Injection molding: Molders Choice adds “E” universal nozzle tips to its catalogueInjection molding: Molders Choice adds “E” universal nozzle tips to its catalogue

Samuel Kern's patented design for a universal nozzle tip, able to process many types of plastics and control creation of strings while processing ABS, is now available from Molders Choice, a provider of equipment and supplies for the injection molding industry.

Molders Choice (Solon, OH) says the new offering will meet molders' requests for a reliable nozzle tip that is a universal design and helps control or eliminate stringing, drool, cold slugs, nozzle freeze-off, and sticking runners at the sprue.

Molders Choice is marketing the nozzle tips under the brand name "E". The version distributed by Molders Choice meets the design and manufacturing specifications of Kern, the inventor, who is a plastics industry consultant molder in South Carolina.  Kern had earlier licensed his design to Spirex but that company no longer can use Kern's patent for its nozzle tips. It does, however, still market a tip named the Eliminator, which was the name it gave to the Kern-designed tip when it was marketing these.

Long intellectual property story: The E tip being offered by Molders Choice is the one that uses Kern's patented technology. To avoid confusion, Spirex's website, on the page where it markets its Eliminator, includes the following text: "This is a new design, and is not related to the old design, its patent, or any variation of that design." You'll find some of Mr. Kern's and other molders' comments on the topic in this string in our Readers' Forum. In answer to our question, Ken Berger of Molders Choice told us that the anchor has no significance other than "it is a way the customer can be assured of getting 'the original'."

Reducing strings from ABS is not the only benefit the E tip offers. The single nozzle tip is versatile enough to process nylon, ABS applications, polycarbonate, polystyrene and acrylics. It also has other benefits, according to Molders Choice, which claims it delivers results more typically achieved by higher-priced shut-off nozzles. The tip is available in 10 different configurations based on radius and orifice requirements.