Gloucester Engineering Co.

Contact Information

Please visit: Gloucester Engineering Co.

Mailing Address:
11 Dory Road
Gloucester, MA 01930 US

Phone: 978-281-1800
Fax: 978-282-9494

Product Categories of Gloucester Engineering Co.

Air Knife Equipment
Air Rings and Internal Bubble Cooling Units
Bag-making Machinery
Blenders (non-intensive)

Gravimetric blenders for film and sheet extrusion in loss-in-weight batch, continuous, or feed-throat configurations. Hoppers and auger-feed units are made of stainless-steel for long wear and easy cleaning. For accuracy, each loadcell supports only one hopper. System holds 20 minutes worth of resin in case of vacuum loading problems. Vacuum hopper filters out dust before it reaches the pump without using cartridge filters. Blenders are fully integrated with Extrol control system in order to make blend changes at the control console. Extrol monitors blenders and stores product recipes, which can be recalled for setup repeatability, and can control up to eight blenders on coextrusion lines.
Closed-loop Process Control Systems
Coextrusion Dies, Feedblocks
Cooling Towers
Custom Machine Builders
Cutoff Equipment
Embossing Equipment

Company's Flexoelite flexographic printing press runs webs up to 80 in. wide at speeds to 1500 fpm. Patented LinearSet print-deck system utilizes linear encoders in place of ball screws to assure accurate positioning of anilox rollers and print cylinders and fast, precise movement of the print deck. Register can put one or all print decks into final register in about two revolutions of the central drum, reducing the time needed to proof each deck and permitting faster startup.

Unit's EasyOpen system simplifies sleeve changes by signaling the PLC to open the print station so sleeves, bases and anilox sleeves are automatically ready for change. Because no moving parts of the print deck are on the operator's side of the machine, the print cylinder, bases and roller sleeves not in use can be changed during operation. PLC monitors those decks printing and those being changed.

Other features include drying systems customized for each user; intake and exhaust fans with variable-speed motors for adjustment of airflow of each print run; motorized dampers on air nozzles for individual regulation of airflow and temperature; web-temperature systems; and UV and EB systems for users who don't want to run solvent or water-based inks, or those who want to apply coatings.

Flexoelite can run different types of winders, which permits use of rolls in diam. of 32, 40 or 60 in.
Extrusion Dies
Feeders

Gravimetric blenders for film and sheet extrusion in loss-in-weight batch, continuous, or feed-throat configurations. Hoppers and auger-feed units are made of stainless-steel for long wear and easy cleaning. For accuracy, each loadcell supports only one hopper. System holds 20 minutes worth of resin in case of vacuum loading problems. Vacuum hopper filters out dust before it reaches the pump without using cartridge filters. Blenders are fully integrated with Extrol control system in order to make blend changes at the control console. Extrol monitors blenders and stores product recipes, which can be recalled for setup repeatability, and can control up to eight blenders on coextrusion lines.
Film Take-off Systems

Complete extrusion systems for monolayer and multilayer blown film, cast film, rigid sheet, and foam sheet. Also extrusion coating, control systems, and in- or out-of-line bagmaking systems. Reclaim systems and granulators, downstream equipment, winders, printers and gravimetrics.
Flexographic, Rotogravure Equipment

Company's Flexoelite flexographic printing press runs webs up to 80 in. wide at speeds to 1500 fpm. Patented LinearSet print-deck system utilizes linear encoders in place of ball screws to assure accurate positioning of anilox rollers and print cylinders and fast, precise movement of the print deck. Register can put one or all print decks into final register in about two revolutions of the central drum, reducing the time needed to proof each deck and permitting faster startup.

Unit's EasyOpen system simplifies sleeve changes by signaling the PLC to open the print station so sleeves, bases and anilox sleeves are automatically ready for change. Because no moving parts of the print deck are on the operator's side of the machine, the print cylinder, bases and roller sleeves not in use can be changed during operation. PLC monitors those decks printing and those being changed.

Other features include drying systems customized for each user; intake and exhaust fans with variable-speed motors for adjustment of airflow of each print run; motorized dampers on air nozzles for individual regulation of airflow and temperature; web-temperature systems; and UV and EB systems for users who don't want to run solvent or water-based inks, or those who want to apply coatings.

