JP2011057269A - Cap for vessel opening - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cap for a vessel opening, which achieves better workability compared with the prior art in an automatic packing process by a machine. <P>SOLUTION: In the cap 101 for opening of the vessel including a top plate 111, a tubular part 121 and an inner ring 131 and forming a seal in a contact of the inner ring with the opening while being covered and screwed on the opening of the resin-made vessel by the machine, the inner ring sags from the inner surface 111a of the top plate at a height 131H approximately corresponding to the lower surface 124a of the first screw thread 124 formed in a tubular part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a container mouth cap, and more particularly to a container mouth cap screwed into the mouth portion to close the mouth portion of a resin container.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 7, there is a composite container 3 called a bag-in-box, in which a blow-molded thin resin container 1 is loaded into an exterior 2 made of a cardboard box or the like, for example, and transports liquid or the like. To do. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, a mouth portion 1a having a male screw 1d formed on the outer periphery thereof is fused to the resin container 1 as an entrance for the filler. Therefore, after filling the container 1, the cap 4 having an internal thread 4d formed on the inner periphery thereof as shown in FIG. 8 is screwed into the mouth 1a to close the mouth 1a and seal the contents. Is called. Here, there is also a system in which processes from filling of contents to sealing with the cap 4 are automatically performed by a machine.

JP 2004-99110 A

  When the automatic packing process by the machine is performed as described above, the cap 4 is gripped and transported to the mouth 1a by the gripping rotation mechanism 10 as shown in FIG. Are automatically screwed together. In such an automatic packing process, the cap 4 is normally gripped by the gripping rotation mechanism 10 in a horizontal state. However, in some rare cases, the cap 4 may be gripped while being inclined with respect to the horizontal direction. . As shown in FIG. 9, even when the inclined cap 4 is conveyed to the mouth portion 1a, a poor engagement between the cap 4 and the mouth portion 1a occurs, or even when both are engaged. In the state where the cap 4 is inclined with respect to the mouth portion 1a, both of them are screwed together, resulting in incomplete sealing of the container 1.

  Even when the cap 4 is normally held in a horizontal state, when the cap 4 is conveyed to the mouth 1a and screwed, as shown in FIG. 10A, the center axis 4c of the cap 4 and the center axis of the mouth 1a When it is misaligned with 1c, the bottom surface 4b of the cap 4 may come into contact with the upper end 1b of the mouth portion 1a. In such a case, as shown in FIG. 10B, the cap 4 is inclined with respect to the mouth portion 1a, and the engagement and screwing operation cannot be performed or the screwing is performed in the inclined state as in the above-described case. It breaks down and a malfunction occurs.

  Further, in the automatic packing process, the container 1 is held by the container holding member 11 as shown in FIG. 11A and the container 1 is suspended. There are also systems to do this. In such a case, since the mouth portion 1a is held by the container holding member 11, the mouth portion 1a may be deformed into an oval shape by the load of the contents in the container 1 as shown in FIG. 11B. is there. As a result, it may be difficult to screw the cap 4 into the mouth 1a.

  Furthermore, since the upper surface 4a of the conventional cap 4 is a flat surface as shown in FIG. 8, it is difficult to position the grip rotation mechanism 10 with respect to the cap 4 when gripping, and it is easy to induce a gripping error. The cap 4 held by the holding rotation mechanism 10 is stocked in a state where the upper surface 4a and the bottom surface 4b of the cap 4 are in contact with each other. May be easily displaced in the horizontal direction, and the gripping operation by the gripping rotation mechanism 10 may be hindered. In addition, as described above, the cap 4 may be gripped in an inclined state with respect to the horizontal direction.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a container mouth cap that can achieve better workability than conventional methods in an automatic packing process by a machine. .

