JPH0118492Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea]

(Field of Application) The present invention relates to a bag making and vacuum sealing machine that can be easily used at home for packing frozen foods, etc. (Background) Nowadays, refrigerator-freezers are common in every household, and it has become common for each household to prepare frozen foods. However, the inside of the freezer is extremely dry, so
If the target food is frozen as is, it becomes dehydrated within a short period of time and is often unsuitable for consumption even after thawing. For this reason, it must be sealed in a bottle with a lid, in a reclosable plastic container, or in vinylidene chloride.
Methods of freezing the material after wrapping it in a vinyl chloride copolymer film (for example, registered trademark "Saran Wrap") or storing it in a plastic bag are used, but in either case, the sealing is insufficient. Therefore, they are not suitable for long-term storage, and this drawback is particularly noticeable in the latter two. Furthermore, in the first two methods, which are relatively well-sealed, the container takes up a lot of space, which wastes space in the narrow freezer, reducing the effective volume. One way to solve the above problem is to use a vacuum sealing machine to evacuate the inside of the plastic bag and then seal it. However, commercially available vacuum sealing machines, even those with a simple nozzle advance/retreat method, are quite large for commercial use and cost around several hundred thousand yen, so it is unlikely that they would be installed in the kitchen of each home for daily use. Can not. (Problems of the invention) The present invention solves the above problems and provides a simple bag making and vacuum sealing machine that can easily make bags for filling and weld the filled bags at each home. The purpose is to (Structure and operation) In accordance with the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a box-shaped main body whose top opening can be arbitrarily closed with a hinged lid, and a side of the main body opposite to the hinge (front side).
A heating wire for a welding/cutting device arranged along the upper edge, a recess for storing a folded lid film provided inside the hinge side (rear side) of the main body, and an inside of the main body. an electric vacuum pump installed in the heating wire; and a flexible suction pipe, the front end of which opens toward the heating wire on the back side of the heating wire, and the rear end of which is connected to the suction port of the vacuum pump. and a switch that operates over time as the closing movement of the lid progresses, and the vacuum pump and heating wire are sequentially activated and energized by the operation of the switch, and are cut simultaneously with the welding operation. Adopt a configuration like this. That is, the device of the present invention has a vacuum suction device and a welding device with a cutting means coexisting in one device, and also uses a thermoplastic film folded in two as the bag film. By applying pressure and heating to the welding part so that suction, welding, and cutting are carried out sequentially and stepwise, the opening of the bag to be welded can be simultaneously welded and the next bag can be cut. The main idea is to make it possible to carry out bag making. Specifically, the above machine is constructed by combining the following elements. (): Casing (): Welding and cutting device (): Suction device (): Attached device The main body and the lid are configured to be swingable by means of a hinge, but it is preferable that the lid has a shape or structure suitable for gripping. The various devices described above are housed in or attached to all the casings, and standard examples of the arrangement of members or parts constituting each of these devices are as follows.

【table】

[Table] For each of the above components, the transformer in the welding and cutting device is placed on the power supply side, and
The voltage of 100V is changed to a low voltage of about 6 to 9V and supplied to the heating/cutting means and vacuum pump described later. A limit switch and a timer switch are inserted into the circuit of this welding and cutting means, and the former opens and closes the circuit to the welding and cutting means following the operation of the vacuum device described later, and the latter controls the closing time of the circuit. It controls automatically within a certain period of time, for example 5 to 10 seconds, or manually controls at a desired time. Incidentally, the time for applying current to the welding/cutting means usually differs depending on whether the purpose is welding or cutting, and in the latter case, a short time of one second or less may be sufficient. Therefore, if possible, two sets of timer switches should be provided so that they can be controlled separately for welding and cutting. However, heating the cutting means may be omitted depending on the case. The welding and cutting means is the most important part of the proposed machine. This means is composed of a flat heating wire (for example, a Kanthal wire) and a thin cutting wire located on or between the wires. In order to fully exhibit the sealing effect, the heating wire preferably has a width of at least 1 mm or more on each side, preferably 2 mm or more on each side. On the other hand, it is preferable that the thin wire used for cutting has a diameter of 0.5 mm or less, and ideally it is a ridged wire having a triangular or polygonal cross section. Note that when the main wire is energized, an electrical resistance wire such as Kanthal wire is selected, but when it is not energized, piano wire or stainless steel wire may be used. The vacuum device consists of a vacuum pump, a limit switch, and a suction tube. In this device, the vacuum pump is started by the closing operation of the limit switch, and the air in the bag to be packaged is expelled from the suction pipe, which will be described later. The pump can be of any type, including reciprocating type, multi-blade rotating type, gear type, roots type, etc., but from the viewpoint of the simple vacuum seal that is the purpose of this invention, inexpensive multi-blade pumps are suitable. It is appropriate to use a one-way type without sealing with water or oil. In this case, the degree of vacuum obtained is approximately several tens of mm/Hg, but from the viewpoint of simple vacuum packaging, which is the object of the invention, even this degree of vacuum is sufficient. However, if a higher degree of vacuum is desired, it is better to change the type of pump or include an oxygen absorber. The suction tube is composed of a hard head and a flexible body, and is arranged so that its tip is located in front of the welding and cutting means (on the back side when viewed from the front side of the casing). . The cross section of the head of the main pipe is preferably spindle-shaped with sharp points at both ends to prevent atmospheric air from entering as much as possible. In this apparatus, it is preferable that a pressure switch is provided as an auxiliary equipment. This pressure switch has a structure in which a sensor section made of, for example, a thin phosphor bronze bellows is inserted into a suction path,
By continuing to operate the pump until the degree of vacuum within the bag to be packaged falls below a certain threshold, packaging is prevented from being performed with an insufficient degree of vacuum. However, if further simplification is desired, the pressure switch can be replaced with a timer switch that operates for a certain period of time, or this switch can be omitted for further simplification.
