EP1727771A1

EP1727771A1 - A press-and-blow machine for the manufacture of hollow glassware

Info

Publication number: EP1727771A1
Application number: EP05702530A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Wladimiro Lumare
Original assignee: Olivotto Industries SpA
Current assignee: Olivotto Glass Technologies SpA
Priority date: 2004-03-26
Filing date: 2005-02-18
Publication date: 2006-12-06
Also published as: ITTO20040204A1; WO2005092804A1

Abstract

The machine comprises a loader (16) for receiving a plastic glass gobs from a delivery (50) and for pressing it into a hollow pareson. A rotatable carousel (18) carries a plurality of blowing stations (22), each being provided with a receiving seat for receiving a pareson from the loader. The loader (16) comprises a neck-ring (62, 64) arranged for suspending the pareson by its rim, and rotated around a vertical axis from a loading position aligned with the moulding direction for loading the pareson after pressing, and a transfer area where the neck-ring is guided to synchronously follow the motion of the receiving seat (18) on the blowing station and to release the pareson onto it by gravity.

Description

"A press-and-blow machine for the manufacture of hollow glassware"

DESCRIPTION

This invention concerns an improved press-and-blow machine used for manufacturing hollow-glass glassware such as tumblers, wine glasses, bulbs and the like.

Press-and-blow machines are known which comprise a rotating carousel carrying a plurality of blowing stations, each being arranged for receiving a glass gob in the plastic state from an external delivery channel and for subjecting the glass gob to a pressing step, whereby the gob is shaped or moulded by a plunger into a hollow blank -known as 'pareson', and for subjecting the pareson to a blowing step, whereby a multi-sector mould closes around the pareson and air is blown into the pareson in order to stretch it against the mould and give it the final shape of the glass article. As the carousel moves forward, the glass item gradually cools down, until it reaches the final station where the article is unloaded.

Although the above machines give a high yield and a good quality of the finished article, they are quite expensive, because each station in the carousel has to be provided with both the pareson-pressing equipment and the pareson-blowing equipment.

In order to reduce costs, it is already known to mould the pareson on a loader separate from the the carousel and provided with equipment for pressing the gob, as well as with an alternating boom driven to transfer the pareson to the carousel after moulding.

Although the above system does reduce the cost of the machine, since each station on the carousel only has to carry the blowing equipment, transferring the pareson by means of an alternating boom has involved stopping the carousel, which accordingly has to be stepped forward and thereby limits the production capacity of the machine.

It is therefore a main object of this invention to improve a press-and-blow machine of the kind described above, having a blowing carousel supplied by an external pareson loader, so as to increase its production capacity. The above and other objects and advantages, such as will appear below, are achieved by a press-and-blow machine having the features recited in claim 1, while the dependent claims point out other advantageous though secondary features of the machine.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to a preferred but not exclusive embodiment, shown by way of non-limiting example in the attached drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a highly schematic plan view of a press-and-blow machine according to a first embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic view in vertical cross-section of the press-and-blow machine of the invention, made along line II-II of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a schematic view in vertical cross-section made along line III-III of the press-and-blow machine of Fig. 2, in a first operating condition;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing the machine in a second operative condition;

Fig. 5 is a partial view, on an enlarged scale, in horizontal cross-section made along line N-V of Fig. 3, showing a loader unit of the machine of Fig. 3 in more detail;

Figs. 6 to 8 are diagrammatic views illustrating successive operating steps of the first embodiment of the machine according to the invention;

Fig. 9 is a cross-section view of the loader unit, similar to Fig. 5, for a second embodiment of the invention;

Figs. 10 to 12 are diagrammatic views illustrating successive operating steps of the second embodiment of the machine according to the invention.

With initial reference to Figure 1, a press-and-blow machine 10 according to a first embodiment of the invention comprises a rotating carousel 12 carrying six blowing stations 14, equally spaced along its periphery, and arranged for receiving a pareson P (only shown in dashed lines on the figures) from a loader 16 located beside the carousel, and for subjecting the pareson to blowing in a mould, so that it will substantially take the shape of the finished article.

Each blowing station 14 comprises, in a way known per se, a receiving ring 18 consisting of a pair of jaws hinged to a stationary support and clampable to grip the pareson when it is released by the loader under gravity, as explained below in more detail. Carousel 12 is provided with equipment known per se for blowing the pareson, comprising:

- a mould comprising a plurality of hinged sectors 20, with motorized arms 22 driving the closure of the mould around the pareson,

- a dish 24 driven for vertical translation by a motorized rack-and-pinion drive 26 for closing the bottom base of the mould, and

- blowing organs 28, which are vertically insertable into the pareson for blowing air inside it and stretch it against the mould wall.

