Patent ID: 6158883
Filing Date: 2000-12-12
Classification: B29C

Abstract:
A gear extruder for plasticizing and homogenizing mixtures, comprising:an extruder housing having a feed opening, an outlet opening, and chambers formed therein, each of said chambers encompassed by two parallel walls spaced by a substantially cylindrical wall;a pair of toothed gears, each gear of said pair of gears being located within a different one of said chambers in said extruder housing, each of said gears being rotatable on a respective axis and having teeth that mesh with the other gear in a teeth-meshing area, each gear also having lateral side faces perpendicular to their respective axis of rotation;each of said gears being disposed such that its lateral side faces are parallel to the two parallel walls of its respective chamber, and such that when a mixture is fed from said feed opening into a disengaging side of said teeth-meshing area, the mixture is carried along a majority of the circumference of the cylindrical walls of said chambers and such that the mixture flows in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axes of the gears; andat least one chamber being vented by at least one gas vent port located within one of the two parallel walls of the chamber, said gas vent port being positioned adjacent to a section of the substantially cylindrical wall of the chamber such that gaps between non-meshing gear teeth confronting said section may be directly vented by said gas vent port.