Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B61/00—Auxiliary devices, not otherwise provided for, for operating on sheets, blanks, webs, binding material, containers or packages
  • B65B61/02—Auxiliary devices, not otherwise provided for, for operating on sheets, blanks, webs, binding material, containers or packages for perforating, scoring, slitting, or applying code or date marks on material prior to packaging
  • B65B61/025—Auxiliary devices, not otherwise provided for, for operating on sheets, blanks, webs, binding material, containers or packages for perforating, scoring, slitting, or applying code or date marks on material prior to packaging for applying, e.g. printing, code or date marks on material prior to packaging
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B9/00—Enclosing successive articles, or quantities of material, e.g. liquids or semiliquids, in flat, folded, or tubular webs of flexible sheet material; Subdividing filled flexible tubes to form packages
  • B65B9/10—Enclosing successive articles, or quantities of material, in preformed tubular webs, or in webs formed into tubes around filling nozzles, e.g. extruded tubular webs
  • B65B9/20—Enclosing successive articles, or quantities of material, in preformed tubular webs, or in webs formed into tubes around filling nozzles, e.g. extruded tubular webs the webs being formed into tubes in situ around the filling nozzles
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B9/00—Enclosing successive articles, or quantities of material, e.g. liquids or semiliquids, in flat, folded, or tubular webs of flexible sheet material; Subdividing filled flexible tubes to form packages
  • B65B9/10—Enclosing successive articles, or quantities of material, in preformed tubular webs, or in webs formed into tubes around filling nozzles, e.g. extruded tubular webs
  • B65B9/20—Enclosing successive articles, or quantities of material, in preformed tubular webs, or in webs formed into tubes around filling nozzles, e.g. extruded tubular webs the webs being formed into tubes in situ around the filling nozzles
  • B65B9/2056—Machines for packages of special type or form

Definitions

• This invention generally relates to a packaging material with invisible information, a packaging container with invisible information, and a filling and packaging procedure. More particularly, the present invention relates to a packaging container obtained by forming a continuous paper packaging material in a tubular form in the longitudinal direction, filling the tubular packaging material with contents such as fruit juice, tea, liquid dairy products, etc., applying lateral seals in the lateral direction at specified intervals on the tubular packaging material, and cutting the packaging material along the lateral line seals.
• One known method for forming packaging containers for beverages such as milk and juice involves forming into a tubular shape a packaging material of paper- plastic laminate impressed with crease lines, filling the tubularly formed packaging material with contents or an object to be packaged, applying lateral line seals to the tubular packaging material at specified intervals so as to be formed first in a primary shape of a pillow or a cushion, cutting the shaped material at constant intervals and then folding along the crease lines to form a final shape.
• the final shape may be that of a brick (hexahedron), a polygonal (more than four-edged) column, hexagonal column, octagonal column, decagonal column, or tetrahedron having four triangular faces. Manufacturing principles for carrying out the above-described method are disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3,325,961 and European Patent Application No. EP 25,235.
• the packaging material is also provided with control numbers and manufacturing lot numbers used in manufacturing processes for the packaging material including printing, lamination, and cutting, This provides a controlling convenience for customers carrying out the filling work.
• lot numbers of the packaged product or contents are also provided on the packaging container products.
• the packaging material is further provided with register marks at specified intervals so that the external design of the packaging container product is placed in a correct position, so that the lateral line seals in the lateral direction are applied to the tubular packaging material at the specified intervals, and so that cuts along the lateral line seals can be made to obtain the packaging container.
• register marks in the form of bar codes are provided so that the lateral line seals are applied to the specified positions and so that the packaging material is cut along the lateral line seals.
• the external appearance surface of the conventional packaging container product is provided with the control number, the lot number, the lateral line seals in specified positions, and the register marks for cutting the packaging material along the lateral line seals, the already limited amount of packaging container surface area where printing may be applied becomes even smaller, and the possibility of applying an external design is considerably restricted.
• Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei-4-51,414 proposes a plastic printed tube in which the tube is provided with a seal positioning mark that emits light when struck with ultraviolet rays.
• Another proposal discussed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho-61-18,231 involves a record paper that is provided with a latent image that emits light when struck with infrared rays.
