JPH03187932A - Apparatus for production of optical element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control the temperature of a forming raw material and a formed optical element in high responsibility and efficiency by placing bar heaters in a pair of walls oppositely placed in a direction crossing the direction of a body mold member having rectangular external form. CONSTITUTION:A gate valve 12 of a forming chamber 6 having N2 atmosphere is opened and a table 38 holding a forming material is introduced into a substitution chamber 8 through the valve 12, sucked with the lower part of suction means 50 and turned 180 deg.. The table 38 is lowered, the valve 12 is closed, the space in the chamber 8 is evacuated, the forming material is preliminarily heated with a heater built in the suction means 50, a gate valve 10 is opened, the means 50 is transferred to a position above the supporting table 66 of the heating part 24 of the chamber 6, the materials is placed on the table 66 by turning the means 50 180 deg., the table 66 is heated in a heating cylinder 68, the forming material is sucked with a suction means 90a, transferred to a pressing part and introduced into a body mold member 110 having rectangular external form and containing bar heaters H1, H2 in a pair of walls oppositely placed in a crossing direction and the introduced forming material is pressed between a lower mold member 114 and an upper mold member 128.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an optical element manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for obtaining an optical element having an optical functional surface from a molding material by direct press molding.

[Problems to be solved by conventional techniques and inventions] In recent years,
A material for forming an optical element, such as a glass blank preformed to a certain degree of shape and surface accuracy, is placed in a mold with a predetermined surface accuracy and press-molded under heat, after grinding and polishing. A method for manufacturing an optical element having a high-precision optical function surface that does not require processing has been developed.

In such a press molding method, generally, an upper mold member for molding and a lower mold member for molding are arranged slidably facing each other within the lower mold member for molding, and these upper mold member, lower mold member, and body mold member Introduce the molding material into the cavity formed by
To prevent oxidation of the mold member, the atmosphere is set to a non-oxidizing atmosphere, such as a nitrogen atmosphere, and the mold member is heated to a moldable temperature, such as a temperature at which the molding material becomes 108 to 10'2 poise, and the mold is closed and pressed for an appropriate time. The surface shape of the mold member is transferred to the surface of the molding material, the temperature of the mold member is cooled to a temperature sufficiently lower than the glass transition temperature of the molding material, the press pressure is removed, and the mold is opened to take out the molded optical element. .

The molding material may be preheated to an appropriate temperature before being introduced into the mold member, or the molding material may be heated to a moldable temperature and then introduced into the mold member. Furthermore, while conveying the molding material together with the mold member, heating, pressing, and cooling can be performed at predetermined locations, thereby achieving continuity and speeding up.

The above-mentioned optical element press molding method and its apparatus are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-58-84134 and JP-A-49-97.
Publication No. 009, British Patent No. 378199,
JP-A-63-11529, JP-A-59-1507
This method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 28, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-26528, and the like.

By the way, in the conventional apparatus for the above-mentioned press,
Generally, the outer shape of the barrel-shaped member is cylindrical, and a heater for heating the barrel-shaped member is arranged around the barrel-shaped member at a distance from it or in close contact with the barrel-shaped member.

Therefore, in an apparatus that performs the above pressing continuously, it is desirable to heat the molding material in the mold as quickly as possible in order to shorten the press cycle. For this purpose,
It is conceivable to integrate the heater into the wall of the shell mold member in order to bring it as close as possible to the mold cavity. In order to incorporate this heater, it is convenient to provide a hole in the body member and store the rod-shaped heater in the hole.

Here, since means for supporting and pressing the upper mold member and the lower mold member are attached to both ends of the body mold member, it is inconvenient for replacement work etc. to insert the rod-shaped heater in the vertical direction. Become. Therefore, it is practical to insert the rod-shaped heater into the body-shaped member in the horizontal direction. In this case, in the conventional barrel member having a cylindrical outer shape, it is necessary to make the wall thickness of the barrel member sufficiently thick in order to accommodate a rod-shaped heater of a sufficient desired length. For this reason, even if a heater is built in, the heat capacity of the body-shaped member is large, so the heating efficiency is low and the response characteristics of temperature control cannot be sufficiently improved.

