JPS63168317A - Dispensing vessel - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to the encapsulation of plastics.
encapsulation)
dispensing used in
nsing) containers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In some industries it is necessary for operating tools to be operated on-site in order to seal items, for example against the effects of ambient conditions. Various sealing methods have been proposed.
And a recently proposed and successfully used method is to Wjw by providing a mold that surrounds the article, and encapsulation transfers the heated molten plastic material into the crawler-shaped cavity and cools and solidifies it. formed around the article. Encapsulations formed by molding techniques have been successfully used in the telecommunications and cable industry. In the telecommunications and cable industry, it is necessary to form splices on-site, and this requires making cuts in the cable to access the conductors. The conductor is then cut and connected to other conductors leading from the cable. around the splice area to protect the connections between conductors from being adversely affected by atmospheric conditions such as moisture, or from being affected by moisture conditions such as those found around underground cables. It is necessary to seal the Additionally, the use of polymeric materials, such as cast-in cuffing around the splice, has simplified previous encapsulation procedures and also made the encapsulation process less expensive.

Including encapsulation that addresses the problems that the invention attempts to solve! ! Successful methods of
Both patents were written by Leonard J. Chalebois (Leonard J., Ch.
arlebois).

Difficulty in encapsulation equipment on site because off-the-shelf machinery was not available for forming the encapsulation and it was impractical to consider using factory equipment on site. was discovered. This problem was solved by Leonard Jay Chalebois.
J., Charlesbois), Renato Mariani, and 7 Rez.
Red A, Huszar
ik) under the name ``Method and Apparatus for Sealing Articles (Met
hodand Apparatus for S
ealing Articles) J, 198
U.S. Patent No. 4,528,1, issued on July 9, 2005.
As explained in the present patent discussed in No. The material is maintained at a flowable temperature while being held in the reservoir, and the reservoir is placed in communication with a folding cavity defined in part by the article to be processed.The accumulator then This process and the use of a dispensing vessel to act as a dispensing vessel to force molten material into the crawler-shaped cavity fast enough and far enough to fill the cavity before the inward wave path is occluded with hardened material. The problems of using an extruder for bond-shaped cavity filling, as discussed in the above two patents, are avoided.

Furthermore, in a modification of the above process, methods of encapsulating articles have been proposed and used in which the solid plastic material is placed directly into a cylindrical dispensing vessel and then heated to homogenize it. Ta. After venting the gas in the material, the container is placed in communication with the trumpet-shaped cavity for the purpose of filling the cavity. One advantage of the latter process is that the containers can be produced on-site, and without the need to rely on the presence of an extruder! This means that the i term ends. However, for the process to be practical, it is necessary that the plastic material be melted to its homogeneous state within a reasonable amount of time.

If the time for melting the plastic is long, this may require preparing a container filled with molten plastic overnight or early in the morning prior to encapsulation of the article, making such a procedure inconvenient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a container structure in which the time spent melting the plastic material during use is significantly reduced.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method in which the container defines a cylinder and is provided with a piston movable along the cylinder to vary the volume of a cylindrical reservoir for plastic material on one side of the piston, the reservoir being molten. a container is also disposed within the container, the container having an outlet for the plastic material and means for the piston to be moved along the cylinder and in sealing engagement with the cylindrical wall defining the reservoir; and a heater extending axially of the container and in sealing engagement with the piston so as to be disposed through the piston and within the cylindrical reservoir, along the heater as the piston moves along the cylinder; and moving in ff1H engagement.

In the dispensing container according to the invention, it has been found that the use of a heater significantly reduces the time required to melt the plastic material to a usable state. For example, in a typical container, when filled with plastic material and having a heater around the cylinder but no internal heater, the time required to bring the plastic material to a molten state expanded to 7 hours. However, with the additional use of an internal heater, the time period for bringing the plastic material into a molten state is reduced to 2 to 3 hours.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, a dispensing container 10 contains a quantity of molten plastic material 12, e.g. Contains. As explained below (as explained below), the plastic material was first given in solid form in a container and then heated in the container to melt and homogenize it. Type II 1
4 is a low pressure mold, i.e. it is 100 psi (approximately 7
kg/cm'') pressure and can be of the structure described in U.S. Patent Application Nos. 4,152,539 and 4,322.573.

