GB705000A - Improvements in or relating to molded articles and the manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

705,000. Filling-machines. WARNER-HUDNUT, Inc. July 19, 1951, No. 17152/51. Class 94 (1) [Also in Group V] In a method of, or machine for, forming a moulded article, e.g. a lipstick and transforming it to a holder, e.g. a lipstick case, which is part of the final product, a charge is introduced into a mould, a holder is moved into alignment with the mould and pressure fluid is applied to the moulded article to eject it from the mould and deposit it in the holder. The machine shown comprises upper and lower dials 14 and 15, Figs. 1 - 3, carrying respectively a series of suction holders 21 for lipstick cases 18 end a series of lipstick moulds 19, which are rotatable intermittently through mechanism operated by cams on a driven shaft 39 to position the moulds successively under filling-devices located at stations 68 and 69 and to bring the filled moulds and cases successively into vertical alignment at a transfer station 20. The holders 21 are formed with frusto-conical recesses 22 and central bores 23 connected by pipes 24 to a source of vacuum, whereby the cases may be easily placed in position and removed by the operator. The moulds are surrounded by jackets 44 through which heating and cooling liquid may be circulated under the control of a rotary valve 61. Each mould, Figs. 2, 3 and 9, comprises an outer sleeve 42 formed with a flange 43 and a plunger 45 formed with a recess 46 and having a shank 48 extending through the lower end of the sleeve and encircled by a compression spring 50 engaging an abutment 51. Each filling-device, Figs. 1 and 6, comprises a three-way valve 71 operated through a rod 78 or 79 by a cam on the shaft 39 and arranged firstly to connect a port 75 leading to a source of heated lipstick material with a chamber 76 containing a piston 77 and then to connect the chamber to a discharge port 74, the piston being operated periodically through linkage 84, 86 or 85, 87 by a cam on the shaft 39 to charge the moulds. The arrangement is such that the jackets 44 are supplied with heating liquid as the moulds move from station 20 to station 68, where the moulds are filled, and. are then supplied with cooling liquid during the remainder of their travel to shrink the charges and render them easily separable from the moulds, the filling-device at station 69 operating to supply an additional charge to compensate for the shrinkage. A floating clamp is provided at station 20 to ensure positive alignment of a case and mould and to guide the lipstick as it is transferred from the mould to the case, and comprises jaws 92, 93, Figs, 3, 4 and 9, slidable on guide bars 94, 95 and urged together by springs 99. The bars 94, 95 are secured to blocks 96 slidable on transverse fixed bars 97. The jaws are formed with grooves 113 enlarged at their upper ends to embrace a case 18 and with semi-circular flanges 115 adapted to engage the flanges 43 of the moulds and open and close under the action of a cam 105, which is operated through linkage from a cam on the shaft 39 and engages pins 106 on slides 100 formed with-arms 101 engaging rollers 102 on the jaws. After the jaws have closed around the mould and case, the plunger 45 is raised to the position of Fig. 9 by a push-rod 52, Fig. 2, operated through linkage by a cam onthe shaft 39, thus partially ejecting the lipstick, and compressed air is then supplied through pipes 117 and channels 116 in the jaws to complete the ejection of the lipstick and force it upwardly through the channel formed by the grooves 113 into the case 18. In an alternative arrangement the plunger 45 is raised before the jaws are closed.