Back to results
US 5,840,349 AGranted
Rotary blow molding machine
AssigneeGraham Engineering Corporation
InventorsJohn M. Brown, Jr., David N. Fiorani, John M. Mathy, Jr., Rolf E. Weingardt
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rotary blow molding machine includes a horizontal main shaft with a plurality of molds spaced around the shaft and mounted on the shaft by linear bearings for movement along the shaft. A shaft drive rotates the shaft and molds around the axis of the shaft in the steps and dwells the shaft and molds between steps. Open molds are rotated from a lower container eject position up to a parison capture position and then close on a parison. The closed molds are shifted axially along the main shaft and the parison is blown. Further rotation of the shaft returns the molds to the mold eject position where the molds open and molded containers are ejected downwardly with gravity assist.
Claims64
A horizontal rotary blow molding machine including a pair of spaced apart main shaft supports;
- a horizontal rotary main shaft journaled in bearings in said supports;
- a plurality of mold assemblies spaced around the main shaft between the supports, each assembly including a frame having a base adjacent to the main shaft and a pair of spaced apart arms extending outwardly from the main shaft, a blow mold comprising a pair of mold halves mounted in the frame between said arms for relative movement in a direction parallel to the axis of the main shaft between an open mold position and a closed mold position, a shift rod joined to one mold half and extending parallel to the axis of the main shaft past an adjacent arm, and a mold clamp engageable with the shift rod;
- a plurality of linear bearings, each bearing joining a mold assembly to the main shaft whereby the mold assemblies are moveable along the main shaft;
- a mounting member on the main shaft;
- a plurality of blow pin assemblies on the mounting member, each assembly associated with one of said molds and including a blow pin engageable with such mold and a blow pin drive operable to move the blow pin toward and away from the mold;
- a rotary drive engageable with said main shaft and operable to rotate the main shaft, mold assemblies, mounting member and blow pin assemblies around the horizontal axis of the main shaft in steps and to dwell the main shaft, mold assemblies, mounting member and blow pin assemblies in circumferential positions between rotary steps, said positions including a container eject position and an adjacent parison capture position located above the container eject position;
- a first mold assembly drive mounted on one ,of said supports adjacent the container eject position and a second mold assembly drive mounted on one of said supports adjacent the parison capture position;
- engageable and disengageable members forming drive connections between said respective mold assembly drives and mold assemblies located in the container eject position and the parison capture position, said first mold assembly drive operable to shift a mold assembly along the main shaft from a retracted position to an extended position and to open the mold in such assembly, said second mold assembly drive operable to shift a mold assembly along the main shaft from an extended position to a retracted position and to close the mold in such assembly;
- and a parison extruder located above a mold assembly located in the circumferential parison capture position and in the extended position on the main shaft.
6 more elements
A rotary blow molding machine including,
- a. an elongate main shaft defining a rotary axis extending along the length of the shaft;
- b. a plurality of mold assemblies spaced around the main shaft, each assembly including a blow mold having mold halves moveable parallel to the rotary axis between opened and closed mold positions;
- c. a plurality of linear bearings, each linear bearing extending longitudinally along the main shaft and connecting a mold assembly to the main shaft for movement along the shaft;
- d. a first drive operable to shift a mold assembly along the main shaft between spaced positions on the main shaft;
- e. a second drive operable to open and close the mold halves of a mold assembly;
- and
- f. a shaft drive connected to the main shaft and operable to rotate the main shaft and mold assemblies around the rotary axis.
4 more elements
A rotary blow molding machine including a main shaft having a longitudinal axis;
- a plurality of blow molds mounted on and spaced around the main shaft;
- a mold shift drive operable to shift the molds along the main shaft between extended and retracted axial positions, a mold opening and closing drive operable to open and close the molds;
- and a shaft drive operable to rotate the main shaft and molds around the longitudinal axis.
A blow molding machine comprising,
- a. a blow mold assembly including a mold carriage, a blow mold including a pair of mold halves mounted in said mold carriage for relative movement between an open mold position and a closed mold position, a mold shift mechanism to move said blow mold halves between the open and closed mold positions, and said mold shift mechanism including a shift actuator;
- b. an assembly drive operable to move said blow mold assembly along a path between a first position and a second position;
- c. a mold closing device located adjacent the first position, said mold closing device including a first coupling element located to engage said shift actuator and form a first operable connection between said mold closing device and said blow mold when said blow mold assembly is in the first position and to disengage from said shift actuator and break said first operable connection between said mold closing device and said blow mold when said blow mold assembly is away from the first position;
- and
- d. a mold opening device located adjacent the second position, said mold opening device including a second coupling element located to engage said shift actuator and form a second operable connection between said mold opening device and said blow mold when said blow mold assembly is in the second position and to disengage from said shift actuator and break said second operable connection between said mold opening device and said blow mold when said blow mold assembly is away from the second position.
2 more elements
A blow mold assembly for use in a blow molding machine having an assembly drive to move the blow mold assembly along a path between a first position and a second position, a mold closing device located adjacent the first position and a mold opening device located adjacent the second position, said blow mold assembly comprising,
- a. a mold carriage, a blow mold including a pair of mold halves mounted in said mold carriage for relative movement between an open mold position and a closed mold position, a mold shift apparatus attached to said blow mold being operable to move said blow mold halves between the open and closed blow mold positions, said mold shift apparatus including a shift actuator;
- b. said mold shift apparatus being located to form a first operable connection between said blow mold and the mold closing device when said blow mold assembly is in the first position and to break said first operable connection when said blow mold assembly is away from the first position;
- and
- c. said mold shift apparatus being located to form a second operable connection between said blow mold and the mold closing device when said blow mold assembly is in the second position and to break said second operable connection when said blow mold assembly is away from the second position.
1 more element
A rotary blow molding machine comprising:
- a. an elongate main shaft defining a rotary axis extending along the shaft;
- b. a plurality of mold assemblies spaced around the main shaft, each assembly mounted on said shaft for relative movement between longitudinally spaced positions on the main shaft and including a blow mold having mold halves moveable between an opened mold position and a closed mold position;
- c. a first drive to shift a mold assembly between the spaced positions;
- d. a second drive to open and close the mold halves of the assembly;
- and
- e. a shaft drive connected to the main shaft to rotate the main shaft and mold assemblies around the rotary axis.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.