Anti-falling mold protection device for an automatic mold opening and closing machine

An anti-falling protection device for an automatic mold opening and closing machine is used on a mold mounting unit to secure or release an upper mold with a pair of wings, and is provided with a movable member movably disposed on the mold mounting unit, two protection members movably provided along two lateral surfaces of the mold mounting unit, a power unit which extends and retracts between a first position and a second position, and the connecting member connected between the power unit and the movable member. When in the first position, the power unit drives the two protection members to move toward the power unit and make the protection members stop beneath the wings, and when in the second position, the piston drives the two protection members to move away the wings of the upper mold.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to an automatic mold opening and closing machine, and more particularly to an anti-falling mold protection device for an automatic mold opening and closing machine.

Related Prior Art

A mold assembly can generally be divided into an upper mold and a lower mold by the joint surface. A part of the mold cavity is formed in the upper mold, another part is formed in the lower mold, and when the upper and lower molds are closed, the mold cavity will be filled with material which will be molded into a finally product after cooling off. When the mold assembly is applied in a vertical injection molding machine for automatic molding, it requires an automatic mold opening and closing device to perform opening and closing of the mold assembly in an automatic manner.

The automatic mold opening and closing device includes a base for mounting of a lower mold, a pivot seat pivotally disposed between a first position and a second position on the base, and a mold mounting unit disposed on the pivot seat to clamp or release an upper mold. When the pivot seat is in the first position, the mold mounting unit will be lowered down to clamp the mold or to move the mold downward, when the pivot seat is in the second position, the mold mounting unit and the mold will rotate an angle to finish the action of opening the mold.

SUMMARY

An embodiment of the invention is to provide an anti-falling protection device for an automatic mold opening and closing machine, which is capable of prevent the upper mold from falling down to the ground when the mold clamping unit which clamps the upper mold loses clamping ability, so as to further protect other components of the automatic opening and closing machine from being damaged by the falling upper mold.

An anti-falling protection device for an automatic mold opening and closing machine in accordance with an embodiment of the invention is suitable for use on a mold mounting unit to secure or release an upper mold which is provided with a pair of wings. The anti-falling protection device is provided with a movable member, two protection members, a power unit and a connecting member. The movable member is movably disposed on a top surface of the mold mounting unit and includes a first movable portion and a second movable portion connected to the first movable portion. The two protection members are driven by the movable member to move along the two lateral surfaces of the mold mounting unit, and each include a fixing portion fixed to the first movable portion of the movable member, a middle portion connected to the fixing portion and located toward the lateral surfaces of the mold mounting unit, and a protection portion connected to the middle portion to support or release the wings of the upper mold. The power unit includes a cylinder and a piston which extends and retracts between a first position and a second position, the piston includes a rod portion which is exposed out of the cylinder and fixed on a surface of the mold mounting unit. The connecting member includes a first connecting portion connected to the cylinder, and a second connecting portion connected to the first connecting portion and the second movable portion of the movable member. When in the first position, the piston drives the movable member and the two protection members to move toward the power unit until the protection portions of the respective protection members are moved to a position beneath the wings of the upper mold, when in the second position, the piston drives the movable member and the two protection members to move away from the power unit, so that the protection portions of the protection members are moved away from the wings of the upper mold.

Preferably, a mold clamping unit is disposed at each of the lateral surfaces of the mold mounting unit to clamp the wings of the upper mold.

Preferably, the anti-falling protection device for an automatic mold opening and closing machine further includes two restricting members, the first movable portion of the movable member is provided with two slots, each of the restricting members includes a restricting portion fixed at the top surface of the mold mounting unit and located in the slots, and an expansion portion connected to the restricting portion and abutted against the top surface of the first movable portion.