Flexoelite can run different types of winders, which permits use of rolls in diam. of 32, 40 or 60 in.
Hopper Loaders
Hoppers, Bins, Tanks
Machinery Rebuilding
Materials Testing Services
Metering, Proportioning Equipment

Gravimetric blenders for film and sheet extrusion in loss-in-weight batch, continuous, or feed-throat configurations. Hoppers and auger-feed units are made of stainless-steel for long wear and easy cleaning. For accuracy, each loadcell supports only one hopper. System holds 20 minutes worth of resin in case of vacuum loading problems. Vacuum hopper filters out dust before it reaches the pump without using cartridge filters. Blenders are fully integrated with Extrol control system in order to make blend changes at the control console. Extrol monitors blenders and stores product recipes, which can be recalled for setup repeatability, and can control up to eight blenders on coextrusion lines.
R&D, Training Institutes
Rebuilt Screws or Barrels
Scrap-reclaim Systems
Screws (Plasticating)
Sheet Take-off Systems

Complete extrusion systems for monolayer and multilayer blown film, cast film, rigid sheet, and foam sheet. Also extrusion coating, control systems, and in- or out-of-line bagmaking systems. Reclaim systems and granulators, downstream equipment, winders, printers and gravimetrics.
Single-screw Extruders

Complete extrusion systems for monolayer and multilayer blown film, cast film, rigid sheet, and foam sheet. Also extrusion coating, control systems, and in- or out-of-line bagmaking systems. Reclaim systems and granulators, downstream equipment, winders, printers and gravimetrics.
Used Machinery
Web Slitter/Rewinders
Web Slitters
Web Winders, Unwinds, Rewinds

