Patent ID: 8047022

Claim:
Apparatus for opening and closing mold arms in a glassware forming machine, which includes: a gearbox for mounting on a glassware machine frame, a cylinder housing suspended beneath said gearbox, a mold open/close cylinder disposed within said cylinder housing, said mold open/close cylinder having a mold open/close piston with an extending piston rod and a gear rack in said piston rod, a first drive gear in said cylinder housing coupled to said gear rack and to a drive shaft that extends from said first drive gear and said cylinder housing into said gearbox, a second drive gear disposed in said gearbox and coupled to said shaft, laterally spaced operating shafts extending upwardly from within said gearbox, means including an idler gear coupling said second drive gear to said operating shafts such that said operating shafts are rotated simultaneously in opposite directions by said cylinder through said piston rod, said first drive gear, said drive shaft, said second drive gear and said means including an idler gear, linkages for coupling said operating shafts to the mold arms of the glassware forming machine, and a mold close boost cylinder within said cylinder housing and having a mold close boost piston operatively coupled to said piston rod and said gear rack.