By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering -- Corning Incorporated (Corning, NY) has been issued patent number 8864486, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews editors.
The patent's inventors are Dispenza, Matthew Joseph (Horseheads, NY); Malarkey, Christopher John (Corning, NY); Sariego, Kenneth Charles (Beaver Dams, NY).
This patent was filed on March 15, 2013 and was published online on October 21, 2014.
From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: "Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a screw shaft support and a twin screw extruder machine (TSM) comprising the same.
"The manufacture of ceramic honeycomb structures may be accomplished by the process of plasticizing ceramic powder batch mixtures, extruding the mixtures through honeycomb extrusion dies to form honeycomb extrudate, and drying and firing the extrudate to produce ceramic honeycombs of high strength and thermal durability. The ceramic honeycombs thus produced are widely used as ceramic catalyst supports in motor vehicle exhaust systems, and as catalyst supports and wall-flow particulate filters for the removal of soot and other particulates from diesel engine exhausts.
"Among the commercially successful processes for ceramic honeycomb manufacture are those that utilize large co-rotating twin screw extruders for the mixing and extruding of ceramic honeycomb extrudate. These machines offer the capability of homogenizing and plasticizing ceramic powder batch mixtures and pressure-forcing the mixtures through honeycomb extrusion dies, such as in a single continuous processing operation. The favorable economics of this approach extend from the high-volume production of honeycombs of relatively small diameter for automobile exhaust systems to the shaping of very large frontal area (VLFA) honeycombs for large diesel engine exhaust systems. Cylindrical honeycomb shapes having cross-sectional diameters measured transversely to the cylinder axis and direction of honeycomb channel orientation can range from as small as 5 cm up to 50 cm or more.
"The rotating screws used in extruders commonly comprise a plurality of screw segments that are successively positioned, such as on a splined or keyed axial drive shaft, to form the entire screw. Screw segments may be made of any suitable material, such as metal or ceramic.
"The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the claimed invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form any part of the prior art nor what the prior art may suggest to a person of ordinary skill in the art."
Supplementing the background information on this patent, VerticalNews reporters also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide a screw shaft support configured to support twin screw shafts of a twin screw extruder.
"Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a twin screw extruder machine (TSM) comprising a screw shaft support to support the twin screw shafts of the TSM.
"Additional features of the claimed invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the claimed invention.
"An exemplary embodiment discloses a screw shaft support configured to support twin screw shafts of a twin screw extruder. The screw shaft support includes a first spacer bearing configured to be disposed on a first screw shaft and a second spacer bearing configured to be disposed on a second screw shaft. The screw shaft support includes a first cross member comprising a first loop slidably coupled to the first spacer bearing and a second loop slidably coupled to the second spacer bearing. A second cross member is spaced apart from the first cross member by a connection member, the second cross member comprising a first loop slidably coupled to the first spacer bearing and a second loop slidably coupled to the second spacer bearing. The connection member is disposed between the first spacer bearing and the second spacer bearing, and the connection member has a first end connected to the first cross member and a second end connected to the second cross member.
"An exemplary embodiment also discloses a twin screw extruder including a barrel having a chamber and a discharge port. The twin screw extruder includes an extrusion molding die coupled to the discharge port of the barrel, an axially extending first screw shaft, an axially extending second screw shaft, and the screw shaft support.
"It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed."
For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Dispenza, Matthew Joseph; Malarkey, Christopher John; Sariego, Kenneth Charles. Twin Screw Shaft Spacer Bearing. U.S. Patent Number 8864486, filed March 15, 2013, and published online on October 21, 2014. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8864486.PN.&OS=PN/8864486RS=PN/8864486