Abstract:
A colored bottle blank comprises a base blank and an outer blank. The base blank has an injected thickness from the upper part thereof extending to the bottle mouth greater than the rest part thereof. The rest part of the base blank extends outward from the inner wall thereof to constitute a recess. The outer blank is injected to form an outer wall filled with the recess. The material of the outer blank is the same material as the base blank, but the color thereof is different from that of the base blank filling with the recess. Hence, the colored blank can be formed with a homogeneous thickness.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of The Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a colored bottle blank, forming mold set for making the colored bottle blank, and manufacturing process of the colored bottle blank.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0004]    A bottle has been used as a container since very ancient years. Nevertheless, the bottle is made differently in different eras. Due to the development of industrial technology and the progress of civilization, the material adopted for the bottle is changed from such as ceramics, metal, and glass, which are natural, to the high molecular material or so-called polyester, which is frequently used nowadays.  
           [0005]    The high molecular container such as the high molecular bottle is malleably made by way of extending blow forming in a injection mold. The method to make the high molecular bottle is used to call blowing bottle technique. The material such as Polyester utilized to make the bottle is injected by way of injection molding to form a hollow bottle blank with a bottle mouth first. Then, the blank is placed in a extending and blowing mold to be extended and blown so as to constitute a bottle body with empty interior. The extending and blowing process can be completed either in one step or two steps, and basically, the bottle mouth with a part for engaging a bottle cap has to be integrated with the hollow body after the manufacturing process is complete.  
           [0006]    Furthermore, while the bottle body is used for containing fluid merchandise especially those popularly sold in the consumer market such as juice, and beverage, it is necessary to add a sticker or print a mark on the bottle body in order to emphasize the feature of the merchandise. In other words, for bottles formed by way of various are provided with a single color only such that there is no any other visional enhancement for the bottle except the configuration of the bottle body.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    An object of the present invention is to provide a colored bottle blank, forming molds for the colored blank, and manufacturing process of the colored bottle blank such that a bottle blank with at least two colors can be made effectively. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    The present invention can be more fully understood by referring to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a base mold according to the present invention with a base blank therein;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a second mold according to the present invention with a second blank therein;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a third mold according to the present invention with a third blank therein;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the finished mold according to the present invention with a finished bottle blank therein; and  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating steps to form the colored bottle blank.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0014]    Basically, the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIGS.  1  to  5  is for a bottle blank with four colors, but it may be applied for a bottle blank with either two colors or more than two colors as desired.  
         [0015]    Referring to FIG. 1, the base mold  1  is composed of two separable mold halves  11  and a mold core  12  is located at the center of the base mold  1 . An annular receiving groove  13  is formed between the mold core  12  and said two mold halves  11  and a passage  14  communicates with the receiving groove  13  for injected material being able to enter the receiving groove  13  through the passage  14  and form a bottle blank therein. As shown in FIG. 1, the receiving groove  13  in the base mold  1  is provided with a bottle mouth  15  and an inner wall of the bottle blank. The dash line in FIG. 1 indicates the outer contour line of a finished bottle blank such that the lower part of the base mold  1  is arranged to have a thicker wall. A first colored blank  16  with a thick upper portion and a thin lower portion is formed in the receiving groove  13  and includes the bottle mouth  15 .  
         [0016]    Referring to FIG. 2, a second mold  2  is similar to the base mold  1  shown in FIG. 1 and provided with a second mold core  22 . The difference of the second mold  2  from the base mold  1  is that the respective mold halve  21  of the second mold  2  has a wall thickness smaller than that of the base mold  1 . In addition, a second receiving groove  23  is formed between the first color blank  16  and the inner wall of the mold to communicate with a second material passage  24 . After the second receiving groove  23  having been injected with material, a second colored blank  25  may be formed to coat the lower portion of the first colored blank  16 .  
         [0017]    Referring to FIG. 3, a third mold  3  is similar to the base mold  1  and the second mold  2  shown in FIGS. I and  2  and provided with a mold core  32  at the center thereof too. The respective mold halves  31  of the third mold  3  has a wall thickness smaller than that of the respective mold halve  21  of the second mold  2 . In the meantime, a third receiving groove  33  is formed to surround the second colored blank  25  from the upper end thereof extending downward to the lower part thereof. A third material passage  34  communicates the third receiving groove  33  such that a third colored blank  35  may be formed to coat the lower part of the second colored blank  25  after the material has been injected into the third receiving groove  34 .  
