JP7351666B2 - Packaging material that drips out the liquid contained in the container - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a packaging material used for the opening of a container (for example, an eye drop container) in which a liquid such as eye drops is stored.

BACKGROUND ART In a container, such as an eye drop container, from which a liquid is discharged dropwise, a nozzle member having a small-diameter drip opening is generally fitted and fixed to the mouth of the container (see, for example, Patent Document 1). That is, in such a container, a dripping port with an extremely small diameter is required so that the content liquid can be dripped, and therefore a dedicated nozzle member equipped with a dripping port is used.

Packaging materials that drip the contents of the container as described above are required to have liquid repellency so that the dropped liquid does not flow around the drip opening and prevent dripping. .

As a technique for preventing liquid dripping, it is known to roughen the periphery of the mouth where liquid is discharged (for example, Patent Documents 2 and 3). This technology utilizes the super-liquid repellency of air; when a liquid flows over a rough surface, an air layer is formed between the liquid and the surface. The principle is that the liquid is collected inside the container without flowing down along the outer surface of the container.

However, when the above-mentioned rough surface processing is used to develop liquid repellency and prevent liquid dripping, when a cap is attached to the nozzle member, the rough surface is destroyed by the attached cap. There is a problem in that it becomes impossible to prevent liquid dripping.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2016-166045 Utility Model Publication No. 4-68826 Patent No. 5807692

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a packaging material for dripping and discharging the liquid contained in a container, which is composed of a nozzle member that is fitted and fixed to the mouth of the container, and a cap that is attached to the mouth of the container so as to cover the nozzle member. An object of the present invention is to provide a packaging material having a structure in which the upper end of a nozzle member and the lower surface of the top plate of the cap are held in a non-contact manner when the cap is attached.

In a packaging material for dripping and discharging the liquid contained in a container, the packaging material is composed of a nozzle part provided at the mouth part of the container and a cap attached to the mouth part of the container so as to cover the nozzle part,
The nozzle portion includes a substrate whose lower surface is in close contact with the upper end surface of the container mouth portion, an inner ring for sealing that descends from the inner surface of the substrate, and a liquid guide tube that is erected on the upper surface of the central portion of the substrate. It has
The cap includes a top plate portion and a skirt wall descending from the top plate portion, and a sealing columnar projection that fits into the liquid guide tube is provided at the center of the lower surface of the top plate portion,
Threads are formed on the inner surface of the skirt wall of the cap and on the container opening, and the threads are threaded into each other.
A centering rib and a positioning rib are formed on the inner surface of the skirt wall of the cap , and both the centering rib and the positioning rib are located above the thread of the cap,
When the cap is attached to the container opening, the centering rib centers the sealing columnar projection along the substrate,
When the cap is attached to the mouth of the container and the lower end of the positioning rib comes into contact with the top surface of the substrate of the dripping nozzle, the sealing columnar projection of the cap is fitted and fixed to the liquid guide cylinder and sealed. However, there is provided a packaging material characterized in that the lower surface of the top plate portion of the cap is held in a non-contact state with the upper end surface of the guide tube.

In the packaging material of the present invention, the following aspects are preferably employed.
( 1 ) The centering ribs and the positioning ribs each extend in the axial direction at intervals in the circumferential direction, and the lower ends of the positioning ribs are connected to the centering ribs.
( 2 ) A step is formed in the portion corresponding to the lower end of the positioning rib, and the step must be horizontal and flat.
( 3 ) The inner surface of the centering rib must be arcuate.
( 4 ) The upper end surface of the guide tube has an inclined surface extending upward with an enlarged diameter, and a horizontal surface extending horizontally outward from the inclined surface.
( 5 ) The upper end surface of the guide tube shall have a liquid-repellent portion.
( 6 ) The liquid-repellent part must have a rough surface.

The packaging material of the present invention drips and discharges the liquid contained in the container (container content liquid), and includes a nozzle member that is fitted and fixed to the mouth of the container, and a container that covers the nozzle member. It has a cap attached to the mouth part as a component, and when the cap is attached, the sealing columnar projection provided on the cap is located at the center of the upper end of the liquid guide cylinder of the nozzle member. It has a basic structure in which leakage of the content liquid from the dripping port is prevented by being fitted and fixed in the dripping port.

An important feature of the present invention having such a basic structure is that centering ribs and positioning ribs are provided on the inner surface of the skirt wall of the cap.

