CA1222728A

CA1222728A - Closing device for flexible containers

Info

Publication number: CA1222728A
Application number: CA000432085A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Kurt Kronenberg
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1982-07-09
Filing date: 1983-07-08
Publication date: 1987-06-09
Also published as: HU186720B; FI832102L; ES284659Y; ES284659U; IL69120A; AU1660883A; EP0098973A2; EG15961A; YU43318B; DE3363264D1; EP0098973A3; BR8303680A; FI832102A0; DK154131C; ES284658U; FI76983B; NO162806C; DK315183A; RO88372A; FI76983C

Abstract

ABSTRACT
The invention relates to a closing device for flexible containers made from tube-or bag-shaped semi-finished products for the transporting and storing of free-flowing or pourable goods, comprising a clamping device of several rods which can be fixed in position in relation to one another. Known closing devices have the disadvantage that they consist of a relatively large number of individual parts, which makes the handling difficult and increases the susceptibility to trouble. So as to make available an im-proved closing device the invention proposes that the clamping device comprises a winding rod or wrapping bar provided with a slot, wherein the upper part and the lower part of the container can be pushed into the slot and, by turning these parts over at least two times around the edges of the wrapping bar formed by the slot, can be wound on tightly and without folds by at least 270°, and wherein the wrapping bar is prevented from unwinding by at least one other rod or unwrapping preventing means. The latter may be formed by a sleeve which can be pushed onto the wrapping bar and engages firmly around the wound-on container opening, said sleeve when pushed on being fixed in position in such a manner that it cannot turn in relation to the wrapping bar. This ensures a quick and reliable fixing-of-position of the container opening which has been wound onto the wrapping bar.

Description

~1 2121~d~

2 547 6-87 The invention relates to a closing device for flexible containers made from tube- or bag-shaped semi-finished products, for the transporting and storing of free-flowing or pourable goods, comprising a clamping d0vice of several rods which can be fixed in position in relation to one another~
Such containers have, for example, a volume of 1000 1 or 2000 1 and are intended mainly for use during disasters. In such a case they may be used, for example, to supply the population with drinking water. However, they are also suitable, for example, for storing drinking water or waste water aboard ships or for the storing of other liquids. The containers are usually transported by trucks, the gross vehicle weight of which may not be exceeded. Because of this it may be necessary, when using smaller trucks, not to fill the container completely. In this case, however, during the travelling the dynamic inertia forces of the liquid may endanger the vehicles, so that a closing device is required which reduces or completely eliminates the free volume.
It furthermore is necessary, especially with a view to a quick use during disasters, that the closing device must be as easy as possible to handle. Finally, in many cases, an as space-saving as possible design of the closing device may be required, so as to render possible, for example, a stacking of several con-tainers on top of one another.
A closing device suitable for this purpose with the features mentioned at the outset is known, for example, from the German Patent Disclosure 30 04 884. The closing device described in this patent disclosure consis-ts of clamping elements arranged r,~

~227;~:~

above one another in lateral holders, one end of the semi-finished product being passed through the separating lines thereof. The clamping elements are arranged in such a manner that they are displaceable in relation to one another, and can be braced in relation to one another by one clamping device each which is put into the holder.
A disadvantage of the known closing device is that it consists of a relatively great number of individual parts, which makes it difficult to handle and increases the susceptibi!ity to trouble. Furthermore the dimensions of this closing de~ice are relatively large, which greatly obstructs a stacking of several containers. The dimensions of the closing device are particularly disadvantageous in the case of containers with a small capacity.
It is, therefore, the aim of the invention to make available an improved closing device for flexible containers of tube- or bag-like semi-finished products for the transpor-ting and storing of ~ree-flowing or pourable materials, comprising a clamping device of several rods which can be fixed in position in relation to one another.
Accordingly, the invention provides a closure for a flexible container of tubular or bag-shaped semi-finished products for transporting and storing flowable or pourable goods, with a clamping device of a plurality of bars which can be fixed in rela-tion to one another, and an unwrapping preventing means arranged at the periphery of a wrapping bar for the container opening to be closed, charac-terized in that the wrapping bar comprises a slot so that an upper part and a lower part oE the container can be ,~

