Abstract: A shaft seal assembly for sealing along a rotor shaft is provided. The shaft seal assembly includes a seal housing, annular inner and outer seal members, an annular middle element, and an end plate. The seal housing has a seal member bore and a shaft bore. The annular inner and outer seal members are configured to be disposed in the seal member bore. The middle element is disposed between the inner seal member and the outer seal member within the seal member bore. The end plate is attached to the seal housing and covers a portion of the seal member bore. The middle element biases the inner seal member against the seal housing and biases the outer seal member against the end plate.

Abstract: A shaft seal assembly for sealing along a rotor shaft is provided. The shaft seal assembly includes a seal housing, annular inner and outer seal members, an annular middle element, and an end plate. The seal housing has a seal member bore and a shaft bore. The annular inner and outer seal members are configured to be disposed in the seal member bore. The middle element is disposed between the inner seal member and the outer seal member within the seal member bore. The end plate is attached to the seal housing and covers a portion of the seal member bore. The middle element biases the inner seal member against the seal housing and biases the outer seal member against the end plate.

Abstract: A one-piece barrel for a hot-fed extruder extends from drive means at its upstream end to its discharge mouth near the downstream end of the feed screw. This one-piece extruder barrel has a split-level, in-feed opening adapted for connecting a strong, reinforcing converging hopper in close tolerance therewith for feeding molten plastic into the extruder barrel through this in-feed opening. A feed screw propels along the barrel molten plastic fed into the barrel through the in-feed opening. The barrel is a one-piece, integral, strong, cylindrical member with an axial bore whose entire length may be finish machined at one time. Such one-time finishing of the entire bore of a barrel is not possible in prior hot-fed extruder barrels, because they were built up from multiple sections assembled end-to-end to form the whole barrel.

Abstract: Flowable molten plastic material is fed downwardly into an adjustable converging hopper mounted on a horizontal extruder barrel. This hopper is positioned around an opening feeding down into the barrel for guiding and deflecting a descending "rope" of plastic material into engagement with screw flights of a rotating feed screw extending along the axis of the extruder barrel. The hopper comprises a box-like structure open at top and bottom and having two opposed side walls which slope inwardly downwardly toward each other for providing a downwardly converging configuration with a pair of vertical parallel end walls interconnecting the side walls. A larger of the two sloping side walls extends downwardly farther than the other and is inclined to vertical at a large angle than the shorter side wall.