Production of articles of foamed plastics material

Claim 1

A machine for producing articles of foamed plastics material in a two-stage process with transfer of the workpiece from a hot-preforming station to a cold final-forming station, comprising: a frame; a hot-preforming station in said frame having a two-part hot mould consisting of a first hot mould part and a second hot mould part; first fluid cylinder means for moving said second hot mould part towards and away from said first hot mould part only in the direction of pressing; a cold final-forming station in said frame having a two-part cold mould consisting of a first cold mould part and a second cold mould part; and second fluid cylinder means for moving said second cold mould part of said final-forming station towards and away from said first cold mould part of said final-forming station only in a direction parallel to the direction of motion of said first fluid cylinder means; said two first mould parts being coupled together and mounted to be capable of shifting at right angles to the direction of movement of said first and second fluid cylinder means under the influence of third fluid cylinder means, control means for the cylinders, such that the workpiece is first formed in the hot-preforming station when the first and second hot mould parts of the hot mould are aligned, the workpiece is then carried with the second hot mould part as the two parts are separated, the first parts of the hot and cold moulds are shifted to align the second part of the hot mould and the first part of the cold mould and transfer of the workpiece is effected from one to the other, the first parts of the hot and cold moulds are again shifted to align the first and second parts of the cold mould and cold forming is effected, the workpiece is then carried by the second part of the cold mould as the two parts of the cold mould are separated, the first part of the cold mould is shifted out of alignment and the finished article is ejected from the second part of the cold mould.