Therefore, the present invention provides an optical element manufacturing apparatus that can accurately control the temperature of the molding material in the mold and the molded optical element by improving the heating efficiency of the mold member, and can perform press molding favorably. The purpose is to provide

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a body mold member and a pair of mold members disposed within the body mold member so as to be relatively movable in that direction are provided. In the apparatus for molding an optical element by accommodating a molding material in the mold cavity and applying a pressing force between the pair of mold members, the apparatus has a mold for forming a mold cavity by the three mold members, The outer shape of the body-shaped member is a rectangular parallelepiped aligned with that direction, and a rod-shaped heater is arranged within a pair of walls facing each other in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the body-shaped member along the outer surface of the wall. An optical element manufacturing apparatus having the following characteristics is provided.

In the present invention, there is a form in which the rod-shaped heater is removably attached to the body member.

In the present invention, there is provided a sealable molding chamber including a press section equipped with the mold, and a means for moving the molding material and the molded optical element between the press section and the outside of the molding chamber. There is a form with

In the present invention, there is an embodiment having means for introducing a non-oxidizing gas into the molding chamber.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view showing the schematic configuration of an embodiment of the optical element manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG.
-C-D-E-F cross-sectional schematic diagram.

In the figure, 2 is a casing, and 4a and 4b are supporting legs thereof. A molding chamber 6 and a replacement chamber 8 are formed by the casing so as to be able to be isolated from the outside air. The molding chamber 6 and the replacement chamber 8 are separated by a sealable gate valve 10 provided between them, and the replacement chamber 8 is attached to the side of the molding chamber 6. A gate valve 12 that can be sealed between the exchange chamber 8 and the outside is provided at the lower part of the exchange chamber 8.

A feeding/extracting means 20 is disposed below the gate valve 12 for feeding a molding material from the outside into the replacement chamber 8 and taking out the molded optical element from the inside of the replacement chamber 8 to the outside. ing.

In the vicinity of the replacement chamber 8, there is a transport means for transporting the molding material in the replacement chamber 8 into the molding chamber 6, and further transporting the molded optical element from the molding chamber 6 into the replacement chamber 8. 22 are arranged.

Inside the molding chamber 6, there is a heating section 24. A transfer section 26 and a press section 28 are provided.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, two equivalent press parts P+ and P2 are provided.

The heating section 24 receives the molding material transported into the molding chamber 6 by the transport means 22, heats the material to an appropriate temperature, and further receives the molded optical element from the transport section 26.

The transfer section 26 transfers the molding material in the heating section 24 to the -ix press section 28, and further transfers the molded optical element in the press section to the heating section 24.

The press section 28 heats the molding material transferred by the transfer section 26 to an appropriate temperature and then presses it with a mold member.

The details of each part will be explained below.

In the feeding/unloading means 20, the cylinder 32 is supported by support legs 34a, 34b and arranged in the vertical direction. A piston rod 36 is moved up and down by a cylinder 36, and a mounting table 38 is attached to the upper end of the piston rod on which a molding material or a molded optical element is placed.

The mounting table 38 has two press parts 28 in the molding chamber 6.
Corresponding to the fact that (P,,P,) is provided,
Two mounting sections are provided in a direction perpendicular to the paper plane of FIG. 1 so that two molding materials or molded optical elements can be mounted.

The mounting table 38 is set so that the upper and lower end positions of its vertical movement stroke are inside the exchange chamber 8 and outside the exchange chamber. Of course, when moving the mounting table 38 up and down,
A gate valve 12 attached to the replacement chamber 8 is opened.

In the conveying means 22, a rodless cylinder 42 is supported by rodless cylinder support legs 44a and 44b and is arranged horizontally facing the replacement chamber 8. A bearing 46 is a member that is horizontally reciprocated by the rodless cylinder 42, and the bearing has one end of a horizontal conveyance shaft 48 parallel to the direction of movement of the member, and is rotatable around the axial direction. installed on. The other end of the transport shaft extends into the exchange chamber 8, and a suction means 50 for suctioning a molding material or a molded optical element is attached to the tip thereof. On the other hand, in the bearing, a rotating cylinder 52 is attached to the member 46, and the rotating cylinder 52 is attached to the member 46.
4 is its output gear. Further, a gear 56 that meshes with the gear 54 is fixed to the tip of the conveyance shaft 48, so that the conveyance shaft 48 can be rotated by the rotation cylinder 52.