The reduced pressure state may be visually confirmed. The accessory equipment includes various miscellaneous parts and members. The film storage section is located at the back of the casing and is formed by recessing the top plate surface. The film to be inserted therein is preferably a bifold thermoplastic foil wound on a cylindrical bobbin, comprising high density (HD) polyethylene,
It is made from a relatively low melting point thermoplastic such as polypropylene, polyvinylidene chloride, or polyvinyl chloride using an extrusion die method, biaxial stretching method, or inflation method. The gas permeability of the former HD polyethylene is quite high, but it can be improved by coating with vinylidene chloride acrylonitrile copolymer, so this material has excellent heat resistance, price,
Considering the ease of heat sealing, it is an appropriate film constituent material. In addition, moisture-proof cellophane,
There are many other ideal materials, such as aluminum foil laminate or various anti-fog films, but if we prioritize simplicity, which is the purpose of this invention, we recommend using unnecessarily expensive films. I can't. Incidentally, if desired, a knob may be connected to the film bobbin so that the film can be fed out from the outside of the casing. The airtight pad is provided on the top plate surface of the casing and the inner surface of the lid opposite to the top surface of the casing, and is designed to protect the mouth of the bag, including the head of the suction tube inserted into the mouth of the bag, during vacuum suction. The edges are pinched together to create a closed environment consisting of the vacuum pump and the interior of the bag. A gasket material made of elastic rubber or the like is used for this purpose.
The welding pad is attached to the inner surface of the lid and acts to press a portion slightly rearward of the mouth edge of the bag (in front of the tip of the suction tube) against the welding and cutting means during welding. Since this material receives heat of about 200° C. when it comes into contact with the welding/cutting means, it is preferably made of a heat-resistant elastomer such as silicone rubber or fluororubber in order to withstand long-term use. However, it will be easier to cut the part of the pad that comes into contact with the thin cutting wire if it is made of a rigid material such as a metal plate. The pilot lamp, vacuum indicator lamp, and energization indicator lamp are used to connect the power to the entire machine, respectively.
Instructs to achieve vacuum inside the bag and to operate the heater. These are inserted in parallel to the power supply circuit, vacuum pump power supply circuit, and welding power supply circuit. The lamp can be freely selected from tungsten lamps, neon lamps, light emitting diodes, etc. The operation of the vacuum pump and the welding/cutting means is started when each of the limit switches is pressed by a corresponding projection mounted on the inner surface of the lid. Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention and how to use the invention will be explained with reference to examples, but these are merely illustrative and have no relation to the connotation or extension of the invention. (Example) Example 1 Figure 1 is a cutaway perspective view of an example of a simple bag making and vacuum sealing machine according to the present invention, Figure 2 is its wiring diagram, and Figure 3 is its welding and vacuum sealing machine. The enlarged sectional view of the cutting device, FIG. 4, is also an explanatory view of its operation. Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the simple bag making and vacuum sealing machine of this example has a rectangular shape made of ABS,
It consists of a box-shaped casing with a lid, and a welding/cutting device and a vacuum device installed inside and outside the casing. The casing has hinges 4, 4 at the rear edge (inner part on the longitudinal side) of the top plate surface 2a of the main body 2.
