Apparatus for converting thermoplastic blanks into shaped articles

Abstract

Apparatus for converting thermoplastic blanks into shaped articles has a wheel-shaped conveyor which carries an outwardly extending link for a coupling which can engage successive blanks of a series of blanks during advancement along a first portion of its endless path. The blank is transported through a heating unit and thereupon enters the cavity of a mold to be converted into a shaped article which is removed from the mold and is delivered to an article receiving unit. The blank heating unit, the mold and the article receiving unit are respectively adjacent to second, third and fourth portions of the endless path. The conveyor can be driven at a variable speed and in stepwise fashion to be decelerated during advancement of a blank through the heating unit and to come to a halt while the blank is being converted into a shaped article. Alternatively, the link can be pivoted in and counter to the direction of rotation of the conveyor to thus accelerate or decelerate the coupling relative to the conveyor. This renders it possible to drive the conveyor at a constant speed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.