A ~(~lt~O
~,~f~ f I~Q
inserted into the slot and can be wrapped through at least 270 tightly and without folds with at least two passes around the edyes oE the wrapping bar formed by the slot.
Such a closing device consists of only few parts and hardly gives rise to trouble. In addition it has a considerably reduced mass compared to the known closing devices.
In a practical embodiment of the invention the greatest length of the slotted wrapping bar corresponds to the width of the filled container and the greatest height of the overall closing device corresponds to the height of the filled container. This embodiment in particulax has the advantage that several containers can be stacked on top of one another, for example in crates, or a container can be transported in a foldiny box. Such a construc-tion is facilitated when the open end of the container is provided with a neck.
According to a further feature of the invention, the un-wrapping preventing means is formed by a rod-shaped clamping ele-ment which is connected to the wrapping bar by means of clamping or tension screws. In this case the clamping element can be pro-vided in the form of a rail with a U-shaped cross-section which holds the slotted wrapping bar partially or completely. This embodiment has the advantage that at the two edges of the U-shaped profile, the upper part and lower part of the fle~ible container to be closed are in additon squashed against the slotted bar, resulting in an additional sealing of the closing device.
The unwrapping preventing means can also be formed by two rectanyular tubes or profiled rods positioned opposite one ~2Z2~

anoth~r and connected by clamping or tension screws which pass through the slotted wrapping bar outside the slot length of the wrapping bar.
In another embodiment the unwrapping preventing means is formed by a sleeve which can be pushed onto the wrapping bar and engages firmly around the wound-on container opening which sleeve when pushed on is fixed in position in such a manner that it can-not turn in relation to the wrappin~ bar.
By providing the unwrapping preventing means in the form of a sleeve, a quick and reliable fixing in position is obtained of the container opening wound onto the wrapping bar. Additional elements, such as clamping or tension screws that can yet lost when the closing device is open or during the cleaning of the container, are not required. The sleeve can be pushed onto the wrapping bar in the axial direction thereof. As the sleeve is fixed in position when pushed onto the wrapping bar in such a manner that it cannot turn, the wound-on container opening cannot get loose by itself, so that the container is at all times closed perfectly. The handling of the closing device becomes even easier and the susceptibility to trouble is reducedO
With a preferred embodiment the sleeve and the wrapping bar are held in such a manner that they cannot turn due to the fact tha-t the profile cross-section of the sleeve as well as that of the wrapping bar differ from the circular form. The profile cross-section of the sleeve and the profile cross-section of the wrapping bar can in this case be rectangular, in particular square or oval. Because of this special shaping of the profile cross-gL22~728 sections it is no longer necessary to provide additional means toprevent a turning.
In another embodiment the sleeve is held on the wrapping bar by means which preven-t a turning and engage in both parts. To this effect the end of the sleeve may be provided with a notch into which, after the pushing on of the sleeve, a lug arranged at the corresponding end of the wrapping bar and extending in the radial direction engages so as to prevent a turning. With this embodiment it becomes possible to also use wrapping bars and sleeves with a round cross-section. In a preferred further devel-opment the longitudinal slot at the same time serves as a notch which preferably, at both ends of the sleeve, takes a lug provided at both ends of the wrapping bar. In addition to dispensing with an additional notch in the sleeve, the longitudinal slot together with the lugs serves as a guide for pushing the sleeve onto the wrapping bar. This prevents turning of the sleeve in relation to the wrapping bar as the sleeve is pushed onto said bar.
According to a further feature of the invention the sleeve is made of an elastic material and is frictionally con-nected to the outside of the wound-on container opening. Prefer-ably the width of the longitudinal slot is slightly smaller than the thickness of the flattened container opening, such that the longitudinal edges of the longitudinal slot of the sleeve, after the pushing on thereof, rest against the upper part and the lower part of the container. This renders an unintentional moving of the pushed-on sleeve in relation to the wrapping bar more diffi-cult. According to a further feature of the invention the opening ~.;Z 227~
opposite the front end inlet opening of the sleeve is closed off by a plate. This plate serves as a stop, ensuring a simple posi-tioning when pushing the sleeve onto the wrapping bar in the axial direction.
As a further development of the closing device according to the invention it is proposed that two sleeves are provided which are pushed onto the two ends of the wrapping bar, the length of each sleeve being less than half the overall length of the wrapping bar~ This simplifies the fixing in position of the con-tainer opening wound onto the wrapping bar since one does not haveto push on a sleeve which corresponds to the overall length of the wrapping bar, but only two smaller sleeves which are pushed onto the two ends of the wrapping bar. This is in particular advan-tageous for broader container openings, when as a result of the ` length o the sleeve yreat friction resistance is encountered during the pushing on.
In another embodiment -the sleeve has a U-shaped profile cross-section and can be pushed on transversely to the axial direction of the wrapping bar, means to prevent a shi-fting being provided at both ends of the sleeve. As the means -to prevent a shifting, a turning locking bolt may be hinged onto the sleeve, said locking bolt engaging behind the wrapping bar.
Also a ring pushed on-to the end can be used as a means to prevent a shifting. The U-shaped sleeve is used when broad container openings must be closed off, which in the case of an axial pushing-on of the sleeve would cause too great a friction resistance.