• no applications have been proposed in the field of packaging containers made by forming a packaging material in a tubular shape, filling the tubular shape with contents such as fruit juice, tea, liquid dairy products, etc., applying lateral line seals to the tubular shape, and then cutting the product to obtain a packaging container.
• a packaging material for a packaging container is provided with invisible information, whereby a continuous packaging material impressed with crease lines can be formed in a tubular shape in the longitudinal direction, filled with an object or contents to be packaged, applied with lateral line seals in the lateral direction of the packaging material at specified intervals, cut along the lateral line seals, and folded into a final shape.
• the invisible information is provided on the packaging material at the above-mentioned specified intervals.
• Preferred embodiments of the invention provide the invisible information by: printing on the packaging material in infrared ink that emits infrared rays when excited with a specified excitation means; printing on the packaging material in ultraviolet ink that emits ultraviolet rays when excited with a specified excitation means; applying a magnetized magnetic tape strip to the packaging material; printing on the packaging material in magnetized magnetic ink; attaching coils to the packaging material that send out varying electric/magnetic field by means of specified external electric/magnetic field; and an arrangement comprising external signal receiving means, processing means for sending out information in response to the external signal, and transmitting means for sending out the signal sent out.
• the packaging container with invisible information of the invention is made by forming a continuous packaging material impressed with crease lines in a tubular shape in the longitudinal direction, filling the tubular packaging material with contents to be packaged, impressing lateral line seals in the lateral direction of the tubular packaging material at specified intervals, cutting the packaging material along the lateral seals to form a primary shape, and folding the packaging material along the crease lines to form a final shape.
• the invisible information to be invisibly detected from outside is provided on the external surface of the container.
• the invisible information may be at least one piece of information selected from: information superimposed on the external appearance design of the packaging container; information superimposed on the visible product bar code on the external surface of the packaging container; product information relating to the contents to be packaged; packaging material information relating to the packaging material from which the container is manufactured; manufacturing information relating to the filling of the container; and marketing information associated with marketing the packaging container.
• the filling-packaging procedure of the present invention involves forming a continuous packaging material impressed with crease lines in a tubular shape in the longitudinal direction, filling the tubular packaging material with contents to be packaged, impressing lateral line seals in the lateral direction of the tubular packaging material at specified intervals, cutting the packaging material along the lateral seals to form a primary shape, and folding the packaging material along the crease lines to form a final shape and obtain a packaging container.
• Invisible information is provided on the packaging material at the specified intervals, the lateral line seals are applied at positions determined according to the invisible information on the packaging material, and the packaging material is cut along the lateral line seals to form a primary shape.
• the invisible information provided at specified intervals on a tubularly formed, continuously fed packaging material is detected with a detector, the lateral seals are applied in the lateral line seal positions on the packaging material as determined from the detected invisible information, and the packaging material is cut along the lateral seals to form a primary shape.
• invisible information since invisible information is provided, information may be obtained from outside by invisible means and can be discriminated from visible information. That is, visible designs, characters, symbols, numerals, etc. are not affected.
• Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the general construction of a packaging-filling machine for making packaging containers according to the present invention
• Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a continuous packing material used to make packaging containers and embodying invisible information in accordance with the present invention.
• Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a packaging container embodying invisible information in accordance with the present invention.
• Packaging materials that may be used in conjunction with the present invention are typically multi-layer laminates which typically include a paper-based material for a paper container, with thin layers of thermoplastic resin, for example polyethylene, laminated on both sides of the paper.
• a paper base material layer with its one surface provided with an outside polyethylene layer, and with its other surface provided with an oxygen barrier aluminum foil layer sandwiching a polyethylene laminate, an inner polyethylene layer on the inside surface of the aluminum foil layer, and further two inside polyethylene layers inside the inner polyethylene layer, with the outside polyethylene layer to be in contact with food.
• a band-shaped odor-retaining paper-based packaging material with its at least one surface having a polyester layer may be used.
• the polyester layers are provided on both or one surface of the packaging material, which is single polymer of polyethylene-terephthalate or copolymer of polyethylene-terephthalate and other monomer, for example amorphous polyester resin (A-PET) with its degree of polymerization, average molecular weight.
• A-PET amorphous polyester resin
• Other kinds of monomers, additives, etc. may be appropriately selected depending on applications.
