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.

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 invention relates to a preform for producing a plastic container in a 2-stage stretch blow molding method, said preform having a preform body that extends along a central axis and that comprises: a first end a second end that lies opposite the first end, wherein the first end is closed and a neck part with a pouring opening adjoins the second end; and an inner wall that delimits an interior of the preform. Along a length of at least 30 mm of the interior, every point of the inner wall is at a distance of less than 3.5 mm from the central axis. Also disclosed are a suitable method and a device for producing such a preform.

A stretch blow molding process for producing a plastic container from a preform, having an elongated, tubular preform body, extending along a center axis. The first end of the preform body is closed by a preform bottom and the second end is adjoined by a neck part with a pouring opening. A wall, bounds an interior space of the preform. The preform body is heated and introduced into a cavity of a blow mold. A stretching mandrel enters the preform until the stretching mandrel tip reaches the preform bottom. The preform body and the preform bottom are stretched by the stretching mandrel. The preform body and the preform bottom are deformed by introducing a fluid into the preform under pressure. The stretching mandrel makes contact with the inner side of the wall in the region of the preform body.

An apparatus for producing plastic containers includes: a forming machine for producing plastic preforms; a blow-molding machine for blowing the preforms to obtain containers, provided with a blow-molding carousel having a plurality of blow-molding molds that expand the preforms to obtain the containers; a thermal conditioning station interposed between the forming machine and the blow-molding machine; a storage station, configured for receiving and containing preforms; a supplying system for feeding the thermal conditioning station with preforms contained in the storage station.

A mold device and a method related thereto for forming a plastic container from a preform. The mold device comprises a mold defining a mold cavity, an optional stretch initiation rod system for engaging an interior portion of the preform to define a stretch initiation area, and a centrally disposed pressure source positionable within the preform for introducing a pressurized fluid.

A closed-loop method of heating a preform for a blow molding operation is provided. The method involves inspecting a preform upon entry into a system, heating the preform, measuring a preform temperature along its longitudinal axis and around its circumference, heating the preform again, measuring a preform temperature again along its longitudinal axis and around its circumference, comparing the second temperature measurement to a known, acceptable temperature measurement, and optimizing the heating step(s) to ensure subsequent optimization of the heating of subsequent preforms.

Disclosed is a method and a system for producing an ampoule filled with a medical liquid. A preform is produced by plastic injection moulding that is then inhomogeneously heated and blown to form an ampoule body. Further disclosed is an ampoule produced by means of stretching and blowing, which comprises a connector with a break-off part in which the predetermined breaking point is aligned with the septum of the connector.

The invention relates to a device for delivering a beverage into a thermoplastic container formed from a heated preform, the preform being approximately cylindrical and positioned in a mold, characterized in that it includes injection unit for injecting at least one beverage into a recess in the preform so as to promote expansion of the preform inside the mold, the mold defining the shape of the container, the injection unit comprising an injection head designed to inject at least one beverage through a mouth of the recess, the injection head being integrated into the mold.

The invention relates to a method for producing plastics containers from thermoplastics with inserts which, by exploiting the heat of plasticization, are connected during shaping of the plastics container by a material bond and/or interlocking connection to the container wall, wherein the method provides the use of at least one opening on the insert, which opening forms a melt duct or melt inlet and/or melt passage for plasticized or plastic material of the container wall, wherein the method is distinguished in that the opening is monitored as a reference opening by optical and/or sensory means during the production of the connection, wherein the degree of penetration of the opening with thermoplastic from the container wall is used as a measure of the quality of the connection.