JPH02242707A - Machine for packing food together with sauce - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a piece of sealing material from bulging out at a sauce- holding vessel and at a vessel holding bean curd or the like by providing each of heating heads at an inner part of its forward end with an air-bleeding pad which projects slightly from the forward end. CONSTITUTION:A sauce holding vessel 11 is sealed up by applying a piece of sealing material 5 to a projection defining the opening of the sauce holding vessel 11 under heat and pressure from a heating head 62 for the sauce vessel. The heating head 62 is provided at an inner part of its forward end with an air bleeding pad 63 which projects slightly from the forward end so that, when the heating head 62 is pressed against the opening, the air bleeding pad 63 slightly enters the sauce holding vessel 11 together with the sealing material and makes air escape from the sauce holding vessel 11 to the outside. As a result, the sealing material at the sauce holding vessel is prevented from bulging out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention provides a method for filling a container with soymilk, etc. and sauce, and then closing the container when manufacturing a bag product such as tofu containing a sauce in addition to tofu, etc. This invention relates to a sealing filling and packaging machine with sauce.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, tofu bag products have been two-pronged, in which only tofu is stored in a cubic plastic container and the upper opening is sealed.

However, when eating tofu, it is necessary to separately prepare the sauce, so the present applicant has developed a prior invention (Patent Application No. 1983
-125518).

In this invention, first, the sauce storage section of the container is filled with sauce, the opening of the sauce storage section is sealed with a sealing material, and the tofu storage section of the container is completely filled with soymilk. Thereafter, bubbles on the surface of the soybean milk filled to the brim are removed using a bubble remover, another sealing material is applied over the entire top surface of the container, and the opening of the tofu storage section is sealed. The bag container filled with the sauce and soy milk is then heat-treated to obtain a packaged tofu product.

(Problem B to be solved by the invention) However, according to the above-mentioned prior invention, when the sealing material is pressed against the sauce storage part and heat-sealed, the air inside the sauce storage part expands due to heating, and after sealing, There is a problem in that the sealing material in the drip storage section bulges outward.

In addition, there is a similar problem in the tofu storage section, and there is a problem that the manufacturing process becomes complicated because the tofu storage section requires a separate process to remove bubbles from the surface after filling with soymilk, etc. Ta.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and includes sauce and soy milk in a container having a sauce storage section for storing sauce and a tofu storage section for storing tofu, etc. After filling each of the storage compartments, the sealing material is sequentially pressed against each opening and heated using a frame-shaped heat head corresponding to the opening of each of the storage compartments, thereby sealing each of the storage compartments. The sagging filling and packaging machine has a structure in which an air release pad is provided inside the tip of each of the heat heads, slightly protruding from the tip surface of each heat head.

(Function) The sag storage section is sealed by pressing a sealing material against the opening of the sag storage section and heating it using a heat head for the sag section. In this case, the air bleed pad is provided inside the tip of the heat head so as to slightly protrude from the tip of the heat head, so when the head is pressed against the opening, the air bleed pad will be slightly pushed into the drip storage area along with the sealing material. Because of this, the air inside the sauce storage section escapes to the outside. This results in
It is possible to prevent the sealing material in the drip storage section from expanding.

Even when sealing the tofu storage section, since an air release pad is provided on the heater head for the tofu storage section, it is possible to prevent the sealing member from bulging after sealing, similar to the sauce storage section. In addition, when sealing the tofu storage section, the bubbles on the surface of the soymilk filled to the brim are forced outward by the pad that enters during sealing, so the bubbles can be reliably removed, eliminating the need for a separate removal process. I can do it.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. still,
In this embodiment, a case will be described in which tofu is stored in the tofu storage section.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show a right side view and a plan view of the filling and packaging machine 1 with sauce according to the present embodiment, and the right direction in the figures is the container transfer direction.

