The history of blow molding (first part)

The blowing of plastics

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has its roots in

glass blowing

.

The invention of blown glass

was born in the same period of

the birth of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC

, which promoted the spread of this new technology. Glass blowing was supported by the Roman government, and glass artifacts were produced in many areas of their empire, on the eastern borders for instance, where now there are the countries of Lebanon, Israel and Cyprus, the Phoenician people created the first large blowing factories.

: The blow molding industry born in Italy

Actually, the process for obtaining #packaging by "#blowing" a #thermoelastic material, was known since , but had just a little use and only to produce cellulose objects.

From the there is a report of the first patents in this field, but we must wait the 40s to see the first successes of this technology, mainly due to the introduction of #polyethylene and #PVC which allowed the large-scale production of #blown #bottles.

The first #EBM (#Extrusion #BlowMoulding) technology for hollow bodies was initially applied only for small bottles, later also for large containers up to 5 liters.

Afterwards, the #IBM (#Injection Blow Molding) technology was developed and used above all to produce flacons and bottles for pharmaceutical or cosmetic markets.

s and s: The first manufacturer

The history of blowing hollow bodies began in Italy with Giuseppe Moi, originally from Sardinia, who created an empire between and . #Moi, in fifty years had managed to allow thirty companies start the blow moulding business in Italy and abroad. In the first half-liter Italian blow molding machine was manufactured, equipped with double screw extruders for the production of bottles for detergents. The first blow molder was followed, in , by machines of different sizes, from 2 to 10 Lt. with either heads in continuous extrusion and with an #accumulation #head.

s: The first large Italian blow molding industries

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Just after the second word war, two other companies started the development of these technologies: F.lli Moretti and Co-Mec.

The Moretti was founded in by the brothers Domenico and Giorgio Moretti as: "Mechanical workshop for the construction of machines and moulds for plastic hollow bodies". F.lli Moretti beyond the machines built also #extruders, extrusion heads, dies and small towings. One of the first #blowing machine, built in , was continuous extrusion type with #pneumatic movements to blow 2 Lt. containers for detergents.

The Co-Mec was founded in by Herberto Hauda, and until it built blowers with pneumatic movements with a maximum capacity of 5 Lt., while, in , the first #hydraulic type machine see the light, it could be equipped either with single head for 5 Lt container or a double head for up to 1 Lt. bottle.

Towards the end of the s, the first special heads  were manufactured (for PVC and PE), with the possibility, in some case, to color the bottles in stripes.

We must also remember Piero Giacobbe founding in the ASCO - Association of plastics machinery manufacturers. The first blowing machine was called Mini Magic, and equipped with a 38mm / 22D extruder driven by an hydraulic motor and an accumulation head with a control unit panel and 3 thermoregulated heating zones. (The complete line cost at the time 3,558 liras, approximately 1,700 euros today).

The ASCO, in , was changed in #MagicMP and quickly became a leader among the Italian blow moulding manufacturers for containers up to 200 liters, thanks to the #Miniblow and #Maxiblow models &#; the first for processing rigid PVC for food markets with automatic deflashing and neck calibration and the second for the production of larger containers up to 50 liters, with accumulation head and adjustment of parison weight and thickness.

...But the story continues.

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The process of using air to blow hot material was first used by the Syrians. The method is attributed to Syrian glass workers in the first century BC,

who realized that a glass bulb on the end of a blow pipe could be shaped into many useful hollow forms, with handles and feet and decorated adjuncts added at will. This involved placing a long tube, into a receptacle, which is located in a blast furnace containing liquid glass, and removing a blob of white hot liquid glass and spinning it and then blowing into a mouthpiece on the other end of the tube.

This process was refined in Europe during the Middle Ages because of the demand for bottles to contain and ship products such as wine. Reliefs on the walls of Egyptian royal tombs record the art of glass blow molding. Egyptians further developed the art of blow molding in - B.C.Enoch Ferngren and William Kopitke were the first verified people who used the Blow Molding Process.

In , S.T. Armstrong, U.S. patent reference to blow molding a plastic material other than glass. In the mid s, ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) developed low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which was commercialized in and perfected in for squeeze bottles. In , Ferngren and Kopitke produced a blow molding machine and sold it to Hartford Empire Company. This was the beginning of the commercial blow molding process. During the s the variety and amount of products were still very limited and therefore blow molding did not take off until later.

Once the variety and production rates went up the amount of products created followed soon thereafter. In , Kautex Werke (Reinhold Hagen, Germany) developed and soon offered the first commercially available blow molding equipment. The design uses a rising mold technique with continuously extruded open ended parison.

In , high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was discovered by both Paul Hogan of the Phillips Petroleum Company in the United States and Professor Zieglar in Germany. Later, Professor Natta from Italy went further and polymerized both propylene and butylenes. With the appearance of HDPE in the marketplace, a virtual explosion of blow molded products occurred in both Europe and North America. In , Coca-Cola test markets the world&#;s first plastic carbonated beverage bottle, a methacrylonitrile/styrene bottle by Monsant.

In s, biaxial oriented polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was developed with introduction of the two-step process in which the preform and the bottles are produced on separate machines by Cincinnati Milacron, USA. In Nisser, ASB Company (Japan), began to offer biaxial orientation of PET using blow molding equipment based on a one-step process. In the United States soft drink industry, the amount of plastic containers went from zero in to ten Billion in .

With the introduction and application of microprocessor resins, a wide range of material properties became available. Also the availability of larger, more robust, equipment and microprocessor technology led to the production of a range of industrial products such as automotive fuel tanks, armrests, and air conditioners. Then from Japan and Germany complex shapes and irregular contours were possible with the introduction of 3-D blow molding. Today, an even greater amount of products are blow molded, and it is expected to keep increasing.

A blow molding renaissance is occurring in which engineers and designers are discovering and promoting blow molding for a wide variety of industrial or technical application. Toy wheels, automobile seat back, ductwork, surf boards, bellows, fuel tanks, flower pots, automobile bumpers, double- walled tool cases, and cabinet panels are just a few examples of the many creative design being developed.