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows.
That is, the container mouth cap in the first aspect of the present invention comprises a top plate, a cylindrical portion that is suspended from the periphery of the top plate and has an internal thread, and an annular inner ring that is suspended from the inner surface of the top plate. The outer ring of the inner ring is in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the mouth part by the machine screwed over the mouth part of the resin container and screwing the male screw with the male screw of the mouth part. A resin container cap for forming a seal between,
The inner ring is suspended from the inner surface of the top plate at a height substantially corresponding to the lower surface of the first thread located on the open end surface side of the cylindrical portion in the female screw.

  Further, the height of the inner ring corresponds to a first dimension from the inner surface of the top plate to the lower surface of the first thread, corresponding to approximately 1.5% of the outer diameter of the container mouth cap. The length can be obtained by subtracting two dimensions.

  The outer peripheral surface of the inner ring may have a taper shape that tapers toward the tip of the inner ring.

  Further, a gap having a third dimension corresponding to approximately 6% of the outer diameter of the container mouth cap is provided between the end of the lower surface of the first thread and the tip of the inner ring. You may do it.

  Further, the open end surface of the cylindrical portion has a chamfered portion at an intersection with the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion, and the chamfered portion has a length of about 3% of the inner diameter of the mouth portion. You may do it.

In addition, further comprising a raised portion formed on the upper surface facing the inner surface of the top plate,
The raised portion may have a raised start position in a range inside the valley diameter of the female screw and outside the center diameter of the inner ring.

  Moreover, you may make it the said protruding part have a height of 1.5 mm or more and less than 2 mm with respect to the said upper surface.

  According to the container mouth cap of the first aspect, the inner ring is suspended from the inner surface of the top plate at a height substantially corresponding to the lower surface of the first thread of the female screw. As a result, even if a cap held at an angle with respect to the horizontal direction is about to engage with the mouth of the resin container, before the female screw and the male screw of the mouth start screwing, First, the tip of the inner ring enters the inside of the mouth. Therefore, the inclination is corrected by the contact between the inner ring and the mouth portion, and the cap is brought into a horizontal state or a substantially horizontal state, and then the female screw and the male screw are screwed together. Therefore, the problem of poor engagement and incomplete sealing of the container does not occur, and better workability can be obtained in the automatic packing process by the machine than in the past.

  Further, the height of the inner ring is defined in relation to the outer diameter of the cap, the outer peripheral surface of the inner ring is tapered, or the inner ring and the lower surface end of the first thread are It is possible to obtain even better workability by defining the gap dimension between the two in relation to the outer diameter of the cap.

  In addition, since the chamfered portion is provided on the open end surface of the cap, the chamfered portion can perform a guide function for aligning the cap with the mouth portion. Therefore, even when the center axis of the cap and the center axis of the mouth portion are shifted at the time of engagement with the mouth portion, or even when the mouth portion is deformed by a load, the relationship between the cap and the mouth portion is concerned. As a result, it is possible to achieve better workability in the automatic packing process by the machine than in the prior art.

  In addition, by having the raised portion on the top surface of the top plate, the positioning of the gripping device with respect to the cap becomes easy, and the occurrence of gripping errors of the cap can be reduced. Therefore, better workability can be obtained in the automatic packing process by the machine than in the past. There is also an advantage that the caps can be stacked.

It is sectional drawing of the cap for container opening parts in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows a state when the cap for container opening parts shown in FIG. 1 screws together with the opening part of a container. It is a figure for demonstrating that the cap for container opening parts shown in FIG. 1 is screwed correctly with respect to the opening part of a container. It is a figure for demonstrating that the cap for container opening parts shown in FIG. 1 is screwed correctly with respect to the opening part of a container. It is sectional drawing which shows the modification of the cap for container opening parts shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating that the holding | grip operation | movement of a cap is performed appropriately in the modification of the cap for container opening parts shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the composite container of what is called a bag in box. It is a figure which shows the conventional cap for container opening parts. It is a figure which shows the state of the screwing malfunction to the container opening part in the conventional cap for container opening parts. It is a figure for demonstrating the state of the engagement malfunction to the container opening part in the conventional cap for container opening parts. It is a figure for demonstrating the state of the engagement malfunction to the container opening part in the conventional cap for container opening parts. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that a container opening is hold | maintained at a container holding member. It is a figure for demonstrating the state of a container mouth part when a container mouth part is hold | maintained with a container holding member.