That is, the centering rib has an inner diameter that corresponds to the outer diameter of the disk-shaped horizontal substrate of the nozzle member. By placing this cap over the nozzle part that is fitted and fixed to the container mouth part and turning it in the closing direction, the cap will fit into the container mouth part with the nozzle member covered by the screw engagement with the container mouth part. However, in the present invention, since the cap is provided with the above-mentioned centering rib, the cap does not fall in an oblique state, and the centering rib is fixed to the nozzle member horizontally. descend along the outer side of the substrate. In other words, the cap will descend in a straight line while remaining upright. Therefore, the sealing columnar projection provided at the center of the lower surface of the top plate of the cap is fitted into the drip opening located at the center of the upper end of the liquid guide tube formed on the nozzle member without shifting. This means that the drip opening can be reliably sealed.

On the other hand, the positioning rib is located above the centering rib, and has an inner diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the horizontal substrate of the nozzle portion. That is, the protrusion height of this positioning rib from the inner surface of the skirt wall is higher than the protrusion height of the centering rib. Therefore, when the cap is turned and lowered, the lower end of this positioning rib comes into contact with the upper surface of the horizontal board, and the cap does not descend any further, and at this point the screw engagement with the container opening is completed. Complete. In the present invention, since the lowering position of the cap is thus defined by the positioning rib, the present invention makes use of this, and in a state where the cap is fixed by screw engagement with the container opening, the cap is The lower surface of the top plate is held in a non-contact state with the upper end surface of the liquid guide cylinder formed in the nozzle member.
However, the liquid-repellent part (for example, a rough surface) for preventing dripping is formed at the periphery of the drip opening located at the center of the upper end surface of the liquid guide cylinder, that is, at the upper end surface of the liquid guide cylinder. Therefore, it is possible to reliably avoid the inconvenience that this liquid-repellent portion is destroyed due to contact with the cap. This is the greatest advantage of the present invention.

In the packaging material of the present invention, a side sectional view showing a state in which a cap is placed on a nozzle member attached to a container mouth. The top view (a), side view (b), and bottom view (c) of the cap of FIG. 1. AA sectional view of the cap of FIG. 2(b). In the packaging material of the present invention, the figure shows the process of covering a nozzle member with a cap and fixing it with a screw.

Referring to FIG. 1, the packaging material of the present invention includes a nozzle member 3 that is fitted and fixed to a container mouth 1, and a cap 5 that is screwed and fixed to the container mouth 1 so as to cover the nozzle member 3. be done.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned various members have the forms described below, but except for having such forms, they are molded by methods known per se.
For example, the container having the container opening 1 is formed by blow molding using, but not limited to, an olefin resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene, or a polyester such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). . Of course, it may have a multilayer structure using a known gas barrier resin or adhesive resin.
Further, the nozzle member 3 and the cap 5 are formed by compression molding, injection molding, or the like using an olefin resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene, although the nozzle member 3 and the cap 5 are not particularly limited.

As shown in FIG. 1, a thread 1a for screwing the cap 5 is formed on the outer surface of the container opening 1. Below the thread 1a, there is a thread 1a for holding and transporting the container. A support ring 1b is formed to be used for such purposes.

The nozzle member 3 that is fitted and fixed to the container opening 1 has a disk-shaped horizontal base plate 11, an inner ring 13 extending downward from the lower surface of the horizontal base plate 11, and a horizontal A liquid guide cylinder 15 is provided upright on the upper surface of the central portion of the substrate 11 .

The disk-shaped horizontal substrate 11 is brought into close contact with the upper end 1c of the container mouth 1 by fitting the nozzle member 3 into the container mouth 1. Therefore, the inner ring 13 has the width of the upper end 1c. They extend downward from a portion of the horizontal substrate 11 that is located more inward than the outer circumferential side surface 11a at intervals of about 100 mm.
Further, on the outer surface of the inner ring 13, circumferential small projections 13a and 13b are provided separately into upper and lower portions, and these small projections 13a are adapted to come into close contact with the inner surface of the container mouth portion 1. Thereby, this nozzle member 3 is firmly fixed to the container mouth 1.