This packaging machine 1 includes a conveyance section 3 that sequentially transfers containers 2, a main filling section 4 that fills the sauce and most of the soy milk, and a seal that supplies a sealing material 5 made of a plastic film onto the containers 3 being transferred. The material supply section 6 and the sauce storage section of the container 3.
A sauce part sealing part 7 to seal, a full filling part 8 to fill the tofu storage part with soymilk, a tofu part sealing part 9 to seal the tofu storage part, and a sealing material along the periphery of the brim of the container 3. It is composed of a trimming part 1o for punching out the 5, and a power part 44.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the container 2 used in this example is a box with a substantially square plane made of plastic, and has a sauce storage section 11 formed in its center. A tofu storage section 12 is formed in an annular shape around the sauce storage section 11. In addition, the opening 11a of the sauce storage section 11
is formed flush with the flange 12a on the periphery of the container and is flat, and the peripheral walls of both storage parts 11 and 12 are formed into inclined surfaces so as to taper downward.
The bottom surface 11b of the tofu storage section 12 is formed by integral press molding so that the bottom surface 11b is more floating than the bottom surface 12b of the tofu storage section 12.

Further, at the corners of the peripheral wall of the container 2, projections 13 are provided that bulge outward from the flange 12a at predetermined positions. A predetermined gap is formed between the two collar portions.

The conveyance section 3 includes a conveyor 15 that conveys the containers 2 at predetermined intervals, and a container supply section 16 that sequentially supplies the containers 2 onto the conveyor 15.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the conveyor 15 includes a proximal sprocket 18 provided at the proximal end of the frame 17.
19, a distal sprocket 20.21 provided on the distal end side of the frame 17, a pair of chains 22.23 suspended between these sprockets 18 and 20, and 19 and 21, and both chains 22. 23 and a plurality of trays 25 attached to the trays 23.

The tray 25 is formed to receive and support the containers 2 supplied from the container supply section 16.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the container 2 is provided with a sauce part space 26 into which the sauce storage part 11 of the container 2 can be inserted and a tofu part space 27 into which the tofu storage part 12 can be inserted. When inserted from above, the opening 11a of the sauce storage section 11 of the container 2 is supported by the upper surface of the inner wall 26a, and the container 2
The collar portion 12a is supported by the upper surface of the outer wall 27a. Further, a trimming groove 28 having a predetermined depth is provided on the upper surface of the outer wall 27a along the peripheral edge of the collar portion 12a. This groove 28 is formed by the sealing material 5 as shown in FIG.
In order to provide a grip part 80 that can be grasped when easily peeling off, one corner of the four partitions of the flange part 12a is formed so as to follow the outer side of the edge of the corner part. Further, two grooves 29 are formed at a predetermined depth from the bottom in the lower part of the tofu space 27 of the tray 25 along the container transfer direction. The left and right sides of each tray 25 are attached to the chains 22 and 23 with a predetermined gap maintained in the transport direction, and are continuously transported as the chains 22 and 23 are driven.

The container supply unit 16 is installed above the base end side of the conveyor 15, and as shown in FIGS. and four screw members 32 that support the corners of the flange 12a of the container 2. Each screw member 32 has a spiral groove 33 that goes around its circumferential surface, and the collar corner of the lowermost container 2 enters and is locked into these spiral grooves 33, thereby supporting the container 2. Each screw member 32 is connected to a power system through a plurality of bevel gears 34 and the like. Then, a sensor (not shown) moves the tray 25 to the container supply section 1.
When the container 2 is transferred to the lower part of the container 2, the power system is activated and each screw member 32 rotates once, and as a result, the corner of the flange 12a of the container 2 supported by the groove 33 of each screw member 32 is removed from the groove 33, and only the container 2 at the lower end falls downward and is supplied onto the tray 25.

Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair of push-up plates 35 are provided on the front end side of the conveyance section 3 to push up the sealed containers 2 on the tray 25, and A pair of take-out plates 36 for taking out the 2 are provided. The push-up plate 35 is arranged vertically below the conveyor 15 along the container transfer direction.
Further, they are disposed so as to fit into respective grooves 29 provided at the bottom of the tray 25, and their upper surfaces are formed to gradually slope upward. Therefore, tray 25
When the upper container 2 passes over the push-up plate 35, the tray 25
It is pushed up slightly. The take-out plate 36 is the conveyor 1
These take-out plates 36 are spaced apart from each other so as to engage only with the right and left flanges 12a of the containers 2 on the tray 25.

Further, the proximal ends of these take-out plates 36 are formed to be located below the flange 2a of the container 2 that is pushed up by the push-up plate 35, and are gradually inclined upward until the distal ends reach a predetermined height. It is formed like this. Therefore, when the container 2 pushed up by the push-up plate 35 reaches the take-out plate 36, both left and right sides of the container flange 12a are transferred onto the take-out plate 36, whereby the container 2 is taken out from the tray 25.

As shown in FIG. 9, the main filling section 4 includes four soy milk nozzles 38 facing each corner of the tofu storage section 12 of the container 2, one sauce nozzle 39 facing the sauce storage section 11, and these. The support stand 40 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the rail 4 provided on the frame 17
It is placed on 1. Further, the support stand 40 is connected to a swing rod 45 of a power unit 44 via a sagging part seal part 7, a tofu part seal part 9, and a trimming part 10, which will be described later, by a plurality of horizontal rods 42. The swing rod 45 has an upper end that is pivotally supported to be able to swing in the container transfer direction, and a sliding portion on the lower end that is slidably fitted into a cam groove 46 that rotates by power. , the cam groove 46 rotates, the swing rod 45 swings back and forth, and each part 4.7.9.10 connected to the horizontal rod 42 moves toward the tray 25.
It repeats the action of moving a predetermined distance at the same speed as then quickly returning. Furthermore, each of the nozzles 38 and 39 is connected to a sauce supply section and a soy milk supply section through tubes, and in this main filling section 4, as shown in FIG. It is filled to a certain extent. This is because bubbles are generated on the surface of the soy milk when it is filled with soy milk, so most of the soy milk is filled in advance to facilitate the disappearance of the bubbles and then filled to the full.

As shown in FIG.
0, a plurality of guide roller groups 51, a winding roller 52 provided above the distal end side of the frame 17, and a motor 53 for driving this. The sealing material 5 is formed to have a dimension larger than the width of the container 2, and as a motor 53 is driven, the sealing material 5 is transferred from a tram 50 via a roller group 51 by a plurality of guide rollers 54 provided on the conveyor 15. is guided onto the container 2. In this case, the sealing material 5 is supplied at the same speed as the transported container 2, and the sealing material 5 after being trimmed by a trimming section 10, which will be described later, is wound around the winding roller 53. Further, the sealing material supply section 6 includes a printing section 55 that prints characters and pictures on the sealing material 5, and an alignment mechanism 56 that aligns the printed characters and pictures on the container 2. The alignment mechanism 56 consists of a protrusion 57 attached to the sagging seal portion 7, which will be described later, and by pushing the sealing material 5 transferred by the protrusion 57 into the gap between the trays 25 and stretching the sealing material 5. done,
Appropriate alignment can be achieved by arbitrarily adjusting the amount by which the protruding piece 57 is pushed.

The sagging part seal part 7 is connected to an air cylinder 6 attached to a support plate 59 movable in the container transfer direction on the frame 17.
0, a heater 61 and a heat head 62 attached to the rod of this air cylinder 60. As shown in FIG. 10, the heat head 62 is formed into a frame shape with a size corresponding to the drip opening 11a of the container 2, and a heat-resistant material is provided inside the tip of the heat head 62. An air release pad 63 made of silicone material is fitted. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the lower surface of this pad 63 is provided so as to protrude slightly (for example, about 1 to 2 mm) from the tip end surface of the heat head 62, and is fixed to the rod side with screws 64. And the first
As shown in Figure 1, the container 2 is
As the rod of the air cylinder 60 expands, the heat head 62 presses and heats the sealing material 5 against the sagging opening 11a, thereby sealing the sagging opening 11a. In this case, since the air bleed pad 63 is provided to protrude from the tip end surface of the heat head 62, the pad 63 slightly enters into the drip storage section 11, thereby causing the air in the drip storage section 11 to be removed prior to sealing. The heat sealing can prevent the sealing material 5 from expanding outward due to the expansion of the air inside the sagging storage section 11.

