The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 03, 2015
Filed:
Sep. 24, 2008
Kenneth R. Wilkes, Asheville, NC (US);
Kenneth R. Wilkes, Asheville, NC (US);
Smart Bottle Inc., Asheville, NC (US);
Abstract
A plastic film preform is expanded to form a container. The preform has a longitudinal axis that extends from an open top to a closed bottom. The preform is pressurized with a first pressure sufficient to cause side walls of the preform to expand outwardly and the bottom of the preform to be drawn inwardly thereby reducing a length of the preform along the longitudinal axis. Side molds are closed around the side walls of the preform, the closed side molds being larger than the expanded side walls. A bottom mold is closed to be adjacent to the bottom of the preform after pressurizing the preform with the first pressure. The preform is pressurized with a second pressure sufficient to expand the preform to fill the closed molds. The preform is thereby significantly stretched in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and minimally stretched along the longitudinal axis.