106 can apply stress and cause fracturing to certain elastomer materials better than others, as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

Bringing our attention now to FIG. 3, the same perspective view of the extrusion system of FIG. 1 is shown, with the extrusion processing being portrayed. Here, the waste tire fill donut 110 has been placed inside the extrusion system 100. While not present in this extrusion system 100, an extrusion system could have a socket, indentation, pegs, or a similar component which can help to position the elastomer material 110 in the extrusion system 100. These types of features could prove beneficial in case one desires to produce a certain shape or size of a elastomer chunk 116, as that could be associated with a certain orientation and positioning of the elastomer material 110 and the type and construction of the extrusion die 106 used. Also, certain positionings of the elastomer material 110 may allow it to more easily interact with the piston 102 to ensure the extrusion process is carried out effectively. The piston 102 may be movable in at least a direction of extrusion 114. When moving in the direction of extrusion 114, the piston 102 may be operative to push the elastomer material 110 against the extrusion die 106. Preferably, the direction of extrusion 114 may point towards the extrusion die 106, although certain embodiments of the extrusion system 100 may have a direction of extrusion not pointing directly towards the extrusion die 106 while still causing the elastomer material 110 to be extruded through the extrusion die 106.

The entirety of the piston 102 could move in the direction of extrusion 114 (i.e., translational movement of the piston 102 structure), or a portion of the piston 102 may move in the direction of extrusion 114. Conventional mechanisms used in the art can be used to cause the movement of the piston 102 to extrude the elastomer material 110 through the extrusion die 106; in this respect the features of machine pressers like hydraulic pressers can be used to move the piston 102. The piston 102 may be operative to be coupled with an attachment which may aid in the extrusion process, such as an end piece shaped in a manner so that the elastomer material 110 may fit into or more easily interact with the movement of the piston 102. An example of an attachment includes a flat, steel plate which can be coupled to the piston 102 to act as a moving wall which can push the elastomer material 110 onto the extrusion die 106. This movable wall may be sized to fit in the housing 104 and can be sized to correspond to the area of the extrusion die 106. Any type of geometry can be used on an attachment for a piston 102, and multiple attachments can be coupled to a piston 102. It can be seen that as the piston 102 pushes the elastomer material 110 against the extrusion die 106, the elastomer material 110 can break up into smaller elastomer chunks 116.

The operation of the movement of the piston 102 in the direction of extrusion 114 can be varied by a control mechanism. This control mechanism may be built into the extrusion system 100 or be separate, and this would include devices directly connected to the extrusion system 100 or devices capable of communicating with the piston 102 wirelessly. This control mechanism may allow for the speed of the piston in the direction of extrusion 114 or any direction the piston 102 is movable in to be varied from a speed of zero (wherein the piston 102 does not move in that direction), a maximum speed (which may depend on the configuration of the piston 102 and the overall extrusion system 100), and speeds therebetween. The piston 102 may be operated in a cycle for a particular piece or batch of elastomer materials 110, in which the piston 102 moves in the direction of extrusion 114, optionally pauses for a moment, and moves backwards or away from the extrusion die 106. This cycle can be repeated until the elastomer material 110 has been extruded to a satisfactory degree. Preset variables could dictate this process, like by selecting a preset speed(s) of the piston 102 throughout the different stages of the cycle (and this speed can be changed within a certain stage), a preset timing for transitioning between the stages of the cycle, a preset position the piston 102 will be positioned at/move to, etc. Each of these variables can be changed as desired, allowing one to modify the operation of the extrusion system 100 for different types of elastomer materials 110. An extrusion system can have more than one piston, each of which can have unique or similar directions of extrusion depending on their positioning in the extrusion system 100, and all of which can be operated independently of one another or altogether at the same time.

