The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 22, 1985
Filed:
Nov. 23, 1983
Ernest C Holdredge, Jr, Warrenville, IL (US);
Techplastics, Inc., West Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method are disclosed which greatly facilitate molding of plastic material in the form of structural foam. The invention contemplates the provision of a valve-like mixing nozzle assembly which is selectively operable to control the flow of plastic material into an injection mold. Significantly, the nozzle assembly includes a mixing turbine rotatably mounted in the flow path of the plastic material. Notably, the turbine is driven by the plastic material itself as the material is driven into the mold assembly, and thus desirably provides intense mixing of the material during injection. This mixing action can be advantageously employed for effecting dispersion and/or expansion of the blowing agent carried by the plastic material for greatly enhanced control and flexibility in molding structural foam articles. Additionally, the illustrated embodiment of the invention includes an arrangement for injecting blowing agent into the plastic material at the mixing nozzle assembly itself, thus offering users of the invention further flexibility for efficiently forming structural foam articles of different configurations.