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US 7,611,658 B2Granted
Injection blow moulding of plastics articles
OwnerConstantinos Siderisinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A composite mould set for use on a conventional type of injection-molding machine is made up of composite mold halves (10) which are mounted one on each platen (12) of the injection molding machine. Each mold half (10) carries an array of injection molding cavities (16) for molding preforms, and an array of blow molding cavities (18) for stretch blow molding of the preforms into a blow molded product. The respective cavities (16) and (18) are arranged so that they open in a common mold separation direction.
Claims26
A mould set for use in a method of moulding plastic articles wherein a preform is injection-moulded in an injection moulding cavity and the injection-moulded preform is blow-moulded in a blow-moulding cavity, said mould set comprising:
- an array of injection-moulding cavities;
- and
- an array of generally elongate blow-moulding cavities, each of the blow-moulding cavities having a neck region and a longitudinal axis,
- wherein each of the cavities in each of the arrays is defined by at least two mould parts separable in a respective mould separation direction,
- the mould separation directions of said injection-moulding cavities and of said blow-moulding cavities each define a common mould separation direction whereby the mould set opens and closes in the common mould separation direction to release both of the injection-moulded preforms and the blow-moulded products,
- the longitudinal axes of the blow-moulding cavities extend generally perpendicularly to the common mould separation direction and the neck regions are disposed adjacent to an edge of the mould set to be externally accessible in a direction that is transverse relative to the mould-separation direction and to the axes of said opening and closing movement, and
- the longitudinal axes of the injection-moulding cavities are arranged to extend generally parallel to the common mould separation direction.
4 more elements
An injection moulding apparatus for injection and stretch blow-moulding of plastic articles, said apparatus comprising:
- a mould set, comprising:
- an array of injection-moulding cavities;
- and
- an array of generally elongate blow-moulding cavities, each of the blow-moulding cavities having a neck region and a longitudinal axis,
- wherein each of the cavities in each of the arrays is defined by at least two mould parts separable in a respective mould separation direction,
- the mould separation directions of said injection-moulding cavities and of said blow-moulding cavities define a common mould separation direction whereby the mould opens and closes in the direction along the axis of the common mould separation to release injection-moulded preforms and blow moulded products, and
- the longitudinal axes of the blow moulding cavities are arranged to extend generally perpendicularly to the common mould separation direction and neck regions are disposed adjacent to an edge of the mould set to be externally accessible in a direction that is transverse relative to the axis of said opening and closing movement,
- the longitudinal axes of the injection-moulding cavities are arranged to extend generally parallel to the common mould separation direction,
- an injection means for injecting plastics material into said injection-moulding cavities to produce said injection-moulded preforms,
- a mould opening means for opening and closing said mould set to allow release of the injection-moulded preforms and the blow-moulded products,
- a preform transfer means for transferring the injection-moulded preforms from the injection-moulding cavities to the blow-moulding cavities, and
- a blow-moulding means associated with said blow-moulding cavities and operable for blow-moulding the injection-moulded preforms thereinto.
9 more elements
An injection moulding apparatus for injection blow-moulding of plastic articles, said apparatus comprising:
- a mould set, comprising:
- an array of injection-moulding cavities;
- and
- an array of generally elongate blow-moulding cavities, each having a neck region and a longitudinal axis,
- wherein each of the cavities in each of the arrays is defined by at least two mould parts separable in a respective mould separation direction,
- the mould separation directions of said injection-moulding cavities and of said blow-moulding cavities define a common mould separation direction whereby the mould set opens in the direction of the common mould separation to release injection-moulded preforms and blow moulded products, and
- the longitudinal axes of the blow moulding cavities are arranged to extend generally perpendicularly to the common mould separation direction and the neck regions are disposed adjacent to an edge of the mould set to be externally accessible in a direction that is transverse relative to the opening and closing movement,
- an injection means for injecting plastics material into said injection-moulding cavities to produce said injection-moulded preforms,
- a mould opening means for the opening and closing movement of said mould set to allow release of injection-moulded preforms and blow-moulded products,
- a preform transfer means for transferring the injection-moulded preforms from the injection-moulding cavities to the blow-moulding cavities,
- a blow-moulding means associated with said blow-moulding cavities and operable for blow-moulding the injection-moulded preforms thereinto, and
- a thermal conditioning means for exposing said injection moulded preforms to a thermal conditioning step following injection moulding thereof and prior to said blow moulding.
9 more elements
A method of blow-moulding plastic articles, comprising the steps of:
- providing a mould set, comprising:
- an array of injection-moulding cavities, each of the injection-moulding cavities having a longitudinal axis;
- and
- an array of generally elongate blow-moulding cavities, each of the blow-moulding cavities having a neck region and a longitudinal axis,
- wherein each of the cavities in each of the arrays is defined by at least two mould parts separable in a respective mould separation direction,
- the mould separation directions of said injection-moulding cavities and of said blow-moulding cavities define a common mould separation direction whereby the mould opens and closes in the common mould separation direction to release injection-moulded preforms and blow moulded products,
- the longitudinal axes of the blow moulding cavities extend generally perpendicularly to the common mould separate direction and the neck regions disposed adjacent to an edge of the mould set and are externally accessible in a direction that is transverse relative to the axis of said opening and closing movement;
- the longitudinal axes of the injection-moulding cavities are arranged to extend generally parallel to the common mould separation direction,
- locating a plurality of previously injection-moulded preforms in said blow-moulding cavities;
- closing said mould set;
- forming injection-moulded preforms using said injection-moulding cavities;
- stretching and/or blow-moulding said previously injection-moulded preforms into said blow-moulding cavities;
- opening said mould set to release said injection-moulded preforms and said blow-moulded products;
- and
- transferring said injection-moulded preforms to said blow-moulding cavities.
12 more elements
A method of blow-moulding plastic articles, comprising the steps of:
- providing a mould set, comprising:
- an array of injection-moulding cavities;
- and
- an array of generally elongate blow-moulding cavities, each of the blow-moulding cavities having a neck region,
- wherein each of the cavities in each of the arrays is defined by at least two mould parts separable in a respective mould separation direction,
- the mould separation directions of said injection-moulding cavities and of said blow-moulding cavities define a common mould separation direction whereby the mould set opens and closes in the common mould separation direction to release injection-moulded preforms and blow moulded products,
- the blow moulding cavities extend generally perpendicularly to the common mould separate direction and the neck regions disposed adjacent to an edge of the mould set and are externally accessible in a direction that is transverse relative to the axis of said opening and closing movement;
- locating a plurality of previously injection-moulded preforms in said blow-moulding cavities;
- closing said mould set;
- forming injection-moulded preforms using said injection-moulding cavities;
- stretching and/or blow-moulding said previously injection-moulded preforms into said blow-moulding cavities;
- opening said mould set to release said injection-moulded preforms and said blow-moulded products;
- and
- transferring said injection-moulded preforms to said blow-moulding cavities,
- wherein said injection moulded preforms are exposed to a thermal conditioning step following release from injection-moulding thereof and prior to said blow-moulding.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.