         [0018]    Referring to FIG. 4, the fourth mold  4  is similar to preceding molds and composed of two mold halves  41  with a center mold core  42 . The respective mold half  41  has a fourth receiving groove  43  therein and the outer wall surface is corresponding to the contour on the bottle blank. A fourth material passage  44  is provided to communicate the fourth receiving groove  43 . A fourth colored blank  45  is formed to cover the lower part of the preceding third colored blank  35  after the material has been injected into the fourth receiving groove  43  through the material passage  44 . As shown in FIG. 4, the fourth colored blank  45 , the third colored blank  35 , the second colored blank  25 , the first blank, and the bottle mouth  15  make the finished bottle blank provide with different colors due to different colored materials.  
         [0019]    Based on the principle of mixing colors, a colored bottle blank with various colored blank sections can be obtained successfully. For instance, colors for colored blanks can be arranged as the following description. The first colored blank  16  is chosen colorless and transparent. The second colored blank  25  may be yellow, green, or blue, or other multiple colors. The third colored blank  35  is a color other than preceding colors, and the fourth colored blank is provided with a color different from those on preceding colored blanks. Once the colored bottle blank is complete, a colored bottle body with different colored sections and a variety of colors can be received after subsequent process of extending and blowing.  
         [0020]    As for the non-transparent material being used, the bottle blank with different colored sections can be obtained as well. Each colored section can be contour or wavy at the margin thereof or can be formed with other preset sectional division thereof based on the design of mold. This is prior art in the field of mold designing and no detail will be described further.  
         [0021]    Referring to FIG. 5, a manufacturing process according to the present invention is illustrated by way of block diagram. Steps of the process shown in FIG. 5 are steps for four molds operation and include a first colored blank forming A, a second colored blank forming B, a third colored blank forming C, and a fourth colored blank forming D.  
         [0022]    The step of first colored blank forming A is that the material is injected into the preceding base mold  1  to perform a injection forming and obtain the first colored blank  16  after opening the base mold.  
         [0023]    The step of second colored blank forming B is that the preceding first colored blank  16  is placed in the second mold  2  and the material with another color is injected into the second mold  2 . Thus, a second colored blank  25  can be obtained by way of injection forming and cover the first colored blank  16  locally.  
         [0024]    The step of third colored blank forming C is that the preceding second colored blank  25  is placed in the third mold  3  and the material with a further color is injected into the third mold  2 . Thus, a third colored blank  35  can be obtained by way of injection forming and cover the second colored blank  25  locally.  
         [0025]    The step of fourth colored blank forming D is that the preceding third colored blank  35  is placed in the fourth mold  4  and the material with a further color is injected into the fourth mold  4 . Thus, a finished colored blank can be obtained by way of injection forming and cover the third colored blank  35  locally.  
         [0026]    Each step of injection forming may be performed by way of automation such as molding tools on a swivel table being operated sequentially. In addition, it may be done by way of the method according to the present invention that colored blanks made in two neighboring steps have a respective color different from each other. That is, the first colored blank  16  is different from the second colored blank  25  only and it is not restricted all colored blanks have a respective color, which has to be different from one another.  
         [0027]    It is preferable that the polyester is adopted as the material for the colored bottle blank. Of course, other high molecular material also can be utilized as long as it is possible to be injected, extended, blew during the manufacturing process.  
         [0028]    It is noted that the preceding embodiment is for four colored blanks and the present invention is suitable for at least two colored blank, i.e., a base mold can form a base blank and an outer mold can form an outer blank. The bottle mouth on the base blank with part of the base blank exposes and the rest thereof is covered by the outer blank. In this way, a bottle blank has an upper section and a lower section, and the color of the upper section and that of the lower section is different from each other. Thus, the bottle blank can be formed as a bottle body of dual colors after being extended, and blew.  
         [0029]    It is appreciated that a colored bottle blank offered by the present invention can be extended and blown to obtain a colored bottle body provided with at least two colors. Therefore, the technique disclosed in the present invention is not possible for the blowing technique of the prior art to reach effectively.  
         [0030]    While the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that modifications or variations may be easily made without departing from the spirit of this invention, which is defined by the appended claims.