A container mouth cap which is an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In each figure, the same or similar components are denoted by the same reference numerals.
In the embodiment described below, the container mouth cap is exemplified by the cap for the mouth of the thin resin container provided in the bag-in-box, but is not limited to such a container. Absent. That is, the present invention can be applied to a cap that is gripped by an automatic operation by a machine and screwed into a mouth portion.

A container mouth cap 101 in this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is gripped by a gripping rotation mechanism 10 as shown in FIG. 9, and is made of a thin resin provided in the bag-in-box described above with reference to FIG. It covers the mouth 1a of the container 1, engages and is screwed, thereby closing the mouth 1a of the container 1 and sealing the contents. The material of the cap 101, for example, 0.941~0.965g / cm ³ order of high-density polyethylene, 0.910~0.925g / cm ³ as low density polyethylene or the like can be used. Moreover, it is not limited to molding by one kind of resin material, but may be molded by so-called two-color molding or multilayer molding.
The resin container 1 and the mouth 1a are also made of the same material as the cap 101.

  Such a cap 101 includes a top plate 111, a cylindrical portion 121, and an inner ring 131 as basic components. In the present embodiment, the chamfered portion 141 and the top plate 111 are further added to the cylindrical portion 121. Is provided with a raised portion 151. In addition, these structural parts 111, 121, 131, 141, 151 are integrally molded with the above-mentioned resin material.

  The cylindrical portion 121 is a portion that hangs down from the periphery of the top plate 111, and a cap having a concave cross section is formed by the top plate 111 and the cylindrical portion 121. On the inner peripheral surface 121a of the cylindrical portion 121, a female screw 122 that is screwed with the male screw 1d formed in the mouth portion 1a of the container 1 is formed.

  The inner ring 131 is one of the characteristic components of the cap 101 and is an annular member that hangs down from the inner surface 111 a of the top plate 111. Also, as shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D, the cap 101 is put on and engaged with the mouth 1a of the container 1, and the female screw 122 is engaged with the male screw 1d of the mouth 1a. By being screwed in, the inner ring 131 has its outer peripheral surface 131a in close contact with the inner peripheral surface 1e of the mouth portion 1a to form a seal with the mouth portion 1a.

  The inner ring 131 has a height 131H substantially corresponding to the lower surface 124a of the first screw thread 124 that is first positioned on the open end surface 123 side of the cylindrical portion 121 in the female screw 122, from the top plate inner surface 111a. Droop. More specifically, the height 131H is 1.5% or almost 1.5% of the outer diameter D of the cap 101 from the first dimension 133 from the top plate inner surface 111a to the lower surface 124a of the first screw thread 124. This corresponds to a length obtained by subtracting the second dimension 134 corresponding to. As an example, if the outer diameter D of the cap 101 is 48 mm, the second dimension 134 is about 0.7 mm.

  The reason for setting the height 131H of the inner ring 131 as described above is that the height of the inner ring 131 and the inclination angle of the outer peripheral surface 131a are changed for a plurality of caps having various outer diameters. Is derived from the results of the experiment conducted. That is, when the inner ring 131 has a height exceeding the lower surface 124a of the first thread 124, that is, beyond the first dimension 133, the second dimension 134 becomes 2% or more longer than the outer diameter D (−2%). In such a case, there is a problem that the female screw 122 and the male screw 1d are not engaged when the cap 101 is inclined. On the other hand, when the height is extremely shorter than the lower surface 124a, that is, when the second dimension 134 exceeds 4% of the outer diameter D, the female screw 122 remains in a state where the cap 101 is inclined. And the male screw 1d are screwed. Therefore, it was derived that the second dimension 134 for determining the height 131H of the inner ring 131 is −2 to 4%, preferably about 1.5%.

