Treating With Mechanical Action And In The Absence Of A Chemically Reactive Additive Or Solvent Patents (Class 521/45.5)
  • Patent number: 6756412
    Abstract: Fiber reinforced recycled thermoplastic composites and methods for their manufacture are presented. In a preferred embodiment, the thermoplastic composite incorporates a matrix of recycled thermoplastic and a plurality of high modulus, reinforcing fibers, with the recycled thermoplastic including polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, PET and styrene-butadiene rubber, and the reinforcing fibers including glass fibers, natural fibers, carbon fibers, and aramid fibers. Preferably, each of the reinforcing fibers has a minimum length of approximately ½ of an inch and a modulus of approximately one million psi.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2004
    Assignee: Georgia Composites, Inc.
    Inventor: John D. Muzzy
  • Patent number: 6723759
    Abstract: Disclosed is a recycled resin composition having physical properties, a feeding property as well as a moldability which are by no means inferior as compared with the raw material resin composition, even when a ratio of recycled material in recycled resin composition used as molding material is increased. A recycled resin composition obtained by compounding a mixture containing (a) a raw material resin, (b) at least one kind of additives for resin, and (c) a pulverized material of a recovered molded article generated at the time of molding of a raw material resin composition comprising (a) said raw material resin and (b) said at least one kind of additives for resin and/or a recycled resin composition comprising (a) said raw material resin and (b) said at least one kind of additives for resin, is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2004
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation
    Inventors: Kunihiro Takenaka, Tsutomu Yonekura, Toshiyuki Furuya, Shigeru Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 6664304
    Abstract: This invention provides a process for producing fine rubber powders by using waste rubber, comprising the steps of pre-pulverizing waste rubber into particles with a size of 1-4 mm; soaking the particles in a solvent selected from one or more alcohols and/or ethers; and pulverizing the soaked rubber particles into rubber powders with a size of less than 180 &mgr;m. The process according to the invention is an ideal method in industry due to its low costs and without pollution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2003
    Inventor: Shuhua Pang
  • Patent number: 6632918
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a method of reclaiming crosslinked rubber, which can reclaim various kinds of crosslinked rubbers whose reclamation is difficult. The method of reclaiming crosslinked rubber 10 of the present invention includes a step of reclaiming crosslinked rubber by applying shear stress to the crosslinked rubber 10, wherein the maximum pressure in the reclaiming step is 1.5 MPa or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2003
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho, Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Mitsumasa Matsushita, Makoto Mouri, Hirotaka Okamoto, Kenzo Fukumori, Norio Sato, Masahito Fukuta, Hidenobu Honda, Katsumi Nakashima, Tamotsu Watanabe, Shigeki Otsuka, Masao Owaki
  • Patent number: 6579950
    Abstract: A rubber waste disposal apparatus processing rubber waste such as an old tire efficiently includes a casing, a rubber waste deformation unit provided in the casing to subject rubber waste to deformation, and an ozone-containing gas supply unit supplying ozone-containing gas into the casing. The rubber waste deformation unit includes a pair of cylindrical rollers having a plurality of protrusions projecting outwards, capable of sandwiching rubber waste at the gap therebetween, and a distance setting unit that can set the distance of the gap between the cylindrical rollers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2003
    Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuyuki Nishioka, Kiyoshige Muraoka, Jun Nishibayashi
  • Patent number: 6566412
    Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed for recovering the rubber content of rubber containing goods such as vehicle tires. The goods are purged of air and immersed in a bath of liquid heated to a temperature sufficient to melt the rubber. The rubber being insoluble in the bath and of less density than the bath, it rises to the surface of the bath and is removed. The process employs a perforated process tube in which the goods are passed in the bath.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2003
    Inventor: Lee H. Varner
  • Publication number: 20030087973
    Abstract: Fiber reinforced recycled thermoplastic composites and methods for their manufacture are presented. In a preferred embodiment, the thermoplastic composite incorporates a matrix of recycled thermoplastic and a plurality of high modulus, reinforcing fibers, with the recycled thermoplastic including polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, PET and styrene-butadiene rubber, and the reinforcing fibers including glass fibers, natural fibers, carbon fibers, and aramid fibers. Preferably, each of the reinforcing fibers has a minimum length of approximately ½ of an inch and a modulus of approximately one million psi.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2002
    Publication date: May 8, 2003
    Inventor: John D. Muzzy
  • Patent number: 6548561
