US 11,674,317 B2
Apparatus and process with a vibratory angled plate and/or fixed horizontal plate for forming fiber-reinforced cementitious panels with controlled thickness
Peter Brandon Groza, Antioch, IL (US); David R. Blackburn, Barrington, IL (US); Ashish Dubey, Grayslake, IL (US); Eugene Scott Stivender, Yorkville, IL (US); Andrew Henry Bauer, Beloit, WI (US); Rajesh Raitani, Buffalo Grove, IL (US); and Nicholas McCartney, Harwood Heights, IL (US)
Assigned to UNITED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed by UNITED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed on Dec. 9, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/116,416.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/952,660, filed on Dec. 23, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2021/0189737 A1, Jun. 24, 2021
Int. Cl. E04F 13/16 (2006.01); C04B 28/14 (2006.01); B28B 1/52 (2006.01); E04C 2/06 (2006.01)
CPC E04F 13/16 (2013.01) [B28B 1/522 (2013.01); C04B 28/14 (2013.01); E04C 2/06 (2013.01); C04B 2201/20 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fiber reinforced cementitious panel production line comprising:
a moving carrier web,
a support frame for supporting the moving carrier web, wherein the panel is transported on the moving carrier web having a direction of travel relative to the support frame, and
a thickness control device for controlling thickness of a formed, but not yet set, fiber reinforced cementitious panel comprising fiber laden cementitious slurry comprising cementitious material and embedded chopped fibers on the moving carrier web, wherein the thickness control device comprises:
an angled rigid plate and
a mounting frame for mounting the angled rigid plate over the support frame for the moving carrier web, and
a flat, rigid support bed under the angled rigid plate, adapted and configured sufficient to support the fiber laden slurry and withstand downward force exerted by the angled rigid plate with deflection less than 0.03 inches,
the angled rigid plate having a transverse upstream back wall, a transverse downstream bottom wall extending downstream from a lower end of the transverse upstream back wall, open sidewalls and an open top, wherein the bottom wall lower surface has a flat horizontal profile, the transverse upstream back wall meeting the downstream bottom wall to form a bent transition section aligned transverse to the moving carrier web direction of travel, and the transverse upstream back wall meeting the transverse downstream bottom wall to form an angle (θ) in a range of 60 to 120 degrees, the transverse upstream back wall directed from the bent transition section upwardly away from the moving carrier web, the transverse downstream bottom wall directed from the bent transition section downwardly towards the moving carrier web,
the angled rigid plate transverse upstream back wall mounted to the mounting stand to be transverse to the direction of travel of the moving carrier web,
a vibrator attached to the angled rigid plate transverse upstream back wall,
the mounting stand for fixedly, but adjustably, maintaining height of the angled plate over the moving carrier web and fixedly, but adjustably, maintaining a mounting member angle “α” (alpha) of the angled plate relative to the moving carrier web at an angle in a range of 5° to 30°, to fixedly locate a downstream end of the transverse bottom wall at a height of 0.1 to 2 inches, over the moving carrier web,
wherein the downstream end of the transverse bottom wall is transverse to the direction of travel of the slurry and moving carrier web,
wherein the downstream end of the transverse bottom wall extends transversely across on the moving web, and
wherein the downstream end of the transverse bottom wall is capable of contacting the fiber-laden slurry when carried on the moving carrier web.