Stretch forming hollow articles

Claim 1

Apparatus for stretch-forming a heat-softened sheet of thermoplastics material, said apparatus comprising holding means to hold the sheet against substantial non-stretching movement, a stretching tool, and means to cause a primary movement of said stretching tool in a preselected direction relative to said holding means so as to cause the tool to press against a sheet held by said holding means and to stretch the sheet; characterized in that said stretching tool comprises a plurality of blades having edges for pressing against a sheet to stretch the sheet preferentially outside an area already in contact with said blade edges and there is a cam operative on the continued movement of said stretching tool in said preselected direction to move said blades transversely of said preselected direction and away from each other to simultaneously further stretch said sheet in said preselected direction and in a direction transverse to said preselected direction, said cam having a cam surface engaging a cam follower surface on each blade and said cam being a barrel cam generally telescoped over the tool and engageable with the holding means to assume an axially fixed position, and said means for causing a primary movement of said tool being operative to effect movement of said blades through said cam.