Patent ID: 6776602
Filing Date: 2004-08-17
Classification: B29C,B29K,B33Y,C08K,G05B,Y10T

Abstract:
A filament cassette for supplying filament to a modeling machine that builds three-dimensional objects by extruding modeling material supplied in the form of a filament and made flowable when heated, comprising:a dried chamber containing a rotatable spool of coiled filament; a filament path leading from the chamber to an exit orifice; means for preventing air flow to the chamber; and a pair of rollers for advancing a filament strand from the spool along the filament path, said rollers being mounted opposite one another along the filament path so as grip the filament strand therebetween, wherein each roller in said pair of rollers is passive and one roller in said pair is a follower roller that is accessible to receive an external drive force, and wherein the follower roller has a floating axis of rotation in a direction perpendicular to the filament path, allowing the follower roller to move away from the filament path in the absence of an external applied force, thereby relieving pressure on a filament strand in the filament path.