Indian Patents. 232144:AN APPARATUS FOR MOLDING A CONTAINER

Title of Invention	AN APPARATUS FOR MOLDING A CONTAINER
Abstract	The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of blow-molding a container having a handle after the handle has been fixed to the preform. Description of the Prior Art

Full Text	(BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of blow-molding a container having a handle after the handle has been fixed to the preform. Description of the Prior Art Plastic containers are being more broadly substituted for glass bottles. Among them, a plastic container of increased volume generally includes a handle integrally formed therewith. Such a handle is integrally connected with the container body in accordance with any one of the following known techniques: (1) A technique known by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-32950 blow-molds a ' preform (into a container having an integrally connected handle within a blow cavity mold after the handle has previously been inserted into the blow cavi ty mold . (2) Another technique described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-11219 fixes a handle having a ring-shaped portion to a preform from its bottom side, when the top of the ring-shaped portion is touched to a flange portion formed in the preform at the bottom end of its neck. In the subsequent blow molding step, the underside of the ring-shaped portion is then connected to the side wall of a blow-molded container to hold the ring-shaped portion between the flange portion and the side wal1. (3) Still another technique disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-168029 is similar to that of the above item (2) in which the ring-shaped portion is held between the flange portion and the side wall of the blow- molded container. However, such a technique is carried out through a preliminary blow molding step in a temperature regulating station. (4) A further technique described in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 4-270628 is one that a preform is injection molded, with edges of the preform extending outwardly from the side wall of the barrel portion thereof at an area below the neck of the preform and being located circumferential1y at given intervals. These edges are used as stoppers for the ring-shaped portion of a handle. The ring-shaped portion is fixed to the container from its neck side after the blow-molding. The ring-shaped portion is then rotated through a predetermined angle to engage the edges of the container body. The technique of the above item (1) essentially requires that the handle is fixedly mounted in the blow cavity mold by slidably driving a forcing pin relative to the blow cavity mold, said forcing pin having a cavity face for defining a special shape. This makes the structure of the blow cavity mold complicated and expensive. The technique of the above item (2) raises a problem in that the handle obstructs a desired heating process when a preform is to be heated after the handle has been mounted on the preform. In order to accomplish the desired heating process, there is required any means for avoiding the handle. this raises another prcblym in lhat the heating device will be made complicated in structure. The tooh-iiriuG of above item (3) requires an addition In the techniques of the above items (2) and (3), furthermore, a preform must be carried while being maintained in its erected position, because a handle can be only attached to the erected preform. To orevert the handle from falling engaging means in addition to the preliminarily blow molding step. Thfi tftr.hiiqi.iq.,of the above item (4) raiser, a problem in that the handle must be manually attached to the container body after it has been blow-molded. , CI.IMMADV Of: TUC IMWCMTIOM An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an apparatus and method of molding a container with a handle, when the handle can be easily and reliably fixed to a preform in a non-manual manner without need of a complicated blow cavity mold and without any obstruction against the preform heating process. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method of forming a container with a handle, which can save the space for manufacturing. To accomplish these objects, the present invention provides an apparatus for molding a container having a handle comprisi ng : a heating station for heating at least one preform having a barrel to a temperature suitable for blow-molding or higher; a blow-molding station for blow-molding said at least one preform into a container after said at least one preform has been heated at said heating station; and an inserting station which is disposed between said heating station and said blow molding station and includes inserting means for inserting said at least one preform into said at least one handle; wherein said at least one handle includes a ring-shaped portion into which said at least one preform is inserted and a handle portion extending from said ring-shaped portion; wherein said inserting means includes means for holding said at least one handle and means for going up and down said holding means in a direction of the longitudinal axis of said barrel of said at least one preform to insert said at least one preform into said ring-shaped portion of said at least one handle. Since the inserting station is provided between the heating station and the blow molding station for fixing the handle to the preform, the preform is heated before the handle is fixed to the preform. Thus, the preform can be sufficiently heated to a desired temperature without interference with the handle. The inserting means is of a simplified structure comprising the handle holding means and the means for going up and down the holding means. This inserting station can reliably fix the handle to the preform at a stand-by position to the blow molding station. The apparatus may further comprise means for carrying intermittently a plurality of the preforms from the heating station to the blow molding station. In such a case, at least one preform is stopped at the inserting station. The carrying means may include a plurality of carriers for carrying a plurality of preforms. In such a case, the inserting means preferably includes means for positioning at least one of the carriers which is stopped at the inserting station. Thus, a handle can be accurately fixed to a preform supported by the positioned carrier. This can particularly reduce the possibility of damaging the barrel of the heated preform. The apparatus may further comprise means for carrying a plurality of handles in a carrying direction toward the inserting means. This handle carrying means can arrange a plurality of handles such that the longitudinal axes of the handles are parallel to one another and perpendicular to the carryi ng di rection. Thus, many handles can be efficiently carried through a reduced distance, resulting in decrease of required space. The inserting station may include means for providing a plurality of the handles to the handle carrying means. This handle providing means may include: at least one cassette for storing a plurality of the handles when the longitudinal axes of the handles are parallel to one another; and means for delivering a plurality of the handles stored in the at least one cassette toward the handle carrying means while keeping the longitudinal axes of the handles parallel to one another, when the at least one cassette may be placed at a providing posi tion. Thus, a plurality of handles can be provided to the handle carrying means while keeping the arrangement within the cassette. This can eliminate any complicated mechanism for arranging and providing the handles, resulting in simplification and miniaturization of the apparatus. The handle providing means include: cassette providing means for providing a plurality of the cassettes sequentially to the providing position; and cassette ejecting means for ejecting the at least one cassette after the handles have been emptied out of the at least one cassette by the handle delivering means. The cassette providing means may include: first moving means for moving sequentially a plurality of the cassettes to place the at least one cassette at a stand-by position adjacent to the providing position; and second moving means for moving the at least one cassette from the stand-by position to the providing position. The cassette ejecting means may eject the at least one empty cassette when the at least one empty cassette is moved from the providing position to an ejecting position by at least one new cassette which is newly transferred to the providing position. Thus, a plurality of the cassettes can be sequentially provided from the inserting station to the providing position without interruption. The inserting station may include means for changing the direction of a plurality of the handles carried by the handle carrying means to deliver the handle to the inserting means. The direction changing means may revolve a plurality of the handles in a plane perpendicular to the carrying direction to change the direction of the handles such that the preforms can be inserted into the handles. After the direction of the handles has been changed, the handles may be held by the holding means in the inserting means. Thus, the handle can be fixed to the preform only by going up and down the holding means after the direction of the handle carried by the handle carrying means has been changed and the handle has been delivered to the holding means. As a result, the fixing operation of the handle can be simplified to reduce time required to fix the handle to the preform. The handle can be fixed to the preform at a timing suitable for the molding cycle. Each of the handle portion of the handles may have a connection portion at one end opposite to the other end which is connected to the ring-shaped portion, when the connection portion is connected to a barrel of the container which is blow-molded at the blow molding station. In such a case, the inserting station may include means for cooling a part of the preform barrel, when the part of the preform barrel corresponds to a part of the container to be connected to the connection portion of each of the handle portions. Thus, the cooled part of the preform barrel will be hardly stretched on blow-molding. This can provide a wall-thickened part which is connected to the connection portion of the handle, resulting in stronger connection. The cooling means may Include a cooling block for touching and cooling the part of the preform barrel, driving means for advancing and retreating the cooling block relative to the preform, and a holding member which is driven by the driving means with the cooling block to hold the preform on the side opposite to the cooling block. Thus, the preform can be effectively cooled through a reduced time by coming in contact with the cooling block. In addition, the preform can be prevented from being inclined because the preform is supported from the side opposite to the cooling block. The present invention also provides a method of blow-molding a preform having a barrel into a container having a handle which is integrally connected to the container, comprising the steps of: (a) carrying the preform in an inverted state; (b) inserting the preform which has been carried in an inverted state into a ring-shaped portion of the handle to be fixed; and (c) blow-molding the preform fixed to the handle into the contai ner. According to the method of the present invention, the handle can be temporarily fixed to the preform merely by lowering the handle to the inverted preform. Therefore, a mechanism required to fix the handle to the preform can be simplified in comparison with a conventional technique in which a handle is inserted into a neck cavity mold or with another conventional technique in which a handle is temporarily fixed to a preform by the preliminary blow molding of the preform after the preform has been inserted into the handle which is in an upright state. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus for molding a container with a handle according to one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged front view of the inserting station shown i n Fi g . 1 . Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a left-hand side view of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the delivery mechanism, taken along a line V-V in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a side view of the cassette. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the cassette. Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of the direction changing m-echanism and inserting device as viewed from the side of a linear feeder. Fig. 9 is a plan view of the holding and cooling mecha-ni sms. Fig. 10 is a side view of Fig. 9. Fig. 11 is a plan view illustrating the positioning plate and anti-rotation plate for the carrier. Fig. 12 is a plan view of an apparatus for molding a container with a handle according to another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 13 is an enlarged plan view of the inserting station shown in Fig. 12. Fig. 14 is a side view of Fig. 13. Fig. 15 is a view illustrating the motion of the holding member and rack shown in Fig. 14. Fig. 16 is a front view of Fig. 14. Fig. 17 is a front view of the holding member of Fig. 16 when it is opened. Fig. 18 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line Vll-vil in Fig. 16. Fig. 19 is a view illustrating the holding member moved downwardly from the state of Fig. 18 as well as the rack advanced and moved downwardly from the same state. Fig. 20 is a cross-sectional view of the positioning means before it begins to be operated, taken along a lien IX-IX in Fig. 16. Fig. 21 is a view illustrating the positioning means advanced from the state of Fig. 20 in operation. Fig. 22 is a view illustrating the positioning means after it has been retreated from the state of Fig. 21 to rotate the preform 90 degrees through the rack. Fig. 23 is a front view of the air nozzle drive device. Fig. 24 is a sectional view of the blow cavity mold. Fig. 25 is a side view illustrating the preform and handle . DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Several embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Figs. 1-11 show an apparatus of forming a container with a handle according to one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 is a plan view of the apparatus. The apparatus generally comprises a preform molding stage 12, a blow molding stage 14 and a delivery stage 16 located between the preform molding stage 12 and the blow molding stage 14, all of which are disposed on a machine base 10. The preform molding stage 12 comprises two injection core molds (not shown) angularly located spaced away 180 degrees from each other, and a rotary disc 18 which moves the injection core molds along a circular carrying path in an intermittent and circulative manner. Each of the injection core molds includes a neck cavity mold (not shown) that can be clamped and opened. The injection core molds will be stopped at two positions, one of which positions includes an injection molding section 22 located opposed to an injection device 20. The other position includes a removal section 24 located opposed to the injection molding section 22. The injection molding section 22 includes an injection cavity mold 26 which is clamped relative to the injection core molds. The injection molding section 22 may simultaneously injection mold a plurality (e.g., four) of preforms 28 in thei r erected state. At the removal section 24, the preforms 28 can be removed out of the apparatus by releasing them from the neck cavity molds after the injection core molds have been partially released. The blow molding stage 14 comprises four sprockets 30 and a carrying means 34 including a carrying chain 32 that is passed around these sprockets 30. The carrying chain 32 includes a plurality (e.g., twelve) of carriers 36 fixedly mounted thereon and equidistantly spaced away from one another. Each of the carriers 36 supports a preform 28 or a container 38 in its inverted state. A carrying path along which the carriers 36 are moved includes a receiving station 40 for receiving preforms 28 after they have been inverted from their erected state at the delivery stage 16, a heating station 42 for heating the preforms received by the receiving station 40 to a temperature suitable for blow molding or higher, a blow molding station 44 for stretch-blow-molding the preforms 28 into containers 38 after the preforms 28 have been heated at the heating station 42, and a container removing station 46 for removing the blow-molded containers 38 out of the apparatus. The heating station 42 includes a heating device 43 disposed to extend along the carrying path. The heating device 43 heats the preforms 28 while rotating them about their axes when the preforms 28 are passed through the heating device 43. The blow molding station 44 includes a blow cavity mold 48 which is clamped relative to a preform 28 by a blow mold clamping mechanism 45 and may blow-mold one preform 28 into one container 38, for example. The blow cavity mold 48 includes a handle receiving recess for receiving a handle 50. The container removing station 46 removes a blow-molded container 38 through a removing device 47 after it has been again inverted to its erected state. Although a plurality (e.g., four) of simultaneously molded preforms 28 are removed out of the system by the removing section 24 at the preform molding stage 12, the delivery stage 16 delivers four removed preforms 28 to the receiving station 40 one at a time. In the blow molding stage 14, the carrying means 34 intermittently carries the carriers 36. Between the heating station 42 and the blow molding station 44 is provided a stand-by location wherein each of the heated preforms 28 is temporarily stopped during the intermittent movement. In this stand-by location, an inserting station 52 for inserting a preform 28 into a handle 50 is provided. The preform 28 and its handle 50 may be configured as shown in Fig. 25. More particularly, the preform 28 has a neck 54, a cylindrical bottom-closed barrel 56 connected directly to the neck 54 and a flange 58 located between the neck 54 and the barrel 56 and extending outwardly from the preform 28. The neck 54 includes an opening 60 formed therethrough. The flange 58 functions as a base on which the handle 50 is placed. The handle 50 has a ring-shaped portion 62 which is fixed to the barrel 56 of the preform 28, a handle portion 64 extending from the ring-shaped portion 62 and along the barrel outline of the container 38, and an engagement portion 66 formed in the handle portion 64 at its end opposite to the ring-shaped portion 62, this engagement portion 66 being connected to the container 38 on the blow molding process. The ring-shaped portion 62 has an internal diameter capable of being fitted over the barrel 56 of the preform 28. In the illustrated embodiment, such an internal diameter is substantially equal to the external diameter of the barrel 56 at a location near the flange 58 of the preform 28. The engagement portion 66 is curved from the handle portion 64 toward the central axis 68 in the ring-shaped portion 62. As shown in Fig. 24, the blow cavity mold 48 is formed by a pair of split mold parts 346, each of which has a mating surface 344. Each of the mating surfaces 344 is formed with the half of a cavity 342 for a container and the half of a handle receiving recess 340. Each of the handle receiving recess halves 340 is sized to be larger than the handle 50 at a location near the mating surface 344. The inserting station 52 comprises a handle providing device 70, a linear feeder 72 functioning as handle carrying means, a direction changing mechanism 74 and an inserting device 76. The handle providing device 70 provides handles 50 from a cassette 78 and comprises a cassette providing mechanism 80, a handle delivering mechanism 82, and a cassette eject mechanism 84, as shown in Fig. 2-5. The cassette 78 stores a plurality of handles 50 with their longitudinal axes being parallel to one another and comprises a cassette body 86 and a pair of guide rods 88, 99, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The cassette body 86 has a sufficient length to receive a plurality of handles 50 with their longitudinal axes being parallel to one another. As shown in Fig. 6, the cassette body 86 is of substantially L-shaped cross-section which has an upright wall 92 and a bottom wall 96 extending perpendicular to the upright wall 92, as shown in Fig. 6. The upright wall 92 of the cassette body 86 has a height larger than the height of the handles 50 placed on the bottom wall 96. The handles 50 are placed on the bottom wall 96 with their handle portions 64 being directed in the downward direction, as will be apparent from Fig. 6. When the handles 50 are placed on the bottom wall 96, each of the handles 50 will have the central axis 68 of the ring-shaped portion 62 directed in the horizontal direction. The bottom wall 96 has its length larger than the distance between the ring-shaped portion 62 and the engagement portion 66 in each handle 50. As will be apparent from Fig. 6, the width of the bottom wall 96 is larger than the entire length of the handle. The upright wall 92 includes two hand-handles 98 formed therein, as shown in Fig. 7. The guide rods 88 and 90 extend parallel to the length of the cassette body 86 and are located on the opposite sides about the engagement portion 66 of each handle 50 placed on the bottom wall 92. By thus sandwiching the engagement portions 66 of the handles 50 between the two guide rods 88 and 90, the handles 50 can be slidably supported in the cassette body as shown in Fig. 6. At each end, the cassette body 86 has a stopper 102 which can engage the side of the handle portion 64 in an endwise positioned cassette body 50 to prevent the falling-out of that cassette body. Each of the stoppers 102 can be lowered from the top of the bottom wall 96 by depressing a release rod 106 which is received and upwardly biased in a positioning bore 104 formed in the top of the upright wall 92 at the corresponding location. As will be apparent from Figs. 2-4, the cassette providing mechanism 80 provides a plurality of cassettes 78 in sequence. The cassette providing mechanism 80 generally comprises a cassette moving mechanism 108 and a pair of cassette moving cylinders 110. The cassette moving cylinders 110 move a cassette 78 from a stand-by position b shown In Fig. 3 to a providing position a at which the handle delivering mechanism 82 is located. The cassette moving mechanism 108 functions to carry a plurality of cassettes 78 to the stand-by position b in sequence. The cassette moving mechanism 108 comprises two pairs of lifting chains 114 on which a plurality of cassette support members 112 are fixedly mounted. The distance between the lifting chain pairs 114 is equal to the length of the cassette 78. The cassettes 78 is supported between two cassette support members 112. For example, eight cassettes 78 may be sequentially moved upwardly to the stand-by position b. In such a case, the cassettes 78 are carried with their longitudinal axes being parallel to the direction in which the handles are moved by the linear feeder 72. The cassette support members 112 support the cassettes 78 slidably in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the cassettes 78. Each of the lifting chains 114 is passed around upper and lower sprockets 118 which are respectively attached to upper and lower rotating shafts 116. There are two pairs of the upper and lower rotating shafts 116 and each pair of the rotating shafts 116 has two pairs of upper and lower sprockets 118. One of the upper rotating shafts 116 is driven by a lifting motor 120 through a gear box 122a. The rotation of the gear box 122a is transmitted to the other upper rotating shaft 116 through a transmission shaft 124 and a gear box I22b. Thus, two cassette support members 112 in the respective opposed sets can be simultaneously moved in the upward direction. As shown in Fig. 3, the pair of cassette moving cylinders 110 are located at positions near the opposite ends of the cassette 78. The cassette moving cylinders 110 moves the cassettes 78 from the cassette support members 112 onto a pair of guide rails 128 spanned over a frame 126 before each of the cassettes 78 is stopped at the providing position a shown in Fig. 3. At the providing position a, a pair of positioning cylinders 130 is disposed such that they will be actuated each time when a cassette 78 has been moved to the providing position a. On the actuation, the cylinder rods of the positioning cylinders 130 are inserted into the respective positioning bores 104 in the cassette 78. As a result, the cassette 78 is positioned in place while at the same time the respective rods 106 within the positioning bores 104 are depressed by the cylinder rods to lower the stoppers 102. When the stoppers 102 are lowered, the handles can be fed out of the cassette 78. The handle delivering mechanism 82 includes a delivering member 132 which touches the side of the handle portion 64 of the handle 50 which is at the end of the cassette 78 to move the handles 50 within the cassette 78, and a delivering cylinder 134 which is formed of a rodless cylinder to move the delivering member 132 in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cassette 78. The delivering member 132 and delivering cylinder 134 are disposed above the cassette 78 when the cassette 78 is at the providing position a, as shown in Fig. 5. The cassette eject mechanism 84 ejects an empty cassette 78 forced to an ejecting position c by a new cassette 78 which is moved to the providing position a. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the cassette eject mechanism 84 comprises a pair of lowering chains 138 passed around upper and lower sprockets 136 and a pair of eject guides 140 extending outwardly from the lowering chain pair 138. The eject guides 140 support the empty cassette 78. When the empty cassette 78 is supported by the eject guide pair 140, a lowering motor 142 is actuated to transmit the rotation thereof to the lowering chain pair 138 through a transmission shaft 144, thus lowering the eject guide pair 140. The cassette 78 is then delivered to a slide guide 146 and slid into an eject port. