Pugmill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A pugmill or pug mill is a machine in which materials are simultaneously ground and mixed with a liquid. Industrial applications are found in pottery, bricks, cement and some parts of the concrete and asphalt mixing processes.
In ceramics pug mills, or commonly just "pugs", are not used to grind or mix, rather they extrude clay bodies prior to shaping processes. Some can be fitted with a vacuum system that ensures the extruded clay bodies have no entrapped air. According to the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, a clay pug mill typically consists of an upright shaft armed with projecting knives, which is caused to revolve in a hollow cylinder, tub, or vat, in which the clay body is placed.