Cincinnati Milacron Inc.

Joseph F Gibbemeyer

Paul R Bohart

Apparatus for heating longitudinally extending portions of a blow molding preform in order to provide a non-symmetrical temperature distribution about a longitudinal axis of the preform. The non-symmetrical temperature distribution permits the preform to be blown to form a non-symmetrical article that has an essentially uniform wall thickness distribution. An auxiliary heating and transfer station is provided between a reheating station and a blowing station, the auxiliary heating and transfer station including two side-by-side pairs of heating elements that are adapted to heat sequentially, corresponding sides of each of a pair of side-by-side blow molding preforms carried by a pallet. The two zone auxiliary heating arrangement permits the desired temperature rise to be achieved consistently while retaining some process flexibility. One or more of the heating elements in the second zone of the auxiliary heating and transfer station is mounted in a manner which allows it to be temporarily repositioned out of the preform movement path. In the preferred embodiment a pivotable turntable is used to shift the associated heating element by 90.degree., thereby permitting transverse movement of the pallet and associated preforms in a direction toward the blow molding station.

Apparatus for heating portions of container preforms

Apparatus and a method for orienting a container preform in a particular orientation to position a closure thread in a desired position relative to the body of the blown container. The preform is supported by a preform carrier that is rotatably supported in a pallet. A drive motor is engaged with the preform carrier to rotate the carrier and the associated preform, and a pawl is engagable with a notch formed in the closure thread on the preform neck to stop rotation of the preform carrier at a specific circumferential orientation. When the container is subsequently blown at a blowing station, the orientation of the thread start relative to the container body permits attachment of a dispensing closure, or the like, at a desired orientation relative to the container body to facilitate dispensing by a user of a pourable product from within the container.

Apparatus and method for orienting container preforms

A reheat blow molding machine has an improved article handling system that carries heated preforms by a carriage assembly from an oven to a roller chain conveyor which moves them to a blow mold from whence the blown product is moved to an eject station. The motions are linear and cyclical or periodic, drive means for such intermittent motions being provided. Preforms are handled in groups of four, each one being supported by its capping ring in a locating notch on the carriage and by the finish groove in a holder notch above it when it is transferred to the conveyor. All notches are open on the side facing the oven and have self-centering features to get and keep alignment for transfer and positioning at the blow mold. The carriage which moves preforms horizontally toward the conveyor and raises them to the elevation for transfer to the holder notches of the conveyor. Transfer happens when the carriage passes underneath the conveyor whereupon the holder notches of the conveyor engage the preform grooves and sweep or wipe the preforms out of the open side of the carriage notches. The conveyor roller chain moves linearly at right angles to the carriage path and delivers correctly aligned group of preforms to a corresponding group of blow molds. The chain is on its side, i.e. with pins vertical, the holder notches are supported by chain lugs outward of the chain on a leaf spring, and sliding bearing means extend horizontally out from the chain to engage tracks which provide vertical support on the straight runs. At the blow station, the center rod passes through the stuffer cylinder rod and stuffer nose in a fluid-tight telescoping relation. At the ejection station, vertical guides provide position control over the product when the latter is pushed out of the conveyor holder notches whereby the product keeps a vertical alignment and falls away on a predetermined axis.

Blow molding apparatus

A reheat blow molding machine has an improved article handling system that carries heated preforms by a carriage assembly from an oven to a roller chain conveyor which moves them to a blow mold from when the blown product is moved to an eject station. The motions are linear and cyclical or periodic, drive means for such intermittent motions being provided. Preforms are handled in groups of four, each one being supported by its capping ring in a locating notch on the carriage and by the finish groove in a holder notch above it when it is transferred to the conveyor. All notches are open on the side facing the oven and have self-centering features to get and keep alignment for transfer and positioning at the blow mold. The carriage which moves preforms horizontally toward the conveyor and raises them to the elevation for transfer to the holder notches of the conveyor. Transfer happens when the carriage passes underneath the conveyor whereupon the holder notches of the conveyor engage the preform grooves and sweep or wipe the preforms out of the open side of the carriage notches. The conveyor roller chain moves linearly at right angles to the carriage path and delivers correctly aligned group of preforms to a corresponding group of blow molds. The chain is on its side, i.e. with pins vertical, the holder notches are supported by chain lugs outward of the chain on a leaf spring, and sliding bearing means extend horizontally out from the chain to engage tracks which provide vertical support on the straight runs. At the blow station, the center rod passes through the stuffer cylinder rod and stuffer nose in a fluid-tight telescoping relation. At the ejection station, vertical guides provide position control over the product when the latter is pushed out of the conveyor holder notches whereby the product keeps a vertical alignment and falls away on a predetermined axis.

A reheat blow molding machine has an improved article handling system that carries heated preforms by a carriage assembly from an oven to a roller chain conveyor which moves them to a blow mold from when the blown product is moved to an eject station. The motions are linear and cyclical or periodic, drive means for such intermittent motions being provided. Preforms are handled in groups of four, each one being supported by its capping ring in a locating notch on the carriage and by the finish groove in a holder notch above it when it is transferred to the conveyor. All notches are open on the side facing the oven and have self-centering features to get and keep alignment for transfer and positioning at the blow mold. The carriage which moves preforms horizontally toward the conveyor and raises them to the elevation for transfer to the holder notches of the conveyor. Transfer happens when the carriage passes underneath the conveyor whereupon the holder notches of the conveyor engage the preform grooves and sweep or wipe the preforms out of the open side of the carriage notches. The conveyor roller chain moves linearly at right angles to the carriage path and delivers correctly aligned group of preforms to a corresponding group of blow molds. The chain is on its side, i.e. with pins vertical, the holder notches are supported by chain lugs outward of the chain on a leaf spring, and sliding bearing surfaces extend horizontally out from the chain to engage tracks which provide vertical support on the straight runs. At the blow station, the center rod passes through the stuffer cylinder rod and stuffer nose in a fluid-tight telescoping relation. At the ejection station, vertical guides provide position control over the product when the latter is pushed out of the conveyor holder notches whereby the product keeps a vertical alignment and falls away on a predetermined axis.