During blowing, a relative rotation may be applied between the mould and the pareson so that the latter will slide along the mould wall. This step imparts a better surface finish and smoothens off the junction marks between mould sectors, as well known to persons skilled in the art.

According to the invention, loader 16, shown on Fig. 2, has a frame 30 carrying a blank-mould holder 32 integral with a first slide 34 mounted on horizontal guides 36, which are themselves slidably supported on a second slide 38. The latter slide is itself slidable along vertical guides 40, by the action of a motorized rack-and-pinion drive 42. The first slide 34 has a wheel 44 rolling with a camming action against an inclined guide 46 for guiding the return movement of the first slide 34 during the rising movement of the second slide 38, from a position where the blank-mould holder 32 is located beneath a delivery channel 48 in order to receive a plastic glass gob G from it, to a backed-up position where the blank-mould holder 32 is aligned beneath a moulding plunger 50 along a vertical shaping direction V, in order to penetrate the gob contained in the blank-mould holder and thereby to shape the pareson P. To that purpose, plunger 50 is supported on a third slide 52, which is slidable along vertical guides 54 under the action of a motorized nut-and-screw drive 56. First slide 34 is further connected to a second motorized nut-and-screw drive 58, which can operate to bring the first slide 34 back beneath the loader when the second slide 38 is in its lowered position.

A platform 60 is rotatably supported around a vertical axis A and carries a pair of so- called neck-rings 62, 64, at opposite eaids, at a height slightly higher than receiving ring 18 (see also Fig. 5). As is known, neck-rings are devices arranged for supporting a pareson P by its rim Pb, and are shown on Figs. 7 as comprising, e.g., a pair of semicircular grippers 62a, 62b, which are hinged at one end and can be opened and closed by the action of actuator means (not shown) for gripping and releasing the pareson, respectively.

Platform 60 is rotated counter to the carousel by a motor 66 so as to cyclically bring each of neck-rings 62, 64 from a shaping position aligned beneath plunger 50 to a loading area where the trajectory of the neck-ring overlaps with the trajectory of receiving ring 18. To this purpose, the neck-rings 62, 64 are supported on bars 63, 65, that are slidably supported by th& platform. Each of the neck-rings 62, 64 is biased to a radially outward position by a respective rod 67, 69, under the action of a respective helical compression spring "71, 73. Each of the neck-rings 62, 64 further has a respective nose 68, 70, that is sized to abut against a corresponding striker ledge 72 of the blowing station 14 before the respective circular trajectories are aligned, so that it can elastically back u-p by a short radial distance, as shown on Figs. 6-8 and as further explained below.

In the operation of the machine, carousel 12 is driven to turn at a uniform speed so that each blowing station 14 is cyclically brought to face loader 16, in order to receive a pareson from it. At the start of each cycle, the blank-mould holder 32 is aligned with delivery 48 in a lowered position and receives the glass gob by gravity from it. Motorized drive 42 lifts second slide 38, which in turn pulls first slide 34 with blank-mould holder 32. During the ascent, wheel 44 follows inclined guide 46 so that blank-mould holder is brought into alignment with moulding plunger 50. In the meantime, boom 60 moves one of neck-rings 62, 64 between blank-mould holder 32 and plunger 50. The latter is therefore caused to move down axially into the blank-mould holder and to penetrate inside the gob, shaping it into a hollow blank or pareson. Thereafter, the blank-mould holder moves down vertically while the neck- ring suspends the pareson by its rim. When the bottom of the stroke has been reached, the second motorized drive 58 brings the blank-mould holder 32 to its starting position.

With special reference to Figs. 6-8, platform 60 is rotated counter to the blowing carousel so that it will intercept the approaching blowing station (Fig. 6). When nose 68, 70 of the neck-ring abuts against the corresponding striker ledge 72 on the station, the swiveling speed of platform 60 is checked so that the neck-ring will proceed at the same peripheral speed as the receiving ring 18 that is aligned with it, while the position of the neck-ring will also be moved radially inwardly with respect to the platform, against the elastic bias of the associated compression spring 71 so that the neck-ring can align with the receiving ring, in spite of the interference of their trajectories (Fig. 7). During this stage, grippers 18a, 18b of receiving ring 18 are open, so that they will not interfere with the approaching pareson 18. After the pareson has been transferred and the receiving ring has lifted the pareson off the neck-ring, the disengagement will allow the neck-ring to revert to its rest position under the biasing action of the associated spring (Fig. 8).

