Machine invention, innovation, and elementary steps

The systematic scientific analysis of polymer processing machines leads to the definition of a small number of elementary steps, which in chemical engineering terminology are the “unit operations” of these machines that transcend individual machine configuration and reflect the common experience of the processed material in any type of machine. The elementary steps reveal the detailed specific physical mechanisms that take place in these machines. These mechanisms, in turn, are powerful tools for triggering machine innovation and invention. The proposed methodology consists of two steps: first via the scientific analysis the process is repeatedly decomposed into its constituent elements and then the elements are recombined or reconstructed in a systematic way into either innovative solutions or novel inventions. The methodology, is demonstrated by three case studies. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 21: 87–97, 2002; Published online in Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/adv.10018