Method of compounding carbon black and rubber

Claim 1

IN THE PROCESS FO PRODUCING DISPERSIONS OF CARBON BLACK IN RUBBER IN WHICH THE BLACK IS MIXED WITH WATER TO FORM A SLURRY, THE SLURRY IS MIXED WITH THE RUBBER IN LATEX FORM AND THE CARBON-BLACK LATEX MIXTURE THEREAFTER COAGULATED, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING THE FOLLOWING STEPS IN SEQUENCE, CONTINUOUSLY CHARGING THE CARBON BLACK AND WATER, IN UNIFORM PREDETERMINED PROPORTIONS, TO AND THROUGH A MIXING ZONE, SUBJECTING THE BLACK-WATER MIXTURE IN SAID ZONE TO VIOLENT HYDROULIC TURBULENE AND IMPACT THEREBY FORMING A CONTINUOUS, FLOWING, CONFINED STREAM OF AQUEOUS CARBON BLACK SLURRY OF UNIFORM COMPOSITION, BUT CONTAINING RESIDUAL AGGLOMERATES OF CARBON BLACK PARTICLES, CONTINUOUSLY HOMOGENIZING THE RESULTANT SLURRY STREAM, AS FORMED, TO DISINTEGRATE AND DISPERSE THE RESIDUAL CARBON BLACK AGGLOMERATES IN THE SLURRY, CONTINOUSLY UNIFORMLY MIXING A STREAM OF THE LATEX IN UNIFORM PREDETERMINED PROPORTIONS WITH THE RESULTANT STREAM OF HOMOGENIZED SLURRY UNDER CONDITIONS OF VIOLENT HYDRAULIC TURBULENCE AND IMPACT AND DIRECTLY THEREAFTER COAGULATING THE RESULTANT MIXTURE CONTAINUOUSLY BY MAINTAINING A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT VOLUME OF THE MIXTURE, NOT EXCEEDING ABOUT 800 GALLONS AND NOT EXCEEDING 5 FEET IN DIAMETER, MAINTAINING THE ENTIRE BODY OF THE MIXTURE IN A STATE OF VIOLENT SWIRLING SUCH AS TO PRODUCE A DEFINITE VORTEX, CONTINUOUSLY CHARGING THE STREAM OF LATEX-CARBON BLACK MIXTURE TO THE BODY, CONTINUOUSLY ADDING A COAGULANT THERETO, AND THEREBY DISPESING IT UNIFORMLY THROUGHOUT THE BODY OF LIQUID, CONTINUOUSLY PASSING THE MIXTURE IN WHICH COAGULATION HAS BEEN INITIATED FORM SAID BODY TO A SEPARATE BODY AND THEREIN COMPLETING COAGULATION, WHILE CONTINUING AGITATION SEPARATING THE SERUM FROM THE COAGULATED CARBON BLACK-RUBBER MIXTURE AND WASHING AND DRYING THE LATTER.