Abstract: Method and apparatus for shaping of mats composed of loose fibers with a thermosetting resin interspersed throughout. The apparatus compresses the mat and exposes its laterally extending surfaces to elevated temperatures to obtain partial curing thereof. Slits are made in the surface regions adjacent areas where extra shaping will occur in forming the final product. These slits enable more precise shapes to be impressed upon the mat and eliminate the tendency of the partially cured areas to spring back to a position of lesser compression.

Abstract: Apparatus for forming thin pieces of dough material are disclosed. Dough, e.g. masa, used in preparing chip-type food products, can be formed into a sheet, the sheet cut into the desired shaped pieces and the pieces removed from the sheeting and cutting operations and delivered for further processing and frying prior to packaging. The dough is delivered in bulk to a nip between two rolls where it is formed into a sheet as the dough passes between the rolls. Downstream of the nip the sheet is removed from one roll and adheres to the second roll which is engaged by a cutter. The removal is insured by the application of gas pressure from within the first roll. The resulting cut pieces of dough are removed from the second roll by the application of gas pressure from within the roll, and the cut pieces are thereby delivered to a take-away conveyor for passage to further processing and frying operations.

Abstract: An improved method and apparatus is disclosed for shaping and forming plastic foams as a foamable extrudate is extruded through the orifice, preferably arcuate, of an extrusion die. Immediately adjacent and downstream of the die orifice are opposed sets of curved rollers, each having substantially the same center of curvature as the die orifice. The roller set on one side of the extrudate pass line is adjustable as a set with respect to and substantially parallel to the pass line, while the rollers of the set on the opposite side are adjustable individually each to float with controlled pressure against the extrudate as it expands and moves between the roller sets. Each roller is comprised of a plurality of thin, cylindrical, circular wafers which are drivingly interconnected and journaled on curved core shafts.

Abstract: A rotatable perforated molding element for embossing and/or perforating thermoplastic sheet or film, the molding element including a series of perforated strips having two parallel sides and two parallel ends, the strips being wrapped about a supporting drum in a manner such that the ends of the molding strips lie in a plane generally perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the molding element and the sides of the adjacent strips contact each other, and a method for connecting the rotatable perforated molding element to a supporting drum including wrapping a series of perforated strips having two parallel sides and two parallel ends about the supporting drum in a manner such that the ends of the molding element lie in a plane generally perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the molding element and the sides of the adjacent strips contact each other, and securing the ends of the strips to the drum.

Abstract: A rotatable perforated molding element for embossing and/or perforating thermoplastic sheet or film, the molding element including a series of perforated strips having two parallel sides and two parallel ends, the sides being perpendicular to the ends, each of the strips being welded at the end prior to placing the strips on a supporting drum. Additional strips are placed on the drum until the desired area of the drum is covered with the strips.

Abstract: There is described in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a process and apparatus for bi-axially stretching a tubularly-formed sheet of thermoplastic material in a first station and a plurality of second stations wherein the first and second stations are provided with sets of rolls having generally sinosoidally-shaped grooves perpendicular and parallel, respectively, to the axis of each set of rolls to produce bags of improved strip tensile breaking length.

Abstract: Press racking, or lateral movement of the movable portions of a press, occurs in certain particleboard processes during heating and pressing of the panels. It is attributed to shingling of wood particles during the formation of a mat. To eliminate or reduce the movement of the press, the mat is subjected to rolling engagement by a relatively small diameter roll located between the forming apparatus and the press. The roll subjects the mat to a downward rolling pressure. The peripheral roll surface is in contact with the newly formed upper surface of the mat and has a linear speed and direction of movement identical to the speed and direction of movement of the mat support. A resulting wave action within the mat is caused by shear and displacement forces applied to the wood particles, such that the shingled nature of the mat is modified to reduce or eliminate resulting lateral movement of the press components.

Abstract: Thin-walled articles of thermoplastic material are formed in a continuous apparatus starting with heating and extruding granular thermoplastic raw material in the form of a continuous web which is immediately stabilized by rapid cooling of its opposite surfaces and the stabilized web wherein the material sandwiched between the precooled outer surface layers remains at or near extrusion temperature is fed into a thermal forming station wherein shaping tools form the articles in the web without the need for further heating of the web. Adjustments are provided for correlating the cooling action to different materials and web feed rates, for varying the web feed rates and increments, and for varying the shaping tool movements to adapt for different materials and sizes of articles. After the formed articles are separated from the web the web residue is fed back to be mixed with incoming raw material at the extrusion station.

Abstract: Apparatus for making a stable block from paper including means for providing a plurality of moist paper fragments, means for roughening the outer surface of a group of the moist paper fragments, and means for compressing the group of paper fragments to form the group of paper fragments into a stable block without the addition of an adhesive.

Abstract: The surface of a mouldable material such as wet cement is shaped to a desired configuration by a profile forming device moved longitudinally relative to the material and rotated about an axis transverse to the direction of bodily movement. The profile forming device is eccentrically mounted or otherwise shaped to produce cyclic variation in level in the longitudinal direction and has a variable configuration along its length to provide a transverse variation in level of the surface. The profile forming device is driven at a speed to cause rubbing over the surface. It may also be moved bodily in a cyclic manner in the direction of its axis and/or away from and towards the surface.

Abstract: A mat formed of a mixture of board particles and a bonding agent is conveyed to oppositely rotating rollers which compress said mat to a desired thickness as the mat passes therethrough. A conveyor associated with the rollers is provided for carrying the compressed mat between a pair of platens mounted in a fixed relationship with respect to the continuously moving mat. As it passes between the platens, the mat is supported by a fluid bearing and is exposed to heat to cure the bonding agent. The platens are internally divided into separate subcompartments. The pressure in these subcompartments is regulated such that the mat is subjected to controlled pressures as it moves past the platens.

Abstract: An apparatus for forming a cross-oriented film which apparatus includes a device for maintaining the temperature of a thermoplastic synthetic resin tubular film below the melting point, and above the secondary transition temperature thereof, a twist-preventing device for pressing and feeding the tubular film in the film-forming direction, a cross-orientation device for holding the tubular film and for rotating the same, while vertically disposed, relative to the film-forming direction at a peripheral speed two or more times as fast as the feeding speed of the twist-preventing device, and a take-up device for successively flattening the tubular film into two layers.

Abstract: A mat formed of a mixture of board particles and a bonding agent is conveyed to oppositely rotating rollers which compress said mat to a desired thickness as the mat passes therethrough. A conveyor associated with the rollers is provided for carrying the compressed mat between a pair of platens mounted in a fixed relationship with respect to the continuously moving mat. As it passes between the platens, the mat is supported by a fluid bearing and is exposed to heat to cure the bonding agent.