Apparatus for the manufacture and unloading of preforms for the manufacture of plastic containers

An apparatus for the manufacture and unloading of preforms for the manufacture of plastic containers, the apparatus comprising:

• a device for injection molding of a plurality of preforms and a device for cooling and extraction of the preforms from said molding device, said cooling and extraction device comprising a grip assembly which forms a plurality of cooling receptacles for respective preforms, first transferring means configured for transferring still-warm preforms from said molding device to said grip assembly, said cooling and extraction device comprising an unloading plate which supports a plurality of grip bodies which are arranged in a matrix and can be moved on command in order to engage selectively said grip assembly in order to allow the extraction of the cooled preforms from the respective receptacle and the unloading onto an unloading surface of the preforms, and further comprising a device for selective extraction of a predetermined subset of preforms supported by said unloading plate in an orderly manner along at least one pickup direction, and second transferring means configured for orderly transfer of said predetermined subset of preforms to at least one control and inspection device adapted to perform at least one control on said predetermined subset of preforms.