Patent ID: 7399442

Claim:
A system for injection molding a plurality of multiple layer plastic articles, the system comprising, a mold having a plurality of cavities to mold a plurality of multiple layer plastic articles; a first material source to supply a first polymeric material for use in forming at least one layer of each of the plurality of multiple layer plastic articles; a second material source to supply a second polymeric material for use in forming at least one layer of each of the plurality of multiple layer plastic articles; a plurality of nozzles in communication with a portion of the mold to inject the first and second polymeric materials into each of the plurality of cavities; a plurality of shooting pots, each of the plurality of shooting pots having an ingress port to receive the first polymeric material, a reservoir to hold a volume of the first polymeric material, and an egress port to feed there through a selected volume of the first polymeric material held by the reservoir; a first set of flow channels configured to distribute the first polymeric material from the first material source to the ingress port of each of the plurality of shooting pots; a second set of flow channels configured to distribute the first polymeric material from the egress port of each of the plurality of shooting pots to each of the plurality of nozzles to feed each of the plurality of nozzles with a controlled volume shot of the first polymeric material; a third set of flow channels configured to distribute the second polymeric material from the second material source to each of the plurality of nozzles; and a plurality of thermal control elements configured to cooperatively control a temperature component of a portion of the system through which the second polymeric material flows, the temperature component of the portion of the system being controllable to control a thermal property and a flow parameter of the second polymeric material flowing through the portion of the system to provide a material flow stream of the second polymeric material at an outlet of each of the plurality of nozzles having a substantial uniform flow parameter.