Patent ID: 8287270

Claim:
A billet thermoforming system comprising: a heating apparatus having one or more heating elements; a conveyor; a plurality of billet carriers attached to the conveyor; a billet loader configured to load each of a plurality of billets in the plurality of billet carriers attached to the conveyor; a rotary billet thermoformer configured to form each of the plurality of billets, while the plurality of billets are disposed within the plurality of billet carriers, into a container after each of the plurality of billets is heated by the heating apparatus and while the rotary billet thermoformer continuously rotates, the conveyor configured to continuously transport the plurality of billets horizontally in the plurality of billet carriers through the heating apparatus along a billet transport path and around the rotary billet thermoformer, the rotary billet thermoformer comprising a plurality of form molds angularly positioned about an axis of rotation and a plurality of plungers, each of the plurality of plungers aligned with one of the plurality of form molds and each of the plurality of form molds adapted to engage one of the plurality of billet carriers prior to forming the container with the billet in the billet carrier as the conveyor passes around the rotary billet thermoformer; and a discharge system configured to sequentially evacuate individual formed containers from the rotary billet thermoformer.