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the linear feeder 72 carries a handle from the handle providing device 70 to the direction changing mechanism 74 and comprises a carrying path 148 along which the handles 50 are carried and a vibrating device 150 for vibrating the carrying path 148. The carrying path 148 guides and carries the handles 50 with their longitudinal axes being parallel to one another and also perpendicular to the direction in which the handles 50 are carried. The end of the carrying path 148 adjacent to the direction changing mechanism 74 includes a stopper 152 for limiting the movement of the handles 50 toward the direction changing mechanism 74. The vibrating device 150 vibrates the carrying path 148 such that the handles 50 can be moved on the carrying path 148 in the carrying direction. The direction changing mechanism 74 revolves and moves the handles 50 carried by the linear feeder 74 in a plane perpendicular to the carrying direction to change the direction of the handles 50 so that the preforms 28 can be inserted into the respective handles 50. As shown in Fig. 8, the direction changing mechanism 74 comprises an guide mechanism 154 and a moving mechanism 156. However, Fig. 8 schematically shows the guide mechanism 154. The guide mechanism 154 comprises: an arcuate guide section 158 having arcuate guide members I58a and 158b which revolve the handles 50 through 90 degrees by the moving mechanism 156; a linear guide section 160 including linear guide members 160a and 160b which extend from the end of the arcuate guide section 158 in a vertical direction; and a guide plate 153 for guiding the sides of the handles 50. One of the arcuate guide members 158a guides the ring-shaped portion 62 of each handle 50, while the other arcuate guide member I58b guides the engagement portion 66 of the same handle. One of the linear guide members 160a guides the ring-shaped portion 62 of each handle while the other linear guide member 160b guides the ring-shaped engagement portions 62, 66 of the same handle. Each of the linear guide members 160a or 160b includes top and bottom ends on which stoppers 162a and 162b are respectively provided and biased against the respective stop positions under the action of springs. The moving mechanism 156 is disposed between the linear feeder 72 and the guide plate 153 and comprises a rotary disc 166 intermittently rotated by a rotating actuator 164, handle placing members 168 mounted on the rotary disc 166 at its outer periphery, and pushing members 170 mounted on the rotary disc 166 and each adapted to push and move the handle 50 placed on the corresponding handle placing member 168. Each of the pushing members 170 Includes a notch 172 (also see Fig. 2) formed therein to avoid any Interference with the linear guide member 160b when that pushing member 170 Is to be moved passing through the linear guide member 160b. The Inserting device 76 Includes a holding/driving mechanism 174 and a cooling mechanism 176. The holding/driving mechanism 174 Includes a holding mechanism 178 and an elevator mechanism 180. As shown In Figs. 9 and 10, the holding mechanism 178 comprises a ring-shaped portion holding member 182, a handle portion holding member 184, a linear guide 186 for supporting these holding members 182 and 184, and an opening/closing cylinder 188 for opening/closing the respective holding members 182 and 184. The right-hand half of Fig. 9 shows the holding mechanism 174 being opened while the left-hand half thereof shows the holding mechanism 174 being closed. The ring-shaped portion holding member 182 Is spring biased to a state In which the holding member 182 Is slightly closed. Thus, the ring-shaped portion holding member 182 can hold the ring-shaped portion 62 more quickly than the handle portion holding member 184 holding the handle portion 64. On the contrary, the ring-shaped portion holding member 182 releases the ring-shaped portion 62 only after the handle portion holding member 184 has released the handle portion 64. This is because it is secured that the ring-shaped portion 62 can be mounted on the preform 28 while maintaining the central axis 68 of the ring-shaped portion 62 (see Fig. 8) vertical. As shown in Fig. 8, the elevator mechanism 180 comprises a supported member 194 for supporting the holding mechanism 178, the supported member 194 being supported for upward/downward movement relative to a support base 190 through supporting rails 192, and a driving cylinder 196 for driving the elevating support member 194. As a result, the holding members 182 and 184 can be driven between a stand-by position d and a fixing position e. As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the cooling mechanism 176 cools a part of the barrel 56 of the preform 28 in contact therewith and comprises a pair of cooling blocks 198, a pair of holding members 200 and a driving cylinder 202. The right-hand half of Fig. 9 shows the cooling mechanism 176 in not-contact with the preform 28 while the left-hand half thereof shows the cooling mechanism in contact with the preform. The part of the barrel 56 of the preform 28 that is cooled by the cooling mechanism 176 corresponds to a part of a container blow-molded from this preform 28 which will be engaged by the engagement portion 66 of the handle 50. The cooling block pair 198 is movably supported on the linear guide 186 and respectively attached to a pair of cooling plates 204 which will be provided with cooling water. When the cooling block pair 198 enter between the handle portion 64 of the handle 50 and the preform 28, they can cool the barrel 56 of the preform 28. Each of the cooling blocks 198 has a tapered contact surface 205 gradually brought into contact with the preform 28 and positioned relative to the preform 28 with a slight margin between. Each of the holding members 200 is attached to one of the cooling plates 204 and keeps the preform 28 opposite to the cooling blocks 198. Each of the holding members 200 is spring-biased slightly forwardly. Thus, each holding member 200 keeps the preform 28 before the corresponding cooling block 198 contacts the preform 28, and the each holding member 200 then separates from the preform 28 after the cooling block 198 has separated from the preform 28. This is because preventing the preform 28 from being skewed by the cooling block 198 pushing the preform 28. The driving cylinder 202 shown in Fig. 10 advances or retreats the cooling plate pair 204 to move the cooling blocks 198 and holding members 200 toward or away from the preform 28. In the inserting station 52, as shown in Fig. 11, the handle 50 can be inserted into the preform 28 only after a positioning cylinder 206 has driven a positioning plate 208 to engage a carrier 36 in a V-shaped portion 210 of the positioning plate 208 for positioning it. The positioning plate 208 includes an anti-rotation plate 214 slidably supported on a slide rod 212. The anti-rotation plate 214 is biased against the V-shaped portion 210 under the action of a spring 216. Since the anti-rotation plate 214 is separated from the carrier 36 later than the positioning plate 208, it can be avoided that the carrier 36 is rotated to deviate the handle 50 from its proper position when the positioning plate 208 is released from positioning. A process of molding a container with a handle by the use of the aforementioned container molding apparatus and particularly the blow molding stage 14 will now be described in connection with its operation. In the blow molding stage 14, the inverted preforms 28 supported by the carriers 36 are intermittently carried by the carrying means 34. As the preforms 28 pass through the heating device 43 in the heating station 42, they are heated to a temperature suitable for blow molding or higher. The heated preforms 28 are stopped at the inserting station 52 before they are carried into the blow molding station 44. In the inserting station 52, the cassette moving mechanism 108 causes the lifting chains 114 to move so that the cassettes 78 supported by the cassette support members 112 will be sequentially carried to the stand-by position b. When a cassette 78 reaches the stand-by position b, it is transferred to the providing position a under the action of the cassette moving cylinders 110. As the cassette 78 is set at the providing position a, the positioning cylinders 130 are actuated to position that cassette 78 and at the same time to release the stoppers 102. This enables a handle 50 to deliver out of the cassette 78. Under such a condition, the delivering cylinder 134 is actuated for causing the delivering members 132 to deliver the handles 50 from the cassette 78 to the linear feeder 72 while maintaining the original arrangement of the handles 50 in the cassette 78. When all the handles 50 in one cassettes 78 have been delivered, a new cassette 78 is transferred from the stand-by position b to the providing position a by the cassette moving cylinders 110. As the new cassette 78 has been transferred to the providing position a, the old or empty cassette 78 is forced out to the ejecting position c whereat the cassette 78 is supported on the eject guide 140 in the cassette eject mechanism 84. Thereafter, the lowering chains 138 are actuated to eject the empty cassette 78 into the handle eject port. After the handles 50 have been provided to the linear feeder 72, they are then carried to the direction changing mechanism 74 while the handles 50 are arranged with their longitudinal axes being parallel to the direction perpendicular to the carrying direction. At the direction changing mechanism 74, the handles 50 are stopped by the stopper 152. In the direction changing mechanism 74, the rotary disc 166 is rotated with the handle portion 64 of one handle 50 being placed on each of the handle placing members 168 of the rotary disc 166, as shown in Fig. 8. The handle 50 is revolved while the pushing member 170 pushes the engagement portion 66 of that handle 50. During the revolution, the handle 50 is oriented by the arcuate guide portions 158 to a direction in which the ring-shaped portion 62 thereof is downwardly directed. The handle 50 is further turned 90 degrees by the linear guide portions 160 so that the central axis of the ring-shaped portion 62 will be vertical. At the top end of the linear guide portions 160, the handle 50 is once stopped by the stopper 162a. Further rotation of the rotary disc 166 causes the corresponding pushing member 170 to push and downwardly move the handle 50 along the linear guide portions 160. The handle 50 will be placed, by the stopper 162a, in the stand-by position at the bottom end of the linear guide portions 160. At this stand-by position, the handle 50 is coincide in direction with the handle receiving recess 340 formed in the blow cavity mold 48 of the blow molding station 44. Therefore, the apparatus of the present invention does not require any mechanism for arranging the handle 50 mating the orientation of the handle receiving recess 340. This can simplify the apparatus in structure. In the inserting device 76, each of the holding members 182, 184 in the holding mechanism 178 is held opened at the receiving position in which the holding member receives the handle 50. At the stand-by position, the handle 50 is held first at its ring-shaped portion 62 and then at its handle portion 64 by the respective holding members 182, 184. Thus, the handle 50 is ready to be fixed to the preform. When an inverted preform 28 held by a carrier 36 is carried to and stopped at the handle inserting position, the positioning cylinder 206 is actuated to engage the positioning and anti-rotation plates 208, 214 with the carrier 36 for posi tioning i t. The driving cylinder 196 is then actuated to move the holding members 182 and 184 downwardly to the mount position e in which the preform 28 is inserted into the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 and the ring-shaped portion 62 is placed on the flange 58 of the preform 28. After the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 has been fixed to the preform 28, the driving cylinder 202 is actuated to move the cooling blocks 198 and holding members 200 into contact with the preform 28. Thus, a part of the barrel of the preform 28 will be cooled. This part of the preform barrel corresponds to the part of the container to be connected to the connection portion 66 of the handle 50. After the preform 28 has been cooled, the cooling blocks 198 and holding members 200 are retreated and the holding members 182, 184 are opened and upwardly moved to the stand-by position by the driving cylinder 196 wherein the next handle 50 will be held at the stand-by position. In such a case, the holding members 200 keep the preform 28 earlier than the cooling blocks 198 and are separated from the preform 28 after the cooling blocks 198 have been separated from the preform 28. Thus, the preform 28 can be prevented from being skewed by contact with the cooling blocks 198. Since the holding members 182 and 184 are finally separated from the ring-shaped portion 62, the handle 50 will not be inclined relative to the preform 28. Therefore, the inserting device 76 only requires that the holding/driving mechanism 174 move the holding members 182 and 184 between the stand-by position d and the mount position e. This can simplify the operation with a reduced time to improve the moldi ng cycle. Since the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 is fixed to the barrel of the preform after the carrier 36 has been positioned, the fixing operation can be accurately carried out. Thus, the heated preform 28 will not be damaged by the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50. Since the handle 50 is fixed to the heated preform 28 in the inserting station 52, the preform can be heated in absence of the handle. This enables the desired heating process to be performed in absence of the handle, unlike the prior art in which the preform would be heated after the handle had been fixed to the preform. When the positioning cylinder 206 is actuated to retreat the positioning and anti-rotation plates 208, 214 from the carrier 36 after the handle 50 has been fixed to the preform 28, the carrier 36 can be moved while holding the preform 28 with the handle 50. In such a case, the anti-rotation plate 214 is separated from the carrier 36 later than the positioning plate 208. This can prevent the carrier 36 from being rotated when it is released by the positioning plate 208. After the handle 50 has been fixed to the heated preform 28, the carrier 36 supporting the preform 28 is moved to the blow molding station 44 in a direction shown by arrow A in Fig. 8. At the blow molding station 44, the preform 28 is blow-molded into a container 37 with the handle 50 integrally connected thereto by the use of a pressurized air. Since the handle 50 is properly positioned relative to the handle receiving recess 340 in the inserting station 52 when the preform 28 with the handle 50 is to be received by the blow cavity mold 48, the blow molding station 44 does not require any additional means for positioning the handle 50 relative to the handle receiving recess 340. This can simplify the structure of the apparatus. A part of the preform barrel corresponding to the part of the container barrel to be connected to the engagement portion 66 of the handle has been cooled by the cooling blocks 198 in the inserting station 52. Therefore, the barrel of the container 38 connected to the engagement portion 66 of the handle 50 can be wall-thickened to improve the mounting strength of the handle. Another embodiment of a blow molding apparatus constructed according to the present invention will now be described with reference to Figs. 12-23. Fig. 12 shows a plan view of the blow molding apparatus which is different from the previous embodiment of Fig. 1 only in presence of an inserting station 252. As shown in Figs. 12 to 23, the inserting station 252 comprises a inserting device 270 functioning as inserting means. The inserting device 270 sequentially receives the handles 50 from an arrangement device 272 disposed outside of the machine base 10 through a first carrying path 274 and a second carrying path 276. The arrangement device 272 feeds the handles 50 to the first carrying path 274 after the handles 50 have been arranged in one direction by the use of vibration, agitation or the like. The first carrying path 274 carries the handles 50 from the arrangement device 272 with their longitudinal axes being parallel to one another and perpendicular to the carrying direction. The second carrying path 276 carries the handles 50 from the first carrying path 274 with their longitudinal axes being aligned with one another in a line. As shown in Fig. 14, the second carrying path 276 comprises a belt conveyor 278 for carrying the handles 50 to a position near the inserting device 270, and a grooved guide portion 280 for guiding the movement of the handles 50 from the end of the belt conveyor 278 to the inserting device 270. As shown in Figs. 13 and 14, this guide portion 280 includes a first arranging cylinder 284 having a keeping pin 282 for keeping the side of a handle 50 to position it and a second arranging cylinder 286 for forcing the handle 50 positioned by the keeping pin 282 to the delivery position in the inserting device 270. Each of the handles 50 carried by the belt conveyor 278 is stopped on the guide portion 280 by engaging the forward end of the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 with a stopper 288 located above the guide portion 280, as shown in Fig. 14. This stopper 288 is biased against the handle 50 by means of a resilient member. When the second arranging cylinder 286 is actuated to move the handle 50 against the biasing force of the stopper 288, the handle 50 will be moved to the receiving position in the inserting device 270 passing over the stopper 288. As shown in Figs. 13-23, the inserting device 270 comprises a holding means 290 for holding the handle 50; an elevating means 292 for elevating the holding means 290, a positioning means 294 for positioning the carrier 36, a cooling means for cooling the preform 28 and a rotating means for rotating the preform 28, all of which are supported by an inserter support post 302. These means go up and down by a cylinder 300 as a unit along a guide rod 312. The holding means 290 includes a pair of holding members 304 which can be opened and closed by a holding member opening/closing cylinder 306. The holding members 304 hold the sides of the ring-shaped and handle portions 62, 64 of the handle 50, as shown by hatching in Fig. 14. The holding members 304 can be revolved 90 degrees by a rotating actuator 308. The elevating means 292 includes a linear guide rail 310 disposed along the Inserter support post 302, the guide rail 310 movably supporting the holding means 290. The elevating means 292 can elevate the holding members 304 from the handle receiving position to the delivery position in which the handle 50 is delivered to the carrier 36 through a driving cylinder 313. The positioning means 294 comprises a positioning plate 314 adapted to engage the carrier 36 when it is stopped in place, and a positioning cylinder 316 for moving the positioning plate 314 toward or away from the carrier 36. The cooling means 296 comprises an air nozzle 318 which can be moved with the positioning plate 314 by the positioning cylinder 316. The air nozzle 318 cools a part of the barrel of the preform 28 that corresponds to the part of a blow-molded container 38 connected to the engagement portion 66 of the handle 50. When the positioning plate 314 is moved, the air nozzle 318 can be moved in a direction intersecting the direction of movement of the positioning plate 314 for avoiding any interference with the handle 50 held by the preform 28. More particularly, there is provided a driving cylinder 324 which includes a driving rod 326 mounted on the mounting member 322 of a support rod 320. The support rod 320 supports the air nozzle 318 at a given level, as shown in Fig. 23. The mounting member 322 is guided by a guide rod 330 which guides a mounting bracket 328 in the driving cylinder 324. When the driving rod 326 is driven by the driving cylinder 324, the air nozzle 318 can be moved between a retreated position in which the air nozzle 318 is retreated from the handle 50 and another position in which the tip of the nozzlis positioned opposed to the barrel of the preform 28 between the handle 50 and the preform 28. The rotating means 298 includes a rack 332 which is disposed to extend along a direction of movement of the positioning plate 314 and integrally formed with the positioning plate 314. The rack 332 can operatively engage the teeth of a sprocket 334 located on the respective carrier 36. As the sprocket 334 is rotated, the preform 28 can also be rotated about its own axis. Particularly, the respective preform 28 can be rotated about its own axis while it is being heated at the heating station 42. In the inserting station 252, the preform 28 can be oriented after the handle has been mounted thereon. The positioning plate 314 can be moved away from the carrier 36 by a preform rotating cylinder 336 by a distance through which the rack 332 rotates the carrier 36 by 90 degrees. The cylinder 300 can slightly move the holding members 304 in the upward direction for avoiding the holding members 304 from interfering with the forward end of the guide portion 280 when the holding members 304 are rotated 90 degrees by the rotating actuator 308 while holding the handle 50. Furthermore, the cylinder 300 can hold the rack 332 at a slightly elevated position for avoiding the rack 332 from being engaged by the teeth of the sprocket 334 when the rack 332 is moved toward the carrier 36 and downwardly move the rack 332 into engagement with the teeth of the sprocket 334 after the movement of the rack 332 has been terminated. Moreover, the cylinder 300 can move the rack 332 into disengagement with the sprocket 334 after the rack 332 has been retreated and the carrier 36 has been rotated 90 degrees. The operation of the inserting device 279 will now be described mainly with reference to Figs. 14 and 15. In Fig. 15, letters a to h designate various operations of the holding members 304 while reference numerals 1 to 7 denote various operations of the positioning plate 314 and rack 332. First of all, the holding members 304 are in their open state as shown in Fig. 17 when a handle 50 is fed to the forward end of the guide portion 280. The holding member opening/closing cylinder 306 is then actuated to close the holding members 304 for holding the sides of the ring-shaped handle portions 62, 64 of the handle 50, as shown in Fig. 16. The cylinder 300 is then actuated to move the holding members 304 upwardly (operation a in Fig. 15). At the same time, the positioning plate 314 and rack 332 are also moved upwardly (operation 1 in Fig. 15). Next, the rotating actuator 308 is actuated to rotate the handle 50 about its own axis through 90 degrees (operation b in Fig. 15). Since the holding members 304 have been placed in their position above the receiving position, the handle 50 can be rotated without interference with the guide portion 280 (see Fig. 18). When the holding members 304 are being rotated, the positioning cylinder 316 is actuated to advance the positioning plate 314 and rack 332 for positioning the carrier 36 (operation 2 in Fig. 15). After the holding members 304 have been rotated, the driving cylinder 313 is actuated to move the holding members 304 downwardly while holding the handle 50 with the ring-shaped portion 62 thereof being downwardly directed (operation c in Fig. 15). Since the cylinder 300 has slightly upwardly moved the holding members 304, positioning plate 314 and rack 332, such an operation c will not completely fix the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 to the barrel of the preform 28. The rack 332 is in disengagement with the sprocket 334 since the rack 332 is placed above the sprocket 334. The cylinder 300 is then actuated to move the holding members 304, positioning plate 314 and rack 332 downwardly (operations d and 3 in Fig. 15). Thus, the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 is completely fixed to the barrel of the preform 28 and placed on the flange 58 (see Fig. 19). At the same time, the rack 332 is brought into engagement with the teeth of the sprocket 334. The holding member opening/closing cylinder 306 is then actuated to open the holding members 304 for releasing the handle 50 while the driving cylinder 313 is also actuated to move the holding members 304 upwardly (operation e in Fig. 15). In this condition, the air nozzle 318 is in its position retreated from the handle 50 as shown in Fig. 20. The driving cylinder 324 is then actuated to move the air nozzle 318 so that the tip thereof is inserted between the preform 28 and the handle 50. After the air nozzle 318 has blown the cooling air against the preform 28 and handle 50 (see Fig. 21), the air nozzle 318 is further retreated (see Fig. 22). At a point when the air nozzle 318 is retreated after the Injection of cooling air therefrom has terminated, the preform rotating cylinder 336 is actuated to move the rack 332 and to rotate the carrier 36 about its own axis 90 degrees. The carrier 36 is then stopped (operation 4 in Fig. 15). Thus, the handle 50 can be turned to adjust the handle receiving recess 340 (see Fig. 24) in the blow cavity mold 48. The cylinder 300 is then actuated to move the rack upwardly into disengagement with the sprocket 334 (operation 5 in Fig. 15). Thus, the preform 28 can be positioned in place without movement from its 90 degrees rotated position. The operation of the cylinder 300 will also move the holding members 304 slightly upwardly (operation f in Fig. 15). The positioning cylinder 316 is then actuated to move the positioning plate 314 and rack 332 to their completely retreated position (operation 6 in Fig. 15). At the same time, the rotating actuator 308 is actuated to rotate the holding members 304 upwardly (operation g in Fig. 15). Since at this time, the holding members 304 are in their position slightly above the handle receiving position, the cylinder 300 will move the holding members 304 downwardly (operation h in Fig. 15). At the same time, the positioning plate 314 and rack 332 will also be move downwardly by the cylinder 300 (operation 7 in Fig. 15) . The present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments, but may be carried out in any of various forms within the scope of the invention. For example, the number of simultaneously injection-molded and blow-molded preforms may be optionally changed although the previous embodiments have been described as to four preform simultaneously Injection molded at the preform molding stage 12 and one preform blow-molded at the blow molding stage 14 at a time. The same advantages may be obtained even by an exclusive blow molding machine having no injection device or by a molding machine of such a type that upright preforms are carried while being suspended. In the latter, the handles may be upwardly moved to be fixed to the respective preforms. Although the cooling mechanism in the inserting station has been described as to one that the preforms are cooled in contact with the cooling blocks, any non-contact type cooling mechanism in which cooling air is blown against the preforms may be used in the present invention. Rather than a handle 50 having a handle portion 64 which extends substantially parallel to the side wall of the container 38 as shown in Fig. 25, another handle having its handle portion which extends horizontally from the ring-shaped portion 60 may be used unless it has at least the ring-shaped portion 62 and handle portion. We claim- 1. An apparatus for molding a container having a handle comprising: a heating station for heating at least one preform having a barrel to a temperature suitable for blow-molding or ,higher;, a blow-molding station for blow molding said at least one preform into a container after said at least one preform has been heated at said heating station; characterized in that an inserting station disposed between said heating station and said blow molding station and includes serting means for inserting said at least one preform into said_a.t_lea.st one handle; wherein said at least one handle has a ring-shaped portion into which said atleast one preform is inserted and a handle portion extending from said ring shaped portion; wherein said inserting means has means for holding said at least one handle and means for going up and down said holding means in a direction of the longitudinal axis of said barrel of said at least one preform to insert said at least one preform into said ring-shaped portion of said at least one handle. 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, having: means for carrying intermittently a plurality of said preforms from said heating station to said blow molding station; wherein said at least one preform is stopped at said inserting station. 3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein: said carrying means has a plurality of carriers for carrying a plurality of said preforms; and said inserting means has means for positioning said at least one of said carriers which is stopped at said inserting station. 4. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, having: means for carrying a plurality of said handles in a carrying direction toward said inserting means; wherein said handle carrying means arranges a plurality of said handles such that the longitudinal axes of said handles are parallel to one another and perpendicular to said carrying direction. 5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein: said inserting station having means for providing a plurality of said handles to said handle carrying means; and said handle providing means has: having \«v>\| at least one cassette for storing a plurality of said handles when the longitudinal axes of said handles are parallel to one another; and means for delivering a plurality of said handles stored in said at least one cassette toward said handle carrying means while keeping the longitudinal axes of said handles parallel to one another, when said at least one cassette is placed at a providing position. 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein: said handle providing means haveing cassette providing means for providing a plurality of said cassettes sequentially to said providing position; and cassette ejecting means for ejecting said at least one cassette after said handles have been emptied out of said at least one cassette by said handle delivering means; and said cassette providing means has: first moving means for moving sequentially a plurality of said cassettes to place said at least one cassette at a stand by position adjacent to said providing position; and second moving means for moving said at least one cassette from said stand-by position to said providing position; and said cassette ejecting means ejects said at least one empty cassette when said at least one empty cassette is moved from said providing position to an ejecting position by at least one new cassette which is newly transferred to said providing position. 7. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein: said inserting station having means for changing the direction of a plurality of said handles carried by said handle carrying means to deliver said handles to said inserting means; said direction changing means revolves a plurality of said handles in a plane which is perpendicular to said carrying direction to change the direction of said handles such that said preforms can be inserted into said handles; and after the direction of said handles has been changed, said handles are held by said holdings means in said holding means in said inserting means. 8. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: each of said handle portions of said handles having a connection portion at one end opposite to the other end which is connected to said ring-shaped portion, said connection portion being connected to a barrel of said container which is blow-molded at said blow molding station; and said inserting station has means for cooling a part of said preform barrel, said part of said preform barrel corresponding to a part of said container to be connected to said connection portion of each of said handle portions. 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said cooling means having a cooling block for touching and cooling said part of said preform barrel; driving means for advancing and retreating said cooling block relative to said preform; and a holding member which is driven by said driving means with said cooling block to hold said preform on the side opposite to said cooling block. 10. An apparatus for molding a container substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Full Text

(BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION)
Field of Industrial Application
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method of blow-molding a container having a handle after the handle has been fixed to the preform. Description of the Prior Art
Plastic containers are being more broadly substituted for glass bottles. Among them, a plastic container of increased volume generally includes a handle integrally formed therewith. Such a handle is integrally connected with the container body in accordance with any one of the following known techniques:
(1) A technique known by Japanese Patent Application
Laid-Open No. 2-32950 blow-molds a ' preform (into a container
having an integrally connected handle within a blow cavity mold after the handle has previously been inserted into the blow cavi ty mold .
(2) Another technique described in Japanese Patent
Publication No. 63-11219 fixes a handle having a ring-shaped portion to a preform from its bottom side, when the top of the ring-shaped portion is touched to a flange portion formed in the preform at the bottom end of its neck. In the subsequent blow molding step, the underside of the ring-shaped portion is then connected to the side wall of a blow-molded container to hold the ring-shaped portion between the flange portion and the side wal1.
(3) Still another technique disclosed by Japanese Patent
Application Laid-Open No. 4-168029 is similar to that of the
above item (2) in which the ring-shaped portion is held
between the flange portion and the side wall of the blow-
molded container. However, such a technique is carried out
through a preliminary blow molding step in a temperature
regulating station.
(4) A further technique described in Japanese Utility
Model Application Laid-Open No. 4-270628 is one that a preform
is injection molded, with edges of the preform extending
outwardly from the side wall of the barrel portion thereof at
an area below the neck of the preform and being located
circumferential1y at given intervals. These edges are used as
stoppers for the ring-shaped portion of a handle. The
ring-shaped portion is fixed to the container from its neck
side after the blow-molding. The ring-shaped portion is then
rotated through a predetermined angle to engage the edges of
the container body.
The technique of the above item (1) essentially requires that the handle is fixedly mounted in the blow cavity mold by slidably driving a forcing pin relative to the blow cavity mold, said forcing pin having a cavity face for defining a special shape. This makes the structure of the blow cavity mold complicated and expensive.
The technique of the above item (2) raises a problem in that the handle obstructs a desired heating process when a preform is to be heated after the handle has been mounted on the preform. In order to accomplish the desired heating process, there is required any means for avoiding the handle.
this raises another prcblym in lhat the heating
device will be made complicated in structure.
The tooh-iiriuG of above item (3) requires an addition
In the techniques of the above items (2) and (3), furthermore, a preform must be carried while being maintained in its erected position, because a handle can be only attached
to the erected preform. To orevert the handle from falling
engaging means in addition to the preliminarily blow molding step.
Thfi tftr.hiiqi.iq.,of the above item (4) raiser, a problem in that the handle must be manually attached to the container body after it has been blow-molded.
, CI.IMMADV Of: TUC IMWCMTIOM
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an apparatus and method of molding a container with a handle, when the handle can be easily and reliably fixed to a preform in a non-manual manner without need of a complicated blow cavity mold and without any obstruction against the preform heating process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method of forming a container with a handle, which can save the space for manufacturing.
To accomplish these objects, the present invention provides an apparatus for molding a container having a handle comprisi ng :
a heating station for heating at least one preform having a barrel to a temperature suitable for blow-molding or higher;
a blow-molding station for blow-molding said at least one preform into a container after said at least one preform has been heated at said heating station; and
an inserting station which is disposed between said heating station and said blow molding station and includes inserting means for inserting said at least one preform into said at least one handle;
wherein said at least one handle includes a ring-shaped portion into which said at least one preform is inserted and a handle portion extending from said ring-shaped portion;
wherein said inserting means includes means for holding said at least one handle and means for going up and down said holding means in a direction of the longitudinal axis of said barrel of said at least one preform to insert said at least one preform into said ring-shaped portion of said at least one handle.
Since the inserting station is provided between the heating station and the blow molding station for fixing the handle to the preform, the preform is heated before the handle is fixed to the preform. Thus, the preform can be sufficiently heated to a desired temperature without interference with the handle.
The inserting means is of a simplified structure comprising the handle holding means and the means for going up and
down the holding means. This inserting station can reliably fix the handle to the preform at a stand-by position to the blow molding station.
The apparatus may further comprise means for carrying intermittently a plurality of the preforms from the heating station to the blow molding station. In such a case, at least one preform is stopped at the inserting station.
The carrying means may include a plurality of carriers for carrying a plurality of preforms. In such a case, the inserting means preferably includes means for positioning at least one of the carriers which is stopped at the inserting station.
Thus, a handle can be accurately fixed to a preform supported by the positioned carrier. This can particularly reduce the possibility of damaging the barrel of the heated preform.
The apparatus may further comprise means for carrying a plurality of handles in a carrying direction toward the inserting means. This handle carrying means can arrange a plurality of handles such that the longitudinal axes of the handles are parallel to one another and perpendicular to the carryi ng di rection.
Thus, many handles can be efficiently carried through a reduced distance, resulting in decrease of required space.
The inserting station may include means for providing a plurality of the handles to the handle carrying means. This handle providing means may include: at least one cassette for storing a plurality of the handles when the longitudinal axes of the handles are parallel to one another; and means for
delivering a plurality of the handles stored in the at least one cassette toward the handle carrying means while keeping the longitudinal axes of the handles parallel to one another, when the at least one cassette may be placed at a providing posi tion.
Thus, a plurality of handles can be provided to the handle carrying means while keeping the arrangement within the cassette. This can eliminate any complicated mechanism for arranging and providing the handles, resulting in simplification and miniaturization of the apparatus.
The handle providing means include: cassette providing means for providing a plurality of the cassettes sequentially to the providing position; and cassette ejecting means for ejecting the at least one cassette after the handles have been emptied out of the at least one cassette by the handle delivering means. The cassette providing means may include: first moving means for moving sequentially a plurality of the cassettes to place the at least one cassette at a stand-by position adjacent to the providing position; and second moving means for moving the at least one cassette from the stand-by position to the providing position. The cassette ejecting means may eject the at least one empty cassette when the at least one empty cassette is moved from the providing position to an ejecting position by at least one new cassette which is newly transferred to the providing position.
Thus, a plurality of the cassettes can be sequentially provided from the inserting station to the providing position without interruption.
The inserting station may include means for changing the
direction of a plurality of the handles carried by the handle carrying means to deliver the handle to the inserting means. The direction changing means may revolve a plurality of the handles in a plane perpendicular to the carrying direction to change the direction of the handles such that the preforms can be inserted into the handles. After the direction of the handles has been changed, the handles may be held by the holding means in the inserting means.
Thus, the handle can be fixed to the preform only by going up and down the holding means after the direction of the handle carried by the handle carrying means has been changed and the handle has been delivered to the holding means. As a result, the fixing operation of the handle can be simplified to reduce time required to fix the handle to the preform. The handle can be fixed to the preform at a timing suitable for the molding cycle.
Each of the handle portion of the handles may have a connection portion at one end opposite to the other end which is connected to the ring-shaped portion, when the connection portion is connected to a barrel of the container which is blow-molded at the blow molding station. In such a case, the inserting station may include means for cooling a part of the preform barrel, when the part of the preform barrel corresponds to a part of the container to be connected to the connection portion of each of the handle portions.
Thus, the cooled part of the preform barrel will be hardly stretched on blow-molding. This can provide a wall-thickened part which is connected to the connection portion of the handle, resulting in stronger connection.
The cooling means may Include a cooling block for touching and cooling the part of the preform barrel, driving means for advancing and retreating the cooling block relative to the preform, and a holding member which is driven by the driving means with the cooling block to hold the preform on the side opposite to the cooling block.
Thus, the preform can be effectively cooled through a reduced time by coming in contact with the cooling block. In addition, the preform can be prevented from being inclined because the preform is supported from the side opposite to the cooling block.
The present invention also provides a method of blow-molding a preform having a barrel into a container having a handle which is integrally connected to the container, comprising the steps of:
(a) carrying the preform in an inverted state;
(b) inserting the preform which has been carried in an
inverted state into a ring-shaped portion of the handle to be
fixed; and
(c) blow-molding the preform fixed to the handle into the
contai ner.
According to the method of the present invention, the handle can be temporarily fixed to the preform merely by lowering the handle to the inverted preform. Therefore, a mechanism required to fix the handle to the preform can be simplified in comparison with a conventional technique in which a handle is inserted into a neck cavity mold or with another conventional technique in which a handle is temporarily fixed to a preform by the preliminary blow molding of the
preform after the preform has been inserted into the handle which is in an upright state.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus for molding a container with a handle according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged front view of the inserting station shown i n Fi g . 1 .
Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a left-hand side view of Fig. 2.
Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the delivery mechanism, taken along a line V-V in Fig. 3.
Fig. 6 is a side view of the cassette.
Fig. 7 is a plan view of the cassette.
Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of the direction changing m-echanism and inserting device as viewed from the side of a linear feeder.
Fig. 9 is a plan view of the holding and cooling mecha-ni sms.
Fig. 10 is a side view of Fig. 9.
Fig. 11 is a plan view illustrating the positioning plate and anti-rotation plate for the carrier.
Fig. 12 is a plan view of an apparatus for molding a container with a handle according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 13 is an enlarged plan view of the inserting station shown in Fig. 12.
Fig. 14 is a side view of Fig. 13.
Fig. 15 is a view illustrating the motion of the holding member and rack shown in Fig. 14.
Fig. 16 is a front view of Fig. 14.
Fig. 17 is a front view of the holding member of Fig. 16 when it is opened.
Fig. 18 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line Vll-vil in Fig. 16.
Fig. 19 is a view illustrating the holding member moved downwardly from the state of Fig. 18 as well as the rack advanced and moved downwardly from the same state.
Fig. 20 is a cross-sectional view of the positioning means before it begins to be operated, taken along a lien IX-IX in Fig. 16.
Fig. 21 is a view illustrating the positioning means advanced from the state of Fig. 20 in operation.
Fig. 22 is a view illustrating the positioning means after it has been retreated from the state of Fig. 21 to rotate the preform 90 degrees through the rack.
Fig. 23 is a front view of the air nozzle drive device.
Fig. 24 is a sectional view of the blow cavity mold.
Fig. 25 is a side view illustrating the preform and handle .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Several embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Figs. 1-11 show an apparatus of forming a container with a handle according to one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 is a plan view of the apparatus.
The apparatus generally comprises a preform molding stage 12, a blow molding stage 14 and a delivery stage 16 located between the preform molding stage 12 and the blow molding stage 14, all of which are disposed on a machine base 10.
The preform molding stage 12 comprises two injection core molds (not shown) angularly located spaced away 180 degrees from each other, and a rotary disc 18 which moves the injection core molds along a circular carrying path in an intermittent and circulative manner. Each of the injection core molds includes a neck cavity mold (not shown) that can be clamped and opened. The injection core molds will be stopped at two positions, one of which positions includes an injection molding section 22 located opposed to an injection device 20. The other position includes a removal section 24 located opposed to the injection molding section 22.
The injection molding section 22 includes an injection cavity mold 26 which is clamped relative to the injection core molds. The injection molding section 22 may simultaneously injection mold a plurality (e.g., four) of preforms 28 in thei r erected state.
At the removal section 24, the preforms 28 can be removed out of the apparatus by releasing them from the neck cavity molds after the injection core molds have been partially released.
The blow molding stage 14 comprises four sprockets 30 and a carrying means 34 including a carrying chain 32 that is passed around these sprockets 30.
The carrying chain 32 includes a plurality (e.g., twelve) of carriers 36 fixedly mounted thereon and equidistantly
spaced away from one another. Each of the carriers 36 supports a preform 28 or a container 38 in its inverted state. A carrying path along which the carriers 36 are moved includes a receiving station 40 for receiving preforms 28 after they have been inverted from their erected state at the delivery stage 16, a heating station 42 for heating the preforms received by the receiving station 40 to a temperature suitable for blow molding or higher, a blow molding station 44 for stretch-blow-molding the preforms 28 into containers 38 after the preforms 28 have been heated at the heating station 42, and a container removing station 46 for removing the blow-molded containers 38 out of the apparatus.
The heating station 42 includes a heating device 43 disposed to extend along the carrying path. The heating device 43 heats the preforms 28 while rotating them about their axes when the preforms 28 are passed through the heating device 43.
The blow molding station 44 includes a blow cavity mold 48 which is clamped relative to a preform 28 by a blow mold clamping mechanism 45 and may blow-mold one preform 28 into one container 38, for example. The blow cavity mold 48 includes a handle receiving recess for receiving a handle 50.
The container removing station 46 removes a blow-molded container 38 through a removing device 47 after it has been again inverted to its erected state.
Although a plurality (e.g., four) of simultaneously molded preforms 28 are removed out of the system by the removing section 24 at the preform molding stage 12, the delivery stage 16 delivers four removed preforms 28 to the receiving station 40 one at a time.