The liquid guide tube 15 provided vertically at the center of the horizontal substrate 11 has an internal space 15a serving as a liquid flow path for discharging the liquid contained in the container. As understood from FIG. 1, this internal space 15a (liquid flow path) communicates with the internal space of the container via the container opening 1. The upper part of the internal space 15a is a small-diameter dripping passage 15b, and the open end of the upper end of this dripping passage 15b is a dripping port located at the center of the upper end surface 17 of this liquid guide cylinder 15. It is now 19. That is, when discharging the liquid content by inverting the container, the liquid content introduced into the internal space 15a (liquid flow path) is squeezed in the drip flow path 15b to an amount suitable for dripping, and is dripped from the drip opening 19. That will happen.
Further, a liquid introduction ring 15c extends downward from the lower surface of the horizontal substrate 11 along the internal space 15a (liquid flow path).

Further, the upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide tube 15 where the dripping port 19, which is the open end of the dripping channel 15b, is located has a flat horizontal surface 17a and a diameter that expands upward from the dropping port 19 located at the center. It is formed from an inclined surface 17b that is inclined as shown in FIG. The entire upper end surface 17 may be a horizontal surface, but from the viewpoint of preventing dripping, it is preferable to form an inclined surface 17b extending from the dripping port 19, and positioning the dripping port 19 in a recessed portion. It is preferable to do so. That is, when the container is returned to the upright state after the liquid content has been dropped, the liquid content adhering to the upper end surface 17 will fall through the inclined surface 11 and will be easily collected into the container from the dripping port 19. It is.
Further, in this embodiment, an annular protrusion 17c is provided on the outer circumferential surface of the upper end surface 17 to prevent the content liquid from dripping onto the outer surface of the nozzle member 3 when the content liquid is dripped.

Further, the upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide tube 15, in which the drip opening 19 is formed in the center as described above, is a portion that becomes a liquid repellent portion.
That is, such a liquid-repellent portion can be formed by making the upper end surface 17 a rough surface or by providing a liquid-repellent coating on the upper end surface 17, and the means for forming the liquid-repellent portion is described in the above-mentioned patent document. It is publicly known as described in No. 3 and others.

For example, if the liquid-repellent portion is formed by a rough surface, the surface of the mold corresponding to the upper end surface 17 may be roughened by sandblasting or the like. The degree of surface roughening is, for example, an arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) of about 0.4 to 200 μm, particularly about 0.4 to 150 μm in surface roughness measurement, and more preferably an average height of about 0.4 to 150 μm in line roughness measurement. The element average height (Rh) defined by the ratio (Rc/Rsm) of the element length (Rc) and the element average length (Rsm) is in the range of 0.04 to 10, especially 0.04 to 8. Good. Such roughness measurement is performed in accordance with JIS-B-0601-1994.
In addition, a liquid-repellent coating can be easily achieved by applying a coating solution prepared by dissolving a liquid-repellent polymer material such as a silicone resin or a fluorine-containing polymer in an organic solvent such as ethanol to the upper end surface 17 and drying it. can be formed. In this case, it is also possible to form a liquid-repellent coating thin enough to leave the roughened surface on the roughened portion.

In the present invention, the liquid-repellent portion formed by the rough surface and/or liquid-repellent coating as described above is formed on the entire upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide cylinder 15, that is, on the flat horizontal surface 17a and the inclined surface 17b. Although this is preferable, only the horizontal surface 17a can be made into a liquid-repellent portion.

Furthermore, as can be understood from FIG. 1, a horizontal flange 17c is formed at the upper end of the liquid guide cylinder 15 and projects in the horizontal direction. This is to prevent the content liquid from dripping onto the outer surface of the nozzle member 3 when the content liquid is dripped.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 together with FIG. 1 described above, the cap 5 that is screwed onto the container mouth 1 so as to cover the nozzle member 3 that is fitted and fixed to the container mouth 1 is attached to the top plate part 21. and a skirt wall 23 formed from the periphery of the top plate portion 21.

A sealing columnar projection 25 extends downward from the center of the lower surface of the top plate portion 21 . That is, the columnar protrusion 25 is provided to enter into the drip opening 19 formed in the nozzle member 3 and seal the drip opening 19 when the cap 5 is attached to the container mouth 1. be. Therefore, as long as the drip opening 19 is sealed, a recess may be formed at the lower tip of the columnar projection 25. Further, the seal point may be the outer peripheral edge of the upper end surface 17 or the outer wall of the nozzle portion descending from the upper end surface 17.

