Abstract: A rotary cooling apparatus for cooling preforms (P) made of thermoplastic material, comprising: —a carousel (1) defining a periphery thereof and adapted to rotate about a substantially vertical rotation axis; —at least one fixed guide element (6) arranged along at least part of said periphery; —a plurality of cooling devices (3) radially arranged along the periphery of the carousel, each cooling device (3) being adapted to substantially horizontally translate along a radial direction with respect to said rotation axis, and provided with a plurality of cooling tubes (4) arranged in sequence along said radial direction and adapted to receive a respective preform to be cooled; —a plurality of picking and releasing devices (5), each picking and releasing device (5) cooperating with a respective cooling device (3) and being adapted to pick a preform from a transfer wheel, release said preform alternately into one of said cooling tubes (4) and pick said preform again to release it downstream of said rotary apparatu

Abstract: 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

Abstract: A cooling and retaining pin (1) for cooling, by air blowing, and retaining, by air suction, a plastic preform, the pin comprising a body (2), defining a longitudinal axis and having a first opening (5) at a first end thereof, coaxial to said longitudinal axis and adapted to be connected to a handling station; a movable element (3) adapted to slide at least partially inside said body; at least one air passage gap provided at a second end of the body or at said first end; wherein the movable element (3) is adapted to move from a first position, to which a first air passage section corresponds, to a second position, to which a second air passage section corresponds, which is smaller than said first section, so as to adjust a blowing air flow during the cooling step and a suction air flow during the step of retaining the preform.

Abstract: A support apparatus (3) for supporting at least one neck mold (4) of a plastic container, the apparatus being adapted to be fastened to a lower surface of a rotating device (2) of an injection blow molding machine, said support apparatus comprising a pair of plates (5) defining a longitudinal axis (X), said plates (5) being adjacent to each other along the axis (X) and separable from each other transversely to said axis (X), and being kept adjacent in a normally closed state by elastic means (6); wherein each plate (5) is provided with at least one respective recess positioned so that, when the plates (5) of said pair of plates are in the normally closed state, at least two recesses are adjacent to each other along said longitudinal axis (X) so as to define a seat for a neck mold (4) comprising a pair of split molds (7), each split mold (7) being capable of being accommodated in a recess of a respective plate (5); a pair of side guides (8) transverse to said longitudinal axis (X), adapted to be fastened to sa

Abstract: 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