Rotary injection turret for the making of preforms

Claim 2

A preform injection molding and treating apparatus comprising an injection mold having plural preform cavities arranged in rows and columns, an extruder coupled to said preform mold for simultaneously injecting plastic material into all of said preform cavities, a turret having a plurality of support faces spaced equally about an axis, means mounting said turret for indexing about said axis, each of said support faces having projecting therefrom a plurality of cores equal in number to said preform cavities and arranged in rows and columns with the same spacing as said preform cavities, each of said cores being cooperable with a respective preform cavity to define a preform having a sprue tail, a conditioning mold angularly displaced from said injection mold about said turret, said conditioning mold having a plurality of conditioning cavities equal in number to said preform cavities and arranged in rows and columns with the same spacing as said preform cavities, each of said conditioning cavities being of a greater size than said preform cavities to provide a space around a preform positioned therein for the circulation of a conditioning fluid, sprue tail removal means associated with each conditioning cavity, each conditioning cavity having an exhaust port for the removal of conditioning fluid and a removed sprue tail; means for effecting relative movement between said injection mold, said turret and said conditioning mold to effect the selective opening and closing of said preform cavities and said conditioning cavities; and means for rotating said turret to sequentially present said cores to said preform cavities and then to said conditioning cavities.

Claim 3

Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said conditioning mold opposes said injection mold and there are four stations with said turret having four support faces, said stations including a conditioning station intermediate said injection mold and said conditioning mold in the direction of turret rotation and a preform ejection station between said conditioning mold and said injection mold in the direction of turret rotation.

Claim 4

Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said conditioning station includes means for directing a conditioning fluid over preforms presented to said conditioning station by said turret.

Claim 5

Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a preselected one of said injection mold, said turret and said conditioning mold is fixed and the others of said injection mold, said turret and said conditioning mold are movable relative thereto and to each other.

Claim 6

Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each of said conditioning cavities has an axis, an entrance opening at one end thereof along said axis, and said exhaust port being along said axis at the other end of said conditioning cavity.

Claim 7

Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each exhaust port is of a cross section to pass in one piece a removed sprue tail.

Claim 8

Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said sprue tail removal members are in the form of shearing blades wherein each sprue tail is removed in one piece.

Claim 9

Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein each exhaust port is of a cross section to pass in one piece a removed sprue tail.

Claim 10

A preform injection molding and treating apparatus, said apparatus comprising an injection mold having plural preform cavities arranged in rows and columns, an extruder coupled to said preform mold for simultaneously injecting plastic material into all of said preform cavities, a turret having a plurality of support faces spaced equally about an axis, means mounting said turret for indexing about said axis, each of said support faces having projecting therefrom a plurality of cores equal in number to said preform cavities and arranged in rows and columns with the same spacing as said preform cavities, a conditioning mold angularly displaced from said injection mold about said turret, said conditioning mold having a plurality of conditioning cavities equal in number to said preform cavities and arranged in rows and columns with the same spacing as said preform cavities, each of said conditioning cavities being of a greater size than said preform cavities to provide a space around a preform positioned therein for the circulation of a conditioning fluid, means for effecting relative movement between said injection mold, said turret and said conditioning mold to effect the selective opening and closing of said preform cavities and said conditioning cavities; and means for rotating said turret to sequentially present said cores to said preform cavities and then to said conditioning cavities, said conditioning mold opposing said injection mold with said conditioning mold defining a first station and said conditioning mold defining a third station, coolant flow means at a second station for cooling newly molded preforms between said injection mold and said conditioning mold, and preform removing means at a fourth station for stripping preforms from said cores before recycling said cores to said injection mold.

Claim 11

A preform injection molding and treating apparatus, said apparatus comprising an injection mold having plural preform cavities arranged in rows and columns, an extruder coupled to said preform mold for simultaneously injecting plastic material into all of said preform cavities, a turret having a plurality of support faces spaced equally about an axis, means mounting said turret for indexing about said axis, each of said support faces having projecting therefrom a plurality of cores equal in number to said preform cavities and arranged in rows and columns with the same spacing as said preform cavities, a conditioning mold angularly displaced from said injection mold about said turret, said conditioning mold having a plurality of conditioning cavities equal in number to said preform cavities and arranged in rows and columns with the same spacing as said preform cavities, each of said conditioning cavities being of a greater size than said preform cavities to provide a space around a preform positioned therein for the circulation of a conditioning fluid, means for effecting relative movement between said injection mold, said turret and said conditioning mold to effect the selective opening and closing of said preform cavities and said conditioning cavities; and means for rotating said turret to sequentially present said cores to said preform cavities and then to said conditioning cavities, said conditioning mold opposing said injection mold with said conditioning mold defining a first station and said conditioning mold defining a third station, coolant flow means at a second station for cooling newly molded preforms between said injection mold and said conditioning mold, and preform removing means at a fourth station for stripping preforms from said cores before recycling said cores to said injection mold.

Claim 12

Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein a preselected one of said molds is fixed and the other of said molds and said turret are movable laterally relative thereto and to each other.

Claim 13

Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein said means for effecting relative movement between said turret and said injection mold is timed for operation at a time wherein a preform newly formed in one of said injection mold cavities has set such that the preform can be removed.