A reheat blow molding machine having an article handling system that carries heated preforms by a carriage assembly from an oven to a chain conveyor which moves them to a blow mold from whence the blown product is moved to an eject station. Attached to the chain conveyor are preform holder assemblies each of which contains a resilient spindle nose which supports the preforms by engaging an internal surface at one end of the preform.

Blow molding apparatus with resilient skirted spindle nose

A reheat blow molding machine has an improved article handling system that carries heated preforms by a carriage assembly from an oven to a roller chain conveyor which moves them to a blow mold from whence the blown product is moved to an eject station. The motions are linear and cyclical or periodic, drive means for such intermittent motions being provided. Preforms are handled in groups of four, each one being supported by its capping ring in a locating notch on the carriage and by the finish groove in a holder notch above it when it is transferred to the conveyor. All notches are open on the side facing the oven and have self-centering features to get and keep alignment for transfer and positioning at the blow mold. The carriage which moves preforms horizontally toward the conveyor and raises them to the elevation for transfer to the holder notches of the conveyor. Transfer happens when the carriage passes underneath the conveyor whereupon the holder notches of the conveyor engage the preform grooves and sweep or wipe the preforms out of the open side of the carriage notches. The conveyor roller chain moves linearly at right angles to the carriage path and delivers correctly aligned group of preforms to a corresponding group of blow molds.

A loader inserts articles into a conveyor from underneath. Each article is received in a gripper and depends thereform. The gripper is supported from the conveyor facing down at the point of loading (insert station). A predetermined number of articles (here, three plastic preforms to be heated then blown into plastic bottles) is fed by gravity down a chute to a reception point where they are temporarily stopped forming a queue. The reception point is upstream of and lower than the grippers. The loader has a device to grasp a group (the first three in the queue) from the side (or cross-machine direction) and move the group horizontally and lineally downstream to the insert station underneath a corresponding number of grippers while at the same time increasing the center-to-center distances to the same as the center distances spacing the three grippers in the group. The device to grasp thus delivers to the insert station the group with each article or preform in it vertically aligned with (coaxial) and underneath the gripper into which it is to be inserted. The group of grippers is not moving at this time. The article group is released from the device to grasp as a two-stage elevator pushes all articles in the group vertically up into respective ones of the gripppers, opening the gripper to receive the articles in the upward movement. The elevator then retracts by moving vertically down sufficiently while the grippers clasp the articles in response to the retraction. The system resets and the cycle repeats.

Bottom loader for a conveyor means

A pallet has a plurality of reciprocable spindles mounted thereon. Each spindle can be reciprocated and has an improved bearing support and bias means urging the spindle to one end of its reciprocation path. An improved spindle nose is provided to mount on the spindle as an exchangeable chuck thereby changing the size of the workpiece that can be handled. The spindle nose features an improved means to maintain seal with the preform finish that includes a base from which protrudes a flexible skirt which is extending from the other side of said base, said skirt being sufficiently resilient to maintain sealing engagement with the inside diameter of the preform finish during blow molding; and an air passage extending completely through said locating stud, base, and skirt region.

Resilient skirted spindle nose and pallet with reciprocatable spindle

An apparatus is provided for activating a chuck in a blow molding machine to receive and releasably retain a thermoplastic polymer preform for blow molding a plastic container (e.g. bottle). The apparatus has a forked end reciprocatable sliding member whose forked end, in the chuck engaging position, moves vertically to activate the chuck to receive the preform. Several chucks may be activated simultaneously by the apparatus.

Chuck activating apparatus

A self-centering blow mold for a rotary indexing blow molding machine has at the blow station a system for obtaining and keeping alignment among the chordally arranged blowing pins, neck rings, and blow molds. This self-centering system includes a toggle system which moves one set of the blow molds radially past alignment with the blowing pins to an overcenter position and a fluid operated drive means that thereafter moves the other of the set of blow molds radially in the opposite direction until it is in alignment with the first mentioned blow mold at the overcenter position and then continues moving to force both blow molds together, compress the toggle system, and to where the blow molds, neck rings and blowing pins are all aligned. There is also provided means for engaging the neck rings by the toggle system molds and fluid driven molds, respectively, so that alignment is achieved and maintained. The means for engaging includes biasing means consisting of a resilient member such as a spring. In normal application, it is contemplated that the toggle system and drive means will be respectively disposed on the opposite sides of a frame member having a channel or U-shaped frame.

Self-centering blow mold

The track of the loading chute 105 of FIGS. 6 and 7 in U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,685 is provided with a stop mounted on a leaf spring so that the stop moves aside readily if a workpiece (thermoplastic preform 2B) is misaligned during feeding by the lifter assembly 106, thus reducing malfunctions.

Workpiece loader with resilient end of feed chute

A coupling includes an outer cup-shaped member that acts as a support for other parts and is both revolvably and slidably supported on a conveyor that moves the coupling between work stations. In the normal installation, the coupling would move between workpiece loading and unloading stations. Slide motion relative to the conveyor is used to engage and disengage a workpiece. The outer cup-shaped member acts as a shield against ambient conditions which may include heating, coating or the like. The coupling preferably involves an internal chuck feature having an expandable resilient detent member preferably in the form of a metallic stretchable annular member known as a garter spring. The coupling and conveyor are suited for use in handling soft or easily marked materials such as plastic.

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Joseph F Gibbemeyer