Moulding device for the production of containers in thermoplastic material

A molding device for blow-molding or stretch-blow-molding containers from heated thermoplastic preforms, said device comprising at least one mold comprising at least two half-molds that can be moved with respect to each other between an open position in which they are parted from one another and a closed position in which they are firmly pressed against one another via collaborating respective bearing faces defining a parting line, locking means being provided to lock the two half-molds in the closed position, which locking means comprising on at least one side of the mold, a first lock element in the form of a hook secured fixedly to the first half-mold along the edge of the bearing face thereof, a second lock element in the form of a hook inverted with respect to the previous one and mounted such that it can pivot, on a rotation surface, on the second half-mold, and actuating means functionally associated with said second lock element in such a way as to move the latter transversely between a locked position in which it is engaged with the first lock element to lock the two half-molds in the closed position and an unlocked position in which it is disengaged from the first lock element to release the two half-molds that can then be parted from one another,

• wherein, in addition:
• the first and second hook-shaped lock elements extend respectively over the entire height of the first and second half-molds,
• the second half-mold has, along the edge of its bearing face and over at least most of its height, a radially projecting flange shaped, on its face facing away from the bearing face, as an arc of a circle and able to constitute a rotation surface, and
• said second lock element belongs to one end of a moving part provided with a transverse projecting flange defining a bearing surface in the shape of an arc of a circle facing toward the second hook-shaped lock element and able to bear continuously over the entire height of said rotation surface of the second lock element,
• whereby, when the mold is closed and locked and subjected to the blowing pressure, the force to which the second half-mold is subjected is reacted, by said moving part, substantially continuously over most of its height via said rotation surface.