An apparatus (1) for handling and cooling plastic preforms comprising a rotatable handling station (2), provided with a plurality of retaining and cooling pins (3) for preforms and adapted to cooperate with an extraction plate (4) adapted to extract the preforms from an injection mold; an aeraulic circuit (5) connected to said station and comprising an aspiration duct (6) for aspirating air from the inside of the station; a delivery duct (7) for sending air to said station; cooling means (8) arranged along the delivery duct for cooling the air sent to said station; aspiration means (9, 19, 29) connected at least to the aspiration duct and to the delivery duct, and wherein switching means are further provided, to pass from a first circuit configuration, in which there is an air passage from the delivery duct to the inside of the station, to a second circuit configuration in which there is an air passage from the inside of the station to the aspiration duct, whereby, in the first configuration, air is blown by means of the plurality of pins, while, in the second configuration, air is aspirated by means of said plurality of pins.

An apparatus (1) for handling and cooling plastic preforms comprising a rotatable handling station (2), provided with a plurality of retaining and cooling pins (3) for preforms and adapted to cooperate with an extraction plate (4) adapted to extract the preforms from an injection mold; an aeraulic circuit (5) connected to said station and comprising an aspiration duct (6) for aspirating air from the inside of the station; a delivery duct (7) for sending air to said station; cooling means (8) arranged along the delivery duct for cooling the air sent to said station; aspiration means (9, 19, 29) connected at least to the aspiration duct and to the delivery duct, and wherein switching means are further provided, to pass from a first circuit configuration, in which there is an air passage from the delivery duct to the inside of the station, to a second circuit configuration in which there is an air passage from the inside of the station to the aspiration duct, whereby, in the first configuration, air is blown by means of the plurality of pins, while, in the second configuration, air is aspirated by means of said plurality of pins.

An apparatus includes a cooling pin to slidably extend from a frame and to be inserted into an injection molded article. The cooling pin is hollow to allow for flow of cooling fluid through the cooling pin. The cooling pin has a hole to be in fluid communication with a source of vacuum to draw cooling fluid within the injection molded article into the cooling pin. The cooling pin has a first position with respect to the frame, the first position to allow flow of cooling fluid through the hole. The cooling pin has a second position with respect to the frame, the second position to shut off flow of cooling fluid into the cooling pin.

The present invention concerns a system for the further treatment of hollow body preforms produced by injection molding, comprising i) a receiving plate having at least one receiving cavity for receiving a preform, ii) a post-treatment system which has a) a post-treatment plate, b) at least one impression pin provided for changing the internal contour of the profile by either coming into contact with the inside of the preform during the post-treatment or closing the preform and acting on the inside space with a fluid under pressure, whereby the preform is inflated, and c) at least one post-treatment element which is provided for passing into the interior of a preform received in the receiving cavity or coming into contact with the preform, and iii) a movement device with which the receiving plate can be reciprocated relative to the post-treatment plate between a first position in which the impression pin is positioned within the receiving cavity, a second position in which the post-treatment element is positioned within the receiving cavity or comes into contact with a preform received therein, and a third position in which neither the impression pin nor the post-treatment element is positioned within the receiving cavity or comes into contact with a preform received therein.