The suction means 50 is provided with two suction sections on each of the upper and lower surfaces, and the arrangement thereof corresponds to the arrangement of the two placement sections of the placement table 38 (see FIG. 2). The suction portions on the upper and lower surfaces are turned upside down by rotating the conveying shaft 48 by 180 degrees. Note that the suction means 50 has a built-in heater.

The horizontal movement of the suction means 50 attached to the conveyance shaft 48 moves from a position in the exchange chamber 8 above the mounting table 38 (the position shown in FIG. 1) to a position in the heating section 24 in the molding chamber 6.
Do this until the position is reached. Of course, when the adsorption means 50 is moved horizontally, the gate valve lO between the displacement chamber 8 and the molding chamber 6 is
is in the open state.

It is placed downward. A piston rod 64 is moved up and down by the cylinder 62, and extends through the casing 2 into the molding chamber 6. At its upper end, there is a mounting table 66 on which a molding material or a molded optical element is placed. is installed. The mounting table 66 is provided with two mounting sections in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1 so that two molding materials or molded optical elements can be mounted thereon.
(see figure).

Above the mounting table 66, a heating cylinder 68 is mounted on a support member 70.
It is placed suspended by. The cylindrical body 68 is open at the bottom, and a heater 72 is attached to its inner surface.

The mounting table 66 is moved up and down from a position below the position where the suction means 50 arrives (the position shown in FIG. 1) to a position inside the heating cylinder 68.

In the heating section 24, a cylinder 62 is attached to the casing 2 outside the molding chamber 6, and
, the cylinder 82 is placed outside the molding chamber 6 and the casing 2 is
It is attached to the upper 1 2 lower direction. A piston rod 84 is moved up and down by the cylinder 82, and extends through the casing 2 into the molding chamber 6. A rotary sleeve 86 is attached to the outer surface of the rod so as to be relatively rotatable in the vertical direction. There is.

The sleeve passes through the casing 2, and has a bifurcated arm 88a extending horizontally at its upper end.

88b is attached. Adsorption means 90a and 90b are attached to the tips of these arms, respectively. One suction means 90a corresponds to the press part P1, and the other suction means 90b corresponds to the press part P2. A suction section is provided on the lower surface of each suction means. Further, 92 is a driving means for rotating the sleeve 86 with respect to the piston rod 84.

Based on the rotation of the sleeve 86 (the rotation of the suction means 90a moves from the position above the mounting table 66 of the heating section 24 to the intermediate position shown in FIG. 2) of the press section 28 (P,)
It is necessary to carry out the suction to the position shown in FIG.
The rotation of the heating section 24 from the position above the mounting table 66 to the intermediate position shown in FIG.
) is necessary.

A fixed cylinder 102 in the vertical direction is fixed to the casing 2 in the press section 28 . Cylinder lO4 is molding chamber 6
It is attached to the lower end of the fixed cylinder 102 on the outside and is arranged in the vertical direction. 106 is cylinder 10
The lower shaft is connected to the piston rod No. 4 and moved up and down, and the lower shaft is accommodated in the fixed cylinder 102 so as to be slidable in the up and down direction.

The lower end of a cylindrical body member 110 is placed on the upper end of the fixed cylinder 102 via a ring-shaped heater plate 108, and the lower end is fixed to the fixed cylinder 102 by a presser ring 112. There is. Further, a lower mold member 114 is arranged above the upper end of the lower shaft 106. The lower mold member is housed within the barrel chamber member 110 and is slidable in the vertical direction with respect to the barrel mold member.

Further, a cylinder 122 is attached to the casing 2 outside the molding chamber 6 and is arranged in the vertical direction. 124 is an upper shaft connected to the piston rod of the cylinder 122 and moved up and down, and the upper shaft is connected to the lower shaft 1.
02 and coaxially with the lower axis.

The lower end surface of the upper shaft 124 has a convex spherical shape, and 126
is a spherical seat having a concave spherical upper surface corresponding to the convex spherical shape. The spherical seat 126 exhibits a self-centering function during pressing. The upper mold member 1 is located below the spherical seat 126.
An upper end flange portion 28 is disposed, and the upper end flange portion is locked by a retainer ring 130 that fixes the upper shaft. The upper mold member 128 is housed within the body mold member 110 and is slidable in the vertical direction with respect to the side mold members.・In addition, the upper end surface of the lower mold member 114 and the upper mold member 128
The lower end surface is a transfer surface for forming an optically functional surface of an optical element to be molded, and is finished to a desired surface precision.

