# Patent

## Title
Shoulder box for cigarettes or the like

## Abstract

Each of the ball detent members 74 is constructed in the manner shown in FIG. 7 and comprises a cylindrical body 90 having a captive ball 92 and extending outward from the top thereof under bias force of a spring 94. To assemble the inner collet 66 to the drive spindle disk 40, the heat shield/locking plate 46 is rotated to place the enlarged ends 84 of the bulbous slots 82 in alignment with the bores 78. The collet pins 72 and ball detent members 74 are then inserted into the bores 78, 80, respectively, and the top planar surface 70 pushed tightly against the inner surface of the drive spindle disk 40. The ball 92 of each ball detent member 74 is compressed against the inside of the locking plate 50 and the heads 76 on the collet pins 72 pass beyond the top of the locking plate 50. The components then appear as shown in FIG. 6. With the inner collet 66 gripped for non-rotation, the heat shield 48 is gripped and rotated in the direction of the arrow 96. This causes the heads 76 to move over the slot ends 86 and for the balls 96 to snap into the bores 88 to prevent the locking plate 50 from reversing direction inadvertently to release the inner collet 66. To replace the inner collets 66 with others sized to grip another size preform for reconfiguration of the machinery, the above-described procedure is simply reversed. Thus, reconfiguration can be affected quickly and accurately in a matter of minutes instead of hours and days.

## Background
## Claims

1. In a movable pallet containing a plurality of stations for releasably gripping a plurality of workpieces as they are moved through a manufacturing process, the improvement for providing rapid reconfiguration of the stations to accept different sized workpieces wherein each station comprises: perpendicular to a shaft rotatable relative to and supported by the pallet; said shaft; and, said collet member including locking means for interacting with said locking member to releasably attach said collet member to said mounting plate to be moved in combination therewith whereby to reconfigure the pallet for different sized workpieces said collet members are replaced with ones of said collet members sized to grip said different sized workpieces; wherein said shaft; through said bores when said collet member is disposed against said plate; and, collet pins to releasably hold said collet member against said plate.

2. The improvement to a movable pallet of claim 1 wherein:

3. The improvement to a movable pallet of claim 2 wherein: bulbous slots disposed to align with said opposed bores in said disk, said bulbous slots having enlarged ends for said heads of said collet pins to pass through and slot ends sized to prevent said heads from passing therethrough whereby said collet member can be releasably attached to said disk by passing said collet pins through said opposed bores and said enlarged ends and thereafter rotating said locking member to position said slot ends under said heads of said collet pins.

4. The improvement to a movable pallet of claim 3 and additionally comprising: to prevent inadvertent rotation thereof when said heads of said collet pins are positioned over and are being held by said slot ends.

5. The improvement to a movable pallet of claim 4 wherein: spring-biased member when said heads of said collet pins are positioned over and are being held by said slot ends.

6. The improvement to a movable pallet of claim 6 wherein:

7. The improvement to a movable pallet of claim 2 wherein: held by said collet member.

8. The improvement to a movable pallet of claim 7 where the workpiece is a resin preform for a bottle in a blow molding operation and wherein: bottle; and, to blow molding of the remainder of the preform.

9. An easily replacable collet assembly for use in a moveable pallet containing a plurality of stations for releasably gripping a plurality of workpieces as they are moved through a manufacturing process for providing rapid reconfiguration of the stations to accept different sized workpieces, said collet assembly comprising: and rotatable relative to and supported by the pallet; said shaft; and, said collet member including locking means for interacting with said locking member to releasably attach said collet member to said mounting plate to be moved in combination therewith; wherein said shaft; through said bores when said collet member is disposed against said plate; and, collet pins to releasably hold said collet member against said plate.

10. The collet assembly of claim 9 wherein:

11. The collet assembly of claim 10 wherein: bulbous slots disposed to align with said opposed bores in said disk, said bulbous slots having enlarged ends for said heads of said collet pins to pass through and slot ends sized to prevent said heads from passing therethrough whereby said collet member can be releasably attached to said disk by passing said collet pins through said opposed bores and said enlarged ends and thereafter rotating said locking member to position said slot ends under said heads of said collet pins.

12. The collet assembly of claim 11 and additionally comprising: to prevent inadvertent rotation thereof when said heads of said collet pins are positioned over and are being held by said slot ends.

13. The collet assembly of claim 12 wherein: spring-biased member when said heads of said collet pins are positioned over and are being held by said slot ends.

14. The collet assembly of claim 13 wherein:

15. The collet assembly of claim 10 wherein: held by said collet member.

16. The collet assembly of claim 15 where the workpiece is a resin preform for a bottle in a blow molding operation and wherein: bottle; and, to blow molding of the remainder of the preform.

17. An easily replacable collet assembly for use in a movable pallet containing a plurality of stations for releasably gripping and rotating a plurality of resin preforms as they are moved through a blow molding process for providing rapid reconfiguration of the stations to accept different sized preforms, said collet assembly comprising: thereto, said mounting member comprising a mounting plate perpendicular to a rotatable shart by which the mounting plate is supported by the pallet; said shaft; and, collet member including locking means for interacting with said locking member to releasably attach said collet member to said mounting plate to be moved in combination therewith; wherein said shaft; through said bores when said collet member is disposed against said plate; and, collet pins to releasably hold said collet member against said plate.

18. The collet assembly of claim 17 wherein:

19. The collet assembly of claim 18 wherein: bulbous slots disposed to align with said opposed bores in said disk, said bulbous slots having enlarged ends for said heads of said collet pins to pass through and slot ends sized to prevent said heads from passing therethrough whereby said collet member can be releasably attached to said disk by passing said collet pins through said opposed bores and said enlarged ends and thereafter rotating said locking member to position said slot ends under said heads of said collet pins.

20. The collet assembly of claim 19 and additionally comprising: member to prevent inadvertent rotation thereof when said heads of said collet pins are positioned over and are being held by said slot ends.

21. The collet assembly of claim 20 wherein: spring-biased member when said heads of said collet pins are positioned over and are being held by said slot ends.

22. The collet assembly of claim 21 wherein:

23. The collet assembly of claim 18 wherein: cylinder is a heat shield for shielding the neck portion of a preform being held by said collet member.