Disclosed is a preform for a plastics container, which includes: a rotationally symmetrical body about a central axis; an open neck which extends in continuation of the body from an upper end of the latter; a bottom which closes the body starting from a lower end of the latter, the bottom being rotationally symmetrical about the central axis and having a central concavity and a protruding bulge around this concavity, the bottom having a thickness E, measured from an external face, that is variable in accordance with three different criteria respectively applied to three sections of the bottom, namely a central section [0; S.sub.1], an intermediate section [S.sub.1; S.sub.2] and a peripheral section [S.sub.2; L].

A method, system, and preform for liquid forming of the preform into a final-shaped container using the liquid to be contained in the final-shaped container. The preform undergoes a stretching step to a size less than the size of a base of the final-shaped container, before being relocated and stretched to the final shape by the liquid. A stretch rod sealably connects with an interior surface of the preform to partially isolate a gate portion of the preform. The isolation is effected by a portion of the inner surface of the preform extending inwardly, or by a deformable member on the stretch rod which can selectively extend outwardly to contact the interior surface of the preform. The stretch rod includes a selectively heatable tip to heat the gate portion of the preform. The gate portion of the preform includes inner, outer, and core layers which comprise a material configured to affect the thermal properties of the gate portion.

A beverage container for a carbonated beverage may include a base with a plurality of feet extending therefrom. The feet may act to reinforce a punt in the base of the beverage container to prevent deformation of the base of the beverage container when a carbonated or other pressurized beverage is added to the beverage container.

Disclosed are preforms which incorporate improvements in the region of the neck and upper segment of the body to allow the production of lightweight containers, such as bottles suitable for containing water or other beverages. In accordance with certain embodiments, the improvements include a thinner neck finish area than conventional bottles, where the thinner area is extended into the upper segment of the body portion below the support ring. Reducing the thickness in these areas of the bottle allows for less resin to be used in forming the preform and bottle.

The present invention provides a preform coating device (5) provided with: a rotating and holding part (9) that holds a preform (1) in a horizontal direction, and rotates the preform (1) about an axis (A) of the preform (1); and a dispenser (6) that has a slot (62) and discharges a coating liquid in a plane form from the slot (62) to the preform (1), wherein the discharge direction of the coating liquid is the direction of the normal to an outer peripheral surface of the preform (1).

An injection moulded thermoplastic preform for blow moulding to form a container, the preform comprising a lower closed base portion, a hollow body portion, a hollow transition portion between the lower closed base portion and the hollow body portion, and an upper open end portion adjacent to an upper part of the hollow body portion, wherein the closed base portion comprises a central portion which extends over at least 50% of an internal radius of a lower end of the hollow body portion and is either substantially flat or has a shallow concave or convex internal curvature, and the transition portion comprises an upwardly and radially outwardly tapering portion extending away from the central portion to connect to the hollow body portion, the tapering portion being inclined at an angle of from 1 to 20 degrees to a longitudinal axis of the preform and the tapering portion increasing in thickness from the central portion to the hollow body portion. Also disclosed is a method of injection moulding the thermoplastic preform.

A method for manufacturing a glass with a stem or with a base made of a plastic material, the glass including a receiving portion mounted over a base or over a stem, the method being implemented by a rotary tooling comprising a plurality of workstations and at least one mold wherein the method includes the following steps: a) forming of the receiving portion of the glass on at least one first workstation called injection station; b) overmolding of the stem or of the base over the receiving portion, in order to form a glass with a stem or with a base, the overmolding being carried out on at least one other workstation called overmolding station; c) ejection of the glass thus formed on the overmolding station or on another workstation called ejection station.

A method and device for producing an optimized neck contour on preforms below the neck which is optimal for subsequent stretch blow molding. The geometry has a significantly thinner wall thickness than the neck itself. The preform can only be produced in the injection molding tool, when axial channels are used on the point or the vanes produce the thin points on the preform during injection molding. The thin-walled geometry on the preform can be produced outside of the mold during post-cooling by embossing. The preform is then removed in a cooled receiving sleeve and is cooled in the body by intensive contact cooling while no cooling contact is made with the preform neck due to the initial position of the embossing element. Due to the reheating of the neck they can be mechanically deformed into a new geometry advantageous for blow molding and thus wall thickness can be influenced.

A nozzle is provided for engaging with lightweight preforms for blow-molding the preforms into plastic containers without damaging the finish portion of the preforms. The nozzle includes a seal configured to engage with a stepped interior of the finish portion and enables stretching and/or blow-molding the preform into a container. The seal tightly engages a smooth surface inside the finish portion without damaging the surface or a sidewall of the finish portion. In some embodiments, the seal includes a profile shape that mates with a transitional surface comprising the stepped interior of the finish portion. The profile shape distributes the contact force of the seal over a maximal area of the transition surface so as to minimize the total pressure exerted onto the finish portion. The profile shape reduces potential cracking of a thin-walled region of the finish portion during stretching and/or blow-molding the preform to form the container.

Multi-barrier bottles having tabbed preforms, as well as methods of forming the same are disclosed. A tabbed preform includes an elongate body extending into a cavity of a first barrier, where the cavity is defined by at least one piece having a recess therein. The tabbed preform further includes at least one preform extension piece extending from the elongate body at a predetermined distance from a top surface of the elongate body. The at least one preform extension piece is sized and shaped to correspond to a size and a shape of the recess.