Patent ID: 7168942

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: (a) an injection mold having one or more portions; (b) a gas supply tube containing a gas at a first pressure; (c) an orifice member having an orifice thereon in thermal communication with at least one portion of the injection mold, wherein the orifice member is operably coupled to receive the gas from the gas supply tube, and wherein the orifice member is adapted to release the gas from the gas supply tube through the orifice; (d) a gas exhaust channel containing the gas at a second pressure, wherein the gas exhaust channel is operably coupled to receive the gas from the orifice member, and wherein the second pressure is lower than the first pressure; and (e) a gas supply system operably coupled to supply the gas at the first pressure to the gas supply tube, and wherein the gas supply system includes at least one gas cooler adapted to cool the supply of gas at the first pressure; whereby at least one portion of the mold is cooled.