Four heated nozzle manifolds interconnected in a common plane

In an injection molding apparatus with a heated central manifold and a plurality of heated nozzle manifolds mounted in a mold having a melt passage branching in the central manifold for conveying melt from a central inlet in the central manifold through the nozzle manifolds to a plurality of heated nozzles extending from each nozzle manifold, each nozzle seated in the mold with a central melt bore extending in alignment with a gate leading to a cavity, the improvement wherein;

• the central manifold and four nozzle manifolds extend in a common plane, the central manifold is centrally located relative to the four nozzle manifolds and has two elongated arms extending in substantially opposite directions along a longitudinal axis, each arm having two opposed sides, a pair of said nozzle manifolds are mounted on opposite sides of each arm of the central manifold, whereby each nozzle manifold is offset from the central manifold in a second direction that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the central manifold, an elongated connector bushing extends outward from each side of each arm of the central manifold to slidably connect one of the nozzle manifolds to the central manifold, a slidable locating device extends between the mold and each nozzle manifold, and the melt passage branches in opposite directions in each arm of the central manifold to extend through each of the connector bushing and branches again in each nozzle manifold to extend to the melt bore through each of the nozzles, said connector bushing locates said one nozzle manifold relative to the central manifold in a first direction along the longitudinal axis while allowing movement to compensate for thermal expansion and contraction of said one nozzle manifold and the central manifold in said second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, said slidable locating device locates said each nozzle manifold relative to the mold in said second direction while allowing movement of said each nozzle manifold relative to said mold in said first direction, whereby the combination of said connector bushing and said slidable locating means allows sufficient movement in both the first and second directions to provide for thermal expansion and contraction of the heated manifolds relative to the cooled mold, each nozzle manifold being made and mounted so thermal expansion within the central manifold, connector bushings and nozzle manifolds slides the branches of the melt passage into alignment with the melt bores through the nozzles when the manifolds and connector bushings are heated to an operating temperature.