JPH0110125Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a capping machine that seals the opening of a container with a lid, and more specifically, heats the sealing part with the container and lid crimped together. This invention relates to a lid tightening machine that allows close contact.

Conventionally, capping machines have been known that press the seal between the container and the lid and then heat that part to make them stick together. However, all conventional capping machines of this type Place the lid on the top opening,
With the lid in pressure contact with the container, the sealed portion of the container and the lid are heated to bring them into close contact.
In other words, the conventional capping machine is based on the assumption that the sealing portion between the container and the lid is located on a horizontal plane.

However, when the seal between the container and the lid is in the circumferential direction, in order to press the seal between the container and the lid, a pair of holes are formed on the inner and outer surfaces of the seal. It is necessary to provide a crimping member and to sandwich the seal portion between the crimping members. In principle, a cap tightening machine with such a configuration can be provided with the pair of crimping members described above, a drive means for opening and closing them, and a lifting means for raising and lowering the entire body. If such a mechanism is incorporated, the overall structure becomes complicated and large, and especially when a large number of capping machines need to be installed in parallel, it is necessary to provide a large interval between them.

In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides a supporting member and a clamping member corresponding to the above pair of crimping members on the inner cylinder which is slidably fitted to the outer cylinder, and also provides a structure in which the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder are connected. The gap between the support member and the clamping member can be opened and closed by using relative movement, thereby simplifying the structure and downsizing of the lid tightening machine.

The present invention will be explained below with reference to the illustrated embodiments.
In FIG. 1, 1 is a cylindrical container with an open top, and 2 is a lid that seals the opening of the container 1.
The outer periphery of the lid 2 is curved to have an inverted U-shape in cross section, and when the upper end of the container 1 is fitted into the inside of the inverted U-shape, the sealing part 3 is sandwiched and heated. This allows them to be brought into close contact with each other.

Reference numeral 4 denotes an air cylinder device fixed to the machine frame 5 vertically downward, and an outer cylinder 7 is fixed to the piston rod 6 of the air cylinder device 4. The outer cylinder 7 slidably passes through a machine frame 8 disposed below the machine frame 5, and an inner cylinder 9 is slidably fitted therein. Then, a stopper pin 10 is fixed to this inner cylinder 9 and projected outward through a slit 11 formed in the outer cylinder 7, and when the inner cylinder 9 is lowered by a predetermined amount, the stopper pin 10 is attached to the machine frame 8. It is possible to stop the descent by making contact with it.

A support member 15 for supporting the inner peripheral surface side of the seal portion 3 is attached to the lower end surface of the inner cylinder 9, and a cylindrical clamping member 16 is attached to the lower outer periphery of the inner cylinder 9. A clamping part 17 formed at the lower end of the support member 16 is opposed to the outer circumferential surface of the support member 15 with a predetermined gap between the clamping part 17 and the support member 15.
The seal portion 3 can be held between the two. The seal portion 3 is placed at the bottom of the inner cylinder 9.
A heater 18 is provided to heat the.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cylindrical holding member 16 has a large number of slits 19 formed at equal intervals along the axial direction from the upper part to the lower end, and the middle part of each slit 19 is elastically deformed. The holding part 17 provided at the lower part of the holding part 17 can be easily moved inward in the radial direction. And each clamping part 1
A conical cam surface 20 whose diameter is enlarged at the bottom is formed on the upper outer circumferential surface of 7, and a conical cam surface 21 whose diameter is enlarged at the bottom is also formed on the lower inner circumferential surface of each cam surface 2.
0 and 21 are opposed to parallel cam surfaces 22 and 23 formed on the inner peripheral surface of the lower part of the outer cylinder 7, respectively.

Among the cam surfaces 20 to 23, the cam surfaces 20 and 22 located above slide into contact with the inner cylinder 9 when the outer cylinder 7 is lowered to push the holding part 17 radially inward, Cam surfaces 21, 23 located below
When the outer cylinder 7 is raised with respect to the inner cylinder 9, it slides into contact with the inner cylinder 9, and functions together with the own elasticity of the clamping member 16 to return the clamping part 17 to its original non-operating position. A spring 24 is mounted between the outer cylinder 7 and the inner cylinder 9, and the lower cam surfaces 21 and 23 are brought into sliding contact with each other by the elastic force of the spring 2. A required gap is formed between the holding part 17 and the support member 15.

