FR2917390A1 - Preform transfer chain for manufacturing e.g. bottle, has orientation unit driving mobile element of preform until heating station, whose guiding and orienting unit angularly orients element in desired position before releasing preform - Google Patents

Abstract

The chain has an orientation unit for orienting a mobile gripping and guiding element (2) of a perform (1) near an outlet of a terminal station such that a protector (2a) of the element covers an integrated handle (1b) of the perform in movement of the protector. The orientation unit drives the element in a position until a heating station that is provided with a guiding and orienting unit. The guiding and orienting unit angularly orients the element in a desired position before releasing the preform in a receiving station (III) of the preform in an oriented manner.

Description

The invention relates to a preform transfer chain of a station

  arrival of the preforms to a molding station via a preform heating station and a recovery station, for preforms each provided with a tubular body and an integrated handle.

  In order to manufacture bottles or flasks and, more generally, containers made of thermoplastic material, it is known to use preforms obtained for example by injection, which are in the form of a tubular body closed at one end while its other end is open. is provided with a ring or neck generally provided with a collar.

  The bodies of the preforms must undergo a heat treatment before being expanded during a blow molding or stretch blow molding operation. In a production line of this type, the preforms circulate from one manufacturing station to another and even in certain stations themselves, such as for example a heat treatment furnace.

  In order to manufacture containers provided with a gripping means, especially for containers with a capacity of several liters, it has been imagined to relate such a gripping means after the manufacture of the container in the form, for example, of a stirrup or other. It has also been conceived to make a preform already provided with an integrated handle as described in WO-0026001 A1.

  However in the latter case, and more particularly as in this document, with a solid handle not subjected to stretching and blowing at the time of molding, the presence of the handle creates a difficulty for molding but also for heating the preform, before said molding. Indeed, if the tubular portion of the preform is preheated prior to molding in a suitable oven, the handle, on the other hand, must keep its shape on the finished product and not suffer the effects of said heating. This is why, in particular, have been devised means that protect the handle during passage in the heating furnace, as described also in the aforementioned document WO-0026001 Al. On the other hand, and in particular for this case, it is It has been found particularly advantageous for the inventors that the preforms are maintained in the various transfer and transport means angularly oriented about their longitudinal axis so that the handles with which they are provided are oriented in a chosen position.

  For this purpose, the inventors propose a chain for transferring preforms from an arrival station of the preforms to a molding station via a preform heating station and a recovery station, for preforms each provided with a tubular body and an integrated handle, and having a plurality of movable elements for gripping and guiding the preforms, each provided with a screen or protective form corresponding to that of the handle of each preform, the arrival station of the preforms being arranged to present at the outlet the preforms oriented in a manner angularly chosen around their longitudinal axis, which preforms are then taken up by the movable gripping elements, which chain is particularly remarkable in that an orientation means is provided to orient each element gripping and guiding the preforms near the exit of the arrival station to orient said elements so that the pro each of them comes to wrap in its movement the handle of the preform and drive it in this position to the heating station in which the gripping element and guiding is rotated more and more around the longitudinal axis of the preform while at the output of the heating station is provided a guide and orientation means for angularly orienting each gripping element in a desired position before releasing each preform oriented in the recovery station preforms.

  According to one embodiment, the guide and orientation means disposed at the outlet of the heating station is arranged to orient each gripping element in the opposite direction of the chosen direction in the vicinity of the exit of the arrival station. For example, for a transfer chain in which each mobile gripping element comprises, in addition to the protector, a mandrel intended to be introduced in part into the tubular body of each preform and having at its upper part a rotational drive means intended to cooperate with a means conjugated in the heating station, said mandrel also comprises a guide intended to cooperate with guide cams and orientation arranged, on the one hand, upstream of the arrival station and secondly at the exit of the heating station.

  For a transfer chain in which the arrival station of the preforms comprises a transfer wheel where the preforms are transported in such a way that the handle of each preform is arranged tangentially with respect to the circular movement of said preforms on the transfer wheel, advantageously the gripping elements are moved in the vicinity of the output of said transfer wheel to arrive tangentially to the circular movement of the preforms.

  The invention will be well understood and other features will appear on reading the description which follows and which refers to the appended drawings, in which: FIG. 1 schematically shows a transfer chain according to an embodiment of the invention. 'invention,

  FIG. 2 shows a transfer wheel that can be combined with the chain of FIG. 1. The transfer chain according to the invention concerns the transfer of preforms such as the preforms 1 visible in the drawings, each preform being provided with a tubular body la and a handle 1b integrated to manufacture containers with a handle, here in this example in the form of a handle. The transfer chain according to the invention is intended to transport oriented the preforms from an arrival station schematized in I in Figure 1 and a more detailed example is shown in Figure 2, to a position not shown, but via a preform heating station, such as a furnace, schematized in II and a recovery station III provided just before the molding station, the following positions I, II and III. At the exit of the station I, the preforms 1 are angularly oriented about their longitudinal axis, their handle being directed in this embodiment described by way of example, rearward with respect to their advancement. The chain comprises a plurality of movable elements 2 for gripping and guiding the preforms provided in known manner with a protector 2a of shape corresponding to those of the handles 1b of the preforms. The elements 2 which are therefore intended to come to take the oriented preforms, must also be properly oriented since the protectors 30 of said elements must arrive correctly positioned to come wrap the handles of the preforms, and therefore be oriented, in this example, so as to present their protector 2a backwards with respect to the direction of their advancement. In a manner also known, the movable elements 2 each comprise a mandrel intended to be introduced in part into the tubular body 1a of the preform to

  4 transport while it is provided with a rotating drive means in the form here of a gear 2b for reasons which will be explained below. To orient as has just been said gripping elements 2, a means of orientation is provided just before the exit of the arrival station I preforms.

