, and some thermoplastic materials. It comprises an elongated cylindrical barrel member and an elongated rotor member, disposed coaxially in the interior of said barrel member. The rotor member is provided with a concentric bore, at its downstream end in which a stationary screw-like member is coaxially disposed. Means are provided for relative rotational movement of the rotor member, to the barrel member and to the stationary screw-like member in the treating and axial advancement of the process material. With such a construction, the barrel, rotor and screw-like members have a feed end, a forcing zone, a mixing and refining zone, a stationary screw-like member and discharge end, interposed between the ends of the apparatus. The rotor member of the forcing zone is provided with extrusion grooves or groove, capable of warming, pressurizing and transporting the process material to the mixing and refining zone.

Abstract: The apparatus is for the straining and processing of plastic and rubber like materials and has a rotor rotatably mounted in the bore of a cylindrical barrel and operable to move process material, from one end of the bore to the other, to progressively heat, develop pressure, transport and separate the fine and fluent from the oversize and less fluent process material and to discharge the separated materials from different ports.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for the mixing and extruding of thermo-plastic and thermo-setting materials in which a rotor member is rotatable within a barrel member. The members are provided with interacting rotor and barrel helical grooves in the mixing stage of the apparatus which includes a rotor to barrel stock transfer zone and a barrel to rotor stock transfer zone. The grooves of the rotor and barrel members, in the rotor to barrel zone, being sized, with the extrusion capacity of the helical groove in the rotor member decreasing and with the helical groove in the barrel member providing the extrusion capacity for the material. With such a construction relative rotational movement between the barrel and rotor members forces material or stock from the groove in the rotor member into the groove of the barrel member at an approximate uniform rate along the length of the rotor to barrel zone.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for coating a fabric with elastomeric stock, wherein improved impregnation of the interstices of the fabric is achieved, the method comprising concomitantly feeding both elastomeric stock and a fabric in pressurized contact with one another between mutually confronting stationary and movable surfaces. The mutually confronting surfaces converge toward one another and cooperatively define a pressure chamber terminating in a restriction orifice. The movable surface is driven in a direction of feed of both the stock and fabric to frictionally carry and wedge both into and through the pressure chamber, thereby causing the interstices of the fabric to be increasingly impregnated by the stock.