  Since the inner ring 131 has the height 131H as described above, the cap 101 tilted with respect to the horizontal direction and gripped by the gripping rotation mechanism 10 tries to engage with the mouth 1a of the resin container 1. Even in this case, the cap 101 can be corrected to a horizontal state or a substantially horizontal state. That is, when the inclined cap 101 is to be engaged with the mouth portion 1a, before the female screw 122 of the cap 101 and the male screw 1d of the mouth portion 1a start screwing, as shown in FIG. As described above, the outer peripheral surface 131a of the tip portion 132 of the inner ring 131 located on the inclined lower end side of the inner ring 131 contacts the inner peripheral surface 1e of the upper end portion of the mouth portion 1a. Therefore, as the amount of contact increases as the cap 101 moves, the resistance for the inner ring 131 to enter the inside of the mouth portion 1a increases. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3B, the inclination of the cap 101 is corrected, the cap 101 is in a horizontal state or a substantially horizontal state, and normal screwing of the female screw 122 and the male screw 1d is possible. Become. Therefore, according to the cap 101 of the present embodiment, problems such as poor engagement and imperfect sealing of the contents do not occur, and better workability can be obtained in the automatic packing process by the machine than before.

  Further, in the inner ring 131, the outer peripheral surface 131 a has a tapered shape that tapers toward the tip 132 b of the inner ring 131, and a convex portion 135 that slightly swells in the diameter direction of the cap 101 is formed at the base of the inner ring 131. Have. As shown in FIG. 2D, the convex portion 135 is a portion where the outer peripheral surface 131a of the inner ring 131 is in close contact with the inner peripheral surface 1e of the mouth portion 1a to form a seal with the mouth portion 1a. is there.

Further, the inner ring 131 has a gap 136 between the end portion 124 b of the lower surface 124 a of the first screw thread 124 and the tip 132 b of the inner ring 131. The gap 136 has a third dimension 136 a corresponding to 6% or almost 6% of the outer diameter D of the cap 101. The third dimension 136a is a value measured along the axial direction of the cap 101 as shown by a solid line in FIG. 1, or a value measured along the tapered outer peripheral surface 131a as shown by a dotted line in FIG. either will do.
As an example of the third dimension 136a, if the outer diameter D of the cap 101 is 48 mm, the third dimension 136a is about 3 mm.

  The basis for setting the dimension of the gap 136 of the inner ring 131 as described above will be described. As is clear from FIG. 1, the gap 136 is an element for more reliably achieving the above-described inclination correction of the cap 101 in relation to the height 131 </ b> H in the inner ring 131. This is derived from the results of experiments conducted by the applicant, as with the above-described height setting grounds. That is, when the gap 136 has a dimension that greatly exceeds 6% or almost 6% of the outer diameter D of the cap 101, for example, when it exceeds 7.3% of the outer diameter D, the inclination of the cap 101 is corrected. The effect will be reduced. On the other hand, when the value is extremely shorter than 6%, for example, when it is less than 3.5% of the outer diameter D, the upper end 1b of the mouth portion 1a and the inner ring 131 interfere with each other, and the cap 101 The malfunction that it cannot engage with the opening | mouth part 1a generate | occur | produces. Therefore, the size of the gap 136 is preferably 3.5 to 7.3% of the outer diameter D, and more preferably about 6% described above.

  Since the inner ring 131 has such a gap 136, the above-described inclination correction of the cap 101 can be more reliably achieved.