    Abstract: In a method for recovering pure PVC from pre-disintegrated PVC containing substance mixtures, the substance mixture is soaked in a swelling agent for PVC, is supplied under pressure into an arrangement of at least two sequential hydrocyclones, wherein, in the first hydrocyclone, a heavy fraction of impurities is separated in the sink flow and a light fraction of swelled PVC particles and light impurities and plastic particles are separated in the rising flow, wherein the pre-cleaned light fraction is sorted and the particle fraction comprising the swelled PVC particles and smaller plastic particles is fed to the second hydrocyclone in which the PVC particles are separated in the sink flow. The invention also describes a device for carrying out the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Assignee: P-TEC GmbH Polymertechnologie
    Inventors: Peter Müller, Alexander Baron von Heyking, Jurgen Leitzke
  • Patent number: 6548559
    Abstract: A new composition is formed by combining a reduced waste rubber, a heavy paraffin and a reduced waste thermoplastic, and then further reducing the resulting material while holding it at an elevated temperature. In preferred embodiments the rubber and thermoplastic are pre-processed by reduction to mesh sizes of about 0.25 inch and 0.5 inch respectively, and the paraffin is pre-processed by being fluidizing to have a viscosity of at most about 1.0 Centipoise. It is also contemplated that the rubber and paraffin can be advantageously combined with each other prior to inclusion of the thermoplastic, with the paraffin/rubber combination being heated to a temperature of about 220° F. to about 250° F. for about 3 minutes. It is still further contemplated that the combination of rubber, paraffin and thermoplastic can be heated to between about 360° F. and about 500° F.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2003
    Inventor: Robert Fish
  • Patent number: 6545060
    Abstract: The breakdown of crosslinked elastomers, including the devulcanization of crumb rubber, is achieved by exposing the elastomers to ultrasonic vibrations induced by magnetostriction transducers. The transducers are capable of a higher power output than ultrasound produced by piezoelectric transducers, and are able to withstand high temperatures and high-frequency vibrations to a significantly better degree.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2003
    Assignee: Redwood Rubber LLC
    Inventors: Andrey Aleksandrovich Ruhman, Vsevolod Fedosievich Kasanzev, Vyacheslav Nikolaevich Alenitchev, Sergei Aleksandrovich Neduzhiy, Tom Faust
  • Patent number: 6489372
    Abstract: Polymer are removed from organic solvent-polymer mixtures by preparing a liquid-liquid dispersion of finely dispersed solvent droplets containing polymer in water, adding this liquid-liquid dispersion to a stirred vessel containing water or other suitable liquid and rapidly evaporating the solvent to produce a slurry of the polymer in a liquid from which the solid polymer particles are recovered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Qiwei He, Paul Russell Wilson, Paul William Buckley, Allen Wai Yee Ko, Larry Allen Divins, William Lee Gately, Ganesh Kailasam
  • Patent number: 6403718
    Abstract: A homogeneous powder mainly consisting of an elastic material, such as vulcanised rubber, is produced by first forming a composite body of larger particles of the elastic material, bound together by a thermoplastic material. The composite body is then subjected to mechanical treatment, e.g. grinding, producing a homogeneous powder having a particle size of less than 1.5 mm and consisting of up to about 80% by weigh of vulcanised rubber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2002
    Assignee: Rolf Innovations Corporation
    Inventor: Rolf Degerman
  • Patent number: 6391930
    Abstract: A device for destroying tires with metallic cords using electric discharges, which comprises an arrangement for cutting off tire sidewalls, an arrangement for delivering the tires with cut sidewalls for destruction, a tire destruction system in the shape of a pulse-discharge unit based on capacitors, which system is provided with an axially symmetrical means for connection to metallic cords in the form of two current conducting fixing members having the shape of truncated cones on the side of their working surfaces and means for discharging the products of destruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2002
    Inventors: Aleksandr Radiyevich Bedjukh, Tatyana Vasilyevna Parubochaya, Valeri Grigoryevich Butko
  • Patent number: 6387967
    Abstract: Fiber-reinforced recycled thermoplastic composites and methods for their manufacture are presented. In a preferred embodiment, the thermoplastic composite incorporates a matrix of recycled thermoplastic and a plurality of high modulus fibers, with the recycled thermoplastic including polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, PET and styrene-butadiene rubber, and the high modulus fibers including glass fibers, natural fibers, carbon fibers, and aramid fibers. Preferably, each of the high modulus fibers have a minimum length of approximately ½ of an inch and a modulus of approximately one million psi.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2002
    Assignee: Georgia Composites
    Inventors: John D. Muzzy, David W. Holty, Douglas C. Eckman, John R. Stoll
  • Patent number: 6384093
    Abstract: A method of enhancing the melt-processibility of crosslinked plastic or recycling crosslinked plastic and the products formed by these methods. The melt processibility of a crosslinked thermoplastic resin may be enhanced by mixing it with a low viscosity polymeric resin having a specified melt flow index relative to the melt flow index of the crosslinked thermoplastic resin, and exposing the mixture to mechanical shearing energy to produce a processed mixture having enhanced melt flow characteristics. The processed mixture may be subsequently mixed with thermoplastic polymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2002
    Assignee: Cryovac, Inc.
