JP2833218B2 - Method for producing molded article with cross-section pattern and apparatus used for the method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for producing a molded article having a cross-sectional pattern in which the same pattern appears on a cut surface regardless of which part is cut, and an apparatus used therefor. The present invention relates to a manufacturing method capable of sharply and sharply forming a mold and an apparatus used therefor.

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, chewing gum has little interest in raw material colors, and is therefore colored in a color or design that matches the product image. Such coloring is mainly performed by mixing a dye into a raw material, mixing and mixing the raw material, and coloring the entire product, or printing the surface of chewing gum with an edible dye. However, in a state where a variety of chewing gums are circulating recently, merely coloring in a unique color or pattern has little appeal to consumers. So, if we can make something with the same structure as Kintaro candy (a stick-shaped candy made so that the face of Kintaro, a famous fairy tale character, will appear on the cross-section no matter where it is cut), using chewing gum , May be interested in consumers and motivate them to purchase.
Based on this idea, the present applicant has developed a method for continuously and stably producing chewing gum with a cross-sectional pattern, and has already filed an application (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-188348).

This method uses a special extruding die as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, which is a view taken in the direction of arrow A, and a rod-shaped chewing gum which always shows the same pattern on a cut surface perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. Is obtained continuously. In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a die, and a shaping cylinder 3 having an opening formed in a spade shape in the discharge port 2.
However, it is arranged such that its own axis is parallel to the axis of the die 1. And inside the above die 1,
A flow path block 6 to which two extruders 4 and 5 are connected is mounted at the rear. Inside this flow path block 6,
One end communicates with the discharge port 4a of the extruder 4 and the other end opens to the outside of the shaping cylinder 3 in the discharge port 2 of the die 1. A flow path 8 communicating with 5a and having the other end side opened inside the shaping cylinder 3 is provided. In the flow path 7, a portion directly connected to the discharge port 4a of the extruder 4 is formed in a large-diameter cylindrical space 9, and from this portion, branches off to four small-diameter flow paths 7a toward the downstream side. ing. An enlarged portion 10 having a larger diameter than the flow path 7a is formed at an intermediate portion of each of the small diameter flow paths 7a. on the other hand,
An enlarged portion 11 having a diameter larger than that of the flow channel 8 is also formed at an intermediate portion of the flow channel 8.

Therefore, according to this apparatus, the chewing gum for forming the peripheral portion is continuously supplied into the flow channel 7 by the extruder 4, and the chewing gum is colored by the extruder 5. By continuously supplying different chewing gums or the like into the flow channel 8, a bar-shaped chewing gum having a spade pattern 20 in a cross section as shown in FIG. 8 can be continuously obtained.

However, in the above manufacturing method, when the cut pattern has a fine acute angle, such as a star shape shown in FIG. 3, for example, the pattern portion forming material does not spread to the acute angle portion,
As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, it was found that a sufficient acute angle pattern was not formed. Therefore, in order to obtain a sharp and sharp pattern, it is conceivable to increase the pressure of the extruder for extruding the pattern portion forming material. However, in such a case, the balance with the outer peripheral portion of the pattern is deteriorated, and the ninth ninth aspect is not preferred. As shown in FIG. 3C, it was found that the cross-sectional pattern was easily deformed.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a molded article having a cross-sectional pattern in which a clear fine pattern appears stably on a cut surface and to provide an apparatus used therefor.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a discharge portion of a die, a shaping cylinder having an opening formed in a desired shape has an axis substantially parallel to an axis of the discharge port portion. Using a die device disposed in a state, the pattern forming material is supplied into the shaping cylinder via a plurality of cylindrical flow paths having an enlarged portion at an intermediate portion, and the shaping cylinder is provided. In the discharge port portion on the outer periphery of the body, a peripheral portion forming material is supplied through a plurality of cylindrical flow paths having an enlarged portion in the middle portion, and a rod-shaped molded product that always shows the same pattern on a cut surface perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is provided. A method for producing a molded product having a cross-sectional pattern that is continuously extruded and formed from a discharge port of a die, wherein a flow of a pattern portion forming material flowing into the shaping cylinder from each of the cylindrical flow paths is blocked at a shaft center side. The first gist is a method of manufacturing a molded article with a cross-sectional pattern which is made to flow while diffusing in the circumferential direction. In the discharge port portion of the die, there is provided a die device in which a shaping cylinder having an opening formed in a desired shape is disposed in a state where the axis is substantially parallel to the axis of the discharge port portion. ,
A supply path extending from the pattern portion forming material supply means is communicated with the shaping cylinder through a plurality of cylindrical flow paths having an enlarged portion at an intermediate portion, and a supply path extending from the peripheral portion forming material supply means, It is communicated with the inside of the discharge port outside the shaping cylinder through a plurality of cylindrical flow paths having an enlarged portion in the middle portion, and in the shaping cylinder, a plurality of cylindrical flow path end face openings. A device for manufacturing a molded product with a cross-sectional pattern, in which a flow direction adjusting means for diffusing a flow of a pattern portion forming material flowing into the shaping cylinder in a circumferential direction is provided in a portion surrounded by the second element, The pattern portion forming material supply means and the peripheral portion forming material supply means respectively include an extruder body, a material supply means for intermittently supplying a material to a material supply section of the extruder, and an upper part of the material supply section. Installed in the material supply section in conjunction with the intermittent material supply operation Pressing means for pressing and extruding a material into the extruder, detecting means for detecting the pressure in the extruder with time, and pressing force adjusting means for appropriately adjusting the pressing force of the pressing means in accordance with the fluctuation of the detected value A third aspect of the present invention is a manufacturing apparatus for a molded article with a cross-sectional pattern, comprising:

