Take-out tong head assembly

A take-out tong head assembly for a glass blowing machine is mounted in a take-out mechanism for omni-directional adjustment of the tong head assembly in a plane perpendicular to the vertical axis of the blow molds for the purpose of eliminating checks in the blown articles formed in said glass blowing machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In the manufacturing process of glass articles, such as by the blow-blow 
process, a gob of molten glass is fed to each one of the machine's 
sections, for example of the I.S. type which forms a pre-form of the 
container or parison in an inverted position, and also forms the container 
crown. The preform is then inverted to its normal position and placed in a 
blow mold, where it receives a final air blowing, thus shaping the 
container to the desired final shape. 
Once the final blowing has taken place, a take-out mechanism then transfers 
the container from the blow mold to a cooling plate where the container 
receives an initial cooling. Later, the container is transported on an 
endless moving belt to a glass annealing lehr. 
Take-out mechanism used in I.S. glass forming machines are well known and 
essentially include an arm that is pivotally supported at one of its ends 
on a supporting structure which is placed at the front of the machine, and 
which is moved so that it oscillates angularly from the position of the 
finishing mold to the position of the cooling plate. A tong head assembly 
is supported at the end of the oscillating arm and moves in a relationship 
that is dependent to the oscillatory movement of the said arm, and 
supports at least a pair of tongs which are located at the lower extreme 
end of the tong head. A mechanism is provided for simultaneously opening 
and closing the tong assembly. 
Although known take-out mechanisms operate more or less efficiently, they 
can cause a defect at the neck of the blown article due to differences in 
position of the vertical axis of the tongs and the vertical axis of the 
blow mold. 
The defects appearing on the articles is caused at the time the tongs 
close. If variation exists between the axes, one of the halves of the 
tongs will contact the article before the other, and in so doing will push 
the container laterally, at which time the glass that is still in a hot 
state. 
The ideal is that the tongs close without contacting the glass, and, that 
contact with the glass takes place after the ascending movement of the 
mechanism starts. However, it is very difficult to make the required 
adjustment between the tongs and the center of the blow mold. 
Consequently, the take-out mechanisms of the prior art leave much to be 
desired, since it is not possible to adjust them accurately and it is not 
easy to eliminate lack of proper alignment between the blow mold and the 
tongs. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the present invention there is provided a take-out tong head 
assembly for glassware forming machines, which can be adjusted 
transversely, longitudinally, and for angular movement relative to the 
central axis of the finishing mold, thus eliminating defects (checks) at 
the neck of the containers. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a take-out tong head 
assembly in which the alignment between the tongs and the central axis of 
the mold is improved. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a take-out tong 
head assembly which will guarantee that the tongs close around the neck of 
the container without there being contact with the glass article.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
The drawings show a take-out tong head assembly which includes a support 10 
for a pair of cylinders 12, 14, which each have a tong holder guide 
bracket 16, 18 attached at their lower part. Each guide bracket 16, 18 is 
provided with a pair of scissors tongs assemblies 20, 22, which are used 
to grab the glass articles by the neck and to transfer them to a cooling 
plate located at the front of the forming machine. Each one of the 
cylinders 12, 14 includes a piston rod (not shown), which is connected to 
the tongs 20, 22, and which through pneumatic pressure opens or closes the 
tongs 20, 22 in conformity with the operation cycle of the forming 
machine. 
The take-out tong head assembly includes an adjustment plate 24 fastened to 
the top part of the support 10 by screws to the plate 24 includes a first 
pair of openings 26, 28 spaced on the longer sides of the plate 24 in 
which are received supports 30, 32. The upper portion of each support 30, 
32 includes a threaded opening through which screws 34, 35 extend in order 
to effect transverse and angular adjustments of the lower support 10. 
A second pair of openings 38, 40 in the plate 24 are provided at positions 
spaced from the shorter sides of the plate 24. Supports 42, 44 are 
received in the openings 38, 40. Screws 46, 48 are threaded into openings 
of the supports 42, 44 in order to effect the longitudinal movement of 
said support 10. 
An upper support 50 is positioned above plate 24 between supports 30, 32 
and 42, 44 in such a way that screws 34, 36 and 46, 48 can be axially 
moved into engagement with the support 50 in order to adjust the take-out 
tong head assembly to a desired angular position with respect to the 
support 50. To permit this adjustment, a pair of screws 52, 54 extend 
through apertures in the support 50 and are threaded into the adjustment 
plate 24. A washer 56, 58 is positioned between the support 50 and the 
heads of the screws 52, 54 in order to provide support for the plate 24, 
and thus the lower support 10 and thus permit freedom of movement of the 
lower support 10 in the desired direction prior to tightening down of the 
screws 52, 54. 
The upper support 50 is attached to an arm (not shown) of the take-out 
mechanism, which is employed to transport articles from the blow mold to a 
cooling plate. 
Adjustments of the tongs relative to the blow mold can be easily made by 
loosening screws 52, 54 of the upper support 50 and then appropriately 
adjusting the screws 34, 36 and 46, 48 to move the lower support 10, as 
shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C, in such a direction that the central axis of 
the blow mold and the central axis of the tongs become coincident. Once 
the adjustment has been made, screws 52, 54 are tightened to lock the 
lower support 10 in its adjusted position. 
It will be appreciated that various modifications may be made in the 
embodiment described above without departing from the scope of the 
appended claims.