A plant for manufacturing ceramic articles comprising two feeding devices, each of which is designed to contain a powder material of a respective type and to feed said powder material to a conveyor assembly; the plant further comprises an operating device which is designed to enable the output of the powder material selectively in the area of the feeding devices arranged successively and transversely to the feeding direction, and a control unit which controls the operating device depending on a desired reference distribution and how far the conveyor assembly feeds the powder material.

A material distribution apparatus and preparing an artificial stone plate using the material distribution apparatus includes a belt material distribution device including a material distribution hopper and a conveying belt. The conveying belt is located at a lower portion of the material distribution hopper. An upper surface of the conveying belt is inclined. The material distribution hopper has a first wall and a second wall. The first wall is an inclined wall with an upper end away from the second wall. A discharge outlet is provided below the second wall. An upper portion of the second wall is vertically mounted, and a lower portion of the second wall has a circular arc portion and a discharge portion which forms the discharge outlet with a surface of the conveying belt therebetween.

A method for manufacturing ceramic articles is described comprising a step of feeding, during which at least two different ceramic powders are fed so as to obtain a strip of ceramic powders having at least a first zone and at least a second zone having a given shape; a step of compacting, during which the strip of ceramic powders is compacted so as to obtain a compacted layer of ceramic powders, which is expanded relative to the strip of ceramic powders; a step of determination, during which expansion of the layer of powders is determined; and a step of printing, during which a decoration having a modified shape based on the given expansion is applied on the surface of the compacted layer of ceramic powders.

A method for compacting ceramic powder; a layer of uncompacted ceramic powder is conveyed to a pressure device, which has a structured contact surface and comes into contact with the powder material so as to obtain a layer of compacted powder material having a structured surface; the pressure device comprises a first layer and a superficial layer arranged on the first layer; at least part of the superficial layer wears so as to uncover at least part of the first layer and obtain at least areas of the first outwardly exposed layer the areas of the first outwardly exposed layer are hardened by means of irradiation with UV radiations.

Machine and method for compacting ceramic powder; a layer of non-compacted ceramic powder is conveyed in a feed direction through a compacting device; downstream of the compacting device there is positioned a detection device which detects the density of the layer of compacted ceramic powder; the quantity of ceramic powder fed to the compacting device is varied in time as a function of what is detected by the detection device to thus regulate the density of the layer of compacted ceramic powder.

A pressing device, comprising: a lower punch (10), provided with a pressing surface (10a) facing upwards; an upper punch (11), provided with a pressing surface (11a), facing downwards; at least one of the two punches is movable nearingly and distancingly relative to the other in order to perform pressing of a layer (L) of a ceramic material; a first movable belt (2) comprising an active portion (3) arranged at least partially between the upper punch (11) and the lower punch (10); a second movable belt (4) comprising an active portion (5) arranged at least partially between the first movable belt (2) and the upper punch (13); a shaped profile (6), which is so structured as to at least partially delimit a pressing chamber, which is detachably associated to the lower punch (10) or to the upper punch (11) in a projecting manner.

The invention relates to a method for the mass decoration of ceramic products, comprising the following steps: spreading, superposed on one another, a layer (L) of granular or powder material and a decorative layer (3) on a support surface (2); transferring the layer (L) from the support surface (2) to an accumulation belt (T1), contiguous and aligned to the support surface (2), which is located at a lower height than the support surface (2), wherein the accumulation belt (T1) is mobile in advancement at a speed that is different from the advancement speed of the support surface (2), so that a variation in the thickness and longitudinal extension of the layer (L) is produced; pressing the layer (L) and the decorative layer (3).

A slurry feed apparatus for depositing a slurry upon a moving forming web having a direction of travel, including: a headbox mounted transverse to the direction of travel of the moving web, having a back wall, sidewalls, a concave transverse front wall, an open top, and an open bottom for directing slurry onto the forming web; a moveable dam releasably attached to the back wall, a seal attached to a bottom wall of the dam; and a headbox support system extending from opposed the sidewalls. Also disclosed is a continuous process for depositing a uniform layer of a cementitious slurry containing reinforcing fibers from the headbox onto a traveling web.

The invention relates to a method and a plant for the continuous production of engineered stone slabs. In the method, raw materials comprising at least one mineral filler and one organic binder are mixed, applied to a lower belt of a dual-belt press, or a conveying means mounted upstream of the lower belt, and subsequently continuously pressed, and the binder is cured. A continuously-obtained material strand is separated into individual engineered stone slabs. It is provided that the mixing operation of the raw materials is carried out at staggered times in a batch mixing operation by means of at least two separate mixing devices. The mixed raw materials from the mixing devices are transferred into one, or multiple, spreading device(s) at staggered times and are applied continuously and without interruption to the lower belt, or the conveying means mounted upstream of the lower belt, by means of the spreading device(s).

The invention relates to a conveyor line (1) for the continuous production of drywall boards as well as a slurry distributing device (22) which is used in this conveyor line (1). The distributing device is used for the uniform and low-speed flow distribution of slurries (20).