On the other hand, on the outer surface of the skirt wall 23, anti-slip knurls 23a extend in the axial direction at regular intervals (see FIGS. 2(a), (b) and 3), which allow the skirt wall 23 to be gripped. The turning operation for opening or closing the cap can be easily performed.
Furthermore, a thread 27 is formed in the lower part of the inner surface of the skirt wall 23, and this thread 27 is threadedly engaged with the thread 1a formed on the outer surface of the container opening 1. The cap 5 will be screwed onto the container neck 1.

In the present invention, a plurality of centering ribs 31 and positioning ribs 33 are formed at regular intervals in the circumferential direction on the inner surface of the skirt wall 23 of the cap 5 as described above (Figs. 2(c) and Figure 3).
That is, these ribs 31 and 33 both extend in the axial direction of the cap and are located above the thread 27, and the positioning rib 33 is located above the centering rib 31. .

The above-mentioned centering rib 31 is provided in order to vertically lower the cap 5 so that the center position does not shift when the cap 5 is attached to the container opening 1 by screw engagement. 3) corresponds to the outer diameter of the horizontal substrate 11 of the nozzle member 3, so that when the cap 5 is screwed to the container mouth 1, the diameter of the top plate 21 of the cap 5 is The sealing columnar protrusion 25 will surely enter and fit into the drip opening 19 formed at the center of the upper end surface 17 of the nozzle member 3.
When closing the cap, it is important that the centering rib 31 aligns the nozzle member 3 with the nozzle member 3 after the cap 5 and the screw 1a of the container 1 begin to engage with each other. This is preferable because the cap 5 can be engaged with the screw 1a of the container 1 by its own weight without requiring the cap 5.
Further, in this embodiment, the lower surface of the centering rib 31 is chamfered to suppress the feeling of being caught on the horizontal substrate 11 when the cap is closed. The inner surface of the centering rib 31 has an arcuate shape, and the contact area with the horizontal board 11 is minimized, so that the torque during opening and closing may become excessive, and the centering rib 31 and the horizontal board 11 may be scraped due to friction. This is prevented.

On the other hand, when the cap 5 is screwed to the container mouth 1, the positioning rib 33 holds the lower surface of the top plate 21 of the cap 5 and the upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide cylinder 15 of the nozzle member 3 in a non-contact manner. The inner diameter d is smaller than the inner diameter D of the centering rib 31 (see FIG. 3). That is, the positioning rib 33 projects higher from the inner surface of the skirt wall 23 than the centering rib 31.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned centering rib 31 and positioning rib 33 can be provided as separate and independent members in principle, but because of die cutting during molding, they are integrally connected in the axial direction. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, a step 35 is formed between the positioning rib 33 and the centering rib 31 at a portion corresponding to the lower end thereof.
As will be described later, the lower surface of the step 35 comes into contact with the upper surface of the horizontal substrate 11 when the cap is closed, restricts the descent of the cap 5, and has the role of keeping the top plate portion 21 and the upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide cylinder 15 out of contact. It is preferable that the cap 5 be horizontal and flat because it can ensure a contact area with the horizontal substrate 11 and can further prevent the cap 5 from falling.

Referring to FIG. 4 for explaining the functions of the centering rib 31 and the positioning rib 33 described above, first, the cap 5 is placed on the nozzle member 3 that is fitted and fixed to the container opening 1, and the cap 5 is placed in this state. Then, the cap 5 is turned in the closing direction, but at this stage, as shown in FIG. A step 35 located nearby and formed between the positioning rib 33 and the centering rib 31 is separated from the upper surface of the horizontal substrate 11.

When the cap 5 is turned in the closing direction in the above state, the distance between the step 35 and the upper surface of the horizontal substrate 11 gradually becomes smaller, as shown in FIG. 4(b). The inner surface of the centering rib 31 descends along the outer surface 11a of the disk-shaped horizontal substrate 11 before the sealing cylindrical protrusion 25 reaches the axial position of the upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide cylinder 15. becomes. That is, the sealing columnar projection 25 formed at the center of the lower surface of the top plate portion 21 descends vertically while maintaining its center position, and is aligned in the circumferential direction before being inserted into the drip opening 19. be done.

