Patent ID: 7603793

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a honeycomb structured body, comprising: manufacturing a pillar-shaped honeycomb molded body through molding of a ceramic material, the honeycomb molded body having a structure in which a number of cells are placed in parallel with one another in the longitudinal direction with a partition wall therebetween; preparing a honeycomb fired body by firing the honeycomb molded body; manufacturing a honeycomb aggregated body by integrating a plurality of said honeycomb fired bodies with one another by interposing a sealing material paste layer that is formed on the side face of the honeycomb fired body thereafter; carrying out an end-face drying to dry at least an end face neighborhood of the honeycomb aggregated body by an end-face heating apparatus; and further drying the entire sealing material paste layer on the side face of said honeycomb fired body, wherein said end-face heating apparatus comprises a heating tool, a heating tool translation device and a holding jig, and said end-face drying comprises: holding said honeycomb aggregated body with said holding jig; translating said heating tool with said heating tool translation device thereafter; and pressing said heating tool against an end face of said honeycomb aggregated body to apply heat to the end face neighborhood of said honeycomb aggregated body so that the sealing material paste layer at the end face neighborhood is dried.