The elastomer chunks 116 produced through this extrusion process could be more easily processed into a granulated material when compared to the original elastomer material 110 from which those elastomer chunks 116 originated from. Ideally, the elastomer chunks 116 could be no more than 25 pounds The elastomer chunks 116 produced from the extrusion process can be fed into a grinder, which could include grinders conventionally known and used by those skilled in the art, that can be operative to receive the elastomer chunks 116 and grind them into a granulated material. This granulated material can be used in a flatproofing material, either as the flatproofing material itself or as a subcomponent thereof, for producing a flatproofed tire. The grinder and the extrusion system 100 can be spatially related to each other such that the elastomer chunks 116 fall into the grinder once they have extruded from the extrusion system 100. Similar to the extrusion system 100, the grinder could utilize entryways like a hopper to better funnel these elastomer chunks 116 into the grinder.

However, a benefit may be gained by analyzing the elastomer chunks 116 and separating certain elastomer chunks from the rest before feeding them to a grinder, as not all chunks could prove to be optimal for grinding into the granulated material. The most pertinent contaminant that these elastomer chunks 116 could contain are metals, as metals can damage the grinder and/or other systems that could process the granulated material the elastomer chunks 116 can be processed into. In the example of used tire fill as the elastomer material 110, waste tire fill material could have collected metals over the course of their use, and it can be challenging to identify this accumulation on the waste tire fill material. A metal detector can be used to detect the presence of metals in the elastomer chunks 116, after which those identified elastomer chunks 116 can be separated from the rest of the elastomer chunks 116 before being introduced to a grinder. In a preferred embodiment, the elastomer chunks 116 can be sent to a conveyor belt on which the elastomer chunks 116 can be scanned by a metal detector. If a certain measurement is reached by the metal detector when scanning a particular elastomer chunk 116, that elastomer chunk 116 can be ejected or otherwise removed from the conveyor belt before that elastomer chunk reaches the grinder at the end of the conveyor belt pathway. The metal detection of the elastomer chunks 116 and the rejection of elastomer chunks containing metal may be automated steps in that the metal detectors can be positioned on a conveyor belt operative to remove particular chunks. Any type of metal detector known and used in the art can be implemented into this procedure. This step may allow for efficient use of a elastomer material 110, as even if it does contain a significant amount of metal, elastomer chunks 116 which are free of metal may still be extracted and used to make the granulated material. Alternatively, or additionally, the elastomer material 110 can be scanned with one or more metal detectors to detect for the presence of metal before extrusion. If a whole donut is being used as the elastomer material 110, this can include scanning the inner diameter and the outer diameter of the tire fill. To aid in this scanning process, the elastomer material 110 can be positioned, such as via suspending the elastomer material 110 on a sling (like a nylon or another non-metallic material), which can make it easier to scan the elastomer material 110. If no metal is found, the elastomer material 110 can be extruded without fear of damaging the extrusion system 100.

Looking now to FIG. 4, an exemplary tire filling system is shown. The tire filling system 200 may comprise a housing 204 which can house the tire 202 to be filled with a flatproofing material 206. The tire 202 may have an internal volume which may contain air 208. This air 208 can escape through a hole 212 in the tire 202 when the tire 202 is being filled with the flatproofing material 206. The hole 212 can be made by puncturing the tire 202, which can be done via, for example, an operator using a tool and/or with a machine operative to puncture the tire 202. The housing 204 itself may comprise the machine used to puncture the tire 202, in which case the tire 202 may be placed in the housing 204, putting the tire 202 in a proper position to be punctured by the machine. The flatproofing material 206 may comprise the granulated material produced from the aforementioned process of grinding the elastomer chunks 116. In this respect, the flatproofing material 206 could solely be comprised by the granulated material produced from the elastomer chunks 116. Alternatively, the flatproofing material 206 could also comprise additional substances such as a polyurethane component which could include, but is not strictly limited to, toluene diisocyanate, diphenylmethane diisocyanate, praraphenylene diisocyanate, toluidine diisocyanate, 1,5-naphthylene diisocyanate, polyester, polyether, polycaprolactone, polycarbonate, 1,4-butanediol, 1,3-propanediol, and combinations thereof. The granulated material may be mixed with one or more of these additional components to form the flatproofing material 206 slurry to be used to fill the tire 202. Alternatively, the components of the flatproofing material 206 could be sent to the tire 202 individually, wherein those components may mix together inside the tire 202 to form the flatproofing material 206. A combination of these two methodologies may be performed as well (for example, two components are mixed together, and that mixture is sent into the tire 202 along with a third component which altogether form the flatproofing material 206 inside the tire 202). Any combination of components used can be sent into the tire 202 simultaneously or sequentially.