, - 6 -The invention finally proposes that the edge of the con-tainer opening sticking into the slot of the wrapping bar is arranged inside the wrapping bar. This avoids a -troublesome lifting up of the wound-on container opening, which would make the pushing-on of the sleeve diEficult or even impossible. The drawings illustrate exemplified embodimen-ts of the closing device according to the invention. Shown are:
~ Figure 1 a filled, flexible container with closing device, in a side view, Figure 2 a top view onto the container of Figure l;
: Figure 3 the closing device along line A-A of Figure 2 in a first embodiment with a clamping element;
Figure 4 the closing device along line A-A of Figure 2 in a second embodiment with a rec-tangular tube;
Figure 5 the closing device along line A-A of Figure 2 in a third embodiment with a sleeve and with a square profile cross-section;
Figure 6 the closing device along line A-A of Figure 2 in a fourth embodiment with a sleeve and with a triangular profile cross-section;
Figure 7a the closing device along line A-A of Figure 2 in a fifth embodiment with a sleeve and round pro~ile cross-section;
Figure 7b the closing device of Figure 7a in a top view onto the end zone with means to prevent a turning;
Figure 8a the closing device along line A-A of Figure 2 in a sixth embodiment with a U-shaped sleeve;

272~3 Figure 8b the closing device of Figure 8a with a locking bolt as the means to prevent a shifting, in a longitudinal view;
Figure 9a the closing device along line A-A of Figure 2 in an embodiment corresponding to that of Figure 8a, but with a ring as the means to prevent a shifting;
Figure 9b the closing device of Figure 9a in a top view with the ring pushed onto the end.
- The bag-shaped, flexible container 1 illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 consists of an upper part 2 and a lower part 3, which at both their longitudinal sides and one short side are joined toge-ther to form a common edge 5, e.g. by glueing or welding. The upper part 2 is provided with a filling opening 4.
The second short side of the container 1 serves as the container opening 7 which comes out into a neck 6. The container opening 7 is closed off by a closing device 8.
When closing the container 1, the neck 6 is passed through the wrapping bar 10 which in the middle is provided with a slot 9 and then, by turning the wrapping bar 10 in the direction of the middle of the container, it is wound as firmly as possible and without folds onto the wrapping bar, in the case of the embod-iment shown in Figure 3 by at least 360. By turning the wrapping bar a number of times, the layers of the container opening 7 may also overlap one another. When doing so, as can be noted from Figure 3, the neck 6 is bent over at several points. As soon as the desired winding up or wrapping has taken place, the position which has been reached can be fixed by the tightening of clamping or tension screws 13, which are provided in a suitable manner near the ends of the wrapping bar lO. The tension screws 13 extend through a clamping or tension element, 12 with a U-shaped cross-section and through the wrapping bar lO and are tightened, for example, by a nut.
With the embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 4 a winding on or wrapping takes place by at least 270. Here the fixing element has the shape of two rectangular tubes 14 or pro-filed bars which are connected by clamping or tension screws 15, which extend through the wrapping bar lO outside the zone of the slot.
Figure 5 to 9 show further embodiments of the closing device 8, which differ in particular with regard to the fixing element. The flattened container opening 7 of the empty container l is again pushed in-to the slot 9 of -the wrapping bar lO, the edge of the container opening 7 being located inside the wrapping bar 10.
To fix the container opening 7 wound on-to the wrapping bar lO into position in the embodiments according to Figures 5 to 9 a sleeve 16 with a longitudinal slot 21~is pushed in the axial direction onto the wrapping bar lO, so that it engages firmly around the wound-on container opening 7. The longitudinal slot 21 of this sleeve 16 will then with its two longitudinal edges come to rest against the upper part 2 and the lower part 3 of the con-tainer l. In Figure 5 the wrapping bar lO as well as the sleeve 16 have a rectangular profile cross-section, so that the two parts are fixed onto one another in such a way that they cannot turn in relation to one anotherO In this manner the container opening 7 ~;22;~
is closed, and the pushed-on sleeve 16 ensures that the container opening 7 cannot come loose off the wrapping bar 10.
With the embodiment of Figure 6 -the profile cross-sec~
tions of the wrapping bar 10 as well as of the sleeve 16 are tri-angular. Also here the two parts are fixed in such a way that they cannot tu~n in relation to one another.
With the embodiment of the closing device 8 shown in Figure 7a, the wrapping bar 10 and the sleeve 16 have a round profile cross-section, so that with this embodiment additional means must be provided to prevent a turning. Such means are shown in Figure 7b. The end of the sleeve 16 is provided with a notch 20, a lug 19 arranged on the corresponding end of the wrapping bar 10 and extending in the axial direc-tion, engaging into this notch 20 so as to prevent a turning. Also the longi-tudinal slot 21 in sleeve 16 can serve as the notch 20. In this case the longitudinal slot 21 in addition acts as a guide for the pushing on o~ the sleeve 16.
With the embodiment of the closing device 8 shown in Figures 8 and 9, -the sleeve 16 has a U-shaped profile cross-section and is pushed on transversely to the axial direction of$he wrapping bar 10, i.e. in the drawing from the right. To pre-vent that the sleeve 16 slides off the container opening 7 wound onto the wrapping bar 10, additional means are provided to prevent a shifting. To this effect in Figure 8b a locking bolt 17 is arranged pivotally on the sleeve 16, which prior to and during the pushing of sleeve 16 onto the wrapping bar 10 is in the position indicated b~ broken lines. After sleeve 16 has been pushed on, 7~3 the locking bolt 17 is turned downwards and thus prevents the sleeve 16 from getting loose. Another possibility is illustrated in Figure 9a and 9b. Here a clip-type ring 18 has been pushed onto both ends of sleeve 16.
In the illustrated exemplified embodiments the container 1 is in the form of a bag so that only one closing device 8 is required. It is also possible, however, to use as the container 1 a tubular semi-finished product, in which case two closing devices 8 are required. In this case the volume of container 1 can be reduced to a specific volume from both sides.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A closure for a flexible container of tubular or bag-shaped semi-finished products for transporting and storing flow-able or pourable goods, with a clamping device of a plurality of bars which can be fixed in relation to one another, and an un-wrapping preventing means arranged at the periphery of a wrapping bar for the container opening to be closed, characterized in that the wrapping bar comprises a slot so that an upper part and a lower part of the container can be inserted into the slot and can be wrapped through at least 270° tightly and without folds with at least two passes around the edges of the wrapping bar formed by the slot.

