Method and apparatus relating to manufacture of molds for forming contact lenses

摘要

An apparatus for manufacturing mould halves for use in the manufacture of contact lenses comprises an injection moulding apparatus including a plate (210, fig 5) carrying a removable collet (240, fig 6); a collet store 810 and a collet exchange robot (820, fig 7) to move and replace removable collets from the plate and store. A method comprises using a robot to remove and replace collets from a plate in an injection moulding machine and a collet store. The collet exchange robot may comprise at least one collet extraction head (870, fig 7) rotatably mounted on the robot. Methods and apparatus using a robot for exchanging tools and/or tool assemblies used to form different types of moulds for injection-moulding machines are described. Contact lens mould halves and assemblies for moulding contact lenses of different powers or types can be made with a single injection moulding apparatus.