• Examples of a packaging material construction include A-PET layer/adhesive resin/aluminum foil/LDPE/paper layer/LDPE, etc.
• the final shape of the container may be an angular column, preferably polygonal column having more than four edges, a hexagonal column, an octagonal column, a decagonal column, a tetrahedron with four triangular faces, or a brick shape (hexahedron).
• the present invention involves a packaging material provided with invisible information and used to make a packaging container, as well as a packaging container that includes invisible information; the invisible information being used in the context of the present invention to provide a variety of advantages.
• the invisible information can take one of several different forms.
• the invisible information can be applied by printing on the packaging material in infrared ink that emits infrared rays when excited with a specified excitation means, printing on the packaging material in ultraviolet ink that emits ultraviolet rays when excited with a specified excitation means, applying a magnetized magnetic tape strip to the packaging material, printing on the packaging material in magnetized magnetic ink, attaching to the packaging material coils that send out varying electric/magnetic field by means of specified external electric/magnetic field, and an arrangement comprising external signal receiving means, processing means for sending out information in response to the external signal, and transmitting means for sending out the signal sent out.
• the invisible information can be superimposed on the external appearance design of the packaging container or can be superimposed on the visible product bar code on the external surface of the packaging container.
• the invisible information can be related to product information on the object or contents to be packaged, packaging material information on the packaging material, manufacturing information on filling the container, and marketing information for marketing the packaging container.
• the invisible information is provided by printing on the packaging material in infrared ink that emits infrared rays when excited with a specified exciting means, infrared rays easily penetrate foreign substances such as stains and blots of ink on the surface without being affected by such substances. As a result, highly reliable invisible information may be provided on the container and the packaging material.
• An example of an ink composition emitting infrared rays is disclosed in Japanese
• an economical invisible information reading system may be fabricated because a fluorescent mark sensor having an ultraviolet rays emitting and receiving sections is inexpensive.
• the invisible information is provided by application of a magnetized magnetic tape strip to the packaging material, or by printing on the packaging material in magnetized magnetic ink, a general purpose invisible information reading system may be used rather than an expensive or special invisible information reading system. Furthermore, with the magnetic tape and the magnetic ink application, a large amount of information may be stored and retrieved.
• the coil that is applied to the packaging material can be similar to antitheft tags and labels that are applied to goods by store owners. These can be in the form of, for example, a flat coil that is applied to a piece of paperboard.
• the invisible information is provided by means for receiving external signals and processing means for sending out information in response to the external signals, for example an IC chip having the above-mentioned functions
• a large amount of data information may be exchanged at a high speed.
• the IC is provided with a large capacity memory means
• a large amount of information for lot numbers of the packaging material, control numbers and packaging material manufacture lot numbers of the packaging material in processes including printing, lamination, and cutting, packaged product lot number, manufactured date, manufactured site and other information relating to the liquid food packaging process may be stored.
• Information on wholesalers, representatives, distributors, and consumers may also be stored.
• the invisible information When the invisible information is provided so as to be superimposed on the external appearance design of the packaging container, necessary information may be provided on the packaging container itself with the appearance unchanged from conventional packaging containers. This can be done, for example, by first printing the invisible information in special inks such as infrared ink followed by ordinary design printing. Since the invisible information is hidden, the area where the packaging container design may be applied is enlarged and the design possibilities are increased.
• the invisible information When the invisible information is provided as superimposed on the visible product bar code on the external surface of the packaging container, for example, the invisible information may be printed in infrared ink followed by superimposed printing of a bar code in an ink that does not contain infrared-absorbing pigments such as carbon black so that the invisible information may be read simultaneously with the visible information at the shop register using an infrared sensor, and this may be utilized for quality control or warranty claim control.
• the general construction of a packaging-filling machine for processing packaging material and forming filled containers in accordance with the present invention includes a packaging material reel 2 formed by winding and storing a continuous paper-based packaging material impressed with crease lines and provided with pieces of invisible information at specified intervals.
• a variety of rollers are also provided for guiding and running the packaging material 1 drawn out from the reel 2.
• a strip applicator is provided for applying a strip tape 9 to an edge of the packaging material
• a sterilizing tank filled with hydrogen peroxide solution can be appropriately positioned for allowing the material to pass through the tank.
