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An injection blow molding (IBM) system and method for forming a plurality of parisons and molded articles. The IBM system includes an injection station having upper and lower die sets and a plurality of upper and lower mold half blocks each attached to a respective die set. Each of the upper mold ha

An injection blow molding (IBM) system and method for forming a plurality of parisons and molded articles. The IBM system includes an injection station having upper and lower die sets and a plurality of upper and lower mold half blocks each attached to a respective die set. Each of the upper mold half blocks has a corresponding lower mold half block with which it cooperatively defines one or more cavities for forming the exterior shape of the body of one or more of the parisons. The individual, independent attachment of the mold half blocks to the die sets allows easy individual replacement of faulty or worn mold blocks. Further, such an independent attachment configuration also permits the mold half blocks of each die set to be spaced from one another, so as to reduce thermal expansion problems and ease dimensional tolerances required for the width of the mold half blocks.

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1. A split parison mold assembly for forming a parison with an injection blow molding system, said assembly comprising: one or more pairs of upper and lower multi-cavity parison mold half blocks, wherein each pair of said mold half blocks comprises an upper body mold half and a lower body mold half

1. A split parison mold assembly for forming a parison with an injection blow molding system, said assembly comprising: one or more pairs of upper and lower multi-cavity parison mold half blocks, wherein each pair of said mold half blocks comprises an upper body mold half and a lower body mold half and an upper neck mold half and a lower neck mold half,wherein said upper and lower body mold halves cooperatively define body portions of a plurality of parison forming cavities,wherein said upper and lower neck mold halves cooperatively define neck portions of the plurality of parison forming cavities,wherein said upper body mold half and said upper neck mold half are at least partially separated by an upper insulating gap,wherein said lower body mold half and said lower neck mold half are at least partially separated by a lower insulating gap. 2. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said upper and lower multi-cavity parison mold half blocks comprises a single monolithic unit. 3. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 1, comprising two or more pairs of upper and lower multi-cavity parison mold half blocks. 4. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of said upper mold half blocks are spaced apart from one another, and each of said lower mold half blocks are spaced apart from one another. 5. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said neck mold halves can be decoupled from the system without decoupling said body mold halves from the system. 6. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said upper and lower neck mold halves defines a contoured heat transfer channel having a curvature that substantially corresponds to the curvature of the neck portions of said parison forming cavities. 7. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 6, further comprising upper and lower interlock inserts, wherein said upper and lower neck mold halves are disposed between said upper and lower interlock inserts and said upper and lower body mold halves respectively, wherein each of said contoured heat transfer channels is cooperatively defined by one of said neck mold halves and one of said interlock inserts. 8. A split parison mold assembly for forming a parison with an injection blow molding system, said assembly comprising: two or more pairs of upper body mold halves and lower body mold halves,wherein each of said pairs of upper and lower body mold halves cooperatively presents a body cavity configured to define an exterior shape of a body of the parison,two or more pairs of upper neck mold halves and lower neck mold halves,wherein each of said pairs of upper and lower neck mold halves cooperatively present a neck cavity configured to define an exterior shape of a neck of the parison,wherein said upper body mold half and said upper neck mold half are at least partially spaced apart by an upper insulating gap,wherein said lower body mold half and said lower neck mold half are at least partially spaced apart by a lower insulating gap. 9. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein each of said upper and lower body mold halves and each of said upper and lower neck mold halves comprise a single monolithic unit. 10. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein each of said upper mold halves are spaced apart from one another, and each of said lower mold halves are spaced apart from one another, wherein each of said upper neck mold halves are spaced apart from one another, and each of said lower neck mold halves are spaced apart from one another. 11. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein said neck mold halves can be decoupled from the system without decoupling said body mold halves from the system. 12. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein each of said upper and lower neck mold halves defines a contoured heat transfer channel having a curvature that substantially corresponds to the curvature of the necks of said parisons. 13. The split parison mold assembly as claimed in claim 12, further comprising upper and lower interlock inserts, wherein said upper and lower neck mold halves are disposed between said upper and lower interlock inserts and said upper and lower body mold halves respectively, wherein each of said contoured heat transfer channels is cooperatively defined by one of said neck mold halves and one of said interlock inserts. 14. An injection blow molding process comprising: (a) injection molding a resin into a plurality of parisons at an injection station, wherein said injection molding includes— (i) shifting upper and lower die sets of said injection molding station from an open position to a closed position,(ii) injecting said resin into a plurality of parison cavities cooperatively defined by one or more pairs of upper and lower multi-cavity parison mold half blocks coupled to said upper and lower die sets respectively, wherein each pair of said mold half blocks comprises an upper body mold half and a lower body mold half and an upper neck mold half and a lower neck mold half, wherein said upper and lower body mold halves cooperatively define body portions of the parison forming cavities, wherein said upper and lower neck mold halves cooperatively define neck portions of the parison forming cavities, wherein said upper body mold half and said upper neck mold half are at least partially spaced apart by an upper insulating gap, wherein said lower body mold half and said lower neck mold half are at least partially spaced apart by a lower insulating gap;(b) transferring said parisons from said injection station to a blowing station; and(c) blow molding said parisons into molded articles at said blowing station,wherein each of said upper and lower mold half blocks comprises a single monolithic unit. 15. The process as claimed in claim 14, wherein said neck mold halves can be decoupled from the die sets without decoupling said body mold halves from the die sets. 16. The process as claimed in claim 14, wherein each of said upper and lower neck mold halves defines a contoured heat transfer channel having a curvature that substantially corresponds to the curvature of neck portions of said parisons. 17. The process as claimed in claim 16, further comprising upper and lower interlock inserts, wherein said upper and lower neck mold halves are disposed between said upper and lower interlock inserts and said upper and lower body mold halves respectively, wherein each of said contoured heat transfer channels is cooperatively defined by one of said neck mold halves and one of said interlock inserts.