METHOD OF AUTOMATIC MASS PRODUCTION OF GLASS CONTAINERS, OBTAINED GLASS CONTAINERS AND MOLD FOR OBTAINING SAME

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of automatic mass production of glass containers with texture which comprises producing a mold including a texture of non-parametric three-dimensional motifs (5) by means of protuberances, with said motifs being irregular, non-geometric, and non-figurative and being irregularly distributed; manufacturing glass containers with non-parametric texture bas-relief motifs covering and concealing potential aesthetic manufacturing defects by means of an automatic process of molten glass compression and/or blow molding; automatically detecting and rejecting the containers having manufacturing dimensional and/or safety defects.

Claims

1. Method of automatic mass production of glass containers with a texture on at least one region with texture of an outer surface of the container, the method comprising: producing a mold with a molding cavity defined by an inner surface including a texture at least in a region with texture of the inner surface; manufacturing glass containers by an automatic process of molten glass compression and/or blow molding within the inner cavity of the mold, producing containers including a texture at least in a region with texture of an outer surface of the glass container; automatically detecting and rejecting manufactured containers having manufacturing dimensional and/or safety defects causing alterations of the shape and/or geometry of the glass container above predefined tolerances; characterized in that producing the mold comprises creating the mold including, on the inner molding surface, the texture in the form of non-parametric three-dimensional motifs as protuberances projecting from the inner surface of the molding cavity, with the non-parametric three-dimensional motifs being irregular, non-geometric, and non-figurative and being irregularly distributed over the region with texture, producing, during the step of manufacturing containers, containers with at least one region with texture including a texture formed by non-parametric bas-relief motifs covering and concealing potential aesthetic manufacturing defects causing visible marks and/or optical aberrations in the glass container.

2. The method of automatic mass production of containers according to claim 1, wherein only dimensional manufacturing defects are automatically detected and rejected, ignoring aesthetic manufacturing defects.

3. The method of automatic mass production of containers according to claim 1, wherein the method further includes automatically labeling, screen printing, and/or stamping the container at least on a part of the region with texture.

4. The method of automatic mass production of containers according to claim 3, wherein the region with texture of the inner surface of the mold has, between the protruding non-parametric motifs, spaces devoid of protrusions and constituting unaltered areas of the inner surface within the region with texture, producing, during the step of manufacturing containers, containers with spaces devoid of bas-relief in unaltered areas of the outer surface of the container, within the region with texture, where the automatic labeling, screen printing, and/or stamping are to be performed.

5. The method of automatic mass production of containers according to claim 4, wherein the unaltered areas of the inner surface of the mold represent at least 10% or at least 15% of the surface of the region with texture.

6. The method of automatic mass production of containers according to claim 1 wherein, producing the mold comprises: obtaining a three-dimensional virtual model which reproduces the outer surface of the mass-produced container to be manufactured and/or the inner surface of the mold to be produced, defined as a point grid; editing the three-dimensional virtual model by incorporating, in the point grid, the texture of non-parametric motifs; and creating the mold by an automatic manufacturing machine tool feed with the three-dimensional virtual model.

7. The method of automatic mass production of containers according to claim 6, wherein creating the mold comprises subtracting material by the machine tool, which is a subtractive machine tool, or adding material by the machine tool, which is an additive machine tool, until obtaining the inner surface with the protruding motifs.

8. The method of automatic mass production of containers according to claim 1, wherein the non-parametric motifs are reproductions of aesthetic manufacturing defects and/or reproductions of natural textures with an irregular pattern.

9. The method of automatic mass production of containers according to claim 1, wherein the non-parametric motifs are: reproductions of aesthetic manufacturing defects defined by local ripples or depressions with an irregular edge and depth on the outer surface of the container which produce variations in the thickness of the glass causing optical aberrations; and/or reproductions of aesthetic manufacturing defects defined by scores or scratches generating channels with an irregular edge and depth on the outer surface of the container; and/or reproductions of aesthetic manufacturing defects defined by bubbles or holes generating local voids with an irregular edge and depth on the outer surface of the container; and/or reproductions of natural textures with an irregular pattern selected from leather, wood, tree bark, slate stone, cracked dry ground, orange peel, melon peel, sponge, coral.

10. A glass container resulting from automatic mass production produced according to the method described in claim 1, comprising: an outer surface including at least one region with texture with a texture obtained by molding; characterized in that the region with texture includes a texture formed by irregular, non-geometric, non-figurative, and non-parametric three-dimensional, bas-relief motifs irregularly distributed over the region with texture covering and concealing potential aesthetic manufacturing defects causing visible marks and/or optical aberrations in the glass container.

11. The container according to claim 10, wherein the container further includes a label, screen printing, and/or stamping applied at least on a part of the region with texture of the outer surface of the container.

12. The container according to claim 11, wherein the region with texture of the outer surface of the container has, between the non-parametric bas-relief motifs, spaces devoid of bas-relief and constituting unaltered areas of the outer surface within the region with texture for applying automatic labeling, screen printing, and/or stamping.

