Seal head and container sealed with using the seal head
09902545 ยท 2018-02-27
Assignee
Inventors
- Mitsuru Bushida (Tokyo, JP)
- Daisuke Tanaka (Tokyo, JP)
- Takashi Kado (Tokyo, JP)
- Hiroki Yokoyama (Tokyo, JP)
- Masayuki Kitamasu (Tokyo, JP)
Cpc classification
B65B29/022
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29C66/81427
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29C66/71
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29C66/71
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29K2023/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65D77/2036
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29C66/8322
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65D2577/2066
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65B51/10
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29C66/53461
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29K2023/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29C66/131
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65B51/14
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65B69/005
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65D77/2028
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29C66/7392
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
International classification
B65D51/10
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65D77/10
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65D77/20
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65B69/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65D1/32
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65B7/28
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65B51/10
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B65B51/14
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
B29C65/00
PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
Abstract
Provided is a portion container whose detaching seal portion can be easily detached by a stress applied from a radial inner side based on an inside pressure of a container body, but can be hardly detached by a stress applied from the outside during distribution. Provided also are a seal head for sealing such container and a container sealed with using such seal head. The seal head includes pressing end portions for pressing a lid member against a flange of an opening. At least a portion of the pressing end portions is formed as an uneven projecting portion having different curvature radii in its cross sectional contour between a radial inner portion and a radial outer portion of the opening.
Claims
1. A seal head including, at its leading end, a pressing end portion for pressing a lid member against an opening in order to fuse/bond the lid member to the opening of a container body holding contents therein; wherein at least a portion of the pressing end portion is formed as an uneven projecting portion having different curvature radii in its cross sectional contour between a radial inner portion and a radial outer portion of the opening; wherein the cross sectional contour of the uneven projecting portion has a shape having a smaller curvature radius on the radial inner side than the radial outer side; wherein the pressing end portion constitutes an annular projection endlessly extending along the entire circumference of the opening; and the uneven projecting portion is arranged in a reverse-oriented annular projecting portion with a circumferential portion of the annular projection being projected toward the radial inner side.
2. A container including a container body holding contents therein and a lid member fused and bonded to an opening of the container body by a seal head, wherein at least a portion of a seal groove portion formed in the opening by the fusing/bonding is provided as an uneven groove portion having different curvature radii in its cross sectional contour between a radial inner side and a radial outer side of the opening; wherein the cross sectional contour of the uneven groove portion has a shape whose curvature radius is smaller on the radial inner side than the radial outer side; wherein the seal groove portion constitutes an annular seal groove portion endlessly extending along the entire circumference of the opening; and the uneven groove portion is arranged in a reverse-oriented annular groove portion with a circumferential portion of the annular groove being projected toward the radial inner side.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
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(10)
EMBODIMENTS
(11) Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
(12) (General Configuration of Portion Container)
(13)
(14) The container body 2 and the lid member 9 are originally sealed with each other via an annular seal portion 6 formed annularly along a flanged face 5A of a flange 5 extending radially outwards from the opening of the container body 2. In response to a pressing pressure applied to e.g. a bottom face 3 of the container body 2, a portion of the container body 2 will be deformed in such a manner to reduce the inside volume of this container body 2. Then, when the pressure inside the container body 2 rises to reach a critical value, exfoliation (an example of detachment) of the lid member 9 from the flanged face 5A occurs at a portion of the annular seal portion 6, thus effecting unsealing of the container.
(15) Incidentally, even when some air is present in the container body 2 together with the contents C, if the unsealing is effected under a state of reverse-orienting the portion container 1 with the lid member 9 disposed downwards, the contents C, rather than the air, will be discharged first.
(16) At a specified position in the annular seal portion 6, there is provided a detaching seal portion 6S, 6R which can be detached more easily by increase of the inside pressure of the container body 2 than the remaining portion of the annular seal portion 6. Therefore, the above ensures that the position of the lid member 9 to be detached from the flanged face 5A with the increased inside pressure of the container body 2 will always be present at the position of this detaching seal portion 6S, so that the user can readily anticipate the advancing or discharging direction of the discharged contents C.
