JP2002128006A - Individual packaging method and individual packaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform good tuck-in and sealing even when heights of tuck members on the right and left of a cylindrical packaging material are the same in performing pillow-shaped individual packaging of a merchandise having asymmetric cross section. SOLUTION: When merchandises 1 having right/left asymmetric cross section are housed with a predetermined interval inside of a cylindrical packaging material 2 and the cylindrical packaging material at front and rear end parts of the merchandise 1 is sealed in a pillow shape by tucking it from both sides, the cylindrical packaging material 2 between the front and rear merchandises 1 is tucked in so as the position of both ends of a lower part film not to protrude from the position of both ends of an upper part film after the position lower than the central position in the up and down direction of the merchandise 1 is pushed in the horizontal direction from both sides by the nail-shaped tucking member 5, and a tuck-in part 2c is sealed from the direction perpendicular to the tuck-in direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a new type of resin film cartridge (a so-called APS cartridge) made of a resin, in which a photographic film is housed, for example. The present invention relates to an individual packaging method and an individual packaging device for packaging.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a technique for individually packaging asymmetrical products such as the above-mentioned APS cartridge, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
218490. In this packaging method, a center seal is applied to a film-like packaging material to form a cylindrical packaging material, and the products are accommodated inside the packaging material at predetermined intervals, and the cylindrical packaging material between the products is folded from both sides. (Gusset claw) is pushed in and folded, and the folded portion is welded by a sealing means, cut, and individually wrapped.

[0003] At the time of the above-mentioned welding, the housed product is pressed from above, below and right and left by a pressing member having a pressing surface shape corresponding to the shape of the product so that the packaging material adheres substantially along the shape of the product. The packaging material is folded and sealed while discharging air, so that the size of the product and the size of the package are almost equal.

[0004]

By the way, in the individual packaging of asymmetric products as described above, folding and welding are performed in a pressed state to reduce the amount of internal air.
There is a problem that the folded shape is not uniform in the upper and lower portions, but is displaced, so that the width of the entire seal portion is larger than the width of the product, or the appearance is poor.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the product 1 has a spool shaft 1a at the center, and when housed in the cylindrical packaging material 2, the projection 1b (film) With the doorway, the width of the lower part is larger than the width of the upper part, and the cross section is asymmetric. Thereby, when the cylindrical packaging material 2 between the front and rear products 1 and 1 is folded by the folding members 5 from both sides at the center in the vertical direction of the product 1, the shape of the folded portion 2c is schematically shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the position of the width W1 of the upper film and the position of the width W2 of the lower film are shifted, and the end of the lower film protrudes outward when viewed from above from the end (left end in the figure) of the upper film. .

[0006] The width of the sealing portion after sealing the folded portion 2c is larger than the width W1 of the upper film, and larger than the width of the product 1, so that it is difficult to package a plurality of individually wrapped products. Or the gap between the upper film and the lower film is seen from above and the appearance is poor.

From this point, in the above-mentioned prior art, the heights of the folding members on both sides for performing folding are set at different positions on the left and right. However, such a method requires fine adjustment of the right and left heights of the folding member according to a change in the cross-sectional shape of the cylindrical packaging material due to a change in the pressing state of the product, and the equipment conditions of the folding member are complicated. Become. In particular, if tight internal packaging is attempted by increasing the amount of internal air discharged, stable folding is difficult to obtain, and the appearance of the finished package may be reduced.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an individual wrapping method and an individual wrapping apparatus which can perform a pillow-shaped individual wrapping of a product having an asymmetrical cross section even if the height of the folding members is the same in the right and left directions. It is.

[0009]

The individual packaging method according to the present invention which has solved the above-mentioned problems comprises a tubular packaging material made of a film-like packaging material, in which products whose cross sections are asymmetrical at predetermined intervals are accommodated. In the individual packaging method of folding the cylindrical packaging material at the front and rear ends of the product from both sides and sealing it in a pillow shape,
The cylindrical packaging material between the rear end of the preceding product and the front end of the succeeding product is pushed horizontally from both sides below the center position in the vertical direction of the product by claw-shaped folding members, and both ends of the upper film are pressed. The lower film is folded so that both end positions of the lower film do not project from the position, and the folded portion is sealed from a direction orthogonal to the folding direction.

It is preferable that the amount of folding by the folding member is adjusted so that the width of the seal portion is smaller than the maximum width of the product.

