Dewey Rainville (b. 1923) pioneered the development and promotion of the blow molding industry in the United States. In 1958 he introduced the first blow molding machine into the United States, manufactured by Blowmatic in Denmark.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Rainville attended Lincoln High School and then earned a degree in aero-engineering from the University of Colorado in 1945.
Besides his work in blow molding, Rainville is known for developing and manufacturing auxiliary equipment. He founded the Rainville Company in 1952, the first (and only) nationwide sales representative agency, continued since 1995 as the sales effort of Universal Dynamics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mann & Hummel. The Rainville Company was an integral part of the early development of the plastics industry and the introduction of many fledgling companies which subsequently grew to dominate their fields of business. At one time, Rainville operated three manufacturing facilities producing chillers, cooling towers, injection blow molding machines, grinders, injection molding machines, extruders, dryers, conveyors and blenders. Rainville sold his last manufacturing operation in 1995, but many of the companies he began are still remain active.
Rainville was the first to use low dew point air to dry plastic resins. The advent of engineering materials required drying to lower moisture levels than was possible with the existing hot air dryers. Today low dew point air is the standard process for drying most engineering materials. In 1961 Rainville received a patent for finishing extrusion blow molded bottles by coming down from the top with a mandrel. This made it possible to make plastic bottles with a quality neck finish, leading to the broad acceptance of plastic bottles by consumers. This remains the standard method for finishing blow-molded bottles. In 1962 Rainville developed one of the first accumulator head blow molding machines, making possible the molding of large plastic containers. The original product produced was a jerry can (portable plastic fuel container).
During the 1970's and 1980's Rainville developed the Rainville Injection Blow Molding Machines with worldwide acceptance as a market leader. The Rainville Injection Blow Molding division of the Rainville Company was sold to Hoover Universal in 1982. Today the machines are manufactured by Milacron.
Rainville holds 22 patents. For his work in blow molding he has received many awards - Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Fellow, Milacron "David Noffsinger" Award for Engineering & Technical Excellence, New Jersey SPE Award for Technical Achievement, and SPE "Blow Molding" Achievement Award. He continually worked to improve safety and education, developing safety standards for blow molding and he was the major contributor to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) safety standard for Injection Blow Molding.
Rainville co-chaired the Annual SPE Packaging conference in Brussels, Belgium for three years. He presented technical papers and seminars in dozens of countries and his teaching included a trip to India for the United Nations to lecture on Injection Blow Molding and safety and to perform plant inspections. In 1974 Rainville helped organize the first National Injection Blow Molding conference at New York University. He also taught Blow Molding Technology at the Center for Professional Advancement for three years.
See: Bregar, Bill. "Rainville retiring from Una-Dyn," Plastics News (Spet 11, 2006).
