APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COMPRESSION MOLDING PLASTIC ARTICLES

摘要

A method and apparatus for compression molding plastic articles include in one embodiment a base (19), a turret (14) having an annular main body (60) defined at least in part by at least two sections (70) carried by the base, a plurality of coacting pairs of mold tooling (16) mounted to the turret with each mold tooling pair including a first actuator (18) that carries a first mold section and a second actuator (20) that carries a second mold section that with the first mold section defines at least part of a mold cavity in which a plastic article is formed. At least one of the first actuator and second actuator is moveable relative to the other actuator to a closed position to form a plastic charge into a plastic article in the mold cavity, and to an open position wherein the first and second actuators are spaced apart to permit a formed article to be removed from the mold cavity and a fresh charge of plastic to be provided into one of the first and second mold sections. A drive mechanism (97) is coupled to the turret (14) to rotate the turret relative to the base (12).