As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the full filling section 8 includes a lifting rod 66 that lifts the left side of the sealing material 5 to be transferred, and a nozzle 67 that lifts the right side of the sealing material 5 and fills it with soymilk. It is composed of a lifting rod 66 and triangular plates 68 and 69 that hold down the sealing material 5 before and after the nozzle 67.

The lifting rod 66 and the nozzle 67 are fixed to the frame 17 at a predetermined height from the left and right sides of the frame 17 so as to be slightly inclined toward the center, and the base end of the nozzle 67 is connected to the soy milk supply section via a tube. There is. Then, both left and right sides of the sealing material 5 on the container 2 to be transferred are lifted by a lifting rod 66 and a nozzle 67, and soymilk is filled from the nozzle 67 into the tofu storage section 12 of the container 2 until it is full.

The above-mentioned tofu part sealing part 9 consists of an air cylinder 72 attached to a support plate 71 movable in the container transfer direction, and a rod of the air cylinder 72. A first heat head 73 and a second heat head 75 that move up and down with the accommodation,
- heaters 74 and 76 for heating these. As shown in FIG. 14, the first heat head 73 is formed into a frame shape with a tip end surface of a size corresponding to the flange 12a of the container 2, and as shown in FIG. It is formed into a curved surface that bulges out. An air bleed pad 77 made of a heat-resistant silicone material is fitted inside the tip of the first heat head 73.
7 is provided with a notch 77a large enough to allow the drip storage part 11 of the container 2 to pass through in the center, and as shown in FIG. Screw 6 so that it protrudes (approximately 1 to 2 mm)
4 is fixed to the lot side. Then, similarly to the sagging part seal part 7, while moving in the container transfer direction,
As the lot of air cylinders 72 expands, the first heat head 73 heats the sealing material 5 while pressing it against the flange 12a, thereby sealing the entire flange 12a. In this case, the slightly protruding air release pad 77
2, the tofu acid, bubbles and air on the surface of the soymilk inside the storage compartment 12 escape to the outside before sealing, and the state in which the bubbles and air inside the tofu storage compartment 12 are reliably removed. Can be sealed with.

Further, the second heat head 75 is provided at the tip of the first heat head 73, and its end surface is formed into a frame shape similarly to the first heat head 73. The second heat head 75 has a flat end face, and a plurality of annular protrusions 78 protrude from the end face, as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17. Then, as the air cylinder 72 is driven, the second heat head 75 is pressed against the substantially sealed flange 12a and heated. therefore,
The annular protrusion 78 on the distal end surface of the second heat head 75 seals the flange 12a multiple times, resulting in more reliable sealing.

The trimming section 10 includes an air cylinder 90 attached to the support plate 71, a cutting blade 91 attached to the rod of the air cylinder 90, and a frame-shaped presser provided on the support plate 71 so as to be movable up and down. It consists of a member 92. The cutting blade 91 is formed in an annular shape along approximately the periphery of the flange 12a of the container 2, and traces outside the edge of the corner at the negative corner of the flange 12a so as to correspond to the above-mentioned trimming groove 29. It is formed like this. The pressing member 92 has a cutting blade 9
The sealing material 5 is formed into a frame shape surrounding the periphery of the sealing material 1, and the sealing material 5 is sandwiched and fixed between the tray 25 and the above-mentioned tray 25 during punching. Then, while the cutting blade 91 and the holding member 92 move together with the sealed container 2 and press the sealing material 5 around the cutting blade, the cutting blade 91 is lowered by the drive of the air cylinder 90, as shown in FIG. , the flange 12 of the sealing material 5
Trimming is performed with the grip portion 80 provided at the negative corner of a.

