CONTAINER, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THE SAME

摘要

A container (1) having a body and a rim (3) defining an opening for the container, the container being made of a material such as PET or PEN, is manufactured in a two-stage process. The first stage comprises injection moulding a preform (15) which has a rim (3) formed at its mouth and a continuous body-forming portion (32) extending across the preform from the inner periphery (19) of the rim, the rim having an outwardly-directed extent and including a downwardly-extending portion (21) spaced outwardly from the inner periphery and an outwardly-extending portion (5,6,29) located outwardly of the downwardly­extending portion. In the second stage the preform is placed in a moulding cavity (56) of a blow moulding apparatus (7) at an elevated temperature with the preform being located by means of the rim (3). The body-forming portion expands in the cavity to form the container side wall (20) and bottom wall (2). The upper region (18)of the side wall contacts the downwardly-extending portion (21) of the rim such as to form a box section (25). The side wall (20) has at its upper side region a step (23) above which the diameter of the cavity is substantially equal to or approaches the diameter of the downwardly-extending portion (21) of the rim. Below the step (23) the diameter is less than the diameter of the inner periphery of the rim and tapers therefrom inward downwardly to the bottom wall (2) at an acute angle, whereby the containers can internest.