(17) As shown in
(18) (Configuration of Dilution Bottle)
(19)
(20) The bottle 10 shown in
(21) The unsealing support member 12 includes a cylindrical portion 12A having an interior communicated to the interior of the bottle body 11 and a disc-shaped flange portion 12B extending radially outwards from a vertically intermediate position in the cylindrical portion 12A. The unsealing support member 12 is threaded to a female threaded portion 11S formed in an inner face of the opening of the bottle body 11 via a male thread 12S formed in the outer circumference of cylindrical portion 12A downwardly of the flange portion 12B.
(22) Inside the cylindrical portion 12A, there is provided a container support portion 13, 13C for supporting the portion container 1 with the lid member 9 being oriented downwards.
(23) The container support portion 13 includes a sloped face 13A which has a profile progressively decreased toward the opening 14 so as to establish communication between an upper inner space of the cylindrical portion 12A and the inside space of the bottle body 11.
(24) The pressure applying member 20 includes a piston body 21 provided to be slidable relative to the inner face of the cylindrical portion 12A of the unsealing support portion 12, a bar-like support shaft 22 extending upwards from the upper face of the piston body 21, and a generally disc-like operational piece 23 attached to the upper end of the support shaft 22.
(25) When the user progressively presses down the pressure applying member 20 via the operational piece 23 with the portion container 1 being placed on the sloped face 13A of the container support portion 13, as illustrated in
(26) When the pressure applying member 20 is pressed down farther, as illustrated in
(27) (Detailed Configuration of Side Wall Portion)
(28) As shown in
(29) The intermediate portion 4B is formed to obtain a smaller wall face thickness than the base end portion 4A and the leading end portion 4C, so that this intermediate portion 4B can be deformed more easily by an external force than the base end portion 4A and the leading end portion 4C. Incidentally, the arrangement for rendering the intermediate portion 4B more easily deformable than the two portions 4A, 4C can be provided by any other technique than the above, such as forming ribs only in the base end portion 4A and the leading end portion 4C after forming, or forming a folding line in the intermediate portion 4C alone.
(30) Therefore, as the pressure applying member 20 is pressed down gradually via the operational piece 23 as described above, the deformation of the container body 2 will proceed with mainly the intermediate portion 4B having the smaller thickness in the side wall portion 4 collapsing.
(31)
(32) In the instant embodiment, as illustrated in
(33) Therefore, when the vertical reduction deformation occurs with the collapsing deformation of the side wall portion 4, as illustrated in
(34) Further, in the instant embodiment, as illustrated in
(35) As shown in
(36) Then, when a vertical stress is applied to the side wall portion 4 by e.g. the pressure applying member 20, the stress or distortion will be concentrated in the vicinity of the upper end 16P of the sloped sunk portion 16, so that the collapsing deformation of the side wall portion 4 will begin from the vicinity of this upper end 16P, as illustrated in
(37) The second view (b) in
(38) Next, when further vertical stress is applied from the state illustrated in
(39) In the course of the above, under the state illustrated in the third view (c) in
(40) Incidentally, in the intermediate portion 4B of the side wall portion 4, in order to prevent deformation by a shock during transportation for instance, there are formed a plurality of narrow line-like recesses 8 in the form of ribs arranged equidistantly and inclined along the same direction along the axis X, for the purpose of obtaining higher strength at thin-walled portion.
(41) (Detailed Configuration of Annular Seal Portion)
(42) As shown in
(43) More specifically, the annular seal portion 6, as shown in
(44) Incidentally, in this detailed description, the term insular portion refers to a portion where the lid member 9 is not fused and bonded intentionally and partially to the flanged face 5A, but is left in the form of an island inside the bonded portion present in its surrounding.
(45) Further, the annular seal portion 6 includes a pair of left and right auxiliary non-detaching seal portions 6E extending from the vicinity of the boundary between the non-detaching seal portions 6D and the connecting seal portion 6C to be disposed to face each other across the outflow groove 5D therebetween.