In the blow molding stage 14, the carrying means 34 intermittently carries the carriers 36. Between the heating station 42 and the blow molding station 44 is provided a stand-by location wherein each of the heated preforms 28 is temporarily stopped during the intermittent movement. In this stand-by location, an inserting station 52 for inserting a preform 28 into a handle 50 is provided.
The preform 28 and its handle 50 may be configured as shown in Fig. 25.
More particularly, the preform 28 has a neck 54, a cylindrical bottom-closed barrel 56 connected directly to the neck 54 and a flange 58 located between the neck 54 and the barrel 56 and extending outwardly from the preform 28. The neck 54 includes an opening 60 formed therethrough. The flange 58 functions as a base on which the handle 50 is placed.
The handle 50 has a ring-shaped portion 62 which is fixed to the barrel 56 of the preform 28, a handle portion 64 extending from the ring-shaped portion 62 and along the barrel outline of the container 38, and an engagement portion 66 formed in the handle portion 64 at its end opposite to the ring-shaped portion 62, this engagement portion 66 being connected to the container 38 on the blow molding process.
The ring-shaped portion 62 has an internal diameter capable of being fitted over the barrel 56 of the preform 28. In the illustrated embodiment, such an internal diameter is substantially equal to the external diameter of the barrel 56 at a location near the flange 58 of the preform 28.
The engagement portion 66 is curved from the handle portion 64 toward the central axis 68 in the ring-shaped

