Patent ID: 6902388

Claim:
An extrusion die assembly constructed to process a stream of flowing plastic from an upstream inlet to a downstream outlet, said inlet and said outlet being displaced longitudinally along an axis of said assembly, said extrusion die assembly comprising: a die body having a first bore extending longitudinally from the upstream to the downstream end of the assembly and an inlet constructed in the die body for receiving flowing plastic, said first bore also being constructed having recess at the downstream end; a tip element positioned within and coextensive with the first bore in alignment with the axis of the assembly, said tip element being constructed having second bore extending longitudinally from the upstream end to the downstream end of said tip element, to provide a passage for the processing of an elongated product; a die module assembled within the recess of the first bore, operatively associated with the tip to form the downstream outlet; a channel, formed by the cooperation of the die body, tip, and die, for distributing the flow of plastic from said inlet to said outlet; an adjustment module constructed in the die assembly to provide relative motion between said die and said tip, said adjustment module further comprising: a first mounting ring, having a first interface surface shaped as a portion of a hemisphere, said first interface surface having a first radius of curvature about a pivot center positioned upstream of said adjustment module; a second mounting ring, having a second interface surface shaped as a portion of a hemisphere, said second interface surface having a second radius curvature about said pivot center, said second radius of curvature being greater than said first radius of curvature; a pair of mating interface surfaces constructed on said die module, said mating interface surfaces formed with matching curvatures for engaging said first and second interface surfaces; wherein said interface surfaces are assembled form an adjustment interface which allows said die module to pivot about said pivot center, wherein, when assembled, said first and second hemispherical surfaces are arranged in parallel and spaced apart a distance equal to the difference in the first and second radii of curvatures and said pair of mating surfaces of said die module are positioned between said first and second interface surfaces; and an adjustment actuator positioned in said assembly to selectively exert a force on the die module at a position downstream of said adjustment interface to pivot said die module about said pivot center.