Next, the chamfered portion 141 will be described.
The chamfered portion 141 corresponds to an arbitrary component in the cap 101 of the present embodiment, and is provided at the intersection of the open end surface 123 of the tubular portion 121 and the inner peripheral surface 121a of the tubular portion 121. By providing the chamfered portion 141 at the intersecting portion, the following effects can be obtained.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, the center axis 101a of the cap 101 gripped by the gripping rotation mechanism 10 and transported to the mouth 1a is shifted from the center axis 1c of the mouth 1a. Even in this case, the chamfered portion 141 of the cap 101 abuts on the upper end 1b of the mouth portion 1a, so that the chamfered portion 141 serves as a guide, and the cap 101 can be moved along the chamfered portion 141. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4B, the center axis 101a of the cap 101 and the center axis 1c of the mouth 1a can be aligned, and the cap 101 and the mouth 1a are normally screwed together. be able to.

  In addition, as described with reference to FIG. 11B, depending on the system, the mouth portion 1 a may be deformed by a load due to the contents of the container 1. Even when the mouth portion 1a is deformed in this way, by providing the chamfered portion 141, the cap 101 can be matched with the mouth portion 1a by the action of the guide described above, and the cap 101 and the mouth portion 1a can be normally connected. Can be screwed together.

  By providing the chamfered portion 141 in this way, it is possible to obtain better workability compared to the conventional case in the automatic packing process by a machine.

In this embodiment, such a chamfered portion 141 has a length of 3% or almost 3% of the inner diameter d of the mouth portion 1a. Strictly speaking, the length of the chamfered portion 141 indicates the length of the hypotenuse, but since its specific value is small, for the sake of convenience, the length 141a on the open end surface 123 of the cylindrical portion 121 is shown in the figure. It shall be equivalent. In one embodiment, the inner diameter d of the mouth 1a is 32 mm, so the length 141a is about 1 mm.
Hereinafter, the reason for setting the above 3% will be described.

As described above, the mouth 1a may be deformed by a load due to the contents of the container 1. This deformation amount was found to be about 3% or about 3%, regardless of the inner diameter d of the mouth portion 1a, from an experiment by the applicant.
On the other hand, in order to facilitate peeling from the mold when the cap 101 is molded, a concave detent 161 may be formed on the open end surface 123 at a predetermined interval in the circumferential direction of the cap 101. In such a case, the chamfered portion 141 needs to be set to a length that does not interfere with the rotation stopper 161.

  From these viewpoints, the length 141a of the chamfered portion 141 can be set, and the length 141a of the chamfered portion 141 can be engaged with the inner diameter of the mouth portion 1a so that the cap 101 can be engaged even when the mouth portion 1a is deformed. It is set to 3% or nearly 3% of d. In addition, when the length 141a is set to this extent, the chamfered portion 141 does not interfere with the detent 161.

  In the case where the rotation stop 161 is not formed on the open end surface 123, the chamfered portion 141 may be extended to the vicinity of the outer peripheral surface of the cap 101 on the open end surface 123 exceeding 3%, for example. Further, the angle of the chamfered portion 141 with respect to the open end surface 123 is not limited to 45 degrees.

Next, the raised portion 151 will be described.
The raised portion 151 corresponds to an arbitrary component in the cap 101 of the present embodiment, and is formed on the upper surface 111b of the top plate 111 facing the top plate inner surface 111a. Such a raised portion 151 has a raised start position 152 in a range inside the valley diameter 122 a of the female screw 122 of the cap 101 and outside the central diameter 137 of the inner ring 131. The reason why the raised start position 152 is provided in the above range is from the viewpoint of molding the cap 101 and the viewpoint of the strength of the cap 101.
The height 153 of the raised portion 151 from the upper surface 111b is preferably about 1.5 mm or more and less than 2 mm. This is set on the strength of the cap 101 and the position from the open end surface 123 of the first thread 124 in the female screw 122 of the cap 101.

  By providing the raised portion 151 in this way, when the cap 101 is gripped by the gripping rotation mechanism 10, for example, the gripping rotation mechanism 10 and the raised portion 151 are brought into contact with each other, thereby positioning the gripping rotation mechanism 10 with respect to the cap 101. Can be easily performed. In addition, since the raised portion 151 can be fitted on the inner peripheral surface 121a side of the cylindrical portion 121 in the other cap 101, a plurality of caps 101 before gripping can be stocked in a stacked state, and the space There is also an advantage that it becomes advantageous.