13. The container according to claim 12, wherein the unaltered areas of the outer surface of the container represent at least 10% or at least 15% of the surface of the region with texture.

14. The glass container according to claim 11, wherein the label is a non-elastic label and/or a paper label.

15. A mold for automatic mass production of glass containers according to claim 1, comprising: an inner molding cavity defined by an inner surface including at least one region with texture with a texture to be molded; characterized in that the region with texture includes a texture formed by irregular, non-geometric, non-figurative, and non-parametric protruding motifs irregularly distributed over the region with texture, which allow the manufacture of a glass container with at least one region with texture with non-parametric bas-relief motifs covering and concealing, in manufactured containers, potential aesthetic manufacturing defects causing visible marks and/or optical aberrations in the glass container.

16. The mold according to claim 15, wherein the region with texture of the inner surface of the mold has, between the protruding non-parametric motifs, spaces devoid of protrusions and constituting unaltered areas of the inner surface within the region with texture, producing, during the step of manufacturing containers, containers with spaces devoid of bas-relief in unaltered areas of the outer surface of the container, within the region with texture, where the automatic labeling, screen printing, and/or stamping are to be applied.

17. The mold according to claim 16, wherein the unaltered areas of the inner surface of the mold represent at least 10% or at least 15% of the surface of the region with texture.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0089] The aforementioned and other advantages and features will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of an embodiment in reference to the attached drawings, which must be taken in an illustrative and non-limiting manner and in which:

[0090] FIG. 1 schematically shows a container in the form of a bottle the outer surface of which has a texture made up of motifs in the form of pockets;

[0091] FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5 correspond to enlarged views of the lower part of a container, including textures made up of pocket, orange peel, hammered, and scratch textures, respectively;

[0092] FIG. 6 shows a selection of four possible textures, each with three possible densities and/or size of motifs, with the four possible textures corresponding, from top to bottom, to orange peel, pocket, ripple, and hammered textures;

[0093] FIG. 7 shows four possible examples of ripple textures;

[0094] FIG. 8 shows four possible examples of hammered textures;

[0095] FIG. 9 shows four possible examples of scratch textures, the lower one corresponding to the aforementioned skin;

[0096] FIG. 10 shows four possible examples of orange peel textures;

[0097] FIG. 11 shows a view of part of the textured virtual model defined by a point grid, and of an enlargement of a region of said textured virtual model, indicated with a white circle, where it can be seen that the motifs of the texture are scratches;

[0098] FIG. 12 shows a schematic view of a container in the form of a bottle including a texture, corresponding to the previously described elephant skin texture, in a region with texture of its outer surface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT

[0099] The attached figures show illustrative and non-limiting embodiments of the present invention.

[0100] According to a first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the container is a bottle provided with a base 1 and a tubular enclosure wall 2 connecting the base 1 with an opening 3, defining a hollow interior accessible through said opening 3.

[0101] The enclosure wall 2 has a narrowing defining shoulders and a bottle neck ending with said opening 3.

[0102] A neck finish 6 in the form of a protruding annular flange made of the same glass constituting the enclosure wall 2, forming a thickening of said enclosure wall 2, is arranged around the bottle neck.

[0103] The outer curve of the enclosure wall 2 constitutes an outer surface 4 accessible from outside the bottle.

[0104] Said outer surface 4 includes, at least on part of its surface corresponding to a region with texture, recesses involving a local thinning of the thickness of the enclosure wall 2, and the shape of which determines three-dimensional bas-relief motifs 5 constituting a texture.

[0105] In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, said motifs 5 are three-dimensional compact shapes having an irregular contour and bottom and variable sizes and depths, and the distribution thereof on the outer surface is also irregular.

[0106] In this example, each of said motifs 5 resembles a pocket, i.e., a cavity which could be caused by an air bubble, a vapor bubble or other intrusions or impurities in the glass when it is hardened. Some of said cavities can be grouped together and partially overlap one another, forming nodes.

[0107] In this example, most of the motifs 5 have a surface area of less than 1 mm.sup.2, although some exceed a surface area of 5 mm.sup.2.

[0108] The inclusion of a label 7 on the container, covering part of the outer surface 4, is also contemplated. As a result of the motifs 5 being bas-relief motifs, the label 7 can be of any size and be positioned on any part of the outer surface 4, even covering parts of the region with texture, because the label 7 will be adhered to the outer surface 4 without the bas-relief motifs hindering said adhesion. FIG. 1 shows three possible examples of labels, indicated with a discontinuous line.

[0109] FIG. 3 shows an alternative embodiment in which the texture is formed by motifs 5 reproducing a texture in the form of orange peel, with each motif 5 in this example having a surface area of less than 5 mm.sup.2.

[0110] FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the hammered texture, which is formed by motifs in the form of depressions of little depth and a large surface area, typically greater than 10 mm.sup.2, and edges that are not well defined, and the motifs 5 can partially overlap one another.

[0111] FIG. 5 shows an embodiment according to which the motifs 5 constituting the texture are in the form of scratches, each one made up of an elongated, narrow groove having defined edges.

[0112] Other examples of possible textures are shown in the remaining figures.