[0011] On the other hand, the individual packaging apparatus of the present invention accommodates commodities having asymmetrical cross sections at predetermined intervals in a cylindrical packaging material made of a film-like packaging material, and forms a cylindrical packaging at the front and rear ends of the commodities. In an individual packaging device that folds the material from both sides and seals it in a pillow shape, a transport mechanism that transports the cylindrical packaging material formed of a film-like packaging material containing products at predetermined intervals to a sealing position while guiding the packaging material with a guide member. , Disposed at a position below the vertical center position of the product, the tubular packaging material between the rear end of the preceding product and the front end of the subsequent product, horizontally pushing the same height position from both sides, A claw-shaped fold member that folds the lower film so that the two end positions do not protrude from both end positions of the upper film, a heat sealer that seals the fold part from a direction perpendicular to the fold direction, and a seal part of the front and rear products are cut. And it is characterized in that a cutting member for separating the individual wrapping body.

[0012]

According to the present invention as described above, the tubular wrapping material between the front and rear products is pushed horizontally from both sides by a claw-shaped folding member at a position below the vertical center position of the product. By folding the lower film so that both end positions do not protrude from both end positions of the upper film, and by sealing the folded portion, the folding height by the folding member can be the same on both sides. The folded state can be stably obtained, the facility conditions are not complicated, and the individual packaging can be performed by folding in a good appearance and sealing it neatly.

[0013] Further, since the pushing position by the folding member is below the center position of the product, the widths of the upper film and the lower film are different, and the portion where the end position is shifted up and down has a small number of film overlaps. When a plurality of individual packages are collected and packaged collectively, the bending when the seal portion is bent along the end face of the product is lightened, and workability is improved.
Further, when the portion where the number of overlapping films is small is set as the tearing portion at the time of opening, the tearing is lightened and the opening property can be improved.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings. 1 to 4 are diagrams sequentially illustrating the steps of the individual packaging method of the present embodiment.

A commodity 1 as a packaged object in the present embodiment is an APS cartridge containing a photo film, and sends out the photo film to the outside from an entrance provided in a convex portion 1b by rotating a spool shaft 1a. (IX240 film cartridge). The end face shape (see FIG. 1B) is a circle 1 centered on the spool shaft 1a.
A convex portion 1b serving as an entrance and exit of the photographic film is formed at a plurality of locations, and a diagonal portion of the convex portion 1b is formed to bulge at a substantially right angle. Is rectangular.

The individual wrapping method basically involves individually wrapping the product 1 in a pillow shape with a tubular wrapping material 2 made of a film-like wrapping material. The film-like wrapping material includes a metal or inorganic vapor-deposited layer. A film having a light-shielding property and a moisture-proof property and a heat-sealing property is formed on the inner surface.

As shown in FIGS. 1 (A) and 1 (B), a front view and a cross-sectional view of a state in which the film-like packaging material is stopped at a sealing position are shown in FIGS. A back seal portion 2a is formed by joining the overlapped edges at the bottom with heat sealing in the vertical direction, and the back seal portion 2a is bent along the bottom surface of the cylindrical portion. In the process of converting the film-like packaging material into the tubular packaging material 2, the product 1 is stored therein at a predetermined interval. The product 1 is accommodated such that the spool shaft 1a is arranged along the longitudinal direction of the tubular packaging material 2 and the convex portion 1b is oriented horizontally downward. In this storage state, the lower width D2 is larger than the upper width D1 of the product 1 by the amount of protrusion by having the convex portion 1b on one side.

Then, the cylindrical packaging material 2 between the rear end of the preceding product 1 and the front end of the following product 1 is end-sealed in the lateral direction. As shown in FIG. 1B, this end sealing is performed in a state in which the cylindrical packaging material 2 before and after the product 1 roughly conforms to the shape of the product 1 inside.
By pressing a height position lower than the center in the vertical direction of the product 1 by a predetermined amount d from both sides.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C show a front view, a cross-sectional view, and a schematic view of a folded portion in a folded state. The inset is
The preceding product 1 in the cylindrical packaging material 2 between the preceding and following products 1 and 1
The two positions near the rear end and near the front end of the succeeding product 1 are opposed to each other at the same height from both sides and two pairs of claws 5a,
This is performed by pushing in the center direction with a folding member 5 (see FIG. 6) having 5b.

That is, when the same low position on the left and right sides is pushed in opposition by the two pairs of claws 5a and 5b on both sides, the product 1
According to the shape of the folded portion 2c of the tubular packaging material 2 according to the difference between the upper and lower widths D1 and D2, the upper surface and the lower surface are almost flat and parallel, and the side surface is folded at an acute angle. As shown in the schematic shape, the width W1 of the upper film is wider than the width W2 of the lower film, and the lower film is folded so that both end positions of the lower film do not project from both end positions of the upper film. In the folded portion 2c, except for the back seal portion 2a, the upper and lower two films overlap at the portion where the four films overlap, and at the center portion and the right portion where the ends are shifted.

