Milacron Inc.

Uniloy Milacron Usa, Inc.

Frederick F Van Keuren, Iii

Van Kent Joyner

Ronald A Hertzer

A self-compensating support skate (,) for an annular hydraulic ram (,) mounted in the front stationary platen (,) of a &ldquo;two-platen&rdquo; injection molding machine (,) is disclosed. The hydraulic ram (,) fits into a central bore (,) in the stationary platen (,) and connects directly to a relatively thin die platen (,) that provides a mold mounting surface. The purpose of the skate (,) is to prevent movement (tilting) of the die platen (,) and the resulting misalignment with the movable platen (,) when the mold (,) is attached. The skate (,) is adjusted during assembly to compensate for the tolerance stack-up in the ram assembly. The &ldquo;zero&rdquo; clearance is maintained by disc springs (,) within the skate (,) that compensate for the expansions and contractions of the large diameter parts due to temperature variations. The die platen (,) is held in the aligned position by contact with the lower tie rods (,).

Ram Support skate for an injection molding machine

A locking apparatus secures a movable platen in position relative to strain rods on which the movable platen is slidably carried. The locking apparatus includes split nuts that are carried by the movable platen and are pivotable about respective pivot axes between a first position in which the split nuts engage the strain rods and a second position in which the split nuts are pivoted away from the strain rods. The strain rods include grooved sections and the split nuts carry internal grooved portions that are complementary with the grooved portions of the strain rods so that the split nuts are engageable with the grooved portions of the strain rods to retain the movable platen in a desired position during a molding operation. Respective pairs of split nuts are actuated simultaneously by a piston and cylinder arrangement that causes movement of a primary pair of links to move the halves of one split nut and a pair of secondary links that extend from the one split nut to the other split nut so that the split nut halves are each operated by the same cylinder. The lengths of the primary and secondary links are adjustable to enable the first and second split nuts to be moved simultaneously through the same degree of arc.

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Frederick F Van Keuren, Iii