2. A closure according to claim 1, characterized in that the unwrapping preventing means is formed by a bar-shaped tension element which is connected to the wrapping bar by means of tension screws.

3. A closure according to claim 2, characterized in that the tension element is designed as a rail with a U-shaped profile for the partial or complete reception of the wrapping bar.

4. A closure according to claim 1, characterized in that the unwrapping preventing means is formed by two rectangular tubes or profiled bars lying opposite one another, which are connected together with tension screws guided through the wrapping bar out-side the length of the slot of the wrapping bar.

5. A closure according to claim 1, characterized in that the unwrapping preventing means is formed by a sleeve with a longitudinal slot which can be pushed onto the wrapping bar firmly gripping the wrapped container opening, said sleeve in the pushed on position being fixed so that it cannot turn in relation to the wrapping bar.

6. A closure according to claim 5, characterized in that the sleeve is held non-rotatably on the wrapping bar due to the fact that the profile cross-section of both the sleeve and of the wrapping bar differ from the circular form.

7. A closure according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the profile cross-section of the sleeve and the profile cross-section of the wrapping bar is rectangular.

8. A closure according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the profile cross-section of the sleeve and the profile cross-section of the wrapping bar is square.

9. A closure according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the profile cross-section of the sleeve and the profile cross-section of the wrapping bar is oval.

10. A closure according to claim 5, characterized in that the sleeve is held non-rotatably on the wrapping bar by means which prevent shifting and which engage both parts.

11. A closure according to claim 5, characterized in that the end of the sleeve is provided with a notch into which a lug arranged at the corresponding end of the wrapping bar and extending in the radial direction engages as a means to prevent shifting after pushing on the sleeve.

12. A closure according to claim 11, characterized in that the longitudinal slot in the sleeve at the same time serves as the notch.

13. A closure according to claim 12, characterized in that the longitudinal slot at both ends of the sleeve serves to receive a lug arranged at both ends of the wrapping bar.

14. A closure according to claim 5, characterized in that the sleeve with the longitudinal slot consists of an elastic material and is frictionally connected to the outside of the wrapped container opening.

15. A closure according to claim 5, 12 or 14, characterized in that the width of the longitudinal slot is somewhat smaller than the thickness of the flattened container opening, whereby the longitudinal edges of the longitudinal slot of the sleeve abut the upper and lower part of the container after being pushed on.

16. A closure according to one of the claims 5 or 6, charac-terized in that the opening opposite the front inlet opening of the sleeve is covered by a plate.

17. A closure according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that two sleeves are provided which can be pushed onto both ends of the wrapping bar, the respective length of said sleeves being less than half the total length of the wrapping bar.

18. A closure according to claim 5, characterized in that the sleeve has a U-shaped profile cross-section and can be pushed on transversely to the axial direction of the wrapping bar, where-by a means to prevent shifting is arranged at both ends of the sleeve.

19. A closure according to claim 18, characterized in that a locking bolt rotatably coupled to the sleeve and engaging the wrapping bar from behind is provided to prevent shifting.

20. A closure according to claim 18, characterized in that a ring which can be pushed onto the end of the sleeve is provided to prevent shifting.

21. A closure according to claim 1 or 5, characterized in that the edge of the container opening projecting into the slot of the wrapping bar is disposed within the wrapping bar.