portion 62.
As shown in Fig. 24, the blow cavity mold 48 is formed by a pair of split mold parts 346, each of which has a mating surface 344. Each of the mating surfaces 344 is formed with the half of a cavity 342 for a container and the half of a handle receiving recess 340. Each of the handle receiving recess halves 340 is sized to be larger than the handle 50 at a location near the mating surface 344.
The inserting station 52 comprises a handle providing device 70, a linear feeder 72 functioning as handle carrying means, a direction changing mechanism 74 and an inserting device 76.
The handle providing device 70 provides handles 50 from a cassette 78 and comprises a cassette providing mechanism 80, a handle delivering mechanism 82, and a cassette eject mechanism 84, as shown in Fig. 2-5.
The cassette 78 stores a plurality of handles 50 with their longitudinal axes being parallel to one another and comprises a cassette body 86 and a pair of guide rods 88, 99, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.
The cassette body 86 has a sufficient length to receive a plurality of handles 50 with their longitudinal axes being parallel to one another. As shown in Fig. 6, the cassette body 86 is of substantially L-shaped cross-section which has an upright wall 92 and a bottom wall 96 extending perpendicular to the upright wall 92, as shown in Fig. 6. The upright wall 92 of the cassette body 86 has a height larger than the height of the handles 50 placed on the bottom wall 96. The handles 50 are placed on the bottom wall 96 with their handle portions 64

