Patent ID: 8211349

Claim:
A method of working a rubber vulcanization machine wherein the machine includes means for plasticizing and injecting a rubber material in a fluid state to thereby create a flow of liquid material within a flow channel in which the material does not set in use, the flow channel having at least one outlet in communication with an internal volume of a mold in which the material is to set, the flow channel being provided with at least one inverter device for changing a flow path of the liquid material along the flow channel to thereby invert a radial temperature profile in the flow of the liquid material between an upstream zone and a downstream zone of the flow channel and wherein the at least one inverter device includes a plurality of first convergent channels for directing a first stream of the flow of liquid material from opposite peripheral sides of the upstream zone of the flow channel toward a center of the downstream zone of the flow channel and which first convergent channels have inlets facing the upstream zone of the flow channel and outlets facing toward the center of the downstream zone of the flow channel, and wherein the at least one inverter device also includes a plurality of second divergent channels for directing a second stream of the flow of liquid material from a center of the upstream zone of the flow channel toward the peripheral sides of the downstream zone of the flow channel and which second divergent channels have inlets facing the upstream zone of the flow channel and outlets diverging toward the opposite peripheral sides of the downstream zone of the flow channel, the method including the steps of: A. Causing the rubber material to flow through the flow channel and then, via the at least one outlet, into the internal volume of the mold, towards at least one cavity, and B. Adjusting a number and/or locations of the inverter devices and/or the operating conditions of flow of liquid rubber material to control the radial temperature profile of the material in order to invert the radial distribution of the temperature profile.