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US 8,926,310 B2Granted
Cup thermoforming machine
OwnerJere F. Irwininventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cup thermoforming machine includes a frame, a movable upper platen, a clamping grid and a movable lower platen. The movable upper platen is supported for vertical reciprocation by the frame, and carries a male die. The clamping grid is carried by the frame above a sheet of thermoformable material and has a clearance aperture for the male die. The lower platen is supported for vertical reciprocation by the frame beneath the clamping grid and carries a female die.
Claims20
A cup thermoforming machine, comprising:
- a frame;
- a movable upper platen supported for vertical reciprocation by the frame and carrying a plurality of male dies each configured to interact with a horizontally extending heated web of thermoformable material;
- a stationary clamping grid carried by the frame above the heated web and having a respective clearance aperture for each of the male dies;
- a movable lower platen supported for vertical reciprocation by the frame beneath the clamping grid and carrying a plurality of female dies;
- and
- a web sag clearance zone provided between the clamping grid and a top-most surface of the lower platen that extends across and above an entirety of the plurality of female dies on the lower platen with a depth greater than a depth of the female dies when the lower platen is vertically reciprocated to a lowered position to provide clearance for a downwardly sagging portion of the heated web relative to the plurality of female dies;
- wherein positioning of the clamping grid above the heated web in combination with an upward movement of the plurality of female dies for clamping the heated web is configured to eliminate a contact between the heated web and the clamping grid which results in preventing damage to a surface finish of the heated web.
4 more elements
A thermoforming machine, comprising:
- a frame;
- a movable upper platen supported by the frame for vertical reciprocation and carrying a plurality of male dies configured to interact with a heated web of thermoformable material supported in a horizontally extending configuration;
- a stationary clamping grid carried by the frame above the horizontally extending heated web of thermoformable material and having a respective clearance aperture for each of the male dies;
- a movable lower platen supported by the frame for vertical reciprocation beneath the clamping grid and carrying a plurality of female dies configured to interact with the horizontally extending heated web of thermoformable material;
- and
- a web sag clearance zone provided between the clamping grid and a top-most surface of all of the female dies having a depth at least 16 percent of a width of the top-most surface of all the female dies being spanned when the lower platen is vertically reciprocated to a lowered position to provide clearance for a downwardly sagging portion of the heated web relative to the plurality of female dies;
- wherein positioning of the clamping grid above the heated web in combination with an upward movement of the plurality of female dies for clamping the heated web is configured to eliminate a contact between the heated web and the clamping grid which results in preventing damage to a surface finish of the heated web.
4 more elements
A thermoforming machine, comprising:
- a frame;
- a movable upper platen supported by the frame for vertical reciprocation and carrying a plurality of male dies configured to interact with a heated web of thermoformable material supported in a horizontally extending configuration;
- a stationary clamping grid carried by the frame above the horizontally extending heated web of thermoformable material and having a respective clearance aperture for each of the male dies;
- a movable lower platen supported by the frame for vertical reciprocation beneath the clamping grid and carrying a plurality of female dies configured to interact with the horizontally extending heated web of thermoformable material;
- a pair of laterally spaced apart and horizontally extending conveyor rails provided outboard of the clamping grid and defining a web delivery plane provided beneath a bottom surface of the clamping grid;
- and
- a web sag clearance zone provided between a bottom-most surface of the clamping grid and a top-most surface of all of the female dies having a depth at least 16 percent of a width of the top-most surface of all the female dies being spanned when the lower platen is vertically reciprocated to a lowered position to provide clearance for a downwardly sagging portion of the heated web relative to the plurality of female dies;
- wherein positioning of the clamping grid above the heated web in combination with an upward movement of the plurality of female dies for clamping the heated web is configured to eliminate a contact between the heated web and the clamping grid which results in preventing damage to a surface finish of the heated web.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.