Injection mold dwell cycle

Claim 1

In a method for the preparation of oriented hollow articles of moldable organic plastic material in a rapid operating cycle with desirable optical properties in said hollow articles by injection molding a parison in an injection mold, tempering the parison in a tempering station to obtain uniform orientation conditions and orienting and expanding the tempered parison to obtain the hollow article, the improvement which comprises: rapidly cooling the parison in the injection mold until its inside temperature drops below that which corresponds to the highest rate of crystallization for the given plastic material; rapidly and prematurely removing the parison from the injection mold while the parison has an unequal temperature distribution and before the parison attains an average temperature suitable for orientation; and rapidly transferring the parison to a holding station between the injection mold and the tempering station within that length of time during which little or no visable crystallization can occur according to the crystallization rate applicable to the inside of the parison for continuation of the injection mold cooling function and for continuing to alter the heat content of the parison to attain an average temperature suitable for orientation with an unequal cross-sectional temperature distribution across the walls of the parison, wherein said average temperature suitable for orientation is attained in the parison prior to the tempering of the parison in a tempering station thus freeing the injection mold for the formation of a next parison, and thereby obtaining a rapid operating cycle while avoiding undesirable opacity due to crystalline regions in said hollow articles.