Center cylinder ejection assist
AssigneeGraham Packaging Company, L.P.
InventorsRoy N. Krohn, Gregory D. Taylor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of ejecting a container from a blow mold comprises the steps of: opening a blow mold containing a container, the blow mold comprising a pair of pistons having a head and a heel, an end cap disposed behind the heel, and a pair of ejector rods, each ejector rod coupled to a different piston; simultaneously with the opening forcing a fluid against each head of each of the pair of pistons, extending each of the ejector rods to maintain contact with an opposite side of a center portion of the container in the blow mold and pushing the container from the blow mold; and forcing a fluid against the heel of each of the pair of pistons operative to retract the pair of ejector rods away from the container when the container is separated from the blow mold.
Claims25
An ejection-assist apparatus for ejecting a container from a mold cavity comprising:
- a mold half cooperating with a second mold half to form the mold cavity;
- an ejection assist apparatus in said mold half, said ejection assist apparatus comprising:
- an ejector rod having a contact end for contacting the container and a back end;
- a cylinder body around said ejection rod;
- a piston having a heel and a head and coupled to said back end of said ejector rod;
- a cylinder barrel around said piston having an end cap and a front end, said piston being slidable within said cylinder barrel, and said front end contiguous with said cylinder body;
- a forward fluid passage having a blowing end and a back end, said blowing end operative to blow fluid into said cylinder barrel through said end cap on said head of said piston and said back end connectable to a first external fluid supply;
- and
- a return fluid tube having a blowing end and a back end, said blowing end operative to blow fluid into said barrel cylinder on said heel of said piston and said back end connectable to a second external fluid supply,
- wherein blowing a fluid on said head of said piston moves said piston and said ejector rod into an extended position and blowing a fluid on said heel of said piston moves said piston and said ejector rod into a retracted position.
A method of ejecting a container from a blow mold, the method comprising the steps of:
- opening a blow mold containing a container, said blow mold comprising a pair of pistons having a head and a heel, an end cap disposed behind said heel, and a pair of ejector rods, each ejector rod coupled to a different one of said pair of pistons;
- simultaneously with said opening forcing a fluid against each head of each of said pair of pistons, extending each of said ejector rods to maintain contact with an opposite side of a center portion of the container in said blow mold and pushing the container from said blow mold;
- and
- forcing a fluid against said heel of each of said pair of pistons operative to retract said pair of ejector rods away from the container when the container is separated from said blow mold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.