Casting Impregnation
Peter Young – 50 years as an innovator
Peter Young and His Background in Casting Impregnation
Peter was always right at the forefront of technology and responsible for developing and introducing polyester impregnation resin to the European market. This was followed by the very first methacrylate sealant patented and introduced in 1977 and followed up 10 years later with a methacrylate recycling sealant. In addition, Peter also has his name on a number of patents covering sealant formulation, process application and plant design.
PDY – Pressure impregnation of Broomwade compressor heads
Poyle Trading Estate, Colnbrook, Bucks. UK Circa 1952
Peter David Young, the founder and owner of Ultraseal International Limited (1967-1998), spent his entire life in the impregnation business, being introduced to it by his father in 1949. See the history page for more details.
Ultraseal Polyester Sealant
In the mid sixties, Peter Young's father retired and sold his casting impregnation company. Peter took the decision to start his own company and formed Ultraseal in Slough in 1967. By this time, and as a result of on-going development, polyester sealant was being cured in hot glycol which was found to be the quickest and most effective curing method. The drawbacks with this type of sealant were that it produced an effluent that was difficult to dispose of and that it emitted an odour that required good ventilation.
Hot Cure Methacrylate Sealant
In 1977, Peter developed, introduced and patented the first hot water cure methacrylate sealant – PC504. This was a major breakthrough for Ultraseal and projected the company into the international market as a major player for the supply of sealants and equipment. The benefits were vast, predominantly drastically cutting effluent, speeding up process times by up to sixfold and a sealability that brought the application down from two to one treatment. Plant was also simpler and considerably more user friendly.
MX2 Recyclable Sealant
By the late 1980's Peter had a further breakthrough with the introduction of the first re-cyclable sealant – MX2. Not only was it special in this regard but it also exhibited greater application, flexibility and sealability than earlier impregnants.
MX became a mainstay of Ultraseal allowing it to develop a range of equipment to complement this unique sealant. Bearing in mind that over 95% of traditional sealant consumed during established processing was discharged down the drain – a total loss of a valuable chemical. This advanced green technology allowed the company to offer the market place a high performance system that could be applied in both its traditional top-load and front-load equipment.
Plant and Equipment
Both PC504 and MX sealants became the mainstays of Ultraseal, allowing it to develop a range of equipment to complement these unique sealants. Notably:
- 1980 – Balanced Dry Vacuum Impregnation
- 1983 – Fully Automatic In-Line Rotational Processing
- 1985 – Top Load Rotational Processing
- 1986 – Vertical Transfer Impregnation
- 1987 – Shuttle – fully automatic in-line impregnation system – British Design Council Award ‘Production Engineers’.
- 1988 – Front Load Rotational Processing
An MX Sealant impregnation plant manufactured by Ultraseal for Volvo Sweden in 1995, considered the largest of its kind, was a 5' diameter front load three-station system, comprising of vacuum impregnation, cold wash and hot water cure. In total, the machine was two stories high and weighed approx 15 tonnes dry. The cycle time was 2.5 mins per station. Each batch contained eight aluminum cylinder blocks.
Patents
In 1979/80 a number of international patents were granted, covering original PC504 and the method of impregnation sighting the novelty of hot water curing. There followed a series of additional patents both for new sealant formulations and process application spanning some twenty years.
Web References
The following is a list of related web pages, mostly about innovations and patents from Peter Young.
http://www.wanfangdata.com.cn/qikan/periodical.Articles/hxynh/hxyn2005/0506/050611.htm Impregnation of porous articles. US Patent 4147821, 1979-04-03
http://scholar.ilib.cn/abstract.aspx?A=zgjnj200304003 Impregnation of porous articles
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/4722295-claims.html Article Treating Apparatus: US Patent Issued on February 2, 1988
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5017669.html Impregnant compositions for porous articles: US Patent Issued on May 21, 1991
http://www.wanfangdata.com.cn/qikan/periodical.Articles/hxynh/hxyn2002/0206/020610.htm
http://scholar.ilib.cn/Abstract.aspx?A=hxynh200206010
http://www.wikipatents.com/patenthtml.php?id=4147821 US Patent: April 3, 1979
http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=1988/04675 Impregnant compositions for porous articles: 05-12-1987
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4311735.html
http://www.wikipatents.com/4311735.html Impregnation of porous articles US Patent 4311735; January 19, 1982
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4620991.html Apparatus for the impregnation of porous articles: United States Patent 4620991 1986-11-04