Refrigerant flow paths C, C2 are provided in the lower shaft 106 and the upper shaft 124, respectively. Furthermore, heaters HH2 and H3 are built into the heater plate 108, the side mold member 110, and the lower part of the upper shaft 124, respectively.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing details of the side mold member 110, in which (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a sectional view taken along the line B-B, and (c) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C. It is a diagram.

As shown in FIG. 5, the side mold member 11 in this embodiment
0 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape that is long in the vertical direction. and,
An opening 111 is provided at the center of the side portion for introducing a molding material and for taking out a molded optical element. A plurality of rod-shaped heaters H are arranged perpendicularly to the outer surface where the opening is provided.
2 is inserted and removably fixed. Note that 140 is a thermocouple for temperature measurement.

In (C) of FIG. 5, 110'' indicates the dimensions required when using a side mold member with a cylindrical outer shape using the rod-shaped heater H2 similar to this embodiment. It is clear that the volume of the member is considerably thicker than that in Example 5 of the present invention.

Next, the operation of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be explained.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operation timing of each part.

The inside of the molding chamber 6 is filled with a nitrogen atmosphere using a nitrogen gas supply system (not shown). Initially, gate valve 10.12 is closed.

First, the gate valve 12 is opened (To), two molding materials are placed on the mounting table 38 in the lower position shown in FIG. 12 into the exchange chamber 8 (
T1). In the exchange chamber, the molding material is adsorbed by the lower suction portion of the suction means 50. The rotating position of the suction means 50 at this time is defined as a reference state, and the state rotated by 180 degrees from this position is defined as an inverted state. The adsorption is performed by an air suction means (not shown).

Next, the mounting table 38 is lowered a little, the transfer shaft 48 is rotated 180 degrees by the rotating cylinder 52, and the suction means 50 is turned upside down in the replacement chamber 8 (T2
). As a result, the molding material is positioned on the upper surface side of the suction means 50.

Next, the mounting table 38 is lowered from a position inside the exchange chamber 8 to a lower position outside the exchange chamber (T3).

Next, the gate valve 12 is closed (T,), the pressure inside the displacement chamber 8 is reduced by a pressure reduction means (not shown), and the molding material is preheated by a heater built in the adsorption means 50.

Next, nitrogen gas is supplied into the substitution chamber 8 by a nitrogen gas supply system (not shown) to fill the substitution chamber 8 with a nitrogen atmosphere, and then the gate valve 1o is opened (T,).

Then, the conveying shaft 48 is moved toward the molding chamber 6 by the cylinder 42, and the suction means 5o is moved to the heating section 24 in the molding chamber 6.
is positioned above the mounting table 66 at the lower limit position (T6).

Next, at this position, the conveyor shaft 48 is moved by the rotary cylinder 52.
Rotate 180° and invert the suction means 5o vertically (
T.).

Then, the mounting table 66 is slightly raised by the cylinder 62 of the heating section, and the molding material adsorbed on the lower surface side of the suction means 50 is placed on the mounting table 66 by releasing the suction.

Note that, prior to the arrival of the suction means 50, the mounting table 66 is raised to the upper limit position by the cylinder 62 (T
, ), is placed in the heating cylinder 68 for an appropriate period of time to be heated to an appropriate temperature, and then lowered to the lower position shown in FIG. 1 (T). Therefore, when a molding material is placed on the mounting table 66, the material will not crack due to temperature shock.

Next, the mounting table 66 is slightly lowered to the lower limit position and the transport shaft 48 is moved in the horizontal direction to retreat the suction means 50 to the replacement chamber 8 (I8), and the gate valve 10 is closed (T,).

Note that the mounting table 66 on which the molding material is mounted is raised to the upper limit position (Te) by the cylinder 62 after T8 and before I9, and is placed in the heating cylinder 68 for an appropriate time. As a result, it is heated to an appropriate temperature, and after I9, it is lowered to the lower position shown in FIG. 1 (I6).

Next, the arms 88a and 88b are rotated by the rotation drive means 92.
First, the suction means 90a is positioned above the mounting table 66 (T, , ), and the mounting table 66 is slightly raised by the cylinder 62 of the heating section, and the first molding on the mounting table 66 is rotated. The material to be used is adsorbed to the suction means 90a, and the mounting table 66 is lowered slightly again. The adsorption is performed by an air suction means (not shown).

