Patent ID: 7467452

Claim:
A method for applying a flowable material to a component of an article of manufacture, the method comprising: providing a first surface of the component; and extruding the flowable material upon the first surface in a slightly flowable state, using an extruder including an ectruder screw such that the flowable material wets and adheres to the first surface wherein: i) a controller employs closed loop control to control output of flowable material based upon a metering system that relates screw rotational speed of the extruder and positioning angle of the extruder to the output; ii) the output of the flowable material from the extruder has been experimentally related to the positioning angle of the extruder and the rotational speed of the extruder screw for creating an output profile that is programmed to the controller; iii) the profile relates the desired amount of flowable material output over time and the desired positioning angle of the extruder, to the desired rotational speed of the extruder screw for a chosen component; iv) as the flowable material is output, data regarding the angle of the extruder and the rotational speed of the extruder screw are monitored via sensors; and v) an amount of torque applied to the extruder screw is either raised, lowered or maintained such that the output of flowable material or the rotational speed of the extruder screw closely mirrors the output profile.