JPH0333575B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for folding the lug parts of a packaging container, which folds the lug parts produced by sealing the open end of a rectangular parallelepiped packaging container while pressing them against the surface of the container.

In recent years, containers in the form of rectangular cylinders with bottoms are first made from laminated paper made by laminating thermoplastic films such as polyethylene on both sides of the paper, and then,
An automatic packaging system has been developed that completes a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped package by filling an object and then sealing an opening.

On the other hand, in the packaging process section of this type of automatic packaging system, the triangular flaps created by sealing the open end of the container are pressed against the top surface of the container, folded over, heated in advance, and melted. An ear folding device is provided which fuses the remaining plastic surfaces together.

Heretofore, devices shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have been known as devices for folding the edge portions. That is,
As shown in FIG. 1, a pair of twisted twist guides a, a are arranged along both sides of the transfer path of the container 1, and as the container 1 moves, the lug portions 1c,
1c, and as shown in FIG. A method is known in which folding and pressing are performed simultaneously by rotating c by 90 degrees.

However, when the container is formed from a relatively thin material, it is difficult to make a large difference between the rigidity of the material and the bending strength at the processed ruled lines that should make it easier to fold. Therefore, when twisting guides a and a shown in FIG. 1 are used, it is difficult to fold along the ruled lines, and due to the resistance of folding, the lug portions shift backward in the advancing direction, resulting in the end portions as shown in FIG. 3. The shape of the surface is not rectangular but deforms into a trapezoid, and the product value is significantly impaired.

In addition, in the case shown in Fig. 2, a relatively stable folded state without deformation can be obtained, but the rotation axes c, c
The structure of the drive system etc. becomes complicated, the cost becomes quite high, and since the folding angle can only be obtained according to the rotation angle, it takes time and is not suitable for high speeds.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a simple and inexpensive structure, while also preventing the shape of the lug portion caused by sealing the open end of the container to the surface of the container. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for folding and pressing ear pieces, which is capable of quickly and reliably folding and pressing the pieces in a state in which there is no sagging.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an automatic packaging system that employs an embodiment of the present invention, and this automatic packaging system can be broadly divided into one side with decorative printing as shown in FIG. A container manufacturing process unit 10 that manufactures a container 1 in the shape of a rectangular cylinder with a bottom from a container material 8 made of laminated paper in which thermoplastic plastic films 7, 7 such as polyethylene films are laminated on both sides of a paper 6; The packaging process section 11 fills the container 1 manufactured by the manufacturing process section 10 with the object to be filled 3 and hermetically seals the opening.

As shown in the left part of FIG. 3, the container manufacturing process section 10 includes a container material supply section 12 that feeds and supplies the container material 8, and a container material supply section 12 that folds the container material 8 in half along the supply direction and overlaps the two sheets. A mating part 13, a side edge seal part 14 that heat-seals the side edge of the container material 8 to form a cylinder, and first and second side edge seal cooling parts 15 and 16 that cool the heat-sealed area are arranged in sequence. The structure is as follows. Further, on the downstream side of the second side edge seal cooling section 16, there is a date printing section 17 for printing a date, and seals are applied at predetermined intervals in a state perpendicular to the transport direction of the container material 1' to form the packaged product A. The top seal part 18 that forms the upper sealing part of the container 1, and the ruled part 19 that provides the container material 8 with ruled lines that form a mold for forming a rectangular container are arranged in this order. ing.

Further, on the downstream side of the ruled section 19, there is a straw hole punching section 20, a tab tape pasting section 22 for pasting an ear tape 21 to close the straw hole, a fixed size feeding section 23 for feeding the container material 8 by a fixed length, and a container. Material 8
Cutting portions 24 are sequentially arranged to cut the material one by one into a bottomed flat bag having an opening in the transfer direction.

Further, on the downstream side of the cutting section 24, the separated unshaped container 1' in the shape of a flat bag with a bottom is received and shaped into a rectangular tube shape with a bottom, and the opening is positioned at the top for packaging. Container shaping and delivery section 25 that delivers to the process section 11
is provided.

This container shaping/delivery section 25 has the following configuration. That is, an unshaped container carry-in section 26 is provided for transporting the unshaped container 1' after the unshaped container 1' is opened by suctioning both sides of the open end side of the unshaped container 1' through a pair of suckers. The container 1' has a mandrel part 28 as a container transfer means, which has container holding parts 27 radially formed by a pair of molded plates.
The container holding portion 27 is adapted to fit and hold the container externally. Top portion 1 that will be the top side of the container 1 when the unshaped container 1' is opened corresponding to the stop position of the container holding part 27 and becomes the packaged product A.
A, that is, a rectangular cylindrical shaping portion 29 is provided to flatten the bottom of the container 1 during filling. Furthermore, the ear pieces 1b, 1b of the top portion 1a are attached to the container 1.
The bent portion 30 of the ear piece is bent so as to be overlapped on both sides of the ear piece 1.
Heating sections 31 for heating and melting the surface film layers on the adhesive surfaces of b and 1b are sequentially provided along the rotational direction of the mandrel section 28. In addition, the heating section 3
A folding guide is provided on the conveyance path leading to the next position of container 1, and the lug portions 1b, 1b are connected to the container 1.
The ear piece portions 1b, 1b are pressed by the next ear pressing seal portion 32 to be fused together.

Further, on the downstream side of the ear press sealing part 32, a container 1 shaped into a bottomed rectangular cylinder whose opening is positioned upward as a result of the intermittent rotation of the mandrel part 28 is placed in the packaging process part 11. A container scraping section 33 for scraping off containers is provided in the box-shaped carrier 4 of the container transfer means 35.

Therefore, in the container manufacturing process section 11 configured in this way, date printing, crease lines,
The containers 1 in the shape of rectangular tubes with a bottom, which have been completed with straw holes and the pasting of the tab tape 21, are sequentially supplied to the packaging process section 11 with the openings facing upward.

Furthermore, the packaging process section 11 has the following configuration. That is, this packaging process section 11 is roughly divided into a filling process section 36 that fills the objects 3 into containers 1 sequentially supplied from the container manufacturing process section 10.
and a sealing process section 37 that seals the opening of the container 1 filled with the object to be filled 3 in the filling process section 36;
The structure includes a carry-out section 38 for carrying out the packaged product A that has been packaged in the sealing process section 37.

Further, the sealing process section 37 has the following configuration. That is, a character shaping unit 39 shapes the opening of the filled container 1 into a single character and closes it, a degassing/sealing unit 40 heat-seals the character-shaped opening in a degassed state, and a sealing unit cools the sealing part. A seal cooling part 41, a bottom pressing part 42 that presses the container from above to flatten it, and an ear stand part 43 that raises the ear pieces 1c, 1c that protrude laterally as a result of the pressing operation are provided in this order. Further, on the downstream side of the selvage part 43, there is a heating part 44 that heats the selvedge parts 1c, 1c to fuse them together, and an selvedge folding part 44 that heats the selvedge parts 1c, 1c to fuse them together, and an selvage folding part 44 that heats the selvedge parts 1c, 1c to fuse them together. A fused portion 45 is provided.

Thus, the container 1 supplied from the container manufacturing process section 10 and inserted into the box-shaped carrier 4 completes its packaging operation before reaching the edge folding/welding section 45.

Furthermore, on the downstream side of the edge folding/fusion part 45, cooling water is sprinkled on the top surface of the packaged product A that has been wrapped to remove the remaining air 2 in the container 1 that has been warmed and expanded by the stuff to be filled 3. Cooling and accompanying container 1
A bulge removing section 46 for removing the bulge from the box-shaped carrier 4 and a discharging section 47 for pushing out the packaged product A from the box-shaped carrier 4 are provided.

The package A discharged from the discharge section 47 is turned over by a package folding section 48 and transferred onto a conveyor 49 constituting the discharge section 38.