being directed in the downward direction, as will be apparent from Fig. 6. When the handles 50 are placed on the bottom wall 96, each of the handles 50 will have the central axis 68 of the ring-shaped portion 62 directed in the horizontal direction. The bottom wall 96 has its length larger than the distance between the ring-shaped portion 62 and the engagement portion 66 in each handle 50. As will be apparent from Fig. 6, the width of the bottom wall 96 is larger than the entire length of the handle. The upright wall 92 includes two hand-handles 98 formed therein, as shown in Fig. 7.
The guide rods 88 and 90 extend parallel to the length of the cassette body 86 and are located on the opposite sides about the engagement portion 66 of each handle 50 placed on the bottom wall 92. By thus sandwiching the engagement portions 66 of the handles 50 between the two guide rods 88 and 90, the handles 50 can be slidably supported in the cassette body as shown in Fig. 6.
At each end, the cassette body 86 has a stopper 102 which can engage the side of the handle portion 64 in an endwise positioned cassette body 50 to prevent the falling-out of that cassette body. Each of the stoppers 102 can be lowered from the top of the bottom wall 96 by depressing a release rod 106 which is received and upwardly biased in a positioning bore 104 formed in the top of the upright wall 92 at the corresponding location.
As will be apparent from Figs. 2-4, the cassette providing mechanism 80 provides a plurality of cassettes 78 in sequence. The cassette providing mechanism 80 generally comprises a cassette moving mechanism 108 and a pair of

cassette moving cylinders 110. The cassette moving cylinders 110 move a cassette 78 from a stand-by position b shown In Fig. 3 to a providing position a at which the handle delivering mechanism 82 is located. The cassette moving mechanism 108 functions to carry a plurality of cassettes 78 to the stand-by position b in sequence.
The cassette moving mechanism 108 comprises two pairs of lifting chains 114 on which a plurality of cassette support members 112 are fixedly mounted. The distance between the lifting chain pairs 114 is equal to the length of the cassette 78. The cassettes 78 is supported between two cassette support members 112. For example, eight cassettes 78 may be sequentially moved upwardly to the stand-by position b. In such a case, the cassettes 78 are carried with their longitudinal axes being parallel to the direction in which the handles are moved by the linear feeder 72. The cassette support members 112 support the cassettes 78 slidably in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the cassettes 78.
Each of the lifting chains 114 is passed around upper and lower sprockets 118 which are respectively attached to upper and lower rotating shafts 116. There are two pairs of the upper and lower rotating shafts 116 and each pair of the rotating shafts 116 has two pairs of upper and lower sprockets 118. One of the upper rotating shafts 116 is driven by a lifting motor 120 through a gear box 122a. The rotation of the gear box 122a is transmitted to the other upper rotating shaft 116 through a transmission shaft 124 and a gear box I22b. Thus, two cassette support members 112 in the respective opposed sets can be simultaneously moved in the upward

direction.
As shown in Fig. 3, the pair of cassette moving cylinders 110 are located at positions near the opposite ends of the cassette 78. The cassette moving cylinders 110 moves the cassettes 78 from the cassette support members 112 onto a pair of guide rails 128 spanned over a frame 126 before each of the cassettes 78 is stopped at the providing position a shown in Fig. 3. At the providing position a, a pair of positioning cylinders 130 is disposed such that they will be actuated each time when a cassette 78 has been moved to the providing position a. On the actuation, the cylinder rods of the positioning cylinders 130 are inserted into the respective positioning bores 104 in the cassette 78. As a result, the cassette 78 is positioned in place while at the same time the respective rods 106 within the positioning bores 104 are depressed by the cylinder rods to lower the stoppers 102. When the stoppers 102 are lowered, the handles can be fed out of the cassette 78.
The handle delivering mechanism 82 includes a delivering member 132 which touches the side of the handle portion 64 of the handle 50 which is at the end of the cassette 78 to move the handles 50 within the cassette 78, and a delivering cylinder 134 which is formed of a rodless cylinder to move the delivering member 132 in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cassette 78. The delivering member 132 and delivering cylinder 134 are disposed above the cassette 78 when the cassette 78 is at the providing position a, as shown in Fig. 5.
The cassette eject mechanism 84 ejects an empty cassette

78 forced to an ejecting position c by a new cassette 78 which is moved to the providing position a. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the cassette eject mechanism 84 comprises a pair of lowering chains 138 passed around upper and lower sprockets 136 and a pair of eject guides 140 extending outwardly from the lowering chain pair 138. The eject guides 140 support the empty cassette 78. When the empty cassette 78 is supported by the eject guide pair 140, a lowering motor 142 is actuated to transmit the rotation thereof to the lowering chain pair 138 through a transmission shaft 144, thus lowering the eject guide pair 140. The cassette 78 is then delivered to a slide guide 146 and slid into an eject port.
As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the linear feeder 72 carries a handle from the handle providing device 70 to the direction changing mechanism 74 and comprises a carrying path 148 along which the handles 50 are carried and a vibrating device 150 for vibrating the carrying path 148.
The carrying path 148 guides and carries the handles 50 with their longitudinal axes being parallel to one another and also perpendicular to the direction in which the handles 50 are carried. The end of the carrying path 148 adjacent to the direction changing mechanism 74 includes a stopper 152 for limiting the movement of the handles 50 toward the direction changing mechanism 74.
The vibrating device 150 vibrates the carrying path 148 such that the handles 50 can be moved on the carrying path 148 in the carrying direction.
The direction changing mechanism 74 revolves and moves the handles 50 carried by the linear feeder 74 in a plane

perpendicular to the carrying direction to change the direction of the handles 50 so that the preforms 28 can be inserted into the respective handles 50. As shown in Fig. 8, the direction changing mechanism 74 comprises an guide mechanism 154 and a moving mechanism 156. However, Fig. 8 schematically shows the guide mechanism 154.
The guide mechanism 154 comprises: an arcuate guide section 158 having arcuate guide members I58a and 158b which revolve the handles 50 through 90 degrees by the moving mechanism 156; a linear guide section 160 including linear guide members 160a and 160b which extend from the end of the arcuate guide section 158 in a vertical direction; and a guide plate 153 for guiding the sides of the handles 50.
One of the arcuate guide members 158a guides the ring-shaped portion 62 of each handle 50, while the other arcuate guide member I58b guides the engagement portion 66 of the same handle. One of the linear guide members 160a guides the ring-shaped portion 62 of each handle while the other linear guide member 160b guides the ring-shaped engagement portions 62, 66 of the same handle.
Each of the linear guide members 160a or 160b includes top and bottom ends on which stoppers 162a and 162b are respectively provided and biased against the respective stop positions under the action of springs.
The moving mechanism 156 is disposed between the linear feeder 72 and the guide plate 153 and comprises a rotary disc 166 intermittently rotated by a rotating actuator 164, handle placing members 168 mounted on the rotary disc 166 at its outer periphery, and pushing members 170 mounted on the rotary

disc 166 and each adapted to push and move the handle 50 placed on the corresponding handle placing member 168.
Each of the pushing members 170 Includes a notch 172 (also see Fig. 2) formed therein to avoid any Interference with the linear guide member 160b when that pushing member 170 Is to be moved passing through the linear guide member 160b.
The Inserting device 76 Includes a holding/driving mechanism 174 and a cooling mechanism 176.
The holding/driving mechanism 174 Includes a holding mechanism 178 and an elevator mechanism 180.
As shown In Figs. 9 and 10, the holding mechanism 178 comprises a ring-shaped portion holding member 182, a handle portion holding member 184, a linear guide 186 for supporting these holding members 182 and 184, and an opening/closing cylinder 188 for opening/closing the respective holding members 182 and 184. The right-hand half of Fig. 9 shows the holding mechanism 174 being opened while the left-hand half thereof shows the holding mechanism 174 being closed.
The ring-shaped portion holding member 182 Is spring biased to a state In which the holding member 182 Is slightly closed. Thus, the ring-shaped portion holding member 182 can hold the ring-shaped portion 62 more quickly than the handle portion holding member 184 holding the handle portion 64. On the contrary, the ring-shaped portion holding member 182 releases the ring-shaped portion 62 only after the handle portion holding member 184 has released the handle portion 64. This is because it is secured that the ring-shaped portion 62 can be mounted on the preform 28 while maintaining the central axis 68 of the ring-shaped portion 62 (see Fig. 8) vertical.