The mold was formed into a standard mounting or underground cable for on-site molding operations! It is placed at the bottom of the pit in the ground to encapsulate the splice.

As shown by FIG. 2, the dispensing container 10 has a body 16 having a cylinder 18 that includes a piston 20 that is slidable within the cylinder to increase or decrease the volume of a reservoir 22 between the piston and the outlet end 24 of the container.
Equipped with. The container lid 26, in the reservoir closed position as shown in FIG. 2, is provided with a lid plate 28 at the outlet end that seals against an annular seven-run 30 extending outside the container. The outlet nozzle 32 is cocentrically fixed to @28. The lid plate 28 carries an insulating layer 34, which may be of the form of laminated glass or other insulating material. Around the insulating layer 34 there is a protective metal sheet 36 with a flat surface closely surrounding the nozzle and a peripheral 7 flange 38 extending around the sides of the insulating layer. The lid 26 is attached to the lid plate 28, and the quick release tightening which passes through the hole in the 7 run hole 30 is done by hand Pi (quick release fa
40 is removably attached to the end of the sheet 18 by means of a sterning means) 40.

The body 16 also includes a layer 42 of thermal insulation surrounding the sheet 18, the layer 42 itself having seven flange 30
It is surrounded by a cylindrical protective metal cover 44 extending between the cylinder 18 and a seven-run no. 46 at the other end of the cylinder 18. A heating element 48 , which surrounds the cylinder and is within a layer 42 of insulation means, closely surrounds the cylinder 18 .

Piston 20 is slidably movable along cylinder 18 and is secured to the cylinder wall by ring seal 50.
f1lt is already engaged. The two seals have elasticity,
The piston is then spaced slightly from the cylinder wall to form a small annular gap and designed to reduce frictional contact during piston movement. Bearings are placed in the opening of the two seals to stabilize the piston within the cylinder to keep it concentric and prevent it from twisting. As shown in FIG. be. This ring has one axial division so that the ring is not continuous.
5plit) 55 is formed.

However, this ring is elastic in the radially outward direction.

, so the ring has an inclusive import Jl [(conta
engages the cylinder wall to stabilize the piston by minimizing any torsional movement of the piston in any plane including ir + edaxis).

The ring also provides low friction surface contact with the cylinder wall. It should be understood that instead of using a single ring, such as ring 52, two or more annularly spaced rings can be used.

Fluid actuation means are provided for moving the piston along the cylinder to increase or decrease the size of the reservoir 22. On the side of the piston remote from the reservoir 22 is a chamber 56 which is supplied with pressurized air through an inlet 58 of the liquid working means through the end wall 60 of the vessel. As can be seen, when pressurized air is admitted into chamber 56, the piston is forced from the position of FIG. 2 and along the chamber to displace the molten plastic material contained within reservoir 22. On the other hand, if the pressure in the chamber 56 is reduced to standard atmospheric pressure, the piston receives a new charge of solid plastic material.
When a charge) is added to the reservoir, it can be manually pushed to the right II end of the container as shown in FIG. Alternatively, the inlet 58 can be connected to reduced air conditions to return the piston to the right m-end of the vessel by differential pressure on the two opposing surfaces.

It is an important feature of the invention that the container includes a cylindrical heater 61 that is within the container itself and also in the reservoir so as to be in direct contact with the solid plastic material to be melted. As is clear from Figure #12, the cylindrical heater is made of an aluminum tube 6 extending coaxially through the reservoir.
2 and has a closed end 63 located near and adjacent the outlet 32. The aluminum tube has an open end 64 attached concentrically to the container through an opening in end g160. An electrical heating core 66 within the tube connects to a power source through the open end 64 of the tube! be done.

As is clear from FIG. These seals engage the outer surface of the aluminum tube while leaving a small annular space between the tube and the passageway surface. The ring 70 is disposed in a groove in the piston, and the ring 70 engages the aluminum tube.