In the above configuration, in the non-operating state shown in the figure, the outer cylinder 7 is located at the upper end position, and the inner cylinder 9 is held at the lower end position by the spring 24, and as described above, the inner cylinder 9 is held at the lower end position. A required gap is formed between the support member 15 and the support member 15 .

In this state, when the container 1 whose upper end is fitted inside the inverted U-shape of the lid 2 is intermittently conveyed to a position directly below the air cylinder device 4 and stopped, the air cylinder device 4 moves the outer cylinder 7 is lowered. At this time, the outer cylinder 7 and the inner cylinder 9 are lowered together, and the clamping part 17 and the support member 15 are in a separated state, so that the seal part 3 of the container 1 and the lid 2 is connected to the clamping part 17 and the support member 15. It is relatively inserted into the gap with the member 15.

When the seal portion 3 is relatively inserted into the gap, the stopper pin 10 provided on the inner cylinder 9 comes into contact with the machine frame 8 and its descent is stopped, so that the outer cylinder 7 is inserted into the inner cylinder. 9 while compressing the spring 24. As a result, the lower cam surfaces 21 and 23 are separated and the upper cam surfaces 20 and 22 come into sliding contact, so that the holding portion 17 is moved radially inward by the upper cam surfaces 20 and 22. The seal portion 3 is held between the holding portion 17 and the support member 15. As a result, since the support member 15 is heated by the heater 18, the seal portion 3 is integrally bonded by the heat.

When the adhesion of the seal portion 3 is completed in this way, the air cylinder device 4 begins to raise the outer cylinder 7, which causes the upper cam surface 20,
22 are separated and the lower cam surfaces 21, 23
Since the gripping portion 17 is forcibly displaced radially outward by sliding contact, the gripping of the seal portion 3 between the gripping portion 17 and the support member 15 is released. Thereafter, the outer tube 7 and the inner tube 9 are lifted up as one, so that the seal portion 3 is relatively pulled out from between the clamping portion 17 and the support member 15.

The container 1 whose opening has been sealed in this manner is carried out from the lower part of the air cylinder device 4, a new container is introduced, and the same operations as described above are repeated.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the pair of cam surfaces 20, 22
Although the two cams are brought into direct sliding contact, a cam mechanism in which one cam surface is replaced with a roller may also be used.
Further, in the above embodiment, a pair of cam surfaces 21 are provided below,
23 is provided to forcibly separate the holding part 17 and the support member 15, but they can be omitted if necessary. Further, in the above embodiment, the air cylinder device 4, the stopper pin 10, and the machine frame 8 are used as driving means for moving the inner cylinder 9 and the outer cylinder 7 relative to each other in the axial direction. Of course, a separate cylinder device, solenoid, etc. may also be used.

As described above, the present invention enables the gap between the support member and the clamping member to be opened and closed by the relative movement of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder slidably fitted thereto, thereby enabling the sealing portion to be clamped. Because of this, it is possible to achieve the effect that the structure of the lid tightening machine can be simplified and downsized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which the right side of the center line is a sectional view showing the non-operating state and the left side is a sectional view showing the operating state, and FIG. 2 is a half sectional view of the holding member 16 of FIG. 1. 1... Container, 2... Lid, 3... Seal part, 4
...Air cylinder device, 5, 8...Machine frame, 7...
Outer cylinder, 9... Inner cylinder, 10... Stopper pin, 15
...Supporting member, 16... Holding member, 17... Holding portion, 18... Heater, 20-23... Cam surface.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An outer cylinder that is raised and lowered by a lifting mechanism, an inner cylinder that is slidably fitted into the outer cylinder, and an inner cylinder that is provided at the bottom of the inner cylinder and is located on the inner circumferential side of the seal between the container and the lid. a holding member provided in the inner cylinder and having a holding part located on the outer peripheral surface side of the seal part facing the support member; a heater heating the seal part; a cam mechanism provided on each of the outer cylinder and the clamping member, which moves the clamping part of the clamping member toward the support member by relative movement in the axial direction between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder; and the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder. and a drive means for relatively moving the and in the axial direction.