A hose 210 may introduce the flatproofing material 206 into the tire 202, although alternative components and mechanisms that function similarly can be used to fill the tire 202 with the flatproofing material 206, either alongside the hose 210 or in alternative to the hose 210. One end of the hose 210 can be fluidly connected to a reservoir (not shown) containing a supply of flatproofing material 206 or subcomponents thereof while the other end of the hose 210 can be fluidly connected to the internal volume of the tire 202. The hose 210 or an equivalent component could be operative to feed the flatproofing material 206 into the tire 202 at a flow rate, and this flow rate could be varied throughout the filling process between a flow rate of zero (with no flatproofing material 206 being sent inside the tire 202), a maximum flow rate (which could depend on the construction and operability of the hose 210), and flow rate values in between. The hose 210 could be further operative to reverse the flow of flatproofing material 206, such as with a vacuum incorporated into the structure of the hose 210, to remove flatproofing material 206 if necessary to avoid over pressurization of the tire 202. Alternatively, a separate conduit fluidly connected to the flatproofing material 206 contained in the tire 202 may be used to remove the flatproofing material 206, optionally with the help of a vacuum. More than one hose 210 can be used in a tire filling system 200 so that a particular hose may introduce a particular component or a mixture of components of the flatproofing material 206.

The hose 210 could extend through the housing 204 (via, for example, the housing 204 having a port for the hose 210 to extend through) so that the reservoir holding the flatproofing material 206 can be located outside of the housing 204. The tire 202 could similarly have a port that the hose 210 can be coupled to in order to send the flatproofing material 206 into the tire 202. Alternatively, another hole, separate from the aforementioned hole 212 in the tire 202, could be made in the tire 202 through which the flatproofing material 206 can sent into the tire 202, and this hole can be sealed once the desired amount of flatproofing material 206 has been sent into the tire 202. As the flatproofing material 206 is introduced into the tire 202, the air 208 in the tire 202 can escape out from the tire 202 through the hole 212. Escaped air 214 escaping from the tire 202 can be measured by an air flow meter 220 operative to measure the flow rate of the escaped air 214 escaping from the tire 202. The air flow meter 220 may be positioned along a fluid pathway of the escaped air 214 so that the air flow meter 220 may give an accurate indication of the flow rate of escaped air 214 that has escaped from the tire 202.

The tire filling system 200 may comprise a duct 216 which, as will be shown, can help the air flow meter to measure the flow rate of the escaped air 214 more accurately. The duct 216 could have a passageway through which gases may travel through. The duct 216 can be coupled to the tire 202, and mechanisms built into the duct 216, the tire 202, and/or the housing 204 may assist in performing said coupling. The duct 216 can be made of a flexible material to allow the duct 216 to stretch so that it can be properly positioned and coupled to the tire 202, although ideally this flexible material would prevent gasses in the passageway from escaping through the material (e.g., no pores or voids for the gasses to leave the duct 216 through). This flexibility may also allow tires of differing sizes to be used in a tire filling system 200. The coupling of the duct 216 to the tire 202 may be associated with the hole 212 in the tire such that the passageway of the duct 216 is fluidly connected with the internal volume of the tire. Thus, escaped air 214 from the tire 202 may travel into the duct 216. This coupling of the duct 216 to the tire 202 may preferably cause most if not all of the escaped air 214 would travel into the passageway of the duct