BLOW MOULD

Abstract

A blow mould includes at least first and second blow mould elements that inscribe a concavity; and at least one insert having an embossed surface to form a pattern onto a blow-moulded surface. The at least one insert is attached onto a surface of at least one of the first and/or second blow mould elements to form a part of the wall of the blow-moulded product. Such blow mould is an ISBM blow mould and the blow mould is such that the at least one insert is a plate having a wall thickness of between 0.2 mm and 2.0 mm and is attached onto at least one of the first and/or second blow mould elements by a reversible fixation mechanism selected from the group of adhesives, preferably a double-sided adhesive tape, a magnet and a geometric mechanism.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A blow mould comprising: at least a first and a second blow mould element provided to inscribe a concavity; and at least one insert having an embossed surface provided to form a pattern onto a blow-moulded surface, where the at least one insert is attached onto a surface of at least one of the first and/or the second blow mould elements to form a part of a wall of a blow-moulded product, wherein the blow mould is an ISBM blow mould, where the at least one insert is a plate having a wall thickness of between 0.2 mm and 2.0 mm and is attached onto at least one of the first and/or the second blow mould elements by reversible fixation means selected from the group consisting of adhesives, a magnet and geometric means, and the at least one insert is made from steel.

17. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the blow mould comprises at least a third blow mould element, provided to form a base of the blow-moulded product, and where the first and the second blow mould elements are provided to form a part of the wall of the blow-moulded product.

18. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the blow mould elements are made from a metal selected from the group consisting of steel and aluminium.

19. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the insert forms the largest part of the tube-shaped surface of the concavity provided to form a part of the side wall of the blow-moulded product.

20. The blow mould according to claim 16, where at least one of the first and/or second blow mould elements comprises an indentation provided to place the insert.

21. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the insert is cylindrical or half cylindrical.

22. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the insert is a plate having a wall thickness of between 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm.

23. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the embossing has a depth of between 0.2 mm and 0.8 mm.

24. A method to produce a blow mould according to claim 16, where the method comprises at least a step of embossing the insert, and where the step of embossing comprises the subsequent steps: providing a pattern mask onto a surface of the steel insert; chemical etching of the surface of the steel insert by a pattern mask so that an embossing of the surface of the steel insert is formed; and removing the pattern mask, wherein the embossing step is selected from the group consisting of chemical etching, laser etching and tidying, and where the method comprises a step of bending of the insert.

25. A method of producing a blow-moulded product, comprising the step of using the blow mould according to claim 16.

26. The blow mould according to claim 16, wherein the adhesives are double-sided adhesive tape, and the at least one insert is made from sheet steel.

27. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the blow mould elements are made from aluminium.

28. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the insert is a plate having a wall thickness of between 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm.

29. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the insert is a plate having a wall thickness of between 0.6 mm and 0.8 mm.

30. The blow mould according to claim 16, where the embossing has a depth of between 0.6 mm and 0.8 mm for a PET blow-moulded product and of between 0.2 mm and 0.4 mm for a PP or PE blow-moulded product.

31. The method according to claim 24, wherein the embossing step is chemical etching.

32. The blow mould according to claim 17, where the blow mould elements are made from a metal selected from the group consisting of steel and aluminium.

33. The blow mould according to claim 17, where the insert forms the largest part of the tube-shaped surface of the concavity provided to form a part of the side wall of the blow-moulded product.

34. The blow mould according to claim 18, where the insert forms the largest part of the tube-shaped surface of the concavity provided to form a part of the side wall of the blow-moulded product.

35. The blow mould according to claim 17, where at least one of the first and/or second blow mould elements comprises an indentation provided to place the insert.

Description

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0053] With the insight of better showing the features of the invention, a preferred embodiment of a blow mould according to the present invention is described below as an example without any limiting feature, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which

[0054] FIG. 1 is an illustration of a present blow mould according to the state of the art.

[0055] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the blow mould comprising the blow mould elements, the insert and the blow-moulded product according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] FIG. 1 shows a blow mould 11 according to the state of the art. The blow mould comprises two elements that inscribe a concavity 12. The desired pattern 13 is applied to the wall of the element of the blow mould 11 to form a pattern onto a blow-moulded product 14.

[0057] FIG. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of a blow mould 21 according to the present invention. This moulding consists of two blow mould elements 22 and 23 that inscribe a concavity 24. The blow mould 21 is preferably made from aluminium.

[0058] This concavity 24 is provided to form a blow-moulded product. One of the blow mould elements comprises an indentation 27 to receive an insert 25. This insert 25 is provided to form a part of the wall of the blow-moulded product 26. The insert 25 has an embossed surface to form a pattern onto a blow-moulded product and is preferably attached onto a surface of the first blow mould element 22 by a double-sided adhesive tape, a magnet or geometric means.

[0059] The insert 25 is preferably a half cylindrical metal plate of tin steel having a wall thickness of between 0.6 mm and 0.8 mm. The insert 25 forms the largest part of the tube-shaped surface of the blow-moulded concavity 24.

[0060] The embossing is preferably between 0.6 mm and 0.8 mm for a PET blow-moulded product 26 and between 0.2 mm and 0.4 mm for a PP or PE blow-moulded product 26.

[0061] The main difference between FIGS. 1 and 2 is that an insert is added to the invention.

[0062] Preferably, the blow mould 21 described is according to a method comprising the subsequent steps:

[0063] a. providing a pattern mask onto the surface of the metal plate 25,

[0064] b. chemical etching of the surface of the metal plate 25 by the aforementioned pattern mask so that an embossing is formed of the surface of the metal plate 25,

[0065] c. removing the aforementioned pattern mask.

[0066] This method also comprises a step of bending the plate 25.

[0067] The invention is also suitable for use of the blow mould 21 described to make a blow-moulded product 26. Of course, the invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments.