JP2851784B2 - Folding device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to disposable wears which are conveyed in a sheet form and sequentially cut, for example, in a spread-type disposable diaper before a heat sealing step or a sanitary article before a packaging step. The present invention relates to a folding device for individually folding articles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a folding process of a disposable wearing article of this kind, as shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. A method of giving a fold in a direction perpendicular to the direction is generally practiced. More specifically, in FIG. 5, the wearing article 40 that has moved in the horizontal direction is detected by the optical sensor when the tip of the wearing article 40 comes into contact with a stopper having a bag-shaped cross section, and is folded when receiving the detection signal. The plate 41 is lowered, and the rollers 4 arranged oppositely
The wearing article 40 is pushed into the gap between the grooves 2 and 43 and then pressed to form a fold. Since the folding plate 41 reciprocates in the up-down direction, it has poor followability with respect to a worn article moving at high speed, and a folding device as shown in FIG. . The apparatus shown in the figure employs a rotary impeller 50 instead of the folding plate 41 which moves up and down. According to this device that does not reciprocate, the wearing article 40 can be folded at a high speed only by rotating the plurality of impellers 50 in a certain direction.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned folding operation is naturally performed on a worn article that has undergone a cutting step. For example, in a disposable diaper in which is uneven, the position of the fold is not stable,
There is a problem that the folding accuracy cannot be improved. If the folding accuracy is low, the disposable diapers will be joined in a shifted state in the subsequent heat sealing step, resulting in disposal.

[0004] In particular, in a disposable diaper, the folding line is difficult to stabilize, and the insertion of a rubber thread for preventing leakage causes the displacement to increase due to the contraction action after cutting. Therefore, realization of a highly accurate folding device has been desired. Furthermore, in the conventional folding device, there is a problem that the fiber material of the fold absorber is destroyed as the device is operated at a higher speed. The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described problems of the conventional folding device, and has as its object to provide a folding device that can fold a disposable wearing article with high accuracy without damaging it.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a cutting means for sequentially cutting a disposable wearing article sheet conveyed in a belt shape into a predetermined size, and a suction means for adsorbing a front end area and a rear end area of the cut wearing article in the conveying direction. Suction folding means having a pair of suction surfaces provided corresponding to the front edge and the rear edge of the cut worn article, respectively, and capable of sucking each area of the worn article. A suction unit that reciprocates from an open position in which the suction surfaces are separated from each other along a straight line or an arc to a closed position in which the suction surface is parallel to the straight line or parallel to the diametrical direction of the arc, and the suction unit. Is a folding device comprising: a driving unit that opens and closes a suction unit; and an adsorption control unit that performs adsorption or release of adsorption to or from the adsorption unit. In the present invention, the suction section may be constituted by a plurality of suction sections provided around the rotary drum and arranged concentrically with the rotary drum. It is preferable that the rotary drum includes a plurality of vacuum evacuation compartments, and is configured so that the suction section communicates with the compartments.

In the present invention, it is preferable to further include an adhesive applying means for applying an adhesive for temporary fixing to at least one of the valley fold side surfaces of the front end region or the rear end region of the wearing article adsorbed on the adsorbing surface. . The disposable wearing article in the present invention includes pants-type disposable diapers, sanitary articles, and the like.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when the disposable wearing article sheet conveyed in a strip shape is cut into a predetermined size, the front end area and the rear end area of the cut wearing article in the conveying direction are formed by a pair of suction parts of the suction part. When the drive unit moves the pair of suction surfaces from the open position to the closed position, the front and rear ends of the worn article act so as to face each other and be folded.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of a folding device showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a left side view thereof.
In both figures, the basic structure of the folding device is a rotary cutter as cutting means for cutting a disposable wearing article (hereinafter referred to as a representative of a disposable diaper) sheet A conveyed in a belt shape into a predetermined size (corresponding to the product shape). 1 and a suction folding device 2 as suction folding means for sucking and folding the front end region and the rear end region of the cut paper diaper in the transport direction, and the suction folding device 2 is provided for the cut paper diaper A '. A pair of suction surfaces provided in correspondence with the front edge and the rear edge, respectively, and capable of contacting and adhering to the respective regions (corresponding to the front side and the rear side of the product waist portion) of the disposable diaper A '; Suction units 20a and 20b reciprocatingly move from an open position separated from each other along an arc to a closed position parallel to the diametrical direction of the arc;
A drive unit that opens and closes a and 20b at a predetermined cycle, and a suction control unit that sucks or releases the suction inside the suction units 20a and 20b.