That is, according to the present invention, the peripheral portion forming material and the pattern portion forming material are supplied through a plurality of cylindrical flow paths each having an enlarged portion at an intermediate portion, and the pattern portion forming material flowing into the shaping cylinder is further provided. The flow of the material is interrupted at the center of the shaft so as to flow in while being diffused in the circumferential direction. Therefore, according to this method, even in the case of a fine and sharp pattern such as a star, a character, a character pattern, etc., the pattern portion forming material can be spread out and extruded evenly to every corner. It can be formed as a clear pattern. Moreover, this pattern is always stable, and there is no unevenness in the shape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the manufacturing apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an external view of a molded product obtained by using the above-described device, and FIGS. 4 (a) and (b) are projections used for the device. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a modified example, FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a supply apparatus used in combination with the above apparatus, FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a manufacturing apparatus prior to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 8 is an external view of a molded article obtained by using the above-mentioned apparatus, and FIGS. 9 (a), (b) and (c) are explanatory views of the drawbacks of the above-mentioned apparatus.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, the present invention will be described in detail based on examples.

〔Example〕

FIGS. 1 and 2 (views in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1) show the main parts of the manufacturing apparatus used in the present invention. In these figures, reference numeral 21 denotes a die, and a shaping cylindrical body 23 having an opening formed in a star shape in a square cylindrical discharge port portion 22, the axis of which is the same as the axis of the die 21. They are arranged in parallel. At the back of the die 21, a flow path block 26 in which two extruders 24 and 25 are connected at right angles to each other is attached. Inside the flow path block 26, one end is provided at the discharge port 24a of the extruder 24.
A flow path 27 having the other end inside the discharge port 22 of the die 21 and opening outside the shaping cylinder 23; and one end communicating with the discharge port 25a of the extruder 25, and the other end forming a flow path. A flow path 28 that opens inside the forming cylinder 23 is provided. In the channel 27 communicating with the extruder 24, a portion directly connected to the discharge port 24a of the extruder 24 is formed in a large-diameter cylindrical space 29. From this portion, three narrow tubes are directed to the downstream side. It branches into a radial channel 27a. An enlarged portion 30 having a larger diameter than the flow path 27a is formed at an intermediate portion of each of the small diameter flow paths 27a.
On the other hand, the flow path 28 communicating with the extruder 25 also has a discharge port of the extruder 25.
A portion directly connected to 25a is formed in a large-diameter cylindrical space 31, and five small-diameter flow passages from this portion toward the downstream side are formed.
Branches to 28a. An enlarged portion 32 having a larger diameter than the flow path 28a is formed at an intermediate portion of each of the small diameter flow paths 28a. Further, the downstream end surface 26 of the flow path block 26 is provided.
A column-shaped protruding piece 33 is attached as a flow direction adjusting means at substantially the center of the portion surrounded by the shaping cylinder 23 in a.

