Blow Moulding Machine
Blow Moulding Machine –
Comprising A Mould Base Which Is Biased Upwards
In particular, the top position of the mould base must be determined precisely, so as to prevent the half- moulds from striking the edges of the mould base when they close.
Currently, in the blow moulding machine of the Applicant, the mould base is mounted slidingly on a vertical runner that is fixedly attached to the support console. The mould base is forced to the bottom position by gravity, while being guided at least in its ascending and descending phases in normal operation by a cam and roller mechanism; furthermore, damping springs may be interposed between the console and the mould base in order to limit the mechanical impacts due to the vibrations when the mould base is in the bottom position.
More precisely, the mould base comprises a roller that interacts alternately with an ascending cam surface and a descending cam surface, the said roller and cam surfaces forming the said cam and roller mechanism. To allow maintenance operations, the cam is not continuous on the periphery of the carousel forming the blow moulding machinery, but is present only in the angular sector of the machine where it is important for the movement of the mould base to be controlled when the machine is operating normally, that is to say the angular sector corresponding to the opening and closing zones of the mould for the operations of unloading a container and loading a preform.
This solution, although having given satisfaction, nevertheless has certain disadvantages, particularly on the occasion of maintenance operations during which the mould bases are naturally positioned in the bottom position when the moulds are opened manually in the angular sector in which the cam is absent, even though placing in the bottom position is of no use, which requires a whole manual, hence awkward, procedure to return each of the moulds to the closed position, a procedure that requires manually raising each mould base, holding it manually in the top position until the associated half- moulds are closed again, then preventing the mould base from descending again.
The blow mold machine is designed in particular to remedy these disadvantages by proposing a simple, effective and economical solution.
To this end, the invention proposes a blow moulding machine of the type previously described, characterized in that the console comprises at least one return member that forces the mould base towards its top position, and in that the cam system comprises a cam follower element that is slidingly connected to the mould base and that interacts with a control surface fixed relative to the plate and oriented downwards, so that the cam system moves the mould base towards its bottom position, against the effort exerted by the return member.
Comprising A Mould Base Which Is Biased Upwards
In particular, the top position of the mould base must be determined precisely, so as to prevent the half- moulds from striking the edges of the mould base when they close.
Currently, in the blow moulding machine of the Applicant, the mould base is mounted slidingly on a vertical runner that is fixedly attached to the support console. The mould base is forced to the bottom position by gravity, while being guided at least in its ascending and descending phases in normal operation by a cam and roller mechanism; furthermore, damping springs may be interposed between the console and the mould base in order to limit the mechanical impacts due to the vibrations when the mould base is in the bottom position.
More precisely, the mould base comprises a roller that interacts alternately with an ascending cam surface and a descending cam surface, the said roller and cam surfaces forming the said cam and roller mechanism. To allow maintenance operations, the cam is not continuous on the periphery of the carousel forming the blow moulding machinery, but is present only in the angular sector of the machine where it is important for the movement of the mould base to be controlled when the machine is operating normally, that is to say the angular sector corresponding to the opening and closing zones of the mould for the operations of unloading a container and loading a preform.
This solution, although having given satisfaction, nevertheless has certain disadvantages, particularly on the occasion of maintenance operations during which the mould bases are naturally positioned in the bottom position when the moulds are opened manually in the angular sector in which the cam is absent, even though placing in the bottom position is of no use, which requires a whole manual, hence awkward, procedure to return each of the moulds to the closed position, a procedure that requires manually raising each mould base, holding it manually in the top position until the associated half- moulds are closed again, then preventing the mould base from descending again.
The blow mold machine is designed in particular to remedy these disadvantages by proposing a simple, effective and economical solution.
To this end, the invention proposes a blow moulding machine of the type previously described, characterized in that the console comprises at least one return member that forces the mould base towards its top position, and in that the cam system comprises a cam follower element that is slidingly connected to the mould base and that interacts with a control surface fixed relative to the plate and oriented downwards, so that the cam system moves the mould base towards its bottom position, against the effort exerted by the return member.