Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
234 words
A method of manufacturing pigment dispersion, said method comprising: providing a twin screw extruder including a housing having therein a pair of adjacent parallel screws, with the ratio of the length of said housing to the inner diameter thereof being at least 25, and with said extruder including an upstream feed section, a flushing section downstream of said feed section and a dehydrating section downstream of said flushing section; feeding a hydrophobic liquid organic media by a first feeding means and feeding pigment wet-cake by a second feeding means, at a constant rate, into said feed section of said extruder; rotating said pair of screws in the same direction within said housing and thereby sequentially: transferring said media and said wet-cake from said feed section to said flushing section and therein continuously flushing pigment particles from a water phase to an organic medium phase by rotation of said pair of screws, thus forming a flushed pigment mixture; and transferring said flushed pigment mixture from said flushing section to said dehydrating section and therein continuously dehydrating said mixture by rotation of said pair of screws, said dehydrating comprising removing a majority of the water from said mixture through a first vent in said dehydrating section of said housing, and removing residual water from said mixture through a second vent in said dehydrating section of said housing by applying vacuum thereto, and thereby forming pigment dispersion.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
234 words
A method of manufacturing pigment dispersion, said method comprising: providing a twin screw extruder including a housing having therein a pair of adjacent parallel screws, with the ratio of the length of said housing to the inner diameter thereof being at least 25, and with said extruder including an upstream feed section, a flushing section downstream of said feed section and a dehydrating section downstream of said flushing section; feeding a hydrophobic liquid organic media by a first feeding means and feeding pigment wet-cake by a second feeding means, at a constant rate, into said feed section of said extruder; rotating said pair of screws in the same direction within said housing and thereby sequentially: transferring said media and said wet-cake from said feed section to said flushing section and therein continuously flushing pigment particles from a water phase to an organic medium phase by rotation of said pair of screws, thus forming a flushed pigment mixture; and transferring said flushed pigment mixture from said flushing section to said dehydrating section and therein continuously dehydrating said mixture by rotation of said pair of screws, said dehydrating comprising removing a majority of the water from said mixture through a first vent in said dehydrating section of said housing, and removing residual water from said mixture through a second vent in said dehydrating section of said housing by applying vacuum thereto, and thereby forming pigment dispersion.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hydrophobic liquid organic media comprises a mixture of from 0.25 to 1.5 parts of water based media per 1 part of organic media by volume.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
15 words
A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wet-cake comprises at least 35% pigment.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
236 words
An apparatus for manufacturing pigment dispersion, said apparatus comprising: a twin screw extruder including a housing having therein a pair of adjacent parallel screws, the ratio of the length of said housing to the inner diameter thereof being at least 25, said extruder including an upstream feed section, a flushing section downstream of said feed section and a dehydrating second downstream of said flushing section, said feed section including a feeding port; first feeding means for feeding a hydrophobic liquid organic media at a constant rate to said feeding port, and second means for feeding pigment wet-cake at a constant rate to said feeding port, and thereby supplying said media and said wet-cake into said feed section of said extruder; means for rotating said pair of screws in the same direction within said housing and thereby for sequentially transferring said media and said wet-cake from said feed section to said flushing section and therein continuously flushing pigment particles from a water phase to an organic medium phase, thus forming a flushed pigment mixture, and then transferring said mixture from said flushing section to said dehydrating section and therein continuously dehydrating said mixture, thus forming pigment dispersion; said dehydrating section having first vent means for removing a majority of water from said mixture; and said dehydrating section having second vent means, adapted to be connected to a source of vacuum, for removing residual water from said mixture.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
236 words
An apparatus for manufacturing pigment dispersion, said apparatus comprising: a twin screw extruder including a housing having therein a pair of adjacent parallel screws, the ratio of the length of said housing to the inner diameter thereof being at least 25, said extruder including an upstream feed section, a flushing section downstream of said feed section and a dehydrating second downstream of said flushing section, said feed section including a feeding port; first feeding means for feeding a hydrophobic liquid organic media at a constant rate to said feeding port, and second means for feeding pigment wet-cake at a constant rate to said feeding port, and thereby supplying said media and said wet-cake into said feed section of said extruder; means for rotating said pair of screws in the same direction within said housing and thereby for sequentially transferring said media and said wet-cake from said feed section to said flushing section and therein continuously flushing pigment particles from a water phase to an organic medium phase, thus forming a flushed pigment mixture, and then transferring said mixture from said flushing section to said dehydrating section and therein continuously dehydrating said mixture, thus forming pigment dispersion; said dehydrating section having first vent means for removing a majority of water from said mixture; and said dehydrating section having second vent means, adapted to be connected to a source of vacuum, for removing residual water from said mixture.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said housing is formed of a plurality of connected barrels.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
49 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, further comprising grooves in said screws, said grooves in said feed section being deeper than in said dehydrating section, and said grooves in said flushing section tapering outwardly from said grooves in said feed section to said grooves in said dehydrating section.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
30 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said rotating means comprises means for rotating said screws in the same direction at a speed of from 200 to 300 rpm.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
29 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, further comprising means for maintaining the temperature in said feed section and in said flushing section at from 20° to 50° C.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
20 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said extruder further comprises an after-treatment section downstream of said dehydrating section.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
24 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said screws have grooves, said grooves in said after-treatment section tapering inwardly in the downstream direction.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
27 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said screws have grooves, said grooves deepening in the area of said first vent means in said dehydrating section.