Then, as the cap 5 continues to turn in the closing direction, the cap 5 descends vertically so that the center position of the sealing columnar projection 25 does not shift, as shown in FIG. 4(c). , is inserted securely into the dripping port 19, and is fitted and fixed so as to close the dripping port 19, thereby preventing leakage of the liquid contained in the container from the dripping port 19. The lower surface of the step 35 formed between the positioning rib 33 and the centering rib 31 comes into contact with the upper surface of the horizontal substrate 11 . Therefore, the cap 5 does not fall any further, and the cap 5 is firmly screwed onto the container opening 1 while covering the nozzle member 3. Further, the lower surface of the top plate portion 21 is in a non-contact state with the upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide tube 15 of the nozzle member 3, so that the lowering of the cap 5 is restricted.
That is, when the axial height from the lower surface of the step 35 to the lower surface of the top plate portion 21 is L1, and the axial height from the upper surface of the horizontal substrate 11 to the upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide tube 15 is L2, L1>L2. Therefore, the lower surface of the top plate portion 21 and the upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide tube 15 do not come into contact with each other when the capping shown in FIG.

As described above, in the present invention, when the cap 5 is screwed to the container mouth 1, the sealing columnar protrusion 25 reliably enters the dripping port 19 and is fitted and fixed, so that the liquid from the dripping port 19 is prevented from flowing out. leakage can be reliably prevented, and at the same time, the cap 5 (top plate portion 21) will not come into contact with the upper end surface 17 of the liquid guide cylinder 15 of the nozzle member 3. That is, since this upper end surface 17 is a part that becomes a liquid repellent part, in the present invention, when the cap 5 is opened and closed, the performance of the liquid repellent part formed on the upper end surface 17 is reduced, such as destruction of the rough surface or repellent part. Peeling of the liquid coating is reliably prevented, and the drip-preventing effect of the liquid-repellent portion is always stably exhibited.

Such a packaging material of the present invention is suitably applied to containers into which various liquids are dripped and discharged, such as eye drop containers containing eye drops.

1: Container opening 3: Nozzle member 5: Cap 11: Horizontal substrate 13: Inner ring 15: Liquid guide tube 15a: Internal space of liquid guide tube (liquid flow path)
15b: Dripping channel 17: Upper end surface of liquid guide cylinder 19: Dripping port 21: Top plate portion 23: Skirt wall 25: Seal columnar projection 31: Centering rib 33: Positioning rib 35: Step D: Centering rib Inner diameter d: Inner diameter of positioning rib

Claims (7)

In a packaging material for dripping and discharging the liquid contained in a container, the packaging material is composed of a nozzle part provided at the mouth part of the container and a cap attached to the mouth part of the container so as to cover the nozzle part,
The nozzle portion includes a substrate whose lower surface is in close contact with the upper end surface of the container mouth portion, an inner ring for sealing that descends from the inner surface of the substrate, and a liquid guide tube that is erected on the upper surface of the central portion of the substrate. It has
The cap includes a top plate portion and a skirt wall descending from the top plate portion, and a sealing columnar projection that fits into the liquid guide tube is provided at the center of the lower surface of the top plate portion,
Threads are formed on the inner surface of the skirt wall of the cap and on the container opening, and the threads are threaded into each other.
A centering rib and a positioning rib are formed on the inner surface of the skirt wall of the cap , and both the centering rib and the positioning rib are located above the thread of the cap,
When the cap is attached to the container opening, the centering rib centers the sealing columnar projection along the substrate,
When the cap is attached to the mouth of the container and the lower end of the positioning rib comes into contact with the top surface of the substrate of the dripping nozzle, the sealing columnar projection of the cap is fitted and fixed to the liquid guide cylinder and sealed. The packaging material is characterized in that the lower surface of the top plate portion of the cap is held in a non-contact state with the upper end surface of the guide tube. The packaging material according to claim 1 , wherein the centering ribs and the positioning ribs each extend in the axial direction at intervals in the circumferential direction, and the lower ends of the positioning ribs are connected to the centering ribs. . The packaging material according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein a step is formed in a portion corresponding to the lower end of the positioning rib, and the step is horizontal and flat. The packaging material according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the inner surface of the centering rib has an arc shape. Any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the upper end surface of the guide tube has an inclined surface extending upward with a diameter increasing, and a horizontal surface extending horizontally outward from the inclined surface. Packaging materials listed in . The packaging material according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the upper end surface of the guide tube has a liquid-repellent portion. The packaging material according to claim 6 , wherein the liquid-repellent portion has a rough surface.