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:
Sep. 10, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 29, 2000
Michael R. Thering, Austin, TX (US);
Joseph B. Gault, Austin, TX (US);
John Straigis, Stanford, CA (US);
Matthew R. Thomas, Austin, TX (US);
William C. May, Austin, TX (US);
Applied Science Fiction, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
Multiple widths of fluid may be extruded onto portions of material without requiring a complex reconfiguration of the system or replacing the extruding device. In at least one embodiment, various extrusion widths are provided by altering the angle at which materials are guided with respect to the extruding device along a lateral plane with the extruder. In one embodiment, the present invention provides for the manipulation of the position of the extruding device with respect to the material, or alternately, by manipulation of the position of the material with respect to the extruding device. Another embodiment provides a single extruder with multiple applicator heads of different sizes. An additional embodiment provides a single coater head with multiple applicator openings of different sizes. Yet another embodiment provides an extruding device capable of moving laterally over the material to achieve the proper angle of approach. The preferred embodiment of the invention involves developing multiple film sizes; in particular, applying a first extrusion width on C135 film and applying a second extrusion width on APS film; however, the invention can be applied to applying fluids on multiple film and/or material configurations.