  The means chosen here, as shown in Figure 1, is a cam 3 intended to cooperate with a guide 2c provided on the gripping member 2, said guide forming a flat surface which comes into contact with said cam. In the heating station II where radiating elements have been schematized, the preforms are rotated and for this purpose the toothed wheel 2b of the gripping element cooperates with a conjugate means of the heating station, such as, for example the toothed belt 4 shown. At the exit of the heating station II, another cam 3 'is provided to cooperate again with the guide 2c of each element 2 and thus again orient in the desired manner the elements and thus the preforms 1.

  The cams 3 and 3 'are here because of the path chosen for the elements 2, in the form of U coated, the open parts facing each other. It will further be noted that the contact between the guide 2c and the cam 3 takes place on one side of said cam and that the contact of said guide with the cam 3 'is effected on the other side so that the elements 2 are oriented in the opposite direction to the entry and exit of the station II, the protector 2a of each element being arranged, in this example, towards the rear station I relative to the direction of movement according to the arrows R and T and forward exits from station II, but it is clear that the exit orientation of station II depends on the desired orientation in the recovery station III and / or the desired orientation with respect to the station of molding.

  At the station III, at the exit of the station II, the preforms are deviated, that is to say freed from the elements 2, as can be seen in FIG. 1, so that each preform is evacuated in an oriented manner. station III constituting a recovery station in which the preforms are distributed by a spacer device and recovered, for example by clamps to be introduced into a molding station. The transfer chain according to the invention thus makes it possible to maintain the orientation of the preforms and to present them in a chosen manner in the molding station, where the location of the handles is important. In Figure 2, there is shown a station I arrival of the preforms as shown schematically in Figure 1 by way of non-mandatory example. This station comprises here a particular transfer wheel 5 provided downstream of a loading station not shown, the elements 2 serving as unloading means. In this transfer wheel, the preforms are transported such that the handle 1b of each preform is arranged tangentially with respect to the circular movement of said preforms on the transfer wheel. In this case, the gripping elements 2 are moved in the vicinity of the exit of said transfer wheel to arrive tangentially to the circular movement of the preforms. In particular in the illustrated embodiment of the transfer wheel 5, the handles of the preforms are oriented tangentially rearwards with respect to the direction of rotation R.15.

Claims (4)

  1) Chain of preform transfer (1) of an arrival station (I) of the preforms to a molding station via a heating station (II) preforms and a recovery station (III) for preforms each provided a tubular body (1a) and an integrated handle (1b), and having a plurality of movable elements (2) for gripping and guiding the preforms, each provided with a screen or protector (2a) of shape corresponding to that of the handle (1b) of each preform, the arrival station (I) of the preforms being arranged to present at the output the preforms oriented angularly about angularly about their longitudinal axis, which preforms then being repeated by the movable gripping elements (2) characterized in that an orientation means is provided for orienting each element (2) for gripping and guiding the preforms in the vicinity of the exit of the arrival station (I) for orienting said elements (2) so that the protector (2a) of each of them comes to wrap in its movement the handle (1b) of the preform (1) and drive it in this position to the heating station (II) in which the element of gripping and guiding is rotated further around the longitudinal axis of the preform while at the outlet of the heating station (II) is provided a guiding and orienting means for angularly orienting each element 20 ( 2) gripping in a desired position before releasing each preform oriented in the post office (III) preforms.   2) transfer chain according to claim 1, characterized in that the guide means and orientation disposed at the outlet of the heating station (II) is arranged to orient each element (2) gripping in the opposite direction of the direction 25 chosen near the exit of the arrival station (I).   3) Transfer chain according to one of claims 1 or 2 wherein each movable member (2) comprises gripping, besides the protector (2b), a mandrel intended to be introduced in part into the tubular body of each preform and having at its upper part a rotational driving means (2b) for cooperating with a conjugate means (4) in the heating station (II), characterized in that said mandrel also comprises a guide (2c) for cooperate with cams (3,3 ') for guiding and orientation arranged, on the one hand, upstream of the arrival station (I) and on the other hand, at the output of the heating station (II). 7   4) A transfer chain according to one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the arrival station (I) of the preforms comprises a transfer wheel (5) wherein the preforms are transported in such a way that the handle (lb) of each preform is arranged tangentially with respect to the circular movement of said preforms on the transfer wheel, characterized in that the gripping elements (2) are moved in the vicinity of the output of said transfer wheel to arrive tangentially to the circular movement of the preforms.