Patents by Inventor Tom E. Estep

Tom E. Estep has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Process and apparatus for mechanically mixing polymers and lower viscosity fluids
    Patent number: 5816700
    Abstract: A mixing apparatus for continuously generating a homogeneous mixture of a polymer and a less viscous fluid is provided. The mixer includes means for continuously injecting a viscous polymer into a pressure vessel; means for continuously injecting a lower viscosity fluid into the pressure vessel; means for continuously injecting a plasticizing agent into the viscous polymer entering the pressure vessel; high shear centrifugal mixing means within the pressure vessel for mixing the polymer and the less viscous fluid; drive means for rotating the rotational mixing means; heating means for maintaining the temperature of the substances being mixed in the pressure vessel at a desired mixing temperature; and means for continuously discharging a homogeneous mixture of the polymer, the plasticizing agent, and the less viscous fluid from the mixer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1998
    Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
    Inventors: Charles Wesley Starke, Sr., Don Mayo Coates, Tom E. Estep, Arthur William Etchells, III, Ashok H. Shah, Edgar W. Slocum