Electra Form, Inc.

Jeffrey L Patrick

Timothy L Bright

Stephen A Bright

David C Oas

Philip L Brun

Carl L Knepper

Larry A Beres

Jerry A Brackney

Christopher G Bright

David C Hockaday

Mark C Bercot

A blow molding apparatus configured to receive plastic parisons and output blow molded containers including a support frame and a parison conveyor attached to the support frame and having a plurality of parison supports and a drive mechanism for driving the parison supports in a stepped movement circuit, advancing the parison supports by a curvilinear distance corresponding to a curvilinear spacing between a preselected number of parison supports. A first parison transfer assembly is adapted to receive the preselected number of the parisons from the parison supports. A second parison transfer assembly is adapted to receive the preselected number of the parisons from the first parison transfer assembly for transfer to a predetermined number blow mold stations during each stepped movement, and includes the predetermined number of second conveyors having a plurality of second parison supports and adapted for a second stepped movement to advance by a second curvilinear distance corresponding to a second curvilinear spacing between a chosen number of the second parison supports, the chosen number equal to the quotient of the preselected number and the predetermined number. An element for heating the parisons, a parison unloader for disgorging the blow molded containers, and a parison unloader are provided. A method of loading a preselected number of parisons onto a parison conveyor driven in a stepped movement, and transferring the preselected number of parisons to a predetermined number of blow mold stations using first and second parison transfer assemblies.

Blow molding apparatus

A molded article retrieval apparatus in combination with a plastic article molding machine. The molding machine has at least a first mold portion and a second mold portion, at least one of the first and second mold portions being reciprocally movable with respect to the other mold portion, between a conjoined position, wherein a set of articles of plastic can be formed in a set of cavities defined by the conjoined first and second mold portions, and a spaced-apart position, wherein the set of articles of plastic can be released from the cavities into a gap formed between the first and second mold portions. The molded article retrieval apparatus includes an article carrier having at least two sets of article receivers, each set of article receivers being positionable at a different lateral alignment of the article carrier within the gap to receive an entire set of the articles of plastic, and a mover for moving the article carrier into and out of the gap. An alignment mechanism is provided for aligning the article carrier within the gap to permit engagement of the set of articles by any one the sets of article receivers carried by the article carrier. The alignment mechanism includes at least one pin fixed to one of the first and second mold portions and projecting into the gap, and at least one fork fixed to the article carrier. Each fork has two tines separated by a slot projecting from the article carrier toward the pin so that the pin is received in the slot when the article carrier is aligned in the gap with any of the sets of article receivers confronting the set of articles to be retrieved. The slot of at least one fork being dimensioned to engage the at least one pin over a range of different lateral alignments of the article carrier permitting any of the sets of article receivers to be employed to receive the set of molded articles.

Molded article retrieval apparatus

In a machine for promoting spherulite crystal growth in polyester bottle preform finishes, a gear arrangement for controlling the rate of vertical motion of a quill support platform to insure simultaneous engagement of all of the preforms onto adjacent gauges sized to a standard dimension for the preform finishes, the gear arrangement including two pairs of spur pinion gears positioned on opposite sides of the machine base engaging racks fixed to quill support platform and a plurality of rods fixed to the pinion gears and arranged in a rectangular array containing miter bevel gears fixed to the ends of the plurality of rods situated at the corners of the array, the miter bevel gears being engaged together in pairs to coordinate the rotation of all the rods and the vertical movement of the quill support platform.

Heat setting and gauging apparatus

A cavity member is disclosed for use in an injection molding machine. The cavity member has one portion which includes a molding surface for forming the molded article and a second portion for reducing heat transmission to the first portion. The second portion forms a cap on the nozzle end of the cavity member and includes an aperture aligned with the gate of the cavity member so as to permit plastic from the nozzle of an injection molding machine to enter into the mold. The cap includes channels which can cooperate with pockets in the nozzle end of the second portion for liquid cooling. The nozzle is spaced from the cap by a short distance to provide a thermal break which break can be filled with plastic from the injection molding unit to provide further insulation.

Cavity cooling system

Growing community of inventors

Huber Heights, OH, United States of America

Jeffrey L Patrick