VISCOUS MATERIAL FEED SYSTEM AND METHOD

1 . A viscous material feed system, comprising:

a container evacuator located on a loss of weight scale;

a feed tube that receives material expressed from a container by the container evacuator; and

a dicing apparatus that meters material from the feed tube to a processing system according to loss of weight sensed by the scale.

2 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , wherein the container evacuator comprises a chamber to hold the container and a plunger axially and slidably accommodated within the chamber.

3 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 wherein the container evacuator comprises a chamber to hold a material filled container and a plunger axially and slidably accommodated within the chamber to express material from the container into the feed tube that extends from the chamber with the dicing apparatus.

4 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , wherein the container evacuator comprises a drum press.

5 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , wherein the container evacuator comprises a chamber to hold the container and a plunger comprising a piston driven platen that is axially and slidably accommodated within the chamber.

6 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , for feed a viscous material,

wherein the container is filled with the viscous material, which is expressed by the container evacuator.

7 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , wherein the dicing apparatus is located at discharge port of the feed tube and comprises rails that slidably secure a cutting wire to guide the wire to cut material exiting the feed tube discharge port.

8 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , wherein the dicing apparatus is located at discharge port of the feed tube and comprises rails that slidably secure a cutting wire to traverse the feed tube longitudinal axis at discharge port to cut material exiting the feed tube discharge port.

9 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller that activates a plunger axially and slidably within the container evacuator to express material from a container held within the container evacuator.

10 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller with a set of instructions to (i) store an input value representing a material set point, (ii) sense an initial combined weight of the material extracting apparatus and a container with material; (iii) sense a progressing combined weight of the material extracting apparatus and the container with material as material is metered from the dicing apparatus; and (iv) calculate a material weight charged from the feed system to a subsequent process according to a difference between the initial combined weight and the sensed progressing combined weight.

11 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller with a set of instructions to (i) store an input value representing a material set point, (ii) sense an initial combined weight of the material extracting apparatus and a container with material; (iii) sense a progressing combined weight of the material extracting apparatus and the container with material as material is metered from the dicing apparatus; (iv) calculate a material weight charged from the feed system to a subsequent process according to a difference between the initial combined weight and the sensed progressing combined weight; and terminate the material extracting apparatus operation when a calculated charged material weight is within a specified range of the set point.

12 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller with a set of instructions to (i) store an input value representing a material set point, (ii) sense an initial combined weight of the material extracting apparatus and a container with material; (iii) sense a progressing combined weight of the material extracting apparatus and the container with material as material is metered from the dicing apparatus; (iv) calculate a material weight charged from the feed system to a subsequent process according to a difference between the initial combined weight and the sensed progressing combined weight; and (v) increasing the rate of metering of material by the dicing apparatus when the calculated material weight charged is within a predetermined range of the set point.

13 . The viscous material feed system of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of combinations of container evacuator, feed tube and dicing apparatus.

14 . A viscous material feed method, comprising:

determining an initial weight of a combined feed system, container and viscous material held within the container;

evacuating viscous material from the container by the feed system for charge to a viscous material compounding process;

monitoring a weight of the combined feed system, container and viscous material, held within the container as material is evacuated;

determining an amount of viscous material charged to the compounding process according to a difference between the initial weight and a monitored weight of the combined feed system, container and viscous material held within the container as material is evacuated;

controlling a rate of dicing viscous material that is evacuated from the container for feed to the viscous material compounding process according to the determined amount of charged viscous material.

15 . The viscous material feed method of claim 14 , comprising dicing viscous material that is evacuated from the container for feed to the viscous material compounding process at a first rate and increasing the rate when the amount of viscous material charged to the compounding process attains a predetermined range of a set point of material.

16 . The viscous material feed method of claim 14 , comprising dicing viscous material that is evacuated from the container for feed to the viscous material compounding process at a first rate and increasing the rate when the amount of viscous material charged to the compounding process attains a 15 pound range of a set point of material.

17 . The viscous material feed method of claim 14 , comprising dicing viscous material that is evacuated from the container for feed to the viscous material compounding process at a first rate and increasing the rate when the amount of viscous material charged to the compounding process attains a predetermined range of a set point of material; and continuing dicing and charging material to the compounding process at a faster dicing rate to complete feed to the compounding process within a predetermined range of a set point of material.

18 . The viscous material feed method of claim 14 , composing dicing viscous material that is evacuated from the container for feed to the viscous material compounding process at a first rate and increasing the rate when the amount of viscous material charged to the compounding process attains a predetermined range of a set point of material; and continuing dicing and charging material to the compounding process at a faster dicing rate to complete feed to the compounding process within predetermined 2 pound range of a set point of material.

19 . The viscous material feed method of claim 14 , comprising evacuating viscous material from the container by driving a platen through a longitudinal axis of the container to express viscous feed material from the container.

20 . The viscous maternal feed method of claim 14 , comprising evacuating viscous material from the container by driving a platen through a longitudinal axis of the container to express viscous feed material from the container to a feed tube with a dicing apparatus to dice the viscous material to the compounding process.

22 .- 37 . (canceled)

38 . A method of controlling a feed to a processing system, comprising:

establishing a material feed session set point range;

feeding a viscous material in the session by dicing a steadily moving material into a portion that drops sequentially into the processing system;

monitoring a session total of material dropped into the processing system;

comparing the session total of material to the session set point range;

increasing a dicing rate of the moving material to decrease each diced portion quantity as the session set point range is approached; and

terminating the material feed of the session when the total material is within the session set point range.

39 . A process of feed a material compounding system, comprising:

referring to a look-up data base to determine a set point for a material to be charged to the compounding system;

sensing an initial combined weight of a material extracting apparatus and a container with material;

signaling commencement of a material extracting apparatus operation to evacuate the material from the container;

sensing a progressing combined weight of the material extracting apparatus and the container with material:

calculating a charged material weight according to a difference between the initial combined weight and the sensed progressing combined weight; and

terminating the material extracting apparatus operation when a calculated charged material weight is within a specified range of the set point.