Blow mold improvements

Claim 1

In a blow molding apparatus which includes separable mold sections having cavity portions which define the shape of an elongated article having a finished end portion, carrier blocks for supporting said sections, a blow needle assembly for expanding a thermoplastic parison into the shape of said article and a knockout assembly for removing said article from one of said sections, the improvement wherein each section comprises two abutting parts, each part being separately attached to the block for supporting the section of which it is a part, one of said parts being shorter than the other and having a cavity section which at least in part defines the finished portion of the article, said shorter mold part of each mold section having a bore formed therein substantially perpendicular to the plane Of separation of the mold sections, said bore of each shorter mold part extending into the carrier block to which said each shorter mold part is attached, said knockout assembly being situated in the bore and bore extension of one of the shorter mold parts and said blow needle assembly being situated in the bore and bore extension of the other shorter mold part, the longer of said parts of each mold section being formed with an elongated cavity defining the body portion of the article which is in alignment with the cavity section of said shorter part and means on said blocks and parts for locating said parts in preselected position on the carrier blocks, said last mentioned means including a bushing in the extension of each bore with projecting means thereon for cooperating with an opposite surface portion of the shorter mold part and matching keys and slots in adjoining surfaces of said longer mold section parts and carrier blocks, whereby a longer mold part of a section can be replaced on its carrier block without disturbing a shorter mold part.