Next, the structure of the edge folding/fusion part 45 to which an embodiment of the edge folding device 50 of the present invention is applied will be explained in the sixth section.
This will be explained with reference to FIGS. 8 through 8. As shown in FIG.
It is located immediately downstream of the The above-mentioned ear piece folding device 50 is constructed as shown in FIG.
It is provided so that it can reciprocate along the folding direction of c,
The first folding which folds the ear pieces 1c, 1c onto the upper surface of the container 1
movable members 51, 51, and this first movable member 5
Ear pieces 1c, 1c folded by 1, 51
and a second movable member 52 that presses against the upper surface of the container 1.

The first movable members 51, 51 have cutout portions 53,
It consists of folding plates 54, 54 having 53, and is attached to the lower end of the operating levers 55, 55. These operating levers 55, 55 are rotatable at their midpoints via support shafts 57, 57 on a bracket 56, as shown in FIG. It is in a state where it is biased so that it is located in the opposite direction. Further, rollers 61 and 6 are disposed on the upper end sides of the operating levers 55 and 55, and are interposed in the movement path of a cam 60 that is attached to an operating rod 59 such as an air cylinder (not shown).
1 is attached, and when the cam 60 is lowered, the rollers 61, 61 are pushed outward, and the actuating levers 55, 55 are moved inside each other as shown by the solid line in FIG. It is starting to shift in the opposite direction.

Thus, in response to the vertical movement of the cam 60, the operating levers 55, 55 are rotated about the support shafts 57, 57, and fold in the triangular ear pieces 1c, 1c that have been erected in advance by the ear stand 43. It's becoming like that.

In addition, the folded ear pieces 1c, 1c are placed in the container 1.
The second movable member 52 that presses against the upper surface includes a vertically movable block 63 attached to the lower end of an operating rod 62 of a cylinder (not shown), and a coil spring 64, 64 that is vertically movable with respect to this block 63.
The push rods 65, 65 are always urged downward by the push rods 65, 65.

As a result, the tabs 1c, 1c are reliably folded in from the predetermined positions by the substantially linear displacement movement of the folding plates 54, 54, and the tabs 1c, 1c are inserted between the folding plates 54, 54 and the top surface of the container 1. , 1c, the operating rod 62 of the cylinder descends and the push rod 6
The lower end surfaces of 5 and 65 are inserted into the triangular ear pieces 1 through the notches 53 and 53 formed in the folding plates 54 and 54.
The upper surfaces of the tips 1c and 1c are elastically pressed by the action of springs 64, 64. Then, the heater block 66 is heated at the heating section 44 in the front position.
The plastic surfaces, which have been heated in advance and are in a molten state, are fused to each other, and as shown in FIG. 9, the plastic surfaces are reliably fixed to the top surface of the container 1 without deformation.

In the above embodiment, the folding plates 54, 54 as the first movable member 51 are attached to the operating levers 55, 55 that open and close according to the vertical movement of the cam 60, but the configuration is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, one of the support shafts 67
The folding plates 54 and 54 may be moved toward and away from each other by rotating an arm 71 attached to the folding plate 71 via a cylinder 72.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention.

As explained above, the present invention has a simple and inexpensive structure, and yet quickly and reliably presses the lug formed by sealing the open end of the container onto the surface of the container without losing its shape. It has the advantage that it can be folded in a folded state.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a conventional example, Figure 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a different conventional example, and Figure 3 is the finished state of the end surface of the container when the one shown in Figure 1 is adopted. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an automatic packaging system adopting an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing an example of the configuration of the container material, and FIG. A schematic perspective view showing the configuration of the main parts of a packaging process section employing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a summary of the embodiment. Fig. 9 is a diagram showing the finished state of the end face of the container when the same embodiment is adopted, and Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the folding plate operating mechanism. FIG. A...Packaged product, 1...Container, 1c...Ear piece,
50... Ear piece folding device, 51... First movable member, 52... Second movable member, 54... Folding plate, 65... Push rod.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A device for folding the tabs of a packaging container, which folds the tabs produced by sealing the opening end of a rectangular parallelepiped packaging container while pressing them against the top surface of the container for sealing. a plate-shaped first movable member that is reciprocally movable along the folding direction of the ear piece and folds the ear piece onto the upper surface of the container; 1. A device for folding an edge of a packaging container, comprising: a rod-shaped second movable member that presses the folded edge of the container against the upper surface of the container.