As shown in Fig. 8, the elevator mechanism 180 comprises a supported member 194 for supporting the holding mechanism 178, the supported member 194 being supported for upward/downward movement relative to a support base 190 through supporting rails 192, and a driving cylinder 196 for driving the elevating support member 194. As a result, the holding members 182 and 184 can be driven between a stand-by position d and a fixing position e.
As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the cooling mechanism 176 cools a part of the barrel 56 of the preform 28 in contact therewith and comprises a pair of cooling blocks 198, a pair of holding members 200 and a driving cylinder 202. The right-hand half of Fig. 9 shows the cooling mechanism 176 in not-contact with the preform 28 while the left-hand half thereof shows the cooling mechanism in contact with the preform. The part of the barrel 56 of the preform 28 that is cooled by the cooling mechanism 176 corresponds to a part of a container blow-molded from this preform 28 which will be engaged by the engagement portion 66 of the handle 50.
The cooling block pair 198 is movably supported on the linear guide 186 and respectively attached to a pair of cooling plates 204 which will be provided with cooling water. When the cooling block pair 198 enter between the handle portion 64 of the handle 50 and the preform 28, they can cool the barrel 56 of the preform 28. Each of the cooling blocks 198 has a tapered contact surface 205 gradually brought into contact with the preform 28 and positioned relative to the preform 28 with a slight margin between.
Each of the holding members 200 is attached to one of the

cooling plates 204 and keeps the preform 28 opposite to the cooling blocks 198. Each of the holding members 200 is spring-biased slightly forwardly. Thus, each holding member 200 keeps the preform 28 before the corresponding cooling block 198 contacts the preform 28, and the each holding member 200 then separates from the preform 28 after the cooling block 198 has separated from the preform 28. This is because preventing the preform 28 from being skewed by the cooling block 198 pushing the preform 28.
The driving cylinder 202 shown in Fig. 10 advances or retreats the cooling plate pair 204 to move the cooling blocks 198 and holding members 200 toward or away from the preform 28.
In the inserting station 52, as shown in Fig. 11, the handle 50 can be inserted into the preform 28 only after a positioning cylinder 206 has driven a positioning plate 208 to engage a carrier 36 in a V-shaped portion 210 of the positioning plate 208 for positioning it.
The positioning plate 208 includes an anti-rotation plate 214 slidably supported on a slide rod 212. The anti-rotation plate 214 is biased against the V-shaped portion 210 under the action of a spring 216. Since the anti-rotation plate 214 is separated from the carrier 36 later than the positioning plate 208, it can be avoided that the carrier 36 is rotated to deviate the handle 50 from its proper position when the positioning plate 208 is released from positioning.
A process of molding a container with a handle by the use of the aforementioned container molding apparatus and particularly the blow molding stage 14 will now be described in

connection with its operation.
In the blow molding stage 14, the inverted preforms 28 supported by the carriers 36 are intermittently carried by the carrying means 34. As the preforms 28 pass through the heating device 43 in the heating station 42, they are heated to a temperature suitable for blow molding or higher. The heated preforms 28 are stopped at the inserting station 52 before they are carried into the blow molding station 44.
In the inserting station 52, the cassette moving mechanism 108 causes the lifting chains 114 to move so that the cassettes 78 supported by the cassette support members 112 will be sequentially carried to the stand-by position b.
When a cassette 78 reaches the stand-by position b, it is transferred to the providing position a under the action of the cassette moving cylinders 110.
As the cassette 78 is set at the providing position a, the positioning cylinders 130 are actuated to position that cassette 78 and at the same time to release the stoppers 102. This enables a handle 50 to deliver out of the cassette 78.
Under such a condition, the delivering cylinder 134 is actuated for causing the delivering members 132 to deliver the handles 50 from the cassette 78 to the linear feeder 72 while maintaining the original arrangement of the handles 50 in the cassette 78.
When all the handles 50 in one cassettes 78 have been delivered, a new cassette 78 is transferred from the stand-by position b to the providing position a by the cassette moving cylinders 110.
As the new cassette 78 has been transferred to the

providing position a, the old or empty cassette 78 is forced out to the ejecting position c whereat the cassette 78 is supported on the eject guide 140 in the cassette eject mechanism 84. Thereafter, the lowering chains 138 are actuated to eject the empty cassette 78 into the handle eject port.
After the handles 50 have been provided to the linear feeder 72, they are then carried to the direction changing mechanism 74 while the handles 50 are arranged with their longitudinal axes being parallel to the direction perpendicular to the carrying direction. At the direction changing mechanism 74, the handles 50 are stopped by the stopper 152.
In the direction changing mechanism 74, the rotary disc 166 is rotated with the handle portion 64 of one handle 50 being placed on each of the handle placing members 168 of the rotary disc 166, as shown in Fig. 8. The handle 50 is revolved while the pushing member 170 pushes the engagement portion 66 of that handle 50.
During the revolution, the handle 50 is oriented by the arcuate guide portions 158 to a direction in which the ring-shaped portion 62 thereof is downwardly directed. The handle 50 is further turned 90 degrees by the linear guide portions 160 so that the central axis of the ring-shaped portion 62 will be vertical. At the top end of the linear guide portions 160, the handle 50 is once stopped by the stopper 162a. Further rotation of the rotary disc 166 causes the corresponding pushing member 170 to push and downwardly move the handle 50 along the linear guide portions 160. The handle 50 will be placed, by the stopper 162a, in the stand-by position at the bottom end of the linear guide portions 160.
At this stand-by position, the handle 50 is coincide in direction with the handle receiving recess 340 formed in the blow cavity mold 48 of the blow molding station 44. Therefore, the apparatus of the present invention does not require any mechanism for arranging the handle 50 mating the orientation of the handle receiving recess 340. This can simplify the apparatus in structure.
In the inserting device 76, each of the holding members 182, 184 in the holding mechanism 178 is held opened at the receiving position in which the holding member receives the handle 50. At the stand-by position, the handle 50 is held first at its ring-shaped portion 62 and then at its handle portion 64 by the respective holding members 182, 184. Thus, the handle 50 is ready to be fixed to the preform.
When an inverted preform 28 held by a carrier 36 is carried to and stopped at the handle inserting position, the positioning cylinder 206 is actuated to engage the positioning and anti-rotation plates 208, 214 with the carrier 36 for posi tioning i t.
The driving cylinder 196 is then actuated to move the holding members 182 and 184 downwardly to the mount position e in which the preform 28 is inserted into the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 and the ring-shaped portion 62 is placed on the flange 58 of the preform 28.
After the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 has been fixed to the preform 28, the driving cylinder 202 is actuated to move the cooling blocks 198 and holding members 200 into contact with the preform 28. Thus, a part of the barrel of the preform 28 will be cooled. This part of the

preform barrel corresponds to the part of the container to be connected to the connection portion 66 of the handle 50.
After the preform 28 has been cooled, the cooling blocks 198 and holding members 200 are retreated and the holding members 182, 184 are opened and upwardly moved to the stand-by position by the driving cylinder 196 wherein the next handle 50 will be held at the stand-by position. In such a case, the holding members 200 keep the preform 28 earlier than the cooling blocks 198 and are separated from the preform 28 after the cooling blocks 198 have been separated from the preform 28. Thus, the preform 28 can be prevented from being skewed by contact with the cooling blocks 198. Since the holding members 182 and 184 are finally separated from the ring-shaped portion 62, the handle 50 will not be inclined relative to the preform 28.
Therefore, the inserting device 76 only requires that the holding/driving mechanism 174 move the holding members 182 and 184 between the stand-by position d and the mount position e. This can simplify the operation with a reduced time to improve the moldi ng cycle.
Since the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 is fixed to the barrel of the preform after the carrier 36 has been positioned, the fixing operation can be accurately carried out. Thus, the heated preform 28 will not be damaged by the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50.
Since the handle 50 is fixed to the heated preform 28 in the inserting station 52, the preform can be heated in absence of the handle. This enables the desired heating process to be performed in absence of the handle, unlike the prior art in

which the preform would be heated after the handle had been fixed to the preform.
When the positioning cylinder 206 is actuated to retreat the positioning and anti-rotation plates 208, 214 from the carrier 36 after the handle 50 has been fixed to the preform 28, the carrier 36 can be moved while holding the preform 28 with the handle 50. In such a case, the anti-rotation plate 214 is separated from the carrier 36 later than the positioning plate 208. This can prevent the carrier 36 from being rotated when it is released by the positioning plate 208.
After the handle 50 has been fixed to the heated preform 28, the carrier 36 supporting the preform 28 is moved to the blow molding station 44 in a direction shown by arrow A in Fig. 8. At the blow molding station 44, the preform 28 is blow-molded into a container 37 with the handle 50 integrally connected thereto by the use of a pressurized air.
Since the handle 50 is properly positioned relative to the handle receiving recess 340 in the inserting station 52 when the preform 28 with the handle 50 is to be received by the blow cavity mold 48, the blow molding station 44 does not require any additional means for positioning the handle 50 relative to the handle receiving recess 340. This can simplify the structure of the apparatus.
A part of the preform barrel corresponding to the part of the container barrel to be connected to the engagement portion 66 of the handle has been cooled by the cooling blocks 198 in the inserting station 52. Therefore, the barrel of the container 38 connected to the engagement portion 66 of the handle 50 can be wall-thickened to improve the mounting

strength of the handle.
Another embodiment of a blow molding apparatus constructed according to the present invention will now be described with reference to Figs. 12-23. Fig. 12 shows a plan view of the blow molding apparatus which is different from the previous embodiment of Fig. 1 only in presence of an inserting station 252.
As shown in Figs. 12 to 23, the inserting station 252 comprises a inserting device 270 functioning as inserting means. The inserting device 270 sequentially receives the handles 50 from an arrangement device 272 disposed outside of the machine base 10 through a first carrying path 274 and a second carrying path 276.
The arrangement device 272 feeds the handles 50 to the first carrying path 274 after the handles 50 have been arranged in one direction by the use of vibration, agitation or the like. The first carrying path 274 carries the handles 50 from the arrangement device 272 with their longitudinal axes being parallel to one another and perpendicular to the carrying direction. The second carrying path 276 carries the handles 50 from the first carrying path 274 with their longitudinal axes being aligned with one another in a line. As shown in Fig. 14, the second carrying path 276 comprises a belt conveyor 278 for carrying the handles 50 to a position near the inserting device 270, and a grooved guide portion 280 for guiding the movement of the handles 50 from the end of the belt conveyor 278 to the inserting device 270. As shown in Figs. 13 and 14, this guide portion 280 includes a first arranging cylinder 284 having a keeping pin 282 for keeping