Next, the arm 88a is rotated by the rotation driving means 92.

88b is rotated to move the suction means 90a to the first press section P (T, , ). Here, the adsorption means 90
The molding material G, which is attracted by a, is the body mold member 11
The suction means 90a is introduced into the body chamber member through the opening 111 provided on the side of the cylinder (FIG. 4(a)), and the suction means 90a is slightly lowered by the cylinder 82 of the transfer section (Fig. 4(a)).
4.9(b)), a molding material is placed on the lower mold member 114 (FIG. 4(C)).

Incidentally, at the TIO, the suction means 90b is moved to the second press section P2, and at the T1, the suction means 90b is positioned above the placement table 66. Then, at T11, the mounting table 66 is slightly raised by the cylinder 62 of the heating section, the second molding material on the mounting table 66 is adsorbed by the suction means 90b, and the mounting table 66 is lowered slightly again.

Subsequently, the arms 88a and 88b are rotated to move the suction means 90b to the second press section P2 ("r").
+i). Here, as in the case of the first press part P, the molding material adsorbed by the suction means 90b is introduced into the interior of the body chamber member through the opening provided on the side surface of the body mold member 110. Then, the suction means 90b is lowered slightly by the cylinder 82, and the molding material is placed on the lower mold member 114.

Next, the arms 88a and 88b are rotated to return the suction means 90b from the second press part to the intermediate position (T
, 4). At T+s, the suction means 90a is positioned above the mounting table 66, and at T14, the suction means 90a returns to the intermediate position.

The state shown in FIG. 2 is thus obtained.

Next, press forming is performed in the two press sections 28 (P, , Pa).

Incidentally, when the molding material G1 is introduced into the body chamber member 110, the upper shaft 124 is pulled upward by the cylinder 122, and thereby, as shown in FIGS.
), the upper mold member 128 has moved to an upper position within the body chamber member 110, so that the opening 111 in the side of the body mold member communicates with the cavity within the mold member, From here, the molding material G1 is introduced into the cavity.

During pressing, the upper shaft 124 is moved downward by the cylinder 122, the upper die member 128 closes the opening 111 of the body wall member 110, the cavity is closed, and the upper die member 128 is further pressed downward. As a result, the molding material in the cavity is press-molded, and the optical element G2 is formed (FIG. 4(d)). In addition, the upper mold member 12
8 moves downward until the lower end of the presser ring 130 comes into contact with the upper end of the body wall member 110.

The press molding is performed by heating the molding material to a moldable viscosity using heaters H, H2, and H3 for an appropriate time, and after molding it into a cavity shape, the refrigerant is passed through the refrigerant flow paths C, C2. , cooling the molded optical element. In the cooling process, the cylinder 104 cools the lower mold member 11.
4 is pressed upward with a moderate pressure (however, less pressure than the downward pressing force of the upper mold member 128 by the cylinder 122) to prevent the occurrence of sink marks due to contraction of the optical element.

Thereafter, the upper shaft 124 is raised to open the opening 111 on the side of the trunk wall member.

Then, the suction means 90a and 90b of the transfer section 26 are moved in the order substantially reverse to that when introducing the molding material into the press section 28, and the first press section P and the second press section P2 are moved.
The molded optical elements are each sucked and taken out, placed on the mounting table 66 of the heating section 24, and finally the suction means 90a,
90b in the intermediate position shown in FIG.
T19).

Note that after the above T+x and before Tf6, the mounting table 66 is raised by the cylinder 62 (T@) and moved into the heating cylinder 68, and after heating to an appropriate temperature, the temperature shown in FIG. Move it to the lower position shown (Tf) and leave it there. This is the same process as T8 to Tb above.

On the other hand, the above T. ~ In the same way as T6, gate valve 12
is opened, a new molding material on the mounting table 38 is adsorbed by the suction means 50 in the replacement chamber 8, preheated, and conveyed to the heating section 24 in the molding chamber 6 (T, o-T2 ).

Note that the timing is adjusted so that the above T2B is after the above TI9.

3 4 Then, the mounting table 66 is slightly raised, the molded optical element on the mounting table is sucked by the lower suction part of the suction means 50, and after the mounting table 66 is lowered a little, the above-mentioned suction means 50 (T2.), and then the above-mentioned mounting table 6
6 is slightly raised, and the molding material adsorbed by the newly lower suction part is placed on the mounting table 66.

