Patent ID: 6969246

Claim:
A twin sheet thermoforming forming station including: a thermoforming press with a stationary frame; an upper platen mounted on said stationary frame to be movable vertically carrying a female mold and a male plug assist; a lower platen below said upper platen mounted on said frame to be vertically movable and carrying side by side a female mold and a male plug assist; one of said upper or lower platens mounted also on said stationary press frame to be movable laterally between a first position whereat said female molds are each aligned with a plug assist and a second position whereat said female molds are aligned with each other; a horizontal drive for driving said laterally movable platen between said first and second positions; an upper platen vertical drive for moving said upper platen vertically; a lower platen vertical drive for moving said lower platen vertically; said upper and lower platens movable together by operation of said respective vertical drives to move each of said plug assists towards a respective mold with said laterally movable platen in said first position; said molds thereby aligned together to enable fusing of formed sheets together with said movable platen in said second position, and a hydraulic draw mechanism comprising sets of mating elements on said upper and lower platen respectively mated together as said upper and lower platen move together with said lower platen in said second position and said molds aligned, a coupling mechanism locking mating pairs of said elements together, a hydraulic cylinder acting on each coupled mating pair of elements to draw said upper and lower platens together to fuse a perimeter flange on sheets previously formed in said molds.