• Squeezing rollers can also be provided for removing hydrogen peroxide solution wetting the packaging material.
• the device can further be outfitted with an air knife for blowing heat-sterilized air to the packaging material, rollers for guiding and running the packaging material to a forming process, and a forming ring for forming the packaging material into a tubular shape 3.
• a filler pipe 10 fills the tubular packaging material 3 with liquid food.
• a longitudinal line seal nozzle and lower forming rings heat both ends of the packaging material 3 formed in a tubular shape in the longitudinal direction and weld both ends by pressing from inside and outside.
• a sensor (A) reads the invisible information provided at specified intervals on the surface of the tubular packaging material 3.
• a jaw unit (not specifically shown) applies lateral line seals at constant intervals in the lateral direction on the tubular packaging material 3' in alignment with external designs for the packaging container corresponding to signals from the sensor (A).
• a knife (not specifically shown) is provided for cutting the tubular packaging material 3' between upper and lower lateral line seals to form a pillow-shaped primary formed container 4, and a final holder unit (not specifically shown) forms the pillow-shaped primary formed container 4 into its final rectangular parallelepiped shape.
• a final holder unit (not specifically shown) forms the pillow-shaped primary formed container 4 into its final rectangular parallelepiped shape.
• the packaging material 1 that is drawn out from the reel 2 is illustrated in Fig. 2 which shows the crease lines 12 that extend across the width of the material.
• the packaging material 1 is schematically depicted as having indicia 14 (e.g. , descriptive information, designs, coloring, etc.) which forms the typical external design appearance seen on a finished packaging container.
• indicia 14 e.g. , descriptive information, designs, coloring, etc.
• the packaging material 1 is also illustrated in dotted outline configuration as it is understood that such information would not be readily visible to the naked eye.
• the position of the invisible information is identified merely for illustrative purposes and is not intended to be an indication of the exact position of the invisible information as such position would depend upon the particular context in which the information is used.
• Fig. 3 depicts a configuration for a packaging container 4 in accordance with the present invention in which the container is defined by a plurality of upright side walls 16 and oppositely positioned end walls 18.
• An end wall seal 22 is provided at one end of the container and is folded down onto the surface of the container.
• the exterior design appearance formed by various types of indica 14 is also shown as is the invisible information 20 which is once again shown in dotted outline configuration.
• the packaging and filling procedure using the device or machine of the present invention as described above and depicted in Fig. 1 involves first preparing or obtaining a packaging material reel 2.
• This reel 2 is made by winding and storing a continuous paper-based packaging material impressed with crease lines and provided with pieces of invisible information at specified intervals. While the kind of invisible information used in the invention may be selected from among various kinds described above, this embodiment is assumed to use infrared ink to provide register marks at specified intervals on the packaging material so as to adjust the external design marks for the packaging containers and to print so-called product bar codes over the register marks.
• the external appearance designs, characters, and symbols are also printed here.
• the packaging material 1 is drawn out from the packaging material reel 2, and is then passed and guided over rollers to the sterilizing tank where the material is soaked. After the soaking, sterilizing solution wetting the packaging material is removed with, for example, squeeze rollers, and heated sterilized air is blown out of the air knife to dry the packaging material wetted with the sterilizing solution. Next, the sterilized packaging material is guided and passed through a sterilized atmosphere over rollers to a forming process where the packaging material is formed into a tubular shape in the longitudinal direction. Both ends of the tubular packaging material are heated with a longitudinal line seal nozzle and welded while being pressed from inside and outside with the lower forming rings. The tubular packaging material is filled with liquid food through the filler pipe 10.
• the liquid food packaged in this embodiment can be, for example, tea with lemon, green tea, and juice.
• the end of the filler nozzle in the tubular packaging material is always positioned below the liquid food surface in the packaging material so that bubbles are prevented from being produced when the liquid food is charged into the container.
• the infrared sensor (A) detects the invisible information (position signals for the register marks and the designs) and sends signals corresponding to the detected signals to a design adjustment system to correct the design positions. After correcting the design positions, lateral line seals in the lateral direction are applied at a position below the liquid surface to the tubular packaging material at specified intervals by means of the jaw unit. Sealing in this way prevents air from being left in the container so that the quality of the packaged contents or food is maintained.
