Brit Corporation

Tony Salemi

In an injection blow-molding process the preform is purposely formed as a smooth walled tube closed at one end and without any thread or other cap attachment configuration about the mouth of the preform. The preform is moved to the bottle mold which completely forms the cap attachment configuration with the bottle in the blow-molding step. A processing dome is also formed from the preform in the blow-molding step to provide means to transfer the bottle to the trimmer which removes the dome. By using the smooth walled preform (without threads or any other cap fastening features), the bottle mold may utilize only a portion of the vertical height of the preform for the bottle. Bottle molds for a variety of bottle volumes and heights may employ the same preform and preform injection mold. The smooth walled preform also permits bottle molds with a variety of mouth diameters to be employed with the same preform injection mold. Since the bottle mold provides the specific cap attachment configuration of the bottle such as threads or lugs, the same preform and preform injection mold may be employed for a variety of cap attachment configurations.

Modified plastic bottle injection blow-molding apparatus and process

In an injection blow-molding process the preform is purposely formed as a smooth walled tube closed at one end and without any thread or other cap attachment configuration about the mouth of the preform. The preform is moved to the bottle mold which completely forms the cap attachment configuration with the bottle in the blow-molding step. A processing dome is also formed from the preform in the blow-molding step to provide means to transfer the bottle to the trimmer which removes the dome. By using the smooth walled preform (without threads or any other cap fastening features), the bottle mold may utilize only a portion of the vertical height of the preform for the bottle. Bottle molds for a variety of bottle volumes and heights may employ the same preform and preform injection mold. The smooth walled preform also permits bottle molds with a variety of mouth diameters to be employed with the same preform injection mold. Since the bottle mold provides the specific cap attachment configuration of the bottle such as threads or lugs, the same preform and preform injection mold may be employed for a variety of cap attachment configurations. By using a common preform only the bottle mold need be manufactured for each new bottle configuration thereby saving the cost of a dedicated preform injection mold and the cost of set-up time for the preform injection mold. The bottle molds can comprise sets of modular mold parts for exchangeability. For an injection blow-molding machine that is to be employed to manufacture several different bottle configurations on a batch basis each year the savings in tooling cost are considerable and the savings in set-up costs, processing time and minimum product rejects with the new process and apparatus can also be considerable. The new smooth-walled preform and preform injection mold apparatus and process is also applicable to the injection, stretch and blow-molding process for making bottles.

Modified plastic bottle injection blow-molding apparatus and method

At the top of a bottle the circumferential bead lying between the cap fastening means and the neck is enlarged in diameter to better meet the enlarged diameter of an oversize cap such as a two piece 'child-resistant' cap. The undercut below the bead forming the neck is greatly exaggerated. The circumferential bead is located lower on the top to better fit the extended skirt length of the outer cap of the two piece 'child-resistant' cap. A circumferential shoulder is added above the bead to substantially match the skirt length and diameter of a standard cap. Regardless of whether a 'child-resistant' cap or a standard cap is used, the plastic shrink-fit band tightly fits about the cap and over and underneath the circumferential bead. The loosening of either 'child resistant' or standard cap will force the splitting of the band because the shrinkage of the band below the circumferential bead is considerably greater than the innate circumferential elongation of the shrunk plastic band material.

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Tony Salemi