Forming Station of Apparatus for Making Packaging
AssigneePia-K Enterprises, LLC
InventorWilliam Kleemeier
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method are provided for forming a sheet of thermoformable stock material into a desired shape on a relatively-small and relatively-inexpensive “table top” version of a thermoforming and/or vacuum forming machine. Unlike conventional machines that utilize external electric or gas powered air compressors and/or separate electric vacuum pumps, the apparatus integrates a compressed fluid/suction generating device within the machine itself so that the need to connect the machine to an external source of compressed fluid or vacuum is eliminated.
Claims18
A forming station of a thermoforming and/or vacuum forming machine, comprising:
- at least first and second opposed forms positionable in open and closed positions, in said closed position said forms creating a sealed mold with a mold cavity surface, each of said forms having a port communicating with an interior of said mold;
- and
- a combination compressed fluid and vacuum generator including a fluid-tight hollow body and a piston moveable within said hollow body, said piston being in fluid-tight engagement with walls of said hollow body and defining opposite first and second chambers within said hollow body, each chamber being sealed from said other chamber and having a port;
- said port of said first form being in fluid communication with said port of said first chamber, and said port of said second form being in fluid communication with said port of said second chamber;
- whereby movement of said piston within said hollow body causes at least one of fluid to be forced into one of said forms of said mold, fluid to be drawn out of one of said forms of said mold, or both.
A method of thermoforming or vacuum forming a sheet of thermoplastic stock material in a forming station of a thermoforming and/or vacuum forming machine, comprising the steps of:
- positioning at least first and second opposed forms of the forming station in an open position;
- positioning or advancing the sheet of thermoplastic stock material between the first and second opposed forms when the first and second opposed forms are in the open position;
- closing the first and second opposed forms in a fluid-tight closed position with the sheet of thermoplastic stock material captured therebetween adjacent a mold cavity defining a void space and mold cavity surface in one of said first and second opposed forms;
- moving a piston within a hollow gas-tight body that has a first chamber on one side of the piston and a second chamber on an opposite side of the piston, movement of the piston within the hollow body generating a blast of gas via a port in one of the chambers and drawing a vacuum via a port in the other one of the chambers;
- and
- applying the blast of gas, the vacuum, or both generated by said piston moving step to at least one of the forms to blow, draw, or both the sheet of thermoplastic stock material into conformance with the mold cavity surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.