Using the above apparatus, a molded product having a cross-sectional pattern can be continuously obtained, for example, as follows. That is, first, for example, white gum (peripheral portion forming material) is discharged from the discharge port 24a of the extruder 24 into the flow path 27, and simultaneously, for example, orange gum (pattern portion forming material) is discharged from the discharge port 25a of the extruder 25. Material) is discharged into the flow path 28.

The white gum discharged into the flow path 27 passes through the cylindrical space 29 and further passes through the small-diameter flow paths 27a, is shaped into a rectangular column from the discharge port 22 of the die 21, and is discharged. In addition, the orange gum discharged into the flow path 28 has a cylindrical space.
After passing through the small-diameter flow path 28a through the small-diameter flow path 31, it is shaped into a star shape from the shaping cylinder 23 in the die 21 and discharged. In this way, as shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to obtain a square pillar-shaped chewing gum confection having a peripheral portion formed of white gum and having a star-shaped pattern 38 on the inside no matter where it is cut.

In this apparatus, even if there is some variation in the amount of material discharged by each of the extruders 24 and 25, the large-diameter cylindrical spaces 29 and 31 provided in the middle of each of the flow paths 27 and 28 and the enlarged portions 20 and With 32, the variation is absorbed. Moreover, each channel 2
Since each of the outlets 7 and 28 is branched into a plurality of small-diameter channels 27a and 28a on the downstream side instead of one, the supply of the material into the discharge port 22 is performed in a distributed manner from a plurality of locations. Therefore,
Even if the boundary between the white gum that is the peripheral part forming material and the orange gum that is the pattern part forming material has complicated irregularities, fine material supply along the irregularities is performed. However, the plurality of small-diameter flow paths 27a, 28a
It is set in an appropriate arrangement and number according to the shape of the pattern to be formed. Further, when the orange gum passes through the shaping cylinder 23, the flow which tends to flow in parallel with the die axis is generated by the cylindrical projection 33 which is the flow direction adjusting means. As shown by the arrows in FIG. 2, the gum is diffused and flows from the center side to the peripheral side, so that the gum is pushed out in a state where the gum is sufficiently spread out to the corners of the star-shaped acute projections. . Together with these actions, a very sharp star-shaped cross-sectional pattern can be obtained.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, gums having different colors are used in combination as the peripheral portion forming material and the pattern portion forming material, but the material is not limited to the gum, and various types of materials that can be formed by extrusion molding are used. Molding materials can be used in combination. For example, confectionery materials such as jelly dough such as soft candies, pastry dough, baked confectionery dough and gummy jelly, or soaps for solid soaps, plastic materials, lipsticks and other cosmetic materials are exemplified.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the cylindrical projection piece 33 is used as the flow direction adjusting means for blocking the flow of the orange gum (pattern forming material) at the center and diffusing it in the circumferential direction. The shape of the piece 33 may be any shape as long as it can block the flow of the gum.
For example, the plate may be cylindrical as shown in FIG. 4 (a), or a plurality of plate pieces may be erected in an annular shape as shown in FIG. 4 (b).

