摘要 |
<p>An apparatus and method for blow molding hot-fill containers by a double blow process while utilizing a single blow molding wheel (18). The apparatus has multiple stations including a preheat station (14) for conditioning the preforms (26), a blow molding station having a single blow molding wheel (18), and a heat treating station (22) where intermediate containers (60) are heat treated. The blow molding wheel (18) is provided with two sets of molds, one set (58) for forming the intermediate containers (60) and another set (82) for forming the final containers (86). Two transfer mechanisms (16, 20) are used to achieve four different transfers of the various stages of the final container (86). Preforms (26) and heat treated intermediate containers (74) are being respectively transferred into the first and second molds (58, 82) by one transfer mechanism (16) while untreated intermediate containers (60) and final containers (86) are respectively removed from the first and second molds (58, 82) by the second transfer station (20).</p> |