(46) The triangular portion 6T only one of which is provided and the non-detaching seal portions 6D two of which are provided exhibit a ring-shape including the first insular portion 7A and the second insular portion 7B therein, such that a secondary ring-like portion is included in a portion of the overall primary ring-like portion formed by the annular seal portion. Here, the primary ring-like portion refers to a single large seal portion extending to surround the entire opening of the container body 2, whereas the secondary ring-like portion refers to a small seal portion extending to surround the first insular portion 7A and the second insular portion 7B.
(47) In the instant embodiment, the triangular seal portion 6T mainly constitutes the detaching seal portion 6S which can be detached more easily than the remaining portion of the annular seal portion 6 by increase of the inside pressure of the container body 2.
(48) The triangular seal portion 6T is provided along the region corresponding to the radial inner side of the engaged sunk portion 5B in the flanged face 5A and exhibits as a whole a shape of an isosceles triangle projecting toward the radial inner side of the annular seal portion 6 in left-right symmetry.
(49) In the triangular seal portion 6T, the two sides thereof located on the radial inner side of the above isosceles triangle, provide a reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A which is curved to project toward the radial inner side of the opening in the plane view, conversely from the ordinary seal portion 6G.
(50) On the other hand, the one side corresponding to the base on the radial outer side of the isosceles triangle forms an auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B which extends linearly to interconnect the opposed ends of the reverse-oriented seal portion 6A.
(51) As a result of its geometric feature of being curved to project towards the radial inner side, in the event of increase of the inside pressure associated with deformation of the container body 2, a radially inwardly oriented leading end R1 of the reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A (see
(52)
(53) The second view (b) in
(54) As shown in the third view (c), after exfoliation of the reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A, the inside pressure F of the container body 2 will be concentrated most at the auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B. So, exfoliation of the lid member 9 will proceed at this auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B with the inside pressure F.
(55) As the result of progress of exfoliation of the lid member 9 at the auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B, as illustrated in the fourth view (d), when at least a portion of the auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B has been detached, partial detachment of the annular seal portion 6 will be accomplished, whereby discharge of the contents C from the container body 2 will start.
(56) Finally, as illustrated in the fourth view (d) in
(57) Incidentally, as illustrated in
(58) Therefore, of a plurality of layers made of laminate films constituting the lid member 9, the lowermost layer contacting the flanged face 5A includes a heat seal layer (not shown) containing polyolefin-based resin having a function of being temporarily softened with application of heat and pressure from the seal head 30, thus heat-fused and bonded to the flanged face 5A.
(59) By the pressing of the seal head 30, the lid member 9 will be fusedly bonded to the flanged face 5A with the heat seal layer at the portion corresponding to the annular projection 31 provided at the lower end of the seal bar 30. At the same time, a groove-like sunk portion corresponding to the annular projection 31 will be formed in the flanged face 5A.
(60) As a result of research effort made in connection with the present invention, there was obtained a finding that in the cross sectional shape of the groove of the annular seal portion 6, the edge portions of the groove (the portions slightly raised on the opposed sides of the groove) show strongest bonding force. It was therefore found that in order to obtain a stronger bonding force, increase of the number of grooves is more effective than simply increasing the bonding area or increasing the width size of the groove to be formed by the seal head 30.
(61) Further, although the cross sectional shape of the annular projection 31 is a significant factor that controls the bonding force of the annular seal portion 6, as illustrated in
(62) The significant characterizing feature of the present invention resides in that as for the annular projection 31A provided to form the reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A, its radially outer side portion (Q2 in
(63) Therefore, as shown in the lower portion in
(64) On the other hand, the portion (R2) located on the radially outer side of the reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A has the standard cross sectional shape sunk to be oriented toward the bottom face 3 at the substantially equal angle to that of e.g. the auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B. Thus, inconvenience of inadvertent unsealing of the lid member 9 by an external force which may be applied in the course of transportation/distribution is prevented.