Further, in the above embodiment, in order to stabilize the discharge amount of each material, it is preferable to stabilize the amount of the material extruded into the die 21 from the discharge ports 24a, 25a of the extruders 24, 25. . For this reason, it is preferable to detect the pressure of each extruder 24, 25 with time using a material supply device as shown in FIG. 5, for example, and adjust the material extrusion amount according to the fluctuation of the detected value. is there. In this apparatus, a material 41, which is divided by an amount of one extrusion molding, is intermittently fed into a material supply unit 42 by a conveyor 40 which moves by a predetermined pitch. And the input material 41 is
The air is fed into the extruders 24 and 25 with a predetermined pressing force by a pressing operation of an air cylinder 43 provided above the material supply section 42, and is rotated by a screw 44 to rotate the flow path block 26. (See FIG. 1). The pressing operation of the piston 43a of the air cylinder 43 and the conveyor 40
The intermittent feed operation is linked with each other,
Automatic feeder that gives intermittent feed operation to 40 (air electromagnetic surface,
The operation of the feed operation of the pump 45 (driven by an actuator or the like) 45 for each pitch is instructed by a reed switch 46 that reads the start of the rise of the piston 43a of the air cylinder 43. The stroke of the air cylinder 43 can be set to an appropriate length by the interval between the lead switch 47 for reading the start of the downward movement of the piston 43a on the upper side and the lead switch 46 provided below the lead switch 47. . On the other hand, the discharge ports 24a, 25a of the extruders 24, 25
Is provided with a pressure detecting device 48, and the extruders 24, 25
The pressure at each of the discharge ports 24a, 25a is extracted as an electric signal with time and input to the control plate 49. In the control plate 49, an appropriate pressure is stored in advance,
If there is a change in the detected value by comparing the detected value with the stored value, the compressor 50 that supplies air to the air cylinder 43,
The air pressure supplied to the air cylinder 43 is adjusted by changing the opening of the air supply valve 51, and the pressing force of the piston 43a is adjusted. Therefore, the extruder 24, 2
It is controlled so that the pressure in 5 is kept constant. For example,
When the diaphragm type pressure detector 48 is used, the discharge port
Fluctuations in the pressure in 24a and 25a result in a difference in displacement of the diaphragm, and a difference in capacitance between the fixed electrode and the fixed electrode. This difference in capacitance is converted and amplified by an electronic circuit to obtain an output signal. This output signal is input to the control plate 49, and the opening of the air supply valve 51 can be adjusted according to the value. For this reason, extruders 24, 25
The supply of the material to the die 21 is further stabilized.
In this apparatus, the air pressure fed into the air cylinder 43 is important for stably supplying the materials to the extruders 24 and 25, and the load of the material filled in the material supply unit 42 in the vertically downward direction is important. It is necessary to consider and balance the resistance generated when biting the screw 44. For example, when the material to be supplied is an elastic confectionery material such as chewing gum as in the above embodiment, the amount of material input per unit time is 1
It is preferable to set the air pressure to 1 to 5 kgf / cm ² , the rotation speed of the screw 44 to ² to 4 rpm at 77 kg / min, from the viewpoint of stable supply. Further, it is not always necessary to supply the material to the material supply unit by the above-described conveyor system. Further, the material pressing means is not limited to the air cylinder 43 as described above,
Appropriate pressing means can be used.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-174335 (JP, A) JP-A-63-188348 (JP, A) JP-A-61-135549 (JP, A) JP-A-59-1984 5044 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B29C 47/00-47/96 A23G 3/02, 3/30, 9/24 A23P 1/12

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A die device in which a shaping cylinder having an opening formed in a desired shape is disposed in a discharge portion of a die with its axis substantially parallel to the axis of the discharge port. Using, while supplying the pattern portion forming material through a plurality of cylindrical flow paths having an enlarged portion in the middle portion in the shaping cylinder, the intermediate in the discharge port on the outer periphery of the shaping cylinder, The peripheral edge forming material is supplied through a plurality of cylindrical flow paths having an enlarged portion in the portion, and a rod-shaped molded product that always shows the same pattern on the cut surface orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is continuously extruded from the discharge port of the die. The flow of the pattern forming material flowing into the shaping cylinder from each of the cylindrical flow paths is blocked at the axial center side so as to flow while diffusing in the circumferential direction. A method for producing a molded article having a cross-sectional pattern. 2. A die apparatus in which a shaping cylinder having an opening formed in a desired shape is disposed in a discharge port portion of the die with its axis substantially parallel to the axis of the discharge port portion. And a supply path extending from the pattern portion forming material supply means is communicated with the shaping cylinder through a plurality of cylindrical flow paths having an enlarged portion at an intermediate portion, and extends from the peripheral portion forming material supply means. The supply channel is
It is communicated with the inside of the discharge port outside the shaping cylinder through a plurality of cylindrical flow paths having an enlarged portion in the middle portion, and in the shaping cylinder, a plurality of cylindrical flow path end face openings. A flow direction adjusting means for diffusing, in the circumferential direction, a flow of the pattern portion forming material flowing into the shaping cylinder in a portion surrounded by the cross section. . 3. A pattern portion forming material supply means and a peripheral portion forming material supply means according to claim 2 are each provided with an extruder main body and
A material supply means for intermittently supplying a material to the material supply unit of the extruder; and a material installed in the upper part of the material supply unit and pressing the material in the material supply unit in conjunction with the intermittent material supply operation, into the extruder. Extruding pressing means, detecting means for detecting the pressure in the extruder over time, and a pressing force adjusting means for appropriately adjusting the pressing force of the pressing means according to a change in the detected value, For producing molded products with cross-sectional patterns.