Preferably, the middle portion of the respective protection members is located a distance from the lateral surfaces of the mold mounting unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring toFIGS. 1-6, an anti-falling protection device for an automatic mold opening and closing machine in accordance with the present invention is suitable for use on a mold mounting unit11to secure or release an upper mold12which is provided with a pair of wings121. In this embodiment, the mold mounting unit11includes two opposite lateral surfaces111, a front surface112, a rear surface113opposite the front surface112, a top surface114and a bottom surface115. At each of the lateral surfaces of the mold mounting unit11is provided a mold clamping unit13which is used to clamp the wings121of the upper mold12. The anti-falling protection device includes: a movable member20, two protection members30, a power unit40and a connecting member50.

The movable member20is movably disposed on the top surface114of the mold mounting unit11and movable along a direction from the front surface112to rear surface113, and includes: a first movable portion21and a second movable portion22connected to the first movable portion21. In this embodiment, the first movable portion21of the movable member20is provided with two slots23running in the direction from the front surface112to the rear surface113. Two restricting members61are used to restrict the movement of the movable member20, and each include a restricting portion611fixed at the top surface114of the mold mounting unit11and located in the slots23, and an expansion portion612connected to the restricting portion611and abutted against the top surface of the first movable portion21.

The two protection members30are driven by the movable member20to move along the two lateral surfaces111of the mold mounting unit11, and each include: a fixing portion31fixed to the first movable portion21of the movable member20, a middle portion32connected to the fixing portion31and located toward the two lateral surfaces111of the mold mounting unit11, and a protection portion33connected to the middle portion32to support or release the wings121of the upper mold12. In this embodiment, the middle portion32of the respective protection members30is located a distance from the two lateral surfaces111of the mold mounting unit11, and the protection portion33is located a little lower than the clamping members131of the mold clamping units13.

The power unit40includes a cylinder41and a piston42which extends and retracts between a first position and a second position. The piston42includes a rod portion421which is exposed out of the cylinder41and fixed on a surface (namely, the rear surface113) of the mold mounting unit11.

The connecting member50includes a first connecting portion51connected to the cylinder41, and a second connecting portion52connected to the first connecting portion51and the second movable portion22of the movable member20.

When in the first position (as shown inFIG. 5), the piston42will drive the movable member20and the two protection members30to move toward the power unit40until the protection portions33of the respective protection members30are moved to a position beneath the wings121of the upper mold12. When in the second position (as shown inFIG. 8), the piston42will drive the movable member20and the two protection members30to move away from the power unit40, so that the protection portions33of the protection members30are moved away from (namely out of the position beneath the wings121) the wings121of the upper mold12.

What mentioned above are the structural relations of the main components of the embodiment, and for a better understanding of the operation and function of the present invention, please refer to the following descriptions.

When the mold clamping units13of the mold mounting unit11are clamped against the wings121of the upper mold12, the piston42of the power unit40can be controlled to extend out into the first position, namely, the cylinder41moves in a direction away from the rear surface113of the mold mounting unit11. Since the connecting member50is connected to the cylinder41and the movable member20which is connected to the protection members30, the protection members30will therefore be moved toward the power unit40until the protection portions33of the respective protection members30are moved to a position beneath the wings121of the upper mold12, so as to provide protection to the upper mold12when the mold clamping units13lose clamping ability.

It can be seen fromFIG. 6that the upper mold12is clamped at the bottom surface of the mold mounting unit11by the mold clamping units13. When the mold clamping units13lose clamping ability, as shown inFIG. 9, the upper mold12will be released from the mold mounting unit11and the mold clamping units13, and supported by the protection portions33of the protection member30at the wings121of the upper mold12, preventing the upper mold12from falling down to the ground, and protecting the automatic mold opening and closing machine from being damaged by the falling upper mold12.

It is to be noted that when in a state shown inFIG. 5, to release the upper mold12, the piston42of the power unit40can be controlled to retract to the second position, as shown inFIGS. 7 and 8, namely, the cylinder41moves towards the rear surface113of the mold mounting unit11, due to the connecting member50, the movable member20and the protection members30are fixed to one another, the protection members30will move away from the power unit40to make the protection portions33of the protection members30disengage from the wings121of the upper mold12. Then, the mold clamping units13are controlled to stop clamping the upper mold12, and release the upper mold12from the mold mounting unit11.