In such a packaging machine, the sauce storage section 11 and the tofu storage section 12 of the container 2 that are sequentially transferred by the conveyance section 3 are
As shown in FIG. 11, the main filling section 4 is filled with sauce and most of the soy milk, and the sealing material 5 supplied onto the container 2 by the sealing material supply section 6 is applied to the sauce section sealing section 7.
Heat sealed. In this case, the air inside the sag storage section 11 escapes slightly to the outside by the air release pad 63 provided on the heat head 62 of the seal section 7, so that the sealing material 5 of the sag storage section 11 after being sealed expands outward. This prevents

Next, in the full filling section 8, as shown in FIG. 13, the left and right sides of the sealing material 5 are lifted by the lifting rod 66 and the nozzle 67, and the tofu storage section 12 is filled with soymilk from the nozzle 67. .

Therefore, since most of the soymilk is filled in the main filling section 4, the bubbles on the surface of the soymilk almost disappear by the time it reaches the full filling section 8. becomes minimum.

Further, the fully filled tofu storage section 12 is heated to the first heat head 73 of the tofu section sealing section 9, as shown in FIG.
heat sealed. In this case, the air release pad 77 of the first heat head 73 removes bubbles and air from the tofu storage section 12 to the outside. After that, the second heat head 7
As shown in FIG. taken out.

In this way, both storage sections can be sealed with one sheet of sealing material, making it convenient to use, and since the process from filling to sealing can be carried out while transporting the container, work efficiency can be improved.

Although this embodiment has been described using tofu as an example, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to other products similar to tofu.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, the air release pad is provided inside the tip of each heat head so as to slightly protrude from the tip of the heat head, so that the sauce storage section and the tofu storage section can be closed. It is possible to prevent the sealing material from swelling.

Furthermore, since bubbles on the surface of soymilk can be reliably removed in the tofu storage section during sealing, the manufacturing process can be simplified.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 to FIG. 18 relate to one embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a schematic right side view showing the packaging machine, Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along arrow II-II in Figure 1, showing a schematic plane view of the packaging machine, and Figures 3 and 4 are a perspective view and longitudinal cross-section of the container. Figure, Figure 5, Figure 6
The figures are a plan view and a perspective view of the conveyance section, FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along arrows -■ in FIG. 2 showing the container supply section, and FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view of the main filling section, FIGS. 10 and 11 are bottom views and longitudinal sectional views of the heat head of the drip seal section, and FIG. 12 is an enlarged plan view of the fully filled section. Fig. 13 is a sectional view taken from the direction of the arrow in Fig. 12, Figs. 14 and 15 are a bottom view and a longitudinal sectional view of the first heat head of the tofu etc. part sealing part, and Fig. 16 is a cross-sectional view of the second heat head. The bottom view of Figure 17 is X■ in Figure 16.
-X■ arrow sectional view, and FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing the container after trimming. 1... Filling and packaging machine with sauce 2... Container 5... Sealing material 11, lla... Sauce storage section and its opening 12.12
a...Tofu storage area and its opening 62.73...Heat head 63.77...Air release pad Fig. 3

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] After filling a container with sauce and soy milk, etc., respectively, which has a sauce storage part for storing sauce and a tofu storage part for storing tofu, etc., the containers correspond to the openings of the respective storage parts. A sagging filling and packaging machine that seals each of the storage compartments by successively pressing and heating a sealing material on each opening with each of the frame-shaped heat heads, wherein the inside of the tip of each of the heat heads is , a filling and packaging machine with sagging, characterized in that an air release pad is provided slightly protruding from the tip surface of each heat head.