Sonoco Products Company

Greif Bros. Corp. of Ohio, Inc.

Other

John J Mikula

John H Malik

Robert Alan Julien

Peter Roman Apostoluk

Gerald A Gordon

A one-piece blow-molded closed plastic drum having an integrally-formed compression-molded handling ring and method of molding same is provided. The drum has structural strength and stability to resist breakage of the drum upon impact due to tipping or dropping of the drum. The drum includes a generally cylindrical body portion and a head portion integrally-molded with an upper end of the body portion including a transition area around and between the upper end of the body portion and a top of the drum in the head portion. The transition area has an outside curved surface of a predetermined radius so that an outside surface of the body portion is positioned in a tangential plane in close proximity to a tangential plane along the outer circumferential surface of the handling ring and/or an inside curved surface with at least one radius, preferably a double ogee with three predetermined radii, so that no acute angles are formed between inside surfaces at the transition area.

One-piece blow-molded closed plastic drum with handling ring and method

A fire protective cover for protecting from warehouse fires non-metallic liquid holding containers supported by a steel cage is provided. The cover has a heat insulating layer and a heat reflective layer adjacent the heat insulating layer on the side opposite the steel support cage. The cover drapes over the top and sides of the steel cage, creating a space between the cover and the container. The cover mitigates the possibility that the container will melt during a warehouse fire by reducing the heat transfer from the fire to the steel cage and by creating an oxygen depleted zone between the cover and the container.

Fire protective cover for liquid holding containers

A closed one-piece plastic drum having an integral handling ring at a head end is formed in a blow mold having mold halves and an articulating mold section. While the mold is open and the articulating section is spaced from the mold halves, a heated plastic parison is placed in the open mold and blown at a first blowing pressure (30-60 psi) to completely expand the parison into the shape of the inside surface of the mold and fill the open articulating section. This blow molding step forms an open handling ring as well as the drum body. A second blowing operation at a second lower pressure (15-40 psi) is then performed to stabilize the expanded parison inside the mold. The mold articulating section is closed during the second blowing operation in first and second sequences. In each sequence, the articulating section is moved over a different distance and at a different speed while compressing the blow-molded open handling ring into a solid handling ring. After the articulating section is completely closed, a third blowing operation at a third pressure (90-110 psi) is performed. The third pressure is higher than both the first and second pressures and is held for a sufficient time to allow cooling of the molded plastic drum.

Blow molding a closed plastic drum including two speed compression

An integrally molded plastic drum having a cylindrical body, a top wall, and a bottom wall is provided. The bottom wall has a central recessed portion and an annular generally flat horizontal bottom wall portion surrounding the central recessed portion. The annular bottom wall portion has a first recess, a second recess, and a discrete hand engageable lifting indentation therein. The central recessed portion, first and second recesses, and the discrete lifting indentation collectively contain the molding parting line extending across the bottom wall of the drum. The top wall of the drum has a central concave portion which serves as a collection well in the event of spillage and also serves to facilitate the drainage of the drum when the drum is inverted. The top wall defines a pair of spaced apart bungholes therein. The bungholes are positioned in a diametrically opposing relation, with one of the bungholes serving as a filling spout and the other bunghole serving as a pouring spout. The top wall defining the pair of bungholes also defines internal threads for each bunghole, where the internal threads for the pouring spout are coarser than the internal threads for the filling spout. The discrete hand engageable lifting indentation is positioned directly below the filling spout and is of such a size as to be easily grasped by one's hand for manual lifting of the drum.

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Kennesaw, GA, United States of America

John J Mikula