Patent ID: 7862762

Claim:
A method of manufacturing moulded articles, the method comprising the steps of: continuously running screw means in a barrel; feeding mouldable material to said barrel; plasticizing the mouldable material in said barrel in a single plasticizing procedure; incorporating reinforcing fibres in the mouldable material as the plasticizing procedure proceeds and providing a continuous supply of mouldable material with said fibres dispersed in it; directing the mouldable material with said fibres into first and second barrels, sequentially; urging the mouldable material with said fibres out of the first barrel and into a first moulding cavity by advancing a first piston along the first barrel in a forward stroke from a retracted position to a forward position, the face of the first piston which is leading during the forward stroke becoming part of the bounding wall of the first moulding cavity upon the first piston reaching the limit of its forward stroke; and then urging the mouldable material with said fibres out of the second barrel and into a second moulding cavity by advancing a second piston in a forward stroke along the second barrel from a retracted position to a forward position, the face of the second piston that is leading during the forward stroke becoming part of the bounding wall of the second moulding cavity upon the second piston reaching the limit of its forward travel; the pistons being advanced after the directing of the mouldable material with said fibres to the associated barrel.