the side of a handle 50 to position it and a second arranging cylinder 286 for forcing the handle 50 positioned by the keeping pin 282 to the delivery position in the inserting device 270.
Each of the handles 50 carried by the belt conveyor 278 is stopped on the guide portion 280 by engaging the forward end of the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 with a stopper 288 located above the guide portion 280, as shown in Fig. 14. This stopper 288 is biased against the handle 50 by means of a resilient member. When the second arranging cylinder 286 is actuated to move the handle 50 against the biasing force of the stopper 288, the handle 50 will be moved to the receiving position in the inserting device 270 passing over the stopper 288.
As shown in Figs. 13-23, the inserting device 270 comprises a holding means 290 for holding the handle 50; an elevating means 292 for elevating the holding means 290, a positioning means 294 for positioning the carrier 36, a cooling means for cooling the preform 28 and a rotating means for rotating the preform 28, all of which are supported by an inserter support post 302. These means go up and down by a cylinder 300 as a unit along a guide rod 312.
The holding means 290 includes a pair of holding members 304 which can be opened and closed by a holding member opening/closing cylinder 306. The holding members 304 hold the sides of the ring-shaped and handle portions 62, 64 of the handle 50, as shown by hatching in Fig. 14. The holding members 304 can be revolved 90 degrees by a rotating actuator 308. The elevating means 292 includes a linear guide rail 310
disposed along the Inserter support post 302, the guide rail 310 movably supporting the holding means 290. The elevating means 292 can elevate the holding members 304 from the handle receiving position to the delivery position in which the handle 50 is delivered to the carrier 36 through a driving cylinder 313.
The positioning means 294 comprises a positioning plate 314 adapted to engage the carrier 36 when it is stopped in place, and a positioning cylinder 316 for moving the positioning plate 314 toward or away from the carrier 36.
The cooling means 296 comprises an air nozzle 318 which can be moved with the positioning plate 314 by the positioning cylinder 316. The air nozzle 318 cools a part of the barrel of the preform 28 that corresponds to the part of a blow-molded container 38 connected to the engagement portion 66 of the handle 50. When the positioning plate 314 is moved, the air nozzle 318 can be moved in a direction intersecting the direction of movement of the positioning plate 314 for avoiding any interference with the handle 50 held by the preform 28. More particularly, there is provided a driving cylinder 324 which includes a driving rod 326 mounted on the mounting member 322 of a support rod 320. The support rod 320 supports the air nozzle 318 at a given level, as shown in Fig. 23. The mounting member 322 is guided by a guide rod 330 which guides a mounting bracket 328 in the driving cylinder 324. When the driving rod 326 is driven by the driving cylinder 324, the air nozzle 318 can be moved between a retreated position in which the air nozzle 318 is retreated from the handle 50 and another position in which the tip of the nozzlis positioned opposed to the barrel of the preform 28 between the handle 50 and the preform 28.
The rotating means 298 includes a rack 332 which is disposed to extend along a direction of movement of the positioning plate 314 and integrally formed with the positioning plate 314. The rack 332 can operatively engage the teeth of a sprocket 334 located on the respective carrier 36. As the sprocket 334 is rotated, the preform 28 can also be rotated about its own axis. Particularly, the respective preform 28 can be rotated about its own axis while it is being heated at the heating station 42. In the inserting station 252, the preform 28 can be oriented after the handle has been mounted thereon.
The positioning plate 314 can be moved away from the carrier 36 by a preform rotating cylinder 336 by a distance through which the rack 332 rotates the carrier 36 by 90 degrees.
The cylinder 300 can slightly move the holding members 304 in the upward direction for avoiding the holding members 304 from interfering with the forward end of the guide portion 280 when the holding members 304 are rotated 90 degrees by the rotating actuator 308 while holding the handle 50. Furthermore, the cylinder 300 can hold the rack 332 at a slightly elevated position for avoiding the rack 332 from being engaged by the teeth of the sprocket 334 when the rack 332 is moved toward the carrier 36 and downwardly move the rack 332 into engagement with the teeth of the sprocket 334 after the movement of the rack 332 has been terminated. Moreover, the cylinder 300 can move the rack 332 into disengagement with the
sprocket 334 after the rack 332 has been retreated and the carrier 36 has been rotated 90 degrees.
The operation of the inserting device 279 will now be described mainly with reference to Figs. 14 and 15.
In Fig. 15, letters a to h designate various operations of the holding members 304 while reference numerals 1 to 7 denote various operations of the positioning plate 314 and rack 332.
First of all, the holding members 304 are in their open state as shown in Fig. 17 when a handle 50 is fed to the forward end of the guide portion 280. The holding member opening/closing cylinder 306 is then actuated to close the holding members 304 for holding the sides of the ring-shaped handle portions 62, 64 of the handle 50, as shown in Fig. 16.
The cylinder 300 is then actuated to move the holding members 304 upwardly (operation a in Fig. 15). At the same time, the positioning plate 314 and rack 332 are also moved upwardly (operation 1 in Fig. 15).
Next, the rotating actuator 308 is actuated to rotate the handle 50 about its own axis through 90 degrees (operation b in Fig. 15). Since the holding members 304 have been placed in their position above the receiving position, the handle 50 can be rotated without interference with the guide portion 280 (see Fig. 18).
When the holding members 304 are being rotated, the positioning cylinder 316 is actuated to advance the positioning plate 314 and rack 332 for positioning the carrier 36 (operation 2 in Fig. 15). After the holding members 304 have been rotated, the driving cylinder 313 is actuated to move the
holding members 304 downwardly while holding the handle 50 with the ring-shaped portion 62 thereof being downwardly directed (operation c in Fig. 15). Since the cylinder 300 has slightly upwardly moved the holding members 304, positioning plate 314 and rack 332, such an operation c will not completely fix the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 to the barrel of the preform 28. The rack 332 is in disengagement with the sprocket 334 since the rack 332 is placed above the sprocket 334.
The cylinder 300 is then actuated to move the holding members 304, positioning plate 314 and rack 332 downwardly (operations d and 3 in Fig. 15). Thus, the ring-shaped portion 62 of the handle 50 is completely fixed to the barrel of the preform 28 and placed on the flange 58 (see Fig. 19). At the same time, the rack 332 is brought into engagement with the teeth of the sprocket 334.
The holding member opening/closing cylinder 306 is then actuated to open the holding members 304 for releasing the handle 50 while the driving cylinder 313 is also actuated to move the holding members 304 upwardly (operation e in Fig. 15).
In this condition, the air nozzle 318 is in its position retreated from the handle 50 as shown in Fig. 20. The driving cylinder 324 is then actuated to move the air nozzle 318 so that the tip thereof is inserted between the preform 28 and the handle 50. After the air nozzle 318 has blown the cooling air against the preform 28 and handle 50 (see Fig. 21), the air nozzle 318 is further retreated (see Fig. 22).
At a point when the air nozzle 318 is retreated after the
Injection of cooling air therefrom has terminated, the preform rotating cylinder 336 is actuated to move the rack 332 and to rotate the carrier 36 about its own axis 90 degrees. The carrier 36 is then stopped (operation 4 in Fig. 15). Thus, the handle 50 can be turned to adjust the handle receiving recess 340 (see Fig. 24) in the blow cavity mold 48.
The cylinder 300 is then actuated to move the rack upwardly into disengagement with the sprocket 334 (operation 5 in Fig. 15). Thus, the preform 28 can be positioned in place without movement from its 90 degrees rotated position. The operation of the cylinder 300 will also move the holding members 304 slightly upwardly (operation f in Fig. 15).
The positioning cylinder 316 is then actuated to move the positioning plate 314 and rack 332 to their completely retreated position (operation 6 in Fig. 15). At the same time, the rotating actuator 308 is actuated to rotate the holding members 304 upwardly (operation g in Fig. 15). Since at this time, the holding members 304 are in their position slightly above the handle receiving position, the cylinder 300 will move the holding members 304 downwardly (operation h in Fig. 15). At the same time, the positioning plate 314 and rack 332 will also be move downwardly by the cylinder 300 (operation 7 in Fig. 15) .
The present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments, but may be carried out in any of various forms within the scope of the invention.
For example, the number of simultaneously injection-molded and blow-molded preforms may be optionally changed although the previous embodiments have been described as to
four preform simultaneously Injection molded at the preform molding stage 12 and one preform blow-molded at the blow molding stage 14 at a time.
The same advantages may be obtained even by an exclusive blow molding machine having no injection device or by a molding machine of such a type that upright preforms are carried while being suspended. In the latter, the handles may be upwardly moved to be fixed to the respective preforms.
Although the cooling mechanism in the inserting station has been described as to one that the preforms are cooled in contact with the cooling blocks, any non-contact type cooling mechanism in which cooling air is blown against the preforms may be used in the present invention.
Rather than a handle 50 having a handle portion 64 which extends substantially parallel to the side wall of the container 38 as shown in Fig. 25, another handle having its handle portion which extends horizontally from the ring-shaped portion 60 may be used unless it has at least the ring-shaped portion 62 and handle portion.

We claim-
1. An apparatus for molding a container having a handle comprising:
a heating station for heating at least one preform having a barrel to a temperature suitable for blow-molding or ,higher;,
a blow-molding station for blow molding said at least one preform into a container after said at least one preform has been heated at said heating station; characterized in that
an inserting station disposed between said heating station and said blow molding station and includes serting means for inserting said at least one preform into said_a.t_lea.st one handle;
wherein said at least one handle has a ring-shaped portion into which said atleast one preform is inserted and a handle portion extending from said ring shaped portion;
wherein said inserting means has means for holding said at least one handle and means for going up and down said holding means in a direction of the longitudinal axis of said barrel of
said at least one preform to insert said at least one preform into said ring-shaped portion of said at least one handle.
2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, having:
means for carrying intermittently a plurality of said preforms from said heating station to said blow molding station; wherein said at least one preform is stopped at said inserting station.
3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein:
said carrying means has a plurality of carriers for carrying a plurality of said preforms; and
said inserting means has means for positioning said at least one of said carriers which is stopped at said inserting station.
4. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, having:
means for carrying a plurality of said handles in a carrying direction toward said inserting means;
wherein said handle carrying means arranges a plurality of said handles such that the longitudinal axes of said handles are parallel to one another and perpendicular to said carrying direction.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein:
said inserting station having means for providing a plurality of said handles to said handle carrying means; and said handle providing means has: having
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at least one cassette for storing a plurality of said handles when the longitudinal axes of said handles are parallel to one another; and
means for delivering a plurality of said handles stored in said at least one cassette toward said handle carrying means while keeping the longitudinal axes of said handles parallel to one another, when said at least one cassette is placed at a providing position.
6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein:
said handle providing means haveing
cassette providing means for providing a plurality of said cassettes sequentially to said providing position; and
cassette ejecting means for ejecting said at least one cassette after said handles have been emptied out of said at least one cassette by said handle delivering means; and

said cassette providing means has:
first moving means for moving sequentially a plurality of said cassettes to place said at least one cassette at a stand by position adjacent to said providing position; and
second moving means for moving said at least one cassette from said stand-by position to said providing position; and
said cassette ejecting means ejects said at least one empty cassette when said at least one empty cassette is moved from said providing position to an ejecting position by at least one new cassette which is newly transferred to said providing position.
7. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein:
said inserting station having means for changing the direction of a plurality of said handles carried by said handle carrying means to deliver said handles to said inserting means;
said direction changing means revolves a plurality of said handles in a plane which is perpendicular to said carrying direction to change the direction of said handles such that said

preforms can be inserted into said handles; and after the direction of said handles has been changed, said handles are held by said holdings means in said holding means in said inserting means.
8. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein:

each of said handle portions of said handles having a connection portion at one end opposite to the other end which is connected to said ring-shaped portion, said connection portion being connected to a barrel of said container which is blow-molded at said blow molding station; and
said inserting station has means for cooling a part of said preform barrel, said part of said preform barrel corresponding to a part of said container to be connected to said connection portion of each of said handle portions.
9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8,
wherein said cooling means having
a cooling block for touching and cooling said part of said preform barrel;
driving means for advancing and retreating said cooling block relative to said preform; and
a holding member which is driven by said driving means with said cooling block to hold said preform on the side opposite to said cooling block.
10. An apparatus for molding a container substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

2831-del-1997-abstract.pdf

2831-del-1997-claims.pdf

2831-del-1997-complete specification (granted).pdf

2831-del-1997-correspondence-others.pdf

2831-del-1997-correspondence-po.pdf

2831-del-1997-description (complete).pdf

2831-del-1997-drawings.pdf

2831-del-1997-form-1.pdf

2831-del-1997-form-19.pdf

2831-del-1997-form-2.pdf

2831-del-1997-form-3.pdf

2831-del-1997-form-4.pdf

2831-del-1997-pa.pdf

2831-del-1997-pct-210.pdf

2831-del-1997-petition-138.pdf

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Patent Number

232144

Indian Patent Application Number

2831/DEL/1997

PG Journal Number

13/2009

Publication Date

27-Mar-2009

Grant Date

15-Mar-2009

Date of Filing

06-Oct-1997

Name of Patentee

NISSEI ASB MACHINE CO.,LTD

Applicant Address

4586-3 KOO, KOMORO-SHI, NAGANO-KEN, JAPAN

Inventors:

#	Inventor's Name	Inventor's Address
1	NISSEI ASB MACHINE CO.,LTD	4586-3 KOO, KOMORO-SHI, NAGANO-KEN, JAPAN

PCT International Classification Number

B29C 49/06

PCT International Application Number

N/A

PCT International Filing date

PCT Conventions:

#	PCT Application Number	Date of Convention	Priority Country
1	8-284664	1996-10-07	Japan