The amount of folding by the folding member 5 is determined by the width W1 of the upper film, that is, the end seal portion 2b.
Is adjusted so that the maximum width is smaller than the maximum width of the product 1 (the lower width D2). The maximum width W1 of the folded portion 2c, that is, the end seal portion 2b can be reduced by increasing the pushing amount of the folding member 5 from both sides, and can be reduced within a range where there is no trouble such as film breakage.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a front view and a sectional view showing a sealed state. In the above-mentioned folded state, the folded portion 2c in the middle of the claws 5a, 5b of the front and rear folding members 5 is
The end seal portion 2b is sealed by being sandwiched and welded by the heat sealer 6 from above and below a direction perpendicular to the folding direction of the end seal 2b. The heat sealer 6 has seal blocks 6a and 6b divided into front and rear, and a gap for disposing the cutting member 7 is formed between the blocks 6a and 6b. The pressurized surfaces of the seal blocks 6a and 6b are provided in an uneven shape and are welded in a waveform. Pressed surface height in pressurized state (seal height)
Is performed in accordance with the position of the folding portion 2c formed by the folding member 5.

A cutting member 7 (cutter) is disposed between the seal blocks 6a and 6b before and after the heat sealer 6 so as to be vertically movable, and a drive mechanism (not shown) is used to disconnect the end seal portions 2b and 2b on both sides. The welding intermediate position is cut into a sawtooth gather shape (see FIG. 4), and the individual package 3 of the preceding product 1 is separated. Further, the saw-tooth gather shape of the cut portion is used as a cut portion.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the subsequent cylindrical packaging material 2 is conveyed to the sealing position together with the product 1 and stopped, and the steps of FIG. 2 and FIG. The individual package 3 is obtained by cutting. As shown in FIG. 4, this individual package 3 has an end seal portion formed by welding and sealing the ends of a folded portion 2c folded from both sides before and after a tubular packaging material 2 containing a product 1 therein. 2b
, And the product 1 is packaged in a pillow shape.

Next, FIGS. 5 and 6 are a schematic plan view and a schematic front view of a main part of an individual packaging apparatus according to one embodiment.

The packaging apparatus includes a first belt conveyor 11 as a transport mechanism for receiving and transporting the bottom surface of the cylindrical packaging material 2 containing the product 1, while the packaging device includes a first belt conveyor 11 of the cylindrical packaging material 2. A second belt conveyor 12 is provided for receiving the parts and for transporting the sealed and cut individual packages 3, and both belt conveyors 11, 12 are driven to transport in the same direction. An end of the first belt conveyor 11 and an end of the second belt conveyor 12 are arranged at a predetermined interval, and a folding member 5 and a heat sealer 6 for sealing are arranged at this interval.

On the upper part of the first belt conveyor 11, guide members 14 to 16 for guiding the cylindrical packaging material 2 containing the product 1 are provided. The guide member includes a guide belt 14 that guides an upper portion of the cylindrical packaging material 2, and a guide plate 1 provided at a tip of the guide belt 14.
5 and a guide rod 16 extending in the front-rear direction for guiding both sides of the cylindrical packaging material 2. The guide belt 14 is formed of a sponge belt, is supported by rollers 17, and is driven at the same speed as the first belt conveyor 11. The guide plate 15 is the product 1 when the heat sealer 6 is pressed.
It has the function of regulating the movement of Guide member 14 to
The internal air amount is adjusted by the guide and pressing of 16 and, if necessary, by an air suction tube (not shown) whose tip is inserted into the inside of the tubular packaging material 2, and the cross section of the tubular packaging material 2 is adjusted. The product is conveyed in a state substantially conforming to the shape of the product, and the folding and sealing as described above are performed.

Further, on the upper part of the second belt conveyor 12, holding members 18 to 20 for holding the posture of the cylindrical packaging material 2 including the product 1 at the tip are provided. The holding member includes an upper holding member 18 made of a soft material such as a sponge material that moves upward and downward, and a left holding member 19 and a right holding member 20 made of a soft material such as a sponge material that moves toward and away from both sides. Further, the second belt conveyor 12 is provided with a guide member 21 for guiding the transport of the separated individual packages 3.

As described above, the folding member 5 pushes the cylindrical packaging material 2 between the products 1 and 1 at the same height at a position lower than the center in the height direction of the product 1 from both sides toward the center. A pair of left and right folding members 5 are fixed to a drive mechanism (not shown), and are opposed to and moved in the horizontal direction toward the center of the cylindrical packaging material 2. . The folding member 5 has a front claw 5a and a rear claw 5b extending in the direction of the cylindrical packaging material 2 before and after the base 5c.
The rear claws 5b are provided at the same position facing each other, and the tips of the two pairs of claws 5a and 5b abut on the vicinity of the front and rear products 1.

