A professional who operates combination calendering mill and vulcanizing conveyor that rolls out and cures, in continuous process, sponge rubber sheeting for use gaskets, underlay for carpeting, and insulation for footwear. Respnsibilities include:

• Turns handwheels and capstan screws to set distance between calender rolls and between vulcanizing plates and conveyor, verifying setting with feeler gauges.
• Operates calender to produce uncured sponge rubber sheeting.
• Turns rheostat for each vulcanizing plate to designated temperature setting and observes heat indicators.
• Starts conveyor, when plates reach specified heat, to vulcanize calendered sheeting beneath them.
• Replaces worn canvas conveyor belts between calendering and vulcanizing units, using portable vulcanizing machine to bond ends.
• Adjusts tension bars that tighten belt, using wrenches.
• Mounts roll of underlay backing cloth into cradles, using electric chain hoist.
• Threads backing cloth (netting) through cement trough and series of rollers that press it onto sponge rubber sheeting, and through drying oven.
• Adjusts width between calender rolls to increase or decrease thickness of sheeting and adjusts temperatures of vulcanizing plates when there are deviations from specifications in thickness or curing.
• May operate vulcanizing conveyor without warming mill, calender, or vulcanizing plates that draws, by vacuum pressure, uncured sponge rubber between links of wire mesh that expands and vulcanizes rubber as it passes through heated oven to produce waffle-imprinted underlay on precalendered stocks and be known as Rug-Underlay-Machine Operator.