It includes a lid 3 made of the same material and swingably mounted through the lid. The front edge of the lid 3 forms an eaves portion 3a for a handhold that extends slightly forward from the front wall portion of the main body 2 in the closed state. A recess 5 is carved in the mouth of the main body 2, and inside the recess there is a material made of HD (high density) polyethylene which is folded in half along the longitudinal direction and wound into a roll on a bobbin 6. It can accommodate film F. The welding/cutting device consists of a transformer 7 installed inside the main body, a timer switch 8 and a limit switch 9 connected to the secondary side of the transformer, and a welding/cutting means 10. The current is supplied from the plug 11 to the primary side of the transformer 7 via the cord 12, the main switch 33, and the fuse 13. The vacuum device includes a vacuum pump 14 built into the main body, a limit switch 15 and a pressure switch 16 inserted into the power supply circuit to the pump, and a suction pipe 17 penetrating from the pump to the top surface of the main body.
It consists of. In addition to the above-mentioned main elements, the device of this example includes airtight pads 18a and 18b affixed to the inner surfaces of the main body 2 and/or the lid 3, respectively, and a heat-resistant welding pad 19 as auxiliary members or components. ,these are,
When the lid 3 is closed, it functions to block the flow of air between parts other than the suction passage and the inside of the bag, and to tightly press the welded part of the bag against the heating surface. The center portion of the welding pad 19 in the width direction is formed with a small triangular recess 19a, and the back surface of the recess is lined with a metal strip 32. The important parts of the welding and cutting device are the welding and cutting means 10 and the timer switches 8a and 8b. The former consists of a flat wire 10a made of Kanthal wire, and a thin Teflon-treated triangular wire 10c placed on the wire via a Teflon cloth 10b. It is stretched along the longitudinal direction of the two. The heat-resistant welding pads 19 described above are adhered to corresponding positions on the inner surface of the lid 3. The latter two switches 8a and 8b are each composed of a CR circuit, and their time constants are set in advance for an appropriate welding energization time, for example, about 10 seconds for switch 8a and 0.5 seconds for switch 8b.
It is set to about 1 second. The main parts of the vacuum device are a suction tube 17 and a pressure switch 16. The former consists of a rigid head 17a, a flexible body 17b and a conduit 17c, which head and body are arranged in the respective centers of the airtight pads 18, 18' when the lid 3 is closed. The suction operation continues until the lid is completely closed. The latter pressure switch has a sensor portion located within the conduit 17c, and opens the power circuit to the vacuum pump 14 when the pressure within the conduit falls below a specified value. The limit switches 9, 15 are operated by the pressing operation of protrusions 20, 20' projecting downward from the periphery of the lid 3 in conjunction with the closing operation of the lid 3.
This closing action first causes the protrusion 20' to press the switch 15 and operate the vacuum device, and then the protrusion 20'
0 presses switch 8 to operate the welding and cutting means. In order to notify the user of these operating conditions, signal lamps 21 and 22 are connected in parallel to the vacuum pump 14 and heating 10 circuits, respectively, and a pilot lamp 23 is inserted in the entire power supply circuit. Hereinafter, referring also to FIG. 4, first, the film F is pulled out by an appropriate length from the bobbin 6 and the lid 3 is pushed down at once, the limit switch 9 is closed and current flows through the welding/cutting means 10. At this time, the timer switch 8a is activated first, causing a current to flow through the flat wire 10a for a certain period of time, and as soon as the current is cut off, the second timer switch 8b is activated and the triangular wire 10a is turned off.
Current also flows through 0c for a short time. Due to these energizations, the sides perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the bag are welded together, and at the same time, the central part of the sides is melted (FIG. 4A). Incidentally, in this case, the limit switch 15 also operates a moment earlier than the operation of the limit switch 9, and thereby the vacuum pump 14 also starts operating. Note that the signal lamp 22 is lit during the main welding and cutting operations. Next, take out the cut unfinished bag B',
Heat seal the unwelded edge on the front side in the same way. However, this operation is necessary only when using the film for the first time, and is not necessary from the second time onwards (Figure B). Finally, the desired object such as the frozen food is placed in the thus completed bag (B, the part opposite to the originally folded side is open), and the intake pipe 17 is inserted into the mouth of the bag. , loosely tighten lid 3. As a result, the limit switch 15 is activated and the vacuum pump 14 starts operating, and when the inside of the bag reaches a predetermined reduced pressure state, the pressure switch 16 is activated.
