JPH0429391B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an applicator type tampon.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, napkins have been the mainstream among sanitary treatment products, but the popularity of tampons has shown remarkable growth in recent years. Furthermore, various forms have been devised as shown below.

Finger type: An absorbent body made by compression molding a menstrual blood-absorbing material such as absorbent cotton or rayon, and wrapped in an outer packaging material such as polyethylene. The feature of this type of use is that the outer packaging material is removed and the absorbent material is inserted into the body using the user's own fingers; however, the absorbent material to be inserted is handled directly by the user's own hands. This is unsanitary. In addition, it is not suitable for beginners because the insertion operation is difficult until you get used to using it.

Stick type: One end of a stick made of paper or other material is set in a similar absorbent body with a suitable hole, and the absorbent body is inserted into the body by holding the stake. Although it is improved in terms of hygiene, since it is inserted using a stick that is much thinner than the absorbent body, the operation becomes unstable and the user feels uneasy.

Applicator type: Using an inserter made of a material such as paper or plastic, which consists of an outer tube and an inner tube that slide together, the absorbent body housed inside the outer tube is extruded by sliding the inner tube through the opening at the tip of the outer tube. , which is inserted into the body. Hygiene issues as in the case of this type are resolved and the operation of inserting the absorbent body is much simpler than in the case of this type.

Menstrual tampons are broadly classified into three types as mentioned above, but the type is the best in terms of hygiene and operability, and is enjoyed by many users. The general shape of this applicator type tampon is shown in FIG. A is a side view, and b is a front view of the tip portion. In particular, applicator-type tampons in which the applicator tip 2 consists of multiple petal-shaped pieces and are molded into a hemispherical shape are easy to insert into the body, and can be used easily even by beginners. Has characteristics.

Conventionally, an applicator-type tampon as described above, the tip of which has a plurality of petal-like pieces and is shaped into a hemispherical shape, has been manufactured as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, an outer cylinder 1 whose tip part is made up of a plurality of petal-shaped pieces 2a and whose petal-shaped pieces are in an open state, and an inner cylinder 3 for pushing out the absorbent body are set, and the absorbent body is heated. After loading the body 5, the tip of the outer cylinder is heated in a heating mold 6 having a heat source 7 as shown in FIG. 6 to soften the petal-shaped pieces 2a, and then molded into a hemisphere as shown in FIG. Cooling source 1 with shaped recess 9
In this method, each petal-shaped piece at the tip thereof is inserted into a cooling mold 8 having a diameter of 0 and cooled so that the outer surface of each petal-shaped piece is in contact with the outer surface thereof, and the petal-shaped pieces are hardened into a hemispherical shape.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Although the above-described manufacturing method is certainly a method for manufacturing a tampon as shown in FIG. 4, it has the following drawbacks.

(1) If the heating temperature is too high or the heating time is too long than necessary, the peripheral parts of the petal-shaped pieces 2a at the tip of the outer cylinder will fuse together, and the inner cylinder 3 will be damaged during use. As a result, even if an attempt is made to push out the absorber 5, the outer cylinder tip 2 does not open or is difficult to open. Moreover, after loading the absorber 5 into the outer cylinder 1, the petal-shaped piece 2a at the tip end is inserted.
Since the absorber 5 is heated, there is a risk that the absorber 5 and a part of the petal-shaped piece 2a may become attached.

(2) In the process of softening the tip petal-shaped piece 2a in the heating mold 6, the petal-shaped piece 2a and the heating mold 6 are actually in contact with each other, but the petal-shaped piece to be molded If the pressure applied to the pieces 2a by the heating mold is too high, even if the heating temperature and heating time are appropriate, the peripheral parts of the petal-shaped pieces 2a will fuse together, similar to (1) above. This will result in defects. Also, petal-shaped pieces 2
If the pressure that a receives from the heating mold 6 is low, the resin in the petal-shaped pieces will not be sufficiently softened.

(3) The softened petal-shaped pieces 2a are inserted into the hemispherical recess 9 of the cooling mold 8 with the outer surface of each petal-shaped piece being in contact with each other, but at this time, the pressure that the petal-shaped pieces 2a receive from the hemispherical recess 9 If it is too high or too low, the applicator tip 2 will be finished as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. In the case of FIG. 8, unless the force for pushing out the absorbent body 5 by the inner tube 3 is large, the outer tube tip 2 is difficult to open, making it difficult to insert the absorbent body into the body. In the case of FIG. 9, the tip 2 of the outer cylinder 1 has a sharp shape, and there is a risk of damaging the vaginal entrance, vaginal wall, etc. when the applicator is inserted into the body.

(4) The petal-shaped piece 2a at the tip may be cooled by the outside air while transferring from the heating mold 6 to the cooling mold 8, and may harden without forming the desired shape, so that it will not be molded into a hemispherical shape. A situation arises.

(5) Since the tip portion 2 should be designed to open easily when the absorbent body 5 is pushed out by the inner tube 3, the wall thickness of the petal-shaped piece 2a is usually designed to be thin. That is, since the amount of resin in the petal-shaped piece 2a is extremely small, the petal-shaped piece 2a is very sensitive to the influence of the amount of heat supplied from the heating mold 6, and the setting of the heating temperature is extremely difficult. It needs to be done with high precision. Specifically, the diameter of the hemispherical part of the outer cylinder tip 2 is 11 mm, and the petal-shaped piece 2
If the wall thickness of a is 0.4 mm, the temperature setting of the part of the heating mold 6 in contact with the petal-shaped piece 2a is ±0.5°C.
However, such control is difficult in practice and causes defective products.