• the lateral seal lines and the invisible information can be set forth on the packaging material at the same specified intervals.
• the pillow-shaped, primary formed container 4 is further formed into the final shape of a rectangular parallelepiped in a forming unit.
• the invention is not limited to this embodiment but various modifications may be made.
• the final shape, in addition to the rectangular parallelepiped may be tetrahedron, hexagonal cylinder, octagonal cylinder, and so on. Since the packaging container obtained by the procedure described above is provided with invisible information printed in infrared ink and superimposed on the product bar code, various kinds of information concerning the packaging container product may be provided.
• This information includes packaging material lot numbers, control numbers and packaging material manufacture lot numbers involved in printing, lamination, and cutting processes when the packaging material is manufactured; packaged product lot numbers, date of manufacture, and site of manufacture, in the process of liquid food packaging.
• the invisible information may be read and immediate actions may be taken.
• problem commodities are prevented from being sold by mistake.
• the present invention provides the following advantageous effects.
• the surface area of the packaging container where printing may be placed is not reduced and the external design possibilities are not restricted even if information including control numbers and lot numbers, and register marks for applying lateral line seals and for cutting the packaging material along the lateral line seals at specified positions are provided on the external surfaces of the packaging container products.
• the invisible information is provided by printing on the packaging material in infrared ink capable of emitting infrared rays
• infrared rays easily penetrate foreign substances such as stains and blots of ink on the surface without being affected by such substances.
• highly reliable invisible information may be provided on the container and the packaging material.
• an economical invisible information reading system may be fabricated because a fluorescent mark sensor having ultraviolet rays emitting and receiving sections is inexpensive.
• the invisible information when the invisible information is provided by application of a magnetized magnetic tape strip to the packaging material, or by printing on the packaging material in magnetized magnetic ink, a general purpose invisible information reading system may be used rather than an expensive or special invisible information reading system. Furthermore, with the magnetic tape and the magnetic ink application, a large amount of information may be stored and retrieved.
• the invisible information is provided by means for receiving external signals and processing means for sending out information in response to the external signals, for example an IC chip having the above-mentioned functions
• a large amount of data information may be exchanged at a high speed.
• the IC is provided with a large capacity memory
• a large amount of information relating to lot numbers of the packaging material, control numbers and packaging material manufacture lot numbers of the packaging material in processes including printing, lamination, and cutting, packaged product lot number, manufactured date, manufactured site and other information relating to liquid food packaging process may be stored.
• Information on wholesalers, representatives, distributors, and consumers may also be stored.
• the invisible information When the invisible information is provided as superimposed on the external appearance design of the packaging container, necessary information may be provided on the packaging container itself with the appearance unchanged from conventional containers by first printing the invisible information in special inks such as infrared ink followed by ordinary design printing. Since the invisible information is hidden, the area where the packaging container design may be applied is widened and design possibilities are increased.
• the invisible information When the invisible information is provided as superimposed on the visible product bar code on the external surface of the packaging container, for example, the invisible information may be printed in infrared ink followed by superimposed printing of a bar code in an ink that does not contain infrared-absorbing pigments such as carbon black so that the invisible information may be read simultaneously with the visible information at the shop register using an infrared sensor, and this may be utilized for quality control or warranty claim control.
• the invisible information When the invisible information is provided by printing in infrared ink superimposed on the product bar code, various kinds of information concerning the packaging container product may be provided including: packaging material lot numbers; control numbers and packaging material manufacture lot numbers associated with printing, lamination, and cutting processes when the packaging material is manufactured; packaged product lot numbers, date of manufacture, and site of manufacture, in the process of liquid food packaging.
• the invisible information may be read and immediate actions taken.
• problem commodities are prevented from being sold by mistake.

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (3)

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Citations (5)

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• 1995
  • 1995-12-29 JP JP35440895A patent/JPH09188357A/ja active Pending
• 1996
  • 1996-12-27 WO PCT/US1996/020339 patent/WO1997024278A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1996-12-27 AU AU14656/97A patent/AU1465697A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1996-12-27 EP EP96945235A patent/EP0929474B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1996-12-27 DE DE69614576T patent/DE69614576T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1997
  • 1997-01-04 TW TW86100043A patent/TW394740B/zh not_active IP Right Cessation

Patent Citations (5)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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