operates to open the circuit to the pump 14 and at the same time lights up the signal lamp 21 to notify the user that a suitable reduced pressure state has been reached. Then, when the lid is completely pressed against the main body, the air passage that was slightly left during the depressurization operation is completely closed between the welding pad 19 and the welding/cutting means 10, and at the same time, the The welding and cutting action of 10 occurs, and an airtightly sealed package P is obtained (FIG. 1C). In addition, while the above welding and cutting work is being carried out, the signal lamp 2
2 lights up and goes out at the same time as the work is completed. Embodiment 2 Fig. 5 is a somewhat schematic cutaway side view of an example in which a film feeding mechanism is added to the sealing machine of the previous example, and Fig. 6 is a partially enlarged cutaway front view showing the attachment/detachment mechanism of the bobbin core rod. It is a diagram. In this example, the core rod 24 is pivotally attached to a bracket 25 attached to the inner wall of the recess 5 of the main body 2 in the longitudinal direction. A hollow knob 26 penetrates the inner wall of the other recess 5 located on the extension line of the upper core rod 24 . This knob is constantly pulled in the direction of the arrow by a coil spring 28 whose one end is fixed to a collar 27 fixed inside the inner wall. Therefore, by pulling the knob 26 in the direction opposite to the arrow, the shaft head 24a of the core rod 24 is inserted into the hollow part 26a,
This can be kept. A film feeding drive gear 29 is pivotally attached to the inner side of the collar 27 of the knob 26, and this gear is connected to the lower part of a pair of pinch rolls 31 and 31' horizontally installed at the rear of the top plate surface 4a of the main body 2. meshes with the film feeding driven gear 30' attached to the roll 31';
This gear further meshes with a similar gear 30 attached to the upper roll 31. Therefore, when the knob 26 is rotated, the end portion of the film fitted on the core rod 24 is pinched between the pinch rolls 31 and 31' and fed out, so that the end portion of the film that has been welded before use is fed out. There is no longer a need to pull it out by hand, increasing practical convenience. Note that the roll is replaced by pulling the knob 26 by hand. Further, by rotating the knob 26 in the reverse direction, the film that has been pulled out too far can be retracted. Embodiment 3 FIG. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a welding and cutting means different from that of Embodiment 1. In this example, flat kanthal wires 10a and 10b for welding are arranged with a narrow clearance in between, and a triangular cutting wire (non-current, 10b) is stretched across the gap. The structure of the sealing pad 19 is similar to that shown in FIG. (Effects) As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily prepare vacuum-packed frozen foods in each household, and therefore it can make a great contribution to the consumer's daily life.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cutaway perspective view of an example of a simple bag making and vacuum sealing machine according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a wiring diagram thereof, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a welding and cutting means thereof. Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram of its operation, Fig. 5 is a somewhat schematic cutaway side view of an example in which a film feeding mechanism is added to the sealing machine of the previous example, and Fig. 6 is a mechanism for attaching and detaching the bobbin core rod. FIG. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a welding/cutting means different from that of the first embodiment. The meanings of the main symbols in each figure are as follows: 1...the entire proposed machine;...the casing of 1;
2 Main body of 3... Lid of 4... Hinge between 2 and 3, 5... Recess of 2, 6... Film bobbin of 2, 7... Transformer of 2, 8 , 8a and 8b... Timer switch, 9... Limit switch, 10... Welding and cutting means (heater), 1
1...Power plug, 12...Power cord, 13...
...Fuse, 14...Vacuum pump in 2, 15...
...Limit switch, 16...Pressure switch, 1
7... Suction pipe, 18, 18a and 18b... Airtight pad, 19... Seal pad, 20, 2
0'...Protrusion for switch operation, 21, 22...Signal lamp, 23...Pilot lamp, 24
...Film bobbin core rod, 25...24 Pivot bracket, 26...Film feed knob, 27
...26 shaft flange, 28...26 traction coil spring, 29...film feeding drive gear,
30...Film feeding driven gear, 31, 31'
...Pinch roll for film feeding, 32...19
Strip on the back (back plate), 33... Main switch, B... Completed bag, B'... Unfinished bag, F...
...Folded film, P...Vacuum packaged body.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A box-shaped main body whose top opening can be arbitrarily closed with a hinged lid, and a welding/cutting device power supply disposed along the upper edge of the main body on the side opposite to the hinge (front side). A heating wire, a recess for storing a folded film provided inside the hinge side (rear side) of the main body, an electric vacuum pump installed inside the main body, and a front end of the heating wire. a flexible suction pipe that opens toward the heating wire on the back side and whose rear end is connected to the suction port of the vacuum pump; and a flexible suction pipe that is operated over time as the closing movement of the lid progresses. The vacuum pump and the heating wire are sequentially activated and energized by the operation of the switch, and are cut at the same time as the welding operation. Machine.