Considering the dimensions of the petal-like piece 2a here, it is desirable for sanitary reasons that the petal-like piece 2a covers the tip of the absorbent body 5 as completely as possible, but the length l of the petal-like piece 2a is outside. The closer the circumference is to 1/4 of the cylinder tip 2, the more noticeable the above drawbacks (1) to (5) become, making it difficult to post-process the petal-shaped piece into a hemispherical shape. Therefore, it is significant that the tip of the outer cylinder is shaped into a hemispherical shape for the purpose of inserting the applicator into the body, but it is not easy to do so.

[Means for Solving the Problems] As a result of intensive research to improve the drawbacks of the conventional manufacturing method for applicator-type tampons as described above, the present inventors discovered a very simple manufacturing method and developed the present invention. Reached.

That is, the present invention includes a hemispherical molded outer cylinder front member whose distal end is made up of a plurality of petal-shaped pieces and is closed so that it can be pushed open, and an outer cylinder rear member that is slidably equipped with an inner cylinder for extrusion. The present invention provides a method for manufacturing an applicator-type tampon, characterized in that the absorber is loaded into the front member of the outer cylinder and then joined in the longitudinal direction.

Hereinafter, details of the present invention will be explained based on illustrated embodiments.

What is important in the present invention is that the final shape of the barrel tip is achieved in a conventional applicator barrel manufacturing process. As shown in FIG. 1, the first portion 11 constituting the front portion of the applicator outer cylinder used in the present invention has a tip portion 2 formed into a desired final shape, that is, a hemispherical shape. Such materials are generally obtained by melting a synthetic resin such as polyethylene and then pouring it into a predetermined mold. Manufacturing this first part is extremely easy, similar to manufacturing an outer cylinder with an open tip as shown in FIG. 5 using conventional methods, and the tip has a hemispherical shape. This does not make the manufacture of the first part difficult at all.

In the conventional method, the tip of the outer cylinder as shown in Fig. 5, which is poured into a mold and molded, is reshaped into a hemispherical shape (post-processing) in the later manufacturing process, so the various problems mentioned above occur. This results in the following drawbacks:
If the first portion 11 as shown in the figure is used, there is no need for post-processing of the tip of the outer cylinder, so a process of forming the tip is not necessary.

Furthermore, the second portion 12 constituting the rear portion of the outer cylinder is also easily manufactured. First part 11, second part
The manufacture of an outer sleeve member such as section 12 is easily carried out by someone with some knowledge of plastic molding.

The tampon of the present invention has a first part 11 constituting the front part of the outer cylinder loaded with the absorbent body 5, and a second part 12 constituting the rear part of the outer cylinder which is slidably equipped with the inner cylinder 3 in advance. Obtained by joining in the longitudinal direction. A simple method for joining is to soften the parts of the outer cylinder or both of the two parts to be joined by heating, and then heat-seal them.
Alternatively, another resin may be used as the bonding material, or a so-called adhesive may be used. 1st
As a specific example of heat-sealing the part 11 and the second part 12, as shown in FIG.
3 and 13' are suitably joined together in such a way that they are softened by means of a heating device 14 having a heat source 15 and exert pressure on each other. After this, a cooling device having the same shape as the heating device 14 may be used to further complete the bonding. In any case, the absorber may be loaded by joining the two parts of the outer cylinder. Outer cylinder joint part 1
3 and 13' are generally the same diameter, but as shown in FIG.
If the diameter is large enough to inscribe the joining portion 13 of the first portion 11, joining is easily achieved.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 3a, the collar-shaped joint part 1
The outer cylinder with 6,16' is easier to join,
After bonding, as shown in b, the flange-like portion serves as a guide when inserting the applicator into the body, so it can be said that this is a preferred example of the present invention.

[Effects of the Invention] The advantages of the tampon of the present invention obtained by such a manufacturing method are that, unlike the conventional case in which a petal-shaped piece with an open tip is shaped into a hemispherical shape in post-processing, High accuracy is not required regarding heating temperature, heating time, etc., and there is no need to consider the pressure that the petal-shaped piece at the tip of the applicator receives from the heating mold or cooling mold, so post-processing of the tip of the outer cylinder is not required. The rate of defective products due to hemispherical molding is extremely low, improving productivity. Furthermore, the second portion 12 constituting the rear part of the applicator outer cylinder is made of a material other than synthetic resin such as polyethylene. That is, since paper or the like can be molded and used, it is cheaper and more economical than a conventional case in which the entire outer cylinder is made of the same synthetic resin.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a side view showing an example of the joined state of the outer cylinder of the tampon of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially cutaway side view showing another example, and Fig. 3 is a partially cutaway side view showing yet another example. In the cutaway side view, a shows the state before bonding, b shows the state after bonding, Figure 4 shows the general shape of an applicator type tampon, a is a side view, b is a front view of the tip, and Figure 5 6 is an explanatory diagram of the heating process in the conventional manufacturing method. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the cooling process in the conventional manufacturing method. The figure is a sectional view showing a defective product produced by a conventional manufacturing method. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Outer tube, 2... Tip, 2a... Petal-shaped piece, 3... Inner tube, 4... String, 5... Absorber, 6...
...Heating mold, 7...Heat source, 8...Cooling mold, 9...
...Semispherical recess, 10...Cooling source, 11...First part of the outer cylinder, 12...Second part of the outer cylinder, 13,
13'...Joining portion, 14...Heating device, 15...
...heat source, 16,16'...flange-shaped joint.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A front member of a hemispherical outer cylinder whose tip end is made up of a plurality of petal-shaped pieces and which is closed so that it can be pushed open, and a rear member of the outer cylinder that is slidably equipped with an inner cylinder for extrusion. A method for manufacturing an applicator type tampon, which comprises loading an absorbent body into the front member of the outer cylinder and then joining the absorbent body in the longitudinal direction.