While neck-ring 62, 64 and receiving ring 18 proceed in alignment, the grippers of receiving ring 18 close down, while the grippers of the neck-ring open up, thereby releasing the pareson, while the receiving ring clamps the latter in flight by its rim. At this point, horizontal boom 60 again accelerates, thereby freeing the opposite neck- ring in a position aligned with plunger 50, in preparation to a fresh moulding and loading cycle. In the blowing station 14, the pareson is then blown in a way known per se by means of the equipment mentioned above. Figs. 9-12 refer to a second embodiment of the invention. The second embodiment comprises all the components of the first embodiment shown and described above with reference to Figs. 1-8, and follows substantially the same operative steps, including the fact of having the neck-rings 62, 64 slidably mounted on guide bars 63, 65, with respect to a rotatable platform 60. However, in this case each of the neck- rings 62, 64 is elastically biased to a radially inward position by a respective rod 67', 69', under the action of a respective helical compression spring 71', 73', which acts in the opposite direction of spring 71, 73 of Fig. 5. Respective stops 75, 77 define the rest position of each neck-ring.

With particular reference to Figs. 10-12, platform 60 rotates counter to carousel 12, similarly to the operation shown on Figs. 6-8. However, in this case the trajectories of the receiving ring and the neck-ring do not intersect as in the first embodiment, but rather are apart from each other, with at most a point of tangency as shown. When neck-ring 62 approaches receiving ring 18, a striker block 80 will deflect the neck- ring radially outwardly from its nominal trajectory with a camming action, against the pulling action of spring 71' (see Fig. 9), so that it will accompany the trajectory of the receiving ring over a short span. In other words, in this embodiment the radial position of the neck-ring is deflected outwardly from the platform , rather than inwardly.

In both Fig. 5 and Fig. 9, helical springs 71, 73, 71', 73' can be replaced by other equivalent biasing members, such as blade springs, pneumatic cylinders, or even flexible supports.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above, it should be understood that a person skilled in the art can make changes and variations in it, within the scope of the attached claims.

Claims

1. A press-and-blow machine (10) for the manufacture of hollow glass articles, comprising a loader (16), arranged for loading a glass gob (G) in a plastic state from a delivery (48), and for pressing the gob along a vertical moulding direction into a hollow pareson (P), and a rotatable carousel (12) carrying a plurality of pareson- blowing stations (14), each being provided with a receiving seat (18) for receiving a pareson from the loader, characterized in that said loader (16) comprises a rotatable platform (60) supporting at least a neck-ring (62, 64) and arranged for rotating around an axis parallel to the axis of the pareson, whereby the neck-ring is carried from said gob-loading position aligned with said gob-pressing position, where a pareson is formed and suspended by its rim onto the neck-ring, through a transfer area where the trajectory of the neck-ring substantially overlaps the trajectory of a blowing station (14), and is guided to synchronously follow the motion of the receiving seat (18) on the blowing station and to release the pareson onto it by gravity.

2. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that at least one of said receiving seat (18) and neck-ring (62, 64) is supported by radially yielding means (60, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73; 71', 73') whereby the deviations of the respective trajectories along said transfer area are compensated.

3. The machine of claim 2, characterized in that said receiving seat (18) and neck- ring (62, 64) carry respective integral abutments arranged for abutting against each other along said transfer area so that said neck-ring and receiving seat are maintained coaxial.

4. The machine of any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said loader (16) is arranged for receiving the gob into a blank-mould holder (32) slidably supported between a filling position beneath a gob delivery, and a moulding or shaping position in which the blank-mould holder is axially traversed by a plunger (50) slidable along said moulding direction.

5. The machine of any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said blank-mould holder (32) is slidably supported fro vertical movement with respect to the neck-ring between said shaping position and a position of disengagement in which the pareson is freely hanging from said neck-ring.

6. The machine of any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said loader (16) comprises two neck-rings (62, 64) that are rotated around the vertical axis of the platform (60) in diametrically opposite positions, whereby they cyclically follow one another in loading and transferring the pareson on the carousel.

7. The machine of any of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that said yielding means comprise guide bars (63, 65) supported on the platform (60) and on which said neck- ring (62, 64) is slidably supported, and elastic means (67, 69, 71, 73; 71', 73') biasing the neck-ring to a rest position while allowing it to deflect from the rest position under the camming action of striker means (72, 80).

8. The machine of claim 7, characterized in that said elastic means comprise a rod (67, 69) rigidly connected to said neck-ring (62, 64) and a spring (71, 73; 71', 73) acting to draw the rod to a rest position with respect to the platform (60).