An apparatus including a conveyor track for upright containers, which is constituted by a horizontal, rotating conveyor belt, a vertical conveyor belt rotating in the same direction, which is arranged on one side of the horizontal conveyor belt and a vertical, fixed belt on the opposite side of the horizontal conveyor belt, where a distance between the vertical conveyor belt and the fixed belt is smaller than an outer diameter of the upright containers so that the upright containers rotate about a vertical axis as the upright containers pass between the rotating, vertical conveyor belt and the fixed, vertical belt and are laterally compressed so that the inner bags detach abruptly from the outer containers.

A preform conveying device (100) of the invention includes a control unit that detects an arriving time at which a conveyor jig arrives at a reference position based on an output of a first encoder, and commands a second motor to move a conveyor arm to a target position at regular intervals from the arriving time. The target position in each command is a position obtained by adding, to a current position of the conveyor jig which is obtained based on a latest output of the first encoder which was obtained when the command has been issued, a moving distance by which the conveyor jig has advanced during a delay time T which spans from a time when the latest output is outputted from the first encoder to a time when the command is received by the second motor.

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.

A continuously rotating, non-symmetric preform feed, stretch-blow-moulding machine dedicated to the stretch-blow-moulding of containers from non-symmetric injection moulded preforms; the non-symmetric preforms including an integral handle extending from a first junction point to a second junction point on a body of the preform; the body of the preform and the integral handle constituted from the same material.

Non-symmetric and volume reduced preforms and containers stretch blow moulded therefrom by a continuously rotating, preform feed, stretch-blow-moulding machine dedicated to the stretch-blow-moulding of containers from non-symmetric or reduced volume injection moulded preforms; the non-symmetric or reduced volume preforms including an integral handle extending from a first junction point to a second junction point on a body of the preform; the body of the preform and the integral handle constituted from the same material.

A method for heating a preform (1) comprising a body portion (4) having a thickness which varies progressively along any transverse cross-section between a thick zone and a thin zone of the body portion. The method comprises the following steps: —introducing the preform (1) into a heating apparatus (5) comprising an array of infrared emitters (50) arranged in multiple columns (Cj) and multiple rows (Ri); —setting power levels of the infrared emitters (50) so as to divide the array of infrared emitters into subsets C of columns (SCn); and—heating the preform while translating it in a direction parallel to the rows (Ri), and simultaneously rotating said preform (1) around its longitudinal axis, the rotation and translation speeds, and the power levels of the infrared emitters (50) being set so that the greater the thickness of the zones of the body portion (4), the higher is the power level of the subsets of columns (SCn) facing said zones.

Apparatus for producing plastic containers includes having a forming device for forming plastic preforms into plastic containers, a preform first transport device arranged downstream of the forming device and a second transport device for transporting formed containers from the forming device to a filling device, wherein the second transport device has a first transport unit and a second transport unit each having a movable carrier, on each of which a plurality of container gripping devices, wherein the gripping devices are each arranged pivotably with respect to the carriers such that a gripping device with a plastic container held by this gripping device can be pivoted with respect to a predetermined pivot angle.

Non-symmetric and volume reduced preforms and containers stretch blow moulded therefrom by a continuously rotating, preform feed, stretch-blow-moulding machine dedicated to the stretch-blow-moulding of containers from non-symmetric or reduced volume injection moulded preforms; the non-symmetric or reduced volume preforms including an integral handle extending from a first junction point to a second junction point on a body of the preform; the body of the preform and the integral handle constituted from the same material.

A container production method by liquid blow molding has a liquid blow molding step of supplying a pressurized liquid into a preform disposed in a metal mold to mold the preform into a container having a trunk that has a flat shape in a plan view and holds the liquid; and a transferring step of taking the container out from the mold and transferring the container in an approximate short axis direction of the trunk.

A continuously rotating, non-symmetric preform feed, stretch-blow-moulding machine dedicated to the stretch-blow-moulding of containers from non-symmetric injection moulded preforms; the non-symmetric preforms including an integral handle extending from a first junction point to a second junction point on a body of the preform; the body of the preform and the integral handle constituted from the same material.