Hereinafter, the configuration of each part will be described. The rotary cutter 1 cuts the disposable diaper sheet A conveyed on the conveyer into a product length defined by its circumference. The vacuum roll 3 is arranged to face the rotary cutter 1 so as to face the rotary cutter 1, and the vacuum roll 3 sucks the cut paper diaper A 'on its body wall, rotates the cut diaper A', and delivers the cut diaper A 'to the suction portions 20a and 20b. ing. At this time, the disposable diaper A conveyed with the backsheet face up is passed through the vacuum roll 3 and thereafter conveyed with the backsheet face down.

The suction units 20a and 20b are
It is opened and closed by being pivotally supported by two support plates 22a and 22b protruding from one body wall in parallel with the diametrical direction, and has a symmetric structure in the circumferential direction of the rotating drum 21. Many (10 in this embodiment) on the rotating drum 21
It is installed around. The suction portion 20a will be described in detail as a representative. The suction portion 20a is, as shown in FIG. 3, formed from an aluminum container in which a large number of suction through holes 23a are arranged in a staggered manner on a suction surface (hereinafter referred to as a folding table) 23. It is configured.
The insides of the suction units 20a and 20b communicate with the compartment of the rotary drum 21 via a flexible hose (not shown).
By controlling the compartment to a negative pressure or a normal pressure, the front end area of the disposable diaper A ′ can be attracted to the folding stand 23 or the front end area of the disposable diaper can be released from the folding stand 23. Similarly, the suction section 20b is also used for the disposable diaper A.
The suction or release of the suction is performed at the rear end region. The suction portions 20a and 20b having such a configuration are separated from each other along an arc that is a part of the concentric circle B of the rotary drum 21 from an “open” position, and are “closed” parallel to each other along the diameter direction of the arc. It reciprocates to the position. The rotating drum 21 can be regarded as an adsorption control unit.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a link mechanism as a drive unit for opening and closing the suction units 20a and 20b at a predetermined cycle. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the box-shaped suction portions 20a and 20b on the side of the arrows CC shown in FIG. In the drawing, a lower part of the suction part 20a is connected to a rotatable arm lever 24, and the arm lever 24 is supported by a fulcrum 24 provided on a support plate 22b. Two rods 25 and 26 extend in parallel from the box-shaped suction portion 20a. Further, the tips of the rods 25 and 26 have slide shafts 27a and 27 that reciprocate in the diameter direction of the rotary drum 21. It is pivotally supported by a head plate 28 attached to 27b. Reference numeral 29 denotes a guide shaft for guiding the sliding movement of the head plate 28.

An upper pin 30a and a lower pin 30b are provided at lower ends of the slide shafts 27a and 27b, and the pair of pins 30a and 30b are engaged with a cam groove described later. The cam groove 31 has a locus D of a deformed circle as shown in FIG. 1, and is formed so that the right side is the highest and the left side is the lowest on the line viewed in the direction of the arrows CC.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the cam groove 31 is at the highest position, the slide shafts 27a and 27b are completely pushed out (ascending), whereby the suction portions 20a and 20b are moved.
Are located along the concentric circle B, that is, in the open state. Conversely, when the cam groove 31 is at the lowest position, the slide shafts 27a and 27b are retracted (down),
As a result, the suction units 20a and 20b are in a position where they are parallel to each other along the diametrical direction of the rotary drum 21, that is, a closed state. In addition, from the viewpoint of the entire adsorption / folding device, from position E to position F
Within a range of 260 ° up to the position, the suction units 20a, 2
0 indicates that one cycle of returning from the open state to the closed state to the open state can be completed.

