Patent ID: 7157037

Claim:
A method for making plastic articles by a plastic injection molding process, the method comprising: providing means for manufacturing the plastic articles wherein articles are manufactured while a crosshead assembly and a plurality of rack assemblies move in a forward direction and articles are manufactured while said crosshead assembly and plurality of rack assemblies move in a reverse direction, wherein the means for manufacturing the plastic articles includes rotatable cores that rotate in the same direction regardless of the movement of the crosshead assembly and plurality of rack assemblies in the forward or reverse direction, wherein the rotatable cores are arranged in an array of adjacent columns, and wherein the plurality of rack assemblies are bi-directional rack assemblies adapted to cause the rotation of respective adjacent rotatable cores, with one rack assembly located on the outside of each of the outermost columns of rotatable cores and the remaining rack assemblies are each located in between a number of adjacent columns of rotatable cores.