(65) Next, the pair of left and right non-detaching seal portions 6D, as shown in
(66) The triangular seal portion 6T and each non-detaching seal portion 6D are connected to each other via the one of the left and right pair of connecting annular seal portions 6C. From the vicinity of the boundary between the non-detaching seal portions 6D and the connecting annular seal portions 6C, the pair of left and right auxiliary non-detaching seal portions 6E extend to the position immediately before the outflow groove 5D in such a manner to be disposed to face each other across this outflow groove 5D therebetween. Respecting the connecting annular seal portion 6C and the auxiliary non-detaching seal portion 6E, these seal portions 6C, 6E too have the ordinary left-right symmetric cross sectional shape with the curvature radius substantially equal to that of e.g. the auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B.
(67) As illustrated in the last view (d) in
(68) [Other Embodiments]
(69) <1> It is also possible to embody such that the uneven sealing force groove sunk towards the bottom face 3 at a more acute angle at the radial inner portion than the radial outer portion is applied not only to the reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A, but also to the auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B or to the entire circumference of the annular seal portion 6. In such case, it is necessary to cause the corresponding portion of the annular projection 31A in the seal head 30 to have the left/right non-symmetric special cross sectional shape whose radial inner portion has a smaller curvature radius than its radial outer portion.
(70) <2> The contents to be held in the portion container is not limited to liquid, but can be e.g. mixture of powder and liquid, mixture of powder and gas, etc.
(71) <3> As illustrated in
(72) When the lid member 9 is sealed with using the seal head 130 described above, needless to say, the portion in the seal groove portion of the annular seal portion 6 formed in the opening by the fusing/bonding which portion corresponds to the uneven projecting portion 131A will be formed as an uneven groove portion having a cross sectional contour having a shape of its radial outer portion R12 having a smaller curvature radius than its radial inner portion R11. As a result, there is obtained a highly functional sealing arrangement that restricts the possibility of inadvertent unsealing due to increase of inside pressure of the container based on an environmental change in the course of transportation or the like, but allows relatively smooth unsealing by a stress for lifting up the lid member from the outer side of the container. Such container can be used not as the type which is unsealed by increase of inside pressure of the container, but as a type of portion container which is unsealed by an exfoliating operation on the lid member from the outer side or a container other than a portion container.
(73) <4> The present invention is applicable not only to a container having a certain depth described in the foregoing embodiment, but also to a container having no depth substantially, such as in the form of a tape. As one conceivable example of such container, there is e.g. a medical treatment tape configured such that inflammation treating agent (an example of contents) is applied to one face of a tape-like substrate (an example of container) and to the edge (an example of opening) of the substrate, a cover film is fused and bonded in such a manner as to cover the inflammation treating agent. When used, a user will exfoliate the cover film, whereby the inflammation treating agent is exposed to become applicable to an affected area.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
(74) This invention is applicable as a technique for solving the problems conventionally found in a seal head for fusing and bonding a lid member to an opening of a container body holding contents therein and relates also in a container sealed with using such seal head.
DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE MARKS/NUMERALS
(75) 1: portion container
(76) 2: container body
(77) 5: flange
(78) 5A: flanged face
(79) 6: annular seal portion
(80) 6A: reverse-oriented annular seal portion (uneven groove)
(81) 6S: detaching seal portion
(82) 6T: triangular seal portion
(83) 9: lid member
(84) 30: seal head
(85) 31: annular projection (pressing end portion)
(86) 31A: annular projection (uneven projecting portion)
(87) 31B: annular projection (even projecting portion)
(88) C: contents
(89) P1: leading end
(90) Q1: radial inner portion (uneven projecting portion)
(91) Q11: radial inner portion (uneven projecting portion)
(92) Q2: radial outer portion (uneven projecting portion)
(93) Q12: radial outer portion (uneven projecting portion)
(94) R1: radial inner portion (uneven groove portion)
(95) R11: radial outer portion (uneven groove portion)
(96) R2: radial outer portion (uneven groove portion)
(97) R12: radial outer portion (uneven groove portion)