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A thin walled body such as a container is gripped at a holding station and tooling is engaged to deform the wall of the body at a predetermined zone. The predetermined wall zone is co-aligned with the tooling by means of co-ordinated movement of the tooling (typically by means of rotation about a to

A thin walled body such as a container is gripped at a holding station and tooling is engaged to deform the wall of the body at a predetermined zone. The predetermined wall zone is co-aligned with the tooling by means of co-ordinated movement of the tooling (typically by means of rotation about a tooling axis) prior to engagement with the wall zone.

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What is claimed is: 1. A method of deforming a thin walled body to coordinate with a pre-applied design on the wall of the body and in which one or more operations comprising necking of the body are carried out, the method comprising: (i) holding the body securely in a clamp of a holding station of

What is claimed is: 1. A method of deforming a thin walled body to coordinate with a pre-applied design on the wall of the body and in which one or more operations comprising necking of the body are carried out, the method comprising: (i) holding the body securely in a clamp of a holding station of a multi-station holding table, the clamp being arranged to clamp the respective body non-rotatably; (ii) advancing a multi-station tooling table relative to the holding table such that at a coordinated deformation station of the tooling table, an internal tooling part is inserted into the interior of the body and an external tooling part is positioned externally of the body whilst the body is clamped securely at the holding station; and, (iii) operating the tooling to engage with and deform the body at a predetermined wall zone, to coordinate with said pre-applied design on the wall of the body, whilst the body is clamped in a fixed orientation in the holding station; wherein the tooling table and holding table are rotationally indexable relative to one another to bring a plurality of said bodies in succession to the coordinated deformation tooling station; the predetermined wall zone is co-aligned with the tooling by rotation of the body about an axis and then securing non-rotatably in the clamp at the holding station in said fixed orientation for the coordinated deformation of the wall of the body. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the body is optically viewed to determine its orientation relative to a datum and subsequently rotated about said axis to a datum orientation; with the body in the datum orientation, the body is inserted into the clamp of the holding station. 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein necking and coordinated deformation of the body is carried out at separate tooling stations of a respective tooling table. 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein necking and coordinated deformation is carried out with the body held at the same clamp, having been reorientated for coordinated deformation. 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein in addition to the coordinated deformation tooling, the tooling table carries necking and shoulder forming tooling. 6. Apparatus for deforming thin walled bodies, the apparatus comprising: i) a multi-station holding table, respective holding stations comprising a respective clamp for clamping securely a respective one of said bodies non-rotatably in the respective clamp; ii) a tooling table positioned at a location adjacent the holding table, the tooling table and holding table being rotationally indexable relative to one another to bring said bodies in succession to a coordinated deformation tooling station of the tooling table, and the tooling table being advanceable relative to the holding table; said coordinated deformation tooling station of the tooling table including an internal tooling part and an external tooling part arranged to engage within the interior, and on the exterior, of the body respectively, together to deform the body at a predetermined wall zone on the body to coordinate with a pre-applied design on the wall of the body, whilst the body is clamped securely in the clamp of the holding station; iii) a determination arrangement for determining the orientation of the bodies relative to a reference datum situation; iv) a reorientation arrangement for coordinated movement of the bodies about an axis of the respective bodies to accord with the datum situation. 7. Apparatus according to claim 6, including optical viewing means to determine the orientation of the bodies relative to the datum situation. 8. Apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising necking apparatus for performing a necking operation on the body. 9. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the tooling table includes a necking station to which the body is indexed. 10. A method of deforming a plurality of thin walled bodies to coordinate with a pre-applied design on the walls of the bodies and in which one or more operations comprising necking of the bodies are carried out, the method comprising: (i) holding the bodies securely in corresponding clamps of a holding table, each clamp being non-rotatably fixed to the holding table and arranged to clamp the corresponding body in a fixed rotational orientation about its central axis; (ii) providing a tooling table that is rotationally indexable relative to the holding table, the tooling table having a deformation station that includes an internal tooling part and an external tooling part; (iii) for each particular body of the plurality of bodies, rotating the tooling table relative to the holding table to align the deformation station to the particular body, advancing the tooling table relative to the holding table such that the internal tooling part is inserted into the interior of the particular body and the external tooling part is positioned externally of the particular body whilst the respective body is clamped securely in its fixed rotational orientation at the holding table, and operating the internal and external tooling parts to engage with and deform the particular body at a predetermined wall zone to coordinate with the pre-applied design on the wall of the particular body, whilst the respective body is clamped in its fixed rotational orientation by the corresponding clamp of the holding table; wherein the predetermined wall zone of each particular body is co-aligned with the internal and external tooling parts by rotating the particular body about its central axis and then using the corresponding clamp to secure the particular body in its fixed rotational orientation for subsequent deformation of the wall of the particular body. 11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the particular body is optically viewed to determine its orientation relative to a datum and subsequently rotated about said axis to a datum orientation; and with the particular body in the datum orientation, the particular body is inserted into the corresponding a clamp of the holding table. 12. A method according to claim 10, wherein necking operations are carried out at a tooling station different from said deformation station. 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the necking operations carried out at the tooling station and the deformation operations carried out at the deformation station are performed with the respective bodies held in the same clamps. 14. A method according to claim 10, wherein the respective bodies are aligned to the reference datum situation by the operation of the determination arrangement and the reorientation arrangement prior to deformation by the deformation station. 15. A method according to claim 10, wherein the tooling table includes tooling that carries out necking and shoulder forming operations on the respective bodies. 16. Apparatus for deforming a plurality of thin walled bodies, the apparatus comprising: i) a holding table comprising a plurality of holding stations corresponding to the plurality of bodies, each holding station having a clamp that is non-rotatably fixed to the holding table and arranged to clamp the corresponding body in a fixed rotational orientation about its central axis; ii) a tooling table positioned at a location adjacent the holding table, the tooling table and holding table being rotationally indexable relative to one another to bring said plurality of bodies in succession to a deformation station of the tooling table, and the tooling table being advanceable relative to the holding table; said deformation station of the tooling table including an internal tooling part and an external tooling part arranged to engage within the interior, and on the exterior, of the respective body to deform the respective body at a predetermined wall zone on the respective body to coordinate with the pre-applied design on the wall of the particular body, whilst the respective body is clamped securely in a fixed rotational orientation in the corresponding clamp of the holding table; iii) a determination arrangement for determining the orientation of the bodies relative to a reference datum situation; and iv) a reorientation arrangement for coordinated rotational movement of the bodies about their respective central axes to align with the datum situation. 17. Apparatus according to claim 16, including optical viewing means to determine the rotational orientation of the bodies relative to the datum situation. 18. Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the tooling table includes tooling that performs necking operations on the respective bodies. 19. Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the tooling table includes a necking station to which the respective bodies are indexed.