MOULDING OF THERMOPLASTIC SOCKETS

1382360 Grooving tubes SOC INDUSTRIELLE GAILLON-ARMOVYL ARMOSIG 28 Dec 1972 [28 Dec 1971] 59932/72 Heading B5A The end of a tube 27 (Fig. 3), is flared and grooved internally by a mandrel 1, annular punch 10, 11 and flexible female mould 3. A hollow body 5 is mounted on a support 46, and plate 8 supporting a slide 6 and the mandrel 1 attached to a spacing rod 9, is moved to the right (as shown), by a jack rod 7. The end of the thermoplastic tube 27 is oven heated, pushed over the mandrel 1, and clamped by jaws 40. A jack rod 14 concentric with the rod 7 pushes a cone 15 over the rod 9, to force wedges 10, 11 (of the annular punch), outwards to mould the groove. Simultaneously, cold water is forced through a nozzle 41 into a chamber 4, to expand the flexible female mould 3 to shape the groove exterior (see Fig. 1, not reproduced), and the water is circulated through a nozzle 43 to cool the tube end. The fluid is withdrawn, the cone 15 moved to the left, and the wedges 10, 11, are moved inwards by a spring, or by the resilience of supporting plates 12. The tube is removed. The wedges 10, 11 can be moved outwardly before the tube is forced over the mandrel; the wedges 11 wedge those 10 outwards (see Fig. 2). Operation is manual or automatic.