Patent ID: 7045101

Claim:
An apparatus for preparing a polymer under predetermined temperature conditions comprising a plurality of closed reaction chambers, each chamber configured as a void space surrounded by an inner chamber surface of which at least about 75 percent is an effective heat exchange surface, the void space's dimensions being such that, if a polymerization mixture were polymerized within the reaction chamber, the polymerization mixture would contact the effective heat exchange surface sufficiently to ensure that the temperature of the polymerization mixture can be controlled within about 5 degrees Fahrenheit of a desired temperature during the polymerization, the reaction chambers being capable of being reversibly opened to an extent sufficient to enable removal of solid polymer that has formed therein as a result of the polymerization wherein each reaction chamber is formed of a pair of opposing, substantially planar heat exchange plates, at least one of which has a peripheral lip, the plates arranged in parallel such that the peripheral lip reversibly contacts a surface of the opposing plate to form the closed reaction chamber, the peripheral lip determining the shortest distance across the void space between the opposing plates.