Patent ID: 6866809

Claim:
Moulding apparatus comprising means for feeding a stream of mouldable material into a holding cavity through a feed opening in the bounding wall of said cavity until a charge of predetermined volume is in said cavity, a piston having a forward position and a retracted position, a face of the piston forming part of said bounding wall of said holding cavity whilst the piston is in said retracted position, an opening in the bounding wall of said holding cavity for placing said holding cavity in communication with a moulding cavity, means for advancing said piston through said holding cavity from said retracted position to said forward position thereby to force said charge out of the holding cavity through said opening, said holding cavity being of constant cross section between the retracted position of the piston and said opening and the front face of the piston being of the same cross-section as said holding cavity and said opening, said face, when the piston has in use been displaced to said forward position, forming part of the bounding wall of the moulding cavity into which the mouldable material has been discharged, and means for adjusting the position to which the piston retracts thereby to enable the volume of said holding cavity to be varied.