A plastic container is provided that includes a lower supporting base portion; a sidewall portion extending upwardly from the base portion; a neck portion extending upwardly from the sidewall portion; and a closure. The neck portion includes a support flange having an upper and lower surface, threads, a tamper-evident formation, and a dispensing opening at the top of the neck portion. In an embodiment, the weight of the neck portion is 3.0 grams or less; and the vertical distance from the top of the dispensing opening to the lower surface of the support flange, including the threads and the tamper-evident formation, is 0.580 inches or less. A preform and method for making a container are also disclosed.

Method for controlling a method for the manufacture of a container by stretch-blow-molding of a plastic preform (2) in a machine (1) including a mold (26), the preform (2) having a body (3), a neck (4) opening at one end of the body (3) and a bottom (5) closing the body (3) at another end thereof, the manufacturing method including the operations involving:heating the preform to a predetermined temperature in a thermal conditioning oven (10);introducing the preform (2) into the mold (26);moving a stretching pin (28) so as to stretch the preform (2); this control method involving a step that consists in determining the position of impact (P0r) of the stretch pin (28), namely the position it occupies at the moment at which it reaches the bottom (5) of the preform (2) during its movement.

A method of manufacturing a container from a blank in a stretch blowing assembly equipped with a mold provided with a wall and a mold bottom axially movable between an extended position and a retracted position and a stretch unit having a rod axially movable with respect to the wall and a device for controlling the movement of the rod. The method involves a stretch blowing phase; a boxing phase during which the mold bottom, initially in the extended position, is moved towards its retracted position, the boxing phase having a retraction operation including controlling a movement of the rod in synchronization with the movement of the mold bottom, or releasing the rod to allow the free axial movement thereof.

Method of manufacturing a container (2) by stretch-blow molding in a mold (8) from a blank (3) of plastic material, which comprises the operations consisting of: measuring the pressure prevailing inside the blank (3) during a pre-blowing phase; detecting an instant corresponding to a local minimum pressure in the blank (3); placing in memory the instant at which said minimum pressure occurs as well as the corresponding pressure prevailing in the blank (3); comparing the instant and the pressure of the detected minimum with, respectively, a predetermined instant and pressure of a theoretical minimum pressure; if the measured minimum and the theoretical minimum do not coincide, ordering a modification of at least one of the following parameters: pre-blowing pressure, pre-blowing flow rate, stretching speed, heating temperature.

A control system (34) for a unit (9) for forming containers (2) from blanks (3) provided with a series of forming stations (10) each provided with a mold (11), the system (34) including a master control unit (36) and a series of slave controllers (37) each associated with at least one forming station (10), each controller (37) being programmed to: control the or each associated forming station (10) according to a forming command (CF) loaded in the controller (37); take into account a pressure measurement in the mold (11), from this measurement, establish a blowing curve describing the change in the fluid pressure in the mold (11), analyze the blowing curve and extract therefrom the coordinates of at least one singular point (S); communicate the singular point (S) to the control unit (36).

Disclosed is a method for parametrizing a facility for producing containers including: a mold having a movable mold bottom, a movable drawing rod and an electric machine coupled with the rod; from a configuration in which the rod is in a raised position and in the bottom in an extended position, operating the electric machine as a motor; assessing the resultant of the axial forces on the rod; when a variation is detected in the resultant of the forces, assigning an initial position to the rod; controlling the movement of the mold bottom towards the retracted position thereof; assigning to the rod the corresponding so-called final position of the rod; and calculating the difference between the final position and the initial position.

A stretch blow molding system (200) is provided. The stretch blow molding system comprises a cylinder (201) including a movable stretch rod (202) and a blow-mold valve (204). The blow-mold valve (204) comprises a first fluid port (204a) in fluid communication with a first pressurized fluid source (364a). The blow-mold valve (204) also includes a second fluid port (204b) in fluid communication with a second pressurized fluid source (364b). A third fluid port (204c) of the blow-mold valve is in fluid communication with the cylinder (201) and selectively in fluid communication with the first fluid port (204a) and the second fluid port (204b).

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing containers from thermoplastic materials by blow moulding or extrusion blow moulding a preform that has been pre-heated in a furnace then placed in a mould consisting of two half-moulds that define a moulding cavity, said preform being blown into the mould, optionally with a pre-blowing step. Said steps of heating the preforms, pre-blowing and blowing are controlled by a control unit on the basis of various control parameters such as the temperature in the furnace, the blowing pressure in the mould and/or the pre-blowing pressure and/or the pre-blowing flow rate and/or the speed of the stretching rod, for example. Said method is characterised in that it comprises at least the following steps: i) measuring the wall thickness of said containers at at least two different heights upon exiting the mould; ii) comparing the thickness measurements with setpoint values determined for each height of the containers; iii) if the difference between the thickness measurements and the determined setpoint values is greater than a determined threshold, modifying at least one of the control parameters, said modified control parameter(s) being selected at least by calculating the theoretical effects of the variation for each parameter on the thicknesses, then selecting the parameter or parameters that cause the smallest difference between the measured thickness values and the theoretical thickness values; iv) steps i) to iii) are repeated until the differences between the thickness measurements and the determined setpoint values are below said determined threshold.

A plastic container is provided that includes a lower supporting base portion; a sidewall portion extending upwardly from the base portion; a neck portion extending upwardly from the sidewall portion; and a closure. The neck portion includes a support flange having an upper and lower surface, threads, a tamper-evident formation, and a dispensing opening at the top of the neck portion. In an embodiment, the weight of the neck portion is 3.0 grams or less; and the vertical distance from the top of the dispensing opening to the lower surface of the support flange, including the threads and the tamper-evident formation, is 0.580 inches or less. A preform and method for making a container are also disclosed.

An apparatus for forming a thermoplastic container from a cylindrical preform and for delivering a predetermined volume of a beverage component into the container. The apparatus includes: a mold defining a shape of the container; a member configured to inject at least one beverage component into a recess in the preform so as to promote expansion of the preform inside the mold into the shape of the container, the member being further configured to inject the at least one beverage component in a first volume intentionally greater than the predetermined volume; and the member also being configured to remove a fraction of the first volume of the beverage component until a second volume of beverage component remaining in the container is equal to the predetermined volume.