    Inventors: Larry Bourland, Richard A. Freundlich, Rudolph G. Nwana, Vincent W. Herran
  • Publication number: 20020002208
    Abstract: This relates variously to techniques for comminuting polymeric foams, to techniques for preparing polymeric foams containing that comminuted foam, and to the resulting comminuted foam powder and polymeric foams. The procedures may be used on foams containing production contaminants such as polyolefins, paper, and foam skins and on other foams containing consumer contaminants such as wood, metal, leather, etc. The comminuted foam powder, with or without contaminants, preferably is screened or sifted to obtain a foam powder having a particle size of about 2 mm or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2000
    Publication date: January 3, 2002
    Inventors: Bryan Martel, Robert Villwock, Herman Stone
  • Patent number: 6335377
    Abstract: Reclaimed rubber having excellent performance is applied for reuse in tires or for asphalt, etc. The reclaimed rubber obtained by devulcanization treatment of vulcanized rubber from discard tires, etc. has a proportion of sol to gel: 10-80%, a weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of the sol by gel permeation chromatography (GPC): 20,000-300,000, and a degree of swelling of the gel: 3.0-20.0. A process for reclaiming the vulcanized rubber is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2002
    Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventors: Ryuji Izumoto, Nobumitsu Ohshima
  • Patent number: 6329437
    Abstract: The universal building material for construction engineering is made from plastic waste material from any and all types of plastics and/or from newly made or fresh plastic materials and is used to make various improved building components, building elements or buildings. The material is environmentally friendly and does not cause any health problems. The material can be combined with other building materials and raw materials. It is also not easily inflammable and has very good heat transfer and thermal insulation properties. In addition, it is waterproof, weatherproof, and it can easily be worked with. The material also has the property that the waste that it produces is always reusable. It has also comparatively small financial and economical expenses during the production and fabrication. The material conserves natural resources and complies with legal requirements in the building industry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2001
    Inventors: Irvin G. Vincent, Ralf D. Weber
  • Patent number: 6271270
    Abstract: Fiber-reinforced recycled thermoplastic composites and methods for their manufacture are presented. In a preferred embodiment, the thermoplastic composite incorporates a matrix of recycled thermoplastic and a plurality of high modulus fibers, with the recycled thermoplastic including polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, PET and styrene-butadiene rubber, and the high modulus fibers including glass fibers, natural fibers, carbon fibers, and aramid fibers. Preferably, each of the high modulus fibers have a minimum length of approximately ½ of an inch and a modulus of approximately one million psi.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2001
    Assignee: Georgia Composites
    Inventors: John D. Muzzy, David W. Holty, Douglas C. Eckman, John R. Stoll
  • Patent number: 6228479
    Abstract: Articles of manufacture such as building materials are formed from recycled waste polymeric material including 15 to 50 percent aliphatic polyamide material. The articles are formed by chopping and granulating the waste polymeric material into fragments and extruding them at a temperature that is lower than the lowest melting point of the aliphatic polyamide material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2001
    Assignee: Collins & Aikman Floorcoverings, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen A. Zegler, Paul L. Weinle
  • Patent number: 6180685
    Abstract: A method of making polymeric particulates wherein polymeric scrap material, virgin polymeric material and mixtures thereof are supplied to intermeshing extruder screws which are rotated to transport the polymeric material along their length and subject the polymeric material to solid state shear pulverization and in-situ polymer compatibilization, if two or more incompatible polymers are present. Uniform pulverized particulates are produced without addition of a compatibilizing agent. The pulverized particulates are directly melt processable (as powder feedstock) and surprisingly yield a substantially homogeneous light color product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2001
    Assignee: Northwestern University
    Inventor: Klementina Khait