The heat sealer 6 is disposed between the front claw 5a and the rear claw 5b of the folding member 5 so as to be vertically movable toward and away from each other. The upper and lower heat sealers 6 are divided into front and rear seal blocks 6a and 6b and attached to the base member 22 with a gap. The sealing position (height) coincides with the folding position of the folding member 5.

A cutting member 7 (cutter) disposed between the seal blocks 6a and 6b before and after the heat sealer 6.
Can move up and down, and the blade is formed in a saw-tooth gather shape, driven in conjunction with the operation of the heat sealer 6, and cuts the intermediate position between the end seal portions 2b on both sides to separate the individual package 3.

In the individual package 3 after sealing, the width W1 of the upper film and the width W2 of the lower film of the folding portion 2c are different because the pushing position by the folding member 5 is below the center position of the product 1. When the end position is shifted vertically, the number of overlapping films is small. When a plurality of the individual packages 3 are collected and packaged collectively, the end seal portion 2b is bent downward along the end surface of the product 1. Bends lightly. Further, when the end of the end seal portion 2b having a small number of overlapping films is a tear portion at the time of opening, the tear is lightened and the opening property is improved.

It is preferable that the final residual air amount of the individual package 3 is 7 to 70% as an air volume ratio obtained by dividing the volume of the residual air by the volume of the product 1. By appropriately controlling the amount of the residual air, it is possible to reliably prevent damage to the interior of the product 1 due to an impact due to, for example, dropping, and to prevent malfunction of each function of the product 1. Moreover, it is also possible to pack compactly. In other words, if there is a lot of air, it will be excessively swelled and compactness, and the workability when packing with a packaging machine or the like will be reduced, and if there is little air, the shock absorbing effect at the time of falling will be reduced.

Further, the film-like packaging material is set so that the sealing temperature is lowered, and is provided so that the sealing temperature does not adversely affect the product 1 inside. Specifically, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-179473, Japanese Patent Application No. Hei.
See 1-303114.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the product 1 is packaged by the APS cartridge has been described. However, the packaged product 1 is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to other products whose cross sections are asymmetrical. It is possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view and a sectional view of a state in which a cylindrical packaging material is stopped at a sealing position in a step of an individual packaging method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view, a sectional view, and a schematic view of a folded portion in a folded state in a process of an individual packaging method.

FIG. 3 is a front view and a sectional view of a sealed state in a step of an individual packaging method.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an individual package after sealing.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of a main part of the individual packaging device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view of a main part of the individual packaging device.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a center position in a height direction is folded, and a schematic view of a folded portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Product 1b Convex part 2 Cylindrical packaging material 2b End seal part (seal part) 3 Individual package 5 Folding member 5a, 5b Claw 6 Heat sealer 6a, 6b Seal block 7 Cutting member 11 Belt conveyor (conveyance mechanism) 12 Belt conveyor 14-16 Guide member 18-20 Holding member

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cross-sectionally asymmetric product is accommodated at predetermined intervals inside a cylindrical packaging material made of a film-like packaging material.
In an individual packaging method in which the tubular packaging material at the front and rear ends of the product is folded from both sides and sealed in a pillow shape, the tubular packaging material between the rear end of the preceding product and the front end of the following product is placed in the vertical direction of the product. The lower part of the lower film is pushed in horizontally from both sides with claw-shaped folding members from both sides, so that both end positions of the lower film do not protrude from both end positions of the upper film. Individual packaging method characterized by sealing. 2. The individual packaging method according to claim 1, wherein the amount of folding by the folding member is adjusted so that the width of the seal portion is smaller than the maximum width of the product. 3. A product having an asymmetrical cross section is stored at predetermined intervals inside a cylindrical packaging material made of a film-like packaging material,
In an individual packaging device for folding the tubular packaging material at the front and rear ends of the product from both sides and sealing it in a pillow shape, the tubular packaging material made of a film-like packaging material in which products are stored at predetermined intervals is guided by a guide member. And a transport mechanism that transports the product to the seal position while being placed below the vertical center position of the product.
The cylindrical packaging material between the rear end of the preceding product and the front end of the succeeding product is horizontally pushed at the same height from both sides, and folded so that both ends of the lower film do not project from both ends of the upper film. A claw-shaped folding member, a heat sealer for sealing the folded portion from a direction perpendicular to the folding direction, and a cutting member for cutting the sealing portions of the front and rear products and separating them into individual packages. Individual packaging equipment.