Top down cooling system for I.S.glass moulding machine

A mold opening and closing mechanism for a section of an I.S. machine includes a mold carrier 25 mounted on horizontally extending shafts (28, fig 1). A housing 11 supports these shafts for axial displacement, to permit the carrier to be horizontally retracted and advanced relative to the housing. The housing 11 includes first and second vertically extending ducts 32 each of which communicates at its top with an interchangeable sleeve 36. A manifold assembly 49 includes a manifold including a plenum 60 which overlies each of the mold halves. An interchangeable spacer 64 is secured beneath the manifold frame 52, the spacer having vertically extending holes 62 communicating with a downwardly opening exit of the plenum for delivering cooling air from the plenum 60 down to vertical cooling air passages 31 in the mold halves 26. The manifold includes a pair of horizontally extending cylindrical inlet holes, each having a bushing 50. A pair of cylindrical tubes 48 are slidably received by the cylindrical holes, and first and second elbows 42 connect a second end of each of the cylindrical tubes 48 to the sleeves 36 so that cooling air from the ducts 32 will be delivered to the pair of tubes. Each of the pair of cylindrical tubes has a length selected so that the tubes will be received by the cylindrical holes as the carrier 25, 27 is displaced between horizontally retracted and advanced positions relative to the housing 11.