  In the cap 101, as shown in FIG. 1, the raised portion 151 is raised at a uniform height 153 as a whole, but is not limited to this form. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a raised portion 154 may be formed in a ring shape on a part of the upper surface 111b. In this embodiment, the raised portion 154 may not be formed over the entire circumference of the cap 101, and may be formed intermittently.

  Further, in the cap 101 shown in FIG. 1, a portion other than the raised portion 151 on the upper surface 111 b of the top plate 111 is a flat surface. On the other hand, like the cap 102 shown in FIG. 6, the upper surface 111c corresponding to the upper surface 111b can also be made into an inclined surface. By adopting such a configuration, for example, as shown in FIG. 6A, the gripping rotation mechanism 10 is lowered even when the cap 102 is displaced in the horizontal direction with respect to the gripping rotation mechanism 10. The cap 102 can be moved in the horizontal direction according to the inclination by the tip portion contacting the upper surface 111c. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6B, the cap 102 can be engaged with the gripping rotation mechanism 10.

  The present invention can be applied to a container mouth cap that is screwed into the mouth portion to close the mouth portion of the resin container.

1 ... container, 1a ... mouth, 1d ... male screw,
101 ... Cap, 111 ... Top plate, 111a ... Top plate inner surface, 111b ... Top surface,
121 ... cylindrical part, 121a ... inner peripheral surface, 122 ... female screw, 122a ... valley diameter,
123 ... Open end face, 124 ... First thread, 124a ... Lower surface, 124b ... End,
131 ... Inner ring, 131H ... Height, 131a ... Outer peripheral surface, 132b ... Tip,
133 ... 1st dimension, 134 ... 2nd dimension, 136 ... clearance gap, 137 ... center diameter,
141 ... chamfered portion, 151 ... raised portion, 152 ... raised start position, 153 ... height.

Claims (7)

A top plate (111), a cylindrical portion (121) that is suspended from the periphery of the top plate to form a female screw (122), and an annular inner ring (131) that is suspended from the top plate inner surface (111a) Then, the mouth (1a) of the resin container (1) is covered with a machine and the female screw is screwed with the male screw (1d) of the mouth, so that the outer peripheral surface (131a) of the inner ring becomes the mouth of the mouth. It is a resin container mouth cap that is in close contact with the inner peripheral surface (1e) and forms a seal with the mouth,
The inner ring has a height (131H) substantially corresponding to the lower surface (124a) of the first screw thread (124) located on the open end surface (123) side of the cylindrical portion in the female screw. A cap for a container mouth, which hangs down from the inner surface.   The height of the inner ring corresponds to approximately 1.5% of the outer diameter of the container mouth cap from the first dimension (133) from the inner surface of the top plate to the lower surface of the first thread. The cap for a container mouth portion according to claim 1, which has a length obtained by subtracting the second dimension (134).   3. The container mouth cap according to claim 2, wherein the outer peripheral surface of the inner ring has a tapered shape that tapers toward the tip (132b) of the inner ring.   Between the end (124b) of the lower surface of the first thread and the tip of the inner ring, a gap having a third dimension corresponding to approximately 6% of the outer diameter of the container mouth cap ( 136) The container mouth cap according to claim 3.   The open end surface of the tubular portion has a chamfered portion (141) at the intersection with the inner peripheral surface (121a) of the tubular portion, and the chamfered portion is approximately 3% of the inner diameter of the mouth portion. The container mouth cap according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which has a length. Further comprising a raised portion (151) formed on the upper surface (111b) facing the inner surface of the top plate,
The bulge portion has a bulge start position (152) in a range inside the valley diameter (122a) in the female screw and outside the center diameter (137) of the inner ring. The container mouth cap according to claim 1.   The said mouth part cap for container opening parts of Claim 6 which has a height (153) of 1.5 mm or more and less than 2 mm with respect to the said upper surface.

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