As seen in PT

Changes Aplenty Among Extruder Suppliers
Last month bought three changes of significance among equipment suppliers of extruded film and sheet.•Gloucester Engineering Co., Gloucester Mass., announced it had acquired Future Design Inc., Mississauga, Ont.
Extrusion & Compounding at NPE: More Output, More Flexibility, Less Energy
There won't be many blown-film lines running, but there is still much in the way of innovation going on in extrusion and compounding.
Rebuilt Film Line Boosts Output, Quality
Refurbishing has become an increasingly attractive option for processors looking to squeeze the most from their existing equipment.
On Site: Where Art, Science, And Customer Focus Meet
Business strategy at Danafilms involves a mix of art and science in blending resins, designing layer structures, and operating flexibility for both short and long runs.
Practical Processor
Your processing questions answered.
First Microlayered Commodity Films
Advanced microlayer feedblock technology, used for over a decade to put dozens or hundreds of alternating layers into specialty films, has passed a new milestone.
NPE News in Extrusion
This NPE show won’t have a lot of extruders on the floor, either running or static. Instead, look for videos and announcements of new technology. You will also find lots of ingenious peripheral devices to improve output and quality and save resin. Some will do all three, and cost less into the bargain.
Gloucester Engineering Teams Up With Kabra in India
Gloucester Engineering Co. in Gloucester, Mass., has formed a joint venture with Kolsite Group in Mumbai, India, to build blown film lines at Kabra Extrusiontechnik Ltd., a Kolsite company.
Tighter Tolerances for Big Bubbles
A number of very large blown film lines have been installed recently.
23-Ft-Wide Blown Film
It’s the widest blown film line ever built, according to Gloucester Engineering Co., Gloucester, Mass., which shipped the system earlier this year to make geomembranes.
K 2007 Extrusion: Extrusion Outputs Go Through the Roof
Dramatic production demonstrations of cast and blown film set throughput records on the show floor in Dusseldorf.
Battenfeld Gloucester Sold
(SMS GmbH in Germany has divested its last holding in plastics machinery, Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering Co., Gloucester, Mass.
What's New at the Show in EXTRUSION
It’s all about higher speeds and higher outputs at this year’s “K” show in Germany.
Eight years after delivering its fi rst commercial nine-layer spiral blown film die, Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering Co., Gloucester, Mass., launched a second generation of its multilayer spiral dies last year.
A new 10-color flexographic printing press reportedly matches the quality of rotogravure while using substantially less energy than conventional flexography.
More Filler, Less Resin: Bag Films Load Up to Cut Costs
Filler isn’t a bad word in T-shirt bags and can liners any more.
NPE 2006 News Wrap-Up: Extrusion
NPE 2006 presented a bevy of features to make film, sheet, pipe, and profile extrusion more efficient.
Two machine builders recently launched new knife cutters for cast stretch film that avoid making a fold-over flap when changing rolls.
Microlayer Films: New Uses for Hundreds of Layers
Early microlayer films gave an iridescent shimmer to decorative packaging. The newest films with hundreds and even thousands of layers are designed for gas barrier, uv blocking, electronic displays, and high-strength window-glass laminates. As applications grow, more processors want in on the action.
With a trend towards more and more layers, die manufacturers face a number of challenges.
Gloucester Engineering Co.
O-Frame Scanner overcomes limitations of oscillating capacitance gauge and other sensors in the measurement and gauge control of barrier films.
Unique collapsing frame for blown film lines combines noncontact airboards with composite rollers.
Nine-Layer Blown Film: Why It's a Challenge, What It Takes to Succeed
Eight years after nine-layer blown films were first introduced, only a handful of processors have mastered the challenges of making them. Machine suppliers are now setting up lab lines that could make entry easier.
MDO Films: Lots of Promise, Big Challenges
Machine-direction orientation is still discovering new market opportunities. But the technical difficulties are so great that some big projects never came of age. New equipment could make it easier.
K 2004 News Preview: Extrusion
At K 2004, at least a half-dozen European machine builders will show new direct-drive extruders running gearless—or nearly gearless—drives with substantially higher rpm and output rates than conventional extruders of the same size.
Automatic Gauge Control: Comparing the Options
Until recently, blown-film processors looking for auto-gauge control had a choice of one segmented-die system, one IBC-based system, and several segmented air rings. Now there are at least nine auto-dies, including two for high-stalk bubbles, and lots of air-ring variations. All claim to improve gauge uniformity, but there are differences.
Foamed Films Find New Niches
Thin polyolefin foams have been made for decades for decorative ribbons, wire wrap, and sleeve-type labels.
Stretching Film's Limits
In the hyper-competitive stretch-film market, more layers often mean more market share. Moving from five layers to seven or nine can give an edge through higher performance or reduced cost.
NPE 2000 News Wrap-Up: Extrusion
At this year’s NPE, new processes to put wood flour into plastic were virtually everywhere—several even start with undried flour.
NPE Newsfinder: Extrusion
NPE will show higher outputs of practically everything, as advances in grooved feeds, servo drives, screw torque, mixing screws, dies, and downstream cooling, cutting, and handling make everything run faster.
Winders: They're Pushing New Limits In Speed and Tension Control
New-generation winders for blown and cast film are winding bigger, better rolls at higher speeds and lower tension. They've gotten so fast that cast film lines can now realize their full productive potential.
Extrusion (K 2001 Preview)
Probably the most intriguing news in extrusion at K 2001 will be a novel way to extrude clear film that differs from standard blown and cast methods.
Understanding Grooved Feed
U.S. processors still have some catching up to do when it comes to getting the most out of grooved-feed extruders. But decades of European experience offer lessons on how to use grooved feeds to run even resins like TPU, nylon, and PET.
Coextrusion Adds Shine to PP For Thermoforming Large Parts
New coextruded resin combinations are making polypropylene a contender for large thermoformed parts in outdoor uses from pleasure boats to automotive exterior trim.
Sheet Extrusion Competition Ups the Ante on Technological Sophistication
As sheet extruders consolidate, they're modernizing operations to raise output and efficiency. The pressure is on to run faster, wider, with more layers and innovative combinations of materials. The challenges multiply as sheet extrusion is teamed with in-line compounding and downstream operations like thermoforming.
Extruding
Where's the extruder?" was the comment often heard about the most unusual extrusion exhibit at K'98, a screwless, cone-shaped device that can extrude two or more melt streams.