The ring 70 has a grinding surface Mf caused by sliding contact with the pipe.
This is to maintain a substantially concentric relationship between the aluminum tube and the piston while minimizing [.

It is an important aspect of the invention that heater 61 is mounted for free movement at its open end. As is clear, this free movement is due to the aluminum tube 464
and is provided by a semi-cylindrical ball 72 attached to and retained in a partially spherical valve seat formed between end wall 60 and end cap 74. Ball 72 is therefore freely movable within its valve seat to impart free movement to the aluminum rod of the heater. Although the heater is thus mounted approximately coaxially within the heater ring 22, it is clear that some lateral pivoting movement of the heater in any direction is permitted. Movement is considered a favorable requirement, so the heater should be kept at 70-float with respect to the reservoir during piston movement.
t) be allowed to do. Therefore, any slight misalignment between the piston and the heater will cause this misalignment to occur.

can be corrected during the movement of the piston by pivoting the heater in the valve seat of the valve. The possibility of seizure between the piston and the heater element is thus avoided.

In use of the container, it is placed in an upright or vertical position, as shown in FIG. It includes three or more support feet 76 having ends that project beyond the end wall 60 and end cap 74. When lid 26 is removed, reservoir 22 is filled with particulate plastic material 78 as illustrated by FIG. Then heaters 48 and 61
is energized to homogeneously melt the material within the reservoir. The time required for this particular operation is 20 bonds (approximately 9k
2 to 3 hours for the reservoir capacity of the plastic material in g). This is substantially less than the time required to heat the same amount of material in the reservoir using only external heater 48; after the material has been brought into molten form, lid 26 is replaced and the reservoir is completely heated. is maintained in a vertical position long enough for gas to escape from the molten material to the top of the reservoir. Then the piston expels all the gas from the reservoir and the reservoir and outlet 3
2 are moved slightly up a sufficient distance to ensure that both are completely filled with molten material. The container is then ready to be loosely coupled into a basket shape for the filling operation described above.

In a modification of the above embodiment, instead of using granular material 78, a slug 80 of solid material is used (figure #s5), this slug is formed by extrusion, and of course the heater 61 is placed in the passage 82. The extrusion process requires the formation of an intermediate axial passageway 82 so that the slug can be positioned within the reservoir. It is desirable that the slug fit as closely as possible to the vessel wall and also to the heater 61 to ensure that the air gap initially provided is as small as possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 shows that when plastic material is injected into the yellow cavity,
FIG. 3 is an isometric view, partially in section, showing a dispensing container mounted in a cylindrical shape. FIG. 2 is a side elevational sectional view of the dispensing container. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view and a sectional view showing the container and the piston partially in section. Figure $4 is a view similar to Figure 2, but showing the container in the vertical position after loading with solid particulate material. Figure #115 shows solid plastic for insertion into containers.
Isometric view of billet. 10... Container 14... Arrow-shaped 18, φe cylinder 20-φ, piston 22Φ, Reservoir 28, φ, lid plate 32, φ output nozzle 34, insulation layer 56, chamber 61... - Heater 64... Aluminum tube 66... Electric heating core 82... Passage

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a dispensing container for dispensing molten plastic material; the container defines a cylinder and on one side of the piston for varying the volume of a cylindrical reservoir for plastic material; a piston movable along the cylinder, the reservoir having an outlet for molten plastic material, and means for moving the piston along the cylinder and in sealing engagement with a cylindrical wall defining the reservoir. the piston has a container also disposed within the container and extending axially of the container and in sealing contact with the piston so as to pass through the piston and be disposed within a cylindrical reservoir. A dispensing container comprising a cylindrical heater in engagement, the piston moving along and in sealing engagement as the piston moves along the cylinder. 2. The container of claim 1, wherein the heater extends coaxially through the piston and along the reservoir. 3. one end of the heater is mounted for free movement, the heater extends freely through the piston from the one end, and a gap is provided between the piston and the heater; and 2. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that a radial elastic seal is provided between the piston and the heater. 4. The container according to claim 1, further comprising a heater around the reservoir.