Patent ID: 7614869

Claim:
An injection molding system comprising: a manifold having a melt channel for receiving a melt stream of moldable material; a front-mountable nozzle having a melt channel in fluid communication with the manifold melt channel, the nozzle being disposed within an opening in a mold plate and having a plurality of nozzle tips radially extending from a downstream end, wherein each nozzle tip is in fluid communication with a respective mold cavity and wherein the nozzle only makes contact with the mold plate via a locator device positioned between a downstream surface of the nozzle and the mold plate, the locator device being of a height to align each nozzle tip with the respective mold cavity; a tubular connector device having a melt channel for receiving the melt stream from the manifold melt channel and delivering the melt stream to the nozzle melt channel, the tubular connector device having a first end within a downstream bore in the manifold and having a second end within an upstream bore in the nozzle and being of a length that bridges a space between the manifold and nozzle, wherein one of the first and second ends of the tubular connector is threaded; and a spacer member positioned between a downstream surface of the manifold and an upstream surface of the mold plate that maintains the space between the manifold and the nozzle such that the manifold and nozzle do not touch in operating and non-operating conditions.