Resin Mixing and Degassing Station: Vacuum Vessel with Worm and Apron

W. Hedrich's mixer (US 4,049,244, 1977) for reactive resins that must be mixed and freed of gas before they set. In a vessel under vacuum a worm lifts the resin up a central tube and spills it over a cone-shaped apron in a thin layer, where the gas escapes; vanes on the worm sweep the funnel bottom and keep it circulating. Peltier elements on the vessel, tube and apron heat or cool each zone. Reversed, the worm drives the batch out through the bottom valve. The patent gives no sizes, vacuum, speeds or temperatures; it describes an industrial vessel. The picture: the patent's Fig. 1.