Then, in the same manner as T8 to T9 above, the adsorption means 50 is moved from the heating section 24 into the replacement chamber 8 (T0n), and then the gate valve 10 is closed (T2.).

Incidentally, in the same manner as T0 to T above, the mounting table 66 on which the molding material is placed is raised to the upper limit position by the cylinder 62 (T,) after the Tza and before T2O, and the heating cylinder By being placed in the body 68 for an appropriate period of time, it is heated to an appropriate temperature and is lowered to the lower position shown in FIG. 1 after T 2G (Th).

Hereinafter, in the transfer section 26 and the press section 28, the above T,
A process similar to o%T, , is performed.

On the other hand, the gate valve 12 is opened (Tao), and the mounting table 38 on which a new molding material is placed is raised (T3.).
After the suction is carried out by the lower suction part of the suction means 50 in the exchange chamber 8, the mounting table 38 is lowered a little, and then the conveying shaft 48 is rotated by 180 degrees by the rotary cylinder 52, and the suction means 50 is turned upside down. (T, □), the mounting table 38 is slightly raised, and the molded optical element, which has been sucked to the newly lower suction portion, is placed on the mounting table 38. Next, the mounting table 38 is lowered to the outside of the replacement chamber 8 (Tia), and the gate valve 12 is closed (T, 4).

As described above, the molding material placed on the mounting table 38 is press-molded and collected on the mounting table.

Thereafter, press molding can be performed continuously by repeating the same process.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, since the outer shape of the trunk wall member 1106 is a rectangular parallelepiped, the volume of the trunk wall member 1106 is small (
However, it is possible to insert the rod-shaped heater H2 with a sufficient length in the horizontal direction into the opposing wall while maintaining the required strength. Therefore, since the heat capacity of the barrel member 110 is relatively small, the temperature control of the molding material and the molded optical element by the heater H2 via the barrel member 110 can be carried out responsively (and efficiently and well). I can do it.

Furthermore, since the rod-shaped heater is inserted horizontally, it is easy to attach and detach, and less time and effort is required when replacing it.

In the present invention, the rectangular parallelepiped also includes a cube.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the device of the present invention, the outer shape of the torso-shaped member is a rectangular parallelepiped, and the outer surface of the vaginal wall is provided within a pair of walls facing each other in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the torso-shaped member. Since a rod-shaped heater is placed along the length of the barrel, the volume of the barrel member can be reduced while maintaining the required strength. This reduces the heat capacity of the barrel member, so that the heater can reduce the heat generated by the heater through the barrel member. Temperature control of the molding material and the molded optical element can be performed responsively (and efficiently).

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view showing the schematic configuration of an embodiment of the optical element manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG.
-C-D-E-F cross-sectional schematic diagram. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operation timing of each part of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 4(a) to 4(d) are all schematic cross-sectional views of the press section of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing details of the barrel-shaped member. 6: Molding chamber, 8: Substitution chamber, 10.12: Gate valve, 20: Feeding/extracting means, 7 8 22: Conveying means, 24: Heating section, 26: Transfer section, 28 Nibbles section, 38: Mounting table, 48: conveyance shaft, 50: suction means, 66: mounting table, 68: heating cylinder, 90a, 90b: suction means, 106: lower shaft, 110: body mold member, 114: lower mold member, 124: upper shaft, 128: Upper mold member, 140: Thermocouple, H1 to H3: Heater, C,, C2: Refrigerant flow path, PH, Pa nibless portion.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) The above-mentioned mold has a mold including a body mold member and a pair of mold members disposed within the body mold member so as to be relatively movable in that direction, and a mold cavity is formed by the three mold members. In an apparatus for molding an optical element by accommodating a molding material in a cavity and applying a pressing force between the pair of mold members, the outer shape of the body mold member is a rectangular parallelepiped aligned with that direction; An optical element manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that a rod-shaped heater is disposed within a pair of walls facing each other in a direction perpendicular to the direction and along the outer surface of the walls. (2) The optical element manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rod-shaped heater is detachable from the body member. (3) having a sealable molding chamber including a press section equipped with the mold, and having means for moving the molding material and the molded optical element between the press section and the outside of the molding chamber; , The optical element manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1. (4) The optical element manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for introducing a non-oxidizing gas into the molding chamber.