HIGH-SPEED TAKEOUT SYSTEM

A takeout for transferring products from the mold of a blow-molding machine to a discharge position. The takeout has two, connected, mirror-image frame members defining parallel planes. A flexible slide is connected to each respective frame member on one end and to a respective arm on the opposite end. The arms have lifting fingers which hold, carry, and release a product. Carriages provide tracks along which the arms travel in the horizontal direction; the carriages themselves travel along guides of the frame members in the vertical direction. Driven by motors, belts carry each arm and its lifting finger along predetermined, closed, endless paths including the mold, a series of intermediate positions, and the discharge position. A computer controls independently one or more of the on-off status, the direction of rotation, and the speed of rotation of each of the motors and controls independently each of the lifting fingers.