Reference numeral 32 denotes a transport conveyor provided with a vacuum box, which receives the folded and released suction diaper,
It is sent to the next process. At a position G shown in FIG. 1, a nozzle 33 and an adhesive supply device 34 for spray-applying an adhesive for temporary fixing to one surface of the end of the disposable diaper adsorbed by the adsorption units 20a and 20b are provided. Are located. The nozzle 33 and the adhesive supply device 34 can be regarded as adhesive applying means.

The operation of this embodiment having such a configuration will be described below. First, when the sheet-shaped disposable diaper A conveyed by the conveyer is cut by the rotary cutter 1, it is sucked by the vacuum roll 3,
It is delivered to the suction units 20a and 20b. The suction units 20a and 20b that rotate in synchronization with the vacuum roll 3 move by sucking the front end area and the rear end area of the cut diaper A '. At this time, the slide shafts 27a and 27b engage with the cam grooves 31 and start descending, whereby
a and 20b are inclined in a V-shape. When the movement is further continued, the suction portions 20a and 20b are completely closed, whereby the disposable diaper A 'is folded with its ends aligned. Next, at the H position, the suction on one of the suction units 20b is released, and the folded disposable diaper A 'remains suctioned on the other suction unit 20a. Next, the suction units 20a and 20b are opened, respectively, and the suction unit 20a is also released from being suctioned. The cutting means of the present invention is constituted by a rotary cutter in the above embodiment, but is not limited to this, and any means can be used as long as it can be cut to a predetermined product length.

In the above-described embodiment, the suction unit uses a rotating drum having a high processing capacity in the above-described embodiment, so that the suction unit is opened along the arc. However, the disposable diapers are picked up from the conveyor and individually folded. In the case of a configuration that performs a single-function operation such as returning to the transport conveyor, the pair of suction surfaces of the suction unit need not follow an arc, but open along a straight line. In addition, the folding device of the present invention is not limited to the disposable diaper of the above embodiment, and can be applied to folding of various sanitary articles sandwiching an absorber, and is particularly suitable for sanitary articles having an uneven thickness. .

[0016]

As is apparent from the above description, the folding device according to the present invention has an advantage that the disposable wearing article can be folded with high precision. Further, according to the present invention, since the end portion of the disposable wearing article is configured to be sucked and folded, the folding center portion is free, so that the fold is forcibly applied to damage the absorber. There is an advantage that there is no.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a left side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a box-shaped suction portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part showing a mechanism of a driving unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a conventional folding device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a conventional folding device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rotary cutter 2 Suction folding apparatus 3 Vacuum roll 20a, 20b Suction part 21 Rotary drum 23 Folding table 32 Transport conveyor

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cutting means for sequentially cutting a disposable wearing article sheet conveyed in a belt shape into a predetermined size, and a suction folding means for sucking and folding a front end area and a rear end area of the cut wearing article in the conveying direction. The suction folding means has a pair of suction surfaces provided respectively corresponding to the front edge and the rear edge of the cut worn article, and capable of sucking each area of the worn article; A suction unit reciprocating from an open position separated from each other along a straight line or an arc to a closed position orthogonal to the straight line and parallel or parallel to the diametrical direction of the arc, and opening and closing the suction unit A folding device comprising: a driving unit; and a suction control unit that performs suction or release of suction on the suction unit. 2. The folding device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of suction portions are provided around the rotary drum and are arranged concentrically with the rotary drum. 3. The folding device according to claim 2, wherein the rotary drum includes a plurality of vacuum chambers, and the suction unit communicates with the chambers. 4. An adhesive applying means for applying an adhesive for temporary fixing to at least one valley fold side surface of the front end region or the rear end region of the wearing article adsorbed on the adsorbing surface. Item 4. The folding device according to any one of Items 1 to 3. 5. The folding device according to claim 1, wherein the wearing article is a pants-type disposable diaper or a sanitary article.