JPH0811840A - Method and device for manufacturing container fitted with tubular heat-shrinkable film - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently obtain a container which excels in external appearance without distortion of the letters and designs printed on a heat-shrinkable film by a method wherein a tubular heat-shrinkable film is fitted externally on the container, pulled up to a specified position with respect to the container, cut off in the upper part, subjected to heating of the lower part while held after being lowered, and made to fit tight on the container by overall heating. CONSTITUTION:Into a tubular heat-shrinkable film 1 with its opening held open a container is inserted halfway with its upper part in the tubular film by the use of a plunger 9. Then the film is held by a pulling-up chuck 10, pulled up at the upper part, and cut off in an arc at the upper part by fusion cutting by the use of a sealer cutter. Next by the use of a pair of rollers 13 for pulling down film the film is pulled down to bring the part cut by the fusion cutting in contact with the upper part of the container. After that, the tubular heat-shrinkable film at the periphery of the bottom of the container is made to shrink under heat by the use of a heating device 14 so that the film is put in tight contact with the bottom of the container. Subsequently the whole of the container is passed through a shrink tunnel 15 for heating so that the whole of the tubular heat-shrinkable film fits tight on the container through shrinking. Thus a container of a zool appearance can be efficiently obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing a container having a tubular heat-shrinkable film such as a shrinkable label. More specifically, the present invention is a method for producing a container having a tubular heat-shrinkable film, which allows the tubular heat-shrinkable film having a small difference from the outer circumference of the container to be efficiently attached to the outer periphery of the container. And a manufacturing apparatus thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a heat-shrinkable film has been widely mounted on the outer periphery of a container. This protects the container from dirt due to dust, uses the printed heat-shrinkable film as a label, ensures that the container is not opened by mounting the film, or fixes the container lid. This is to prevent the contents from leaking. Conventionally, the attachment of this heat-shrinkable film to a container is generally performed by closing one end of a tubular heat-shrinkable film by fusion bonding, covering the container from the other open end, and heat-shrinking it. According to the method of mounting on the outer periphery of the container. By the way, in mounting and packaging on the outer circumference of a container with a tubular heat-shrinkable film, if the size of the tubular heat-shrinkable film that is fitted on the container is larger than the outer circumference of the container, it is necessary to heat the container in order to mount it on the container. The shrinkage rate must be increased, and when printing is performed on the tubular heat-shrinkable film, there is a drawback that the printing is greatly distorted and the commercial value is significantly reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to make the size of the tubular heat-shrinkable film as close as possible to the outer peripheral size of the container so that the heat shrinkage rate of the heat-shrinkable film is as small as possible. However, in the above conventional packaging method, since the tubular heat-shrinkable film is in the shape of a bag and the clearance between the tubular heat-shrinkable film and the container is small, the tubular heat-shrinkable film and the container are There is no space for air to escape from the outer periphery, and it is not easy to fit the tubular heat-shrinkable film onto the outer surface smoothly. Therefore, a tubular heat-shrinkable film having a small difference from the outermost circumference of the container can be easily fitted to the container by externally fitting the outer heat-shrinkable film on the container and shrinking the film. The development of a container manufacturing method has been required.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and efficiently mounts a tubular heat-shrinkable film having almost no difference from the outer circumference of the container on the outer circumference of the container. The present invention has been made for the purpose of providing a method of manufacturing a container equipped with a heat-shrinkable tubular film and a device for manufacturing the container.

[0004]

As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the present inventors have found that a tubular heat-shrinkable film cut into a length sufficient to cover a container is
By opening the container with a float, inserting the container, and fusing and cutting the upper part of the film in an arc shape, by heating and shrinking the lower part of the film, we found that a tubular heat-shrinkable film could be easily attached to the outer periphery of the container, The present invention has been completed based on the findings. That is, the present invention is
(1) The container is intermittently transferred horizontally by a one-pitch motion, the tubular heat-shrinkable film is fitted onto the container, and the tubular heat-shrinkable film is held at a predetermined position of the container.
A method for producing a container in which a tubular heat-shrinkable film, which shrinks the heat-shrinkable film by heating, is mounted, comprising: (1)
Pass a continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film outside the first float held by the film feed roller,
The tubular heat-shrinkable film is fed to the outside of the second float held by the film feed belt by the film feed roller, and the tubular heat-shrinkable film is cut by the film cutter provided between the two floats. The cylindrical heat-shrinkable film opened by the float is transferred by the film feed belt, and is externally fitted to the outer circumference of the container transferred immediately below the second float by the one-pitch motion. Second stage for pulling up the heat-shrinkable film, (3) Third stage for fusing and cutting the upper part of the tubular heat-shrinkable film with a sealer cutter in an arc shape, and (4) for turning the tubular heat-shrinkable film by the film lowering roller. Fourth stage of pulling down the fused part until it contacts the upper part of the container, (5) Under the tubular heat-shrinkable film Fifth stage allowed to close contact with the container bottom deflated by the partial heating and,
(6) A method of manufacturing a container equipped with a tubular heat-shrinkable film, which comprises a sixth stage in which the entire tubular heat-shrinkable film is brought into close contact with the entire container by heating it, (2) First The tubular heat-shrinkable film according to item (1), wherein the upper part of the container is inserted into the tubular heat-shrinkable film opened by the second float by pushing up the container with the plunger on the stage. (3) A continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film is formed by folding a flat plate heat-shrinkable film in two and fusion-cutting the ends, and is continuously supplied. A method for producing a container equipped with the tubular heat-shrinkable film according to item (1). (4) Item (1), wherein a small hole for air release is provided at a position corresponding to the upper portion of the cut tubular heat-shrinkable film, and a perforation for removing the film is provided at a position corresponding to the lower portion. And (5) a film feed roller for supplying a continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film to a second float, and a first float held by the roller. A film cutter for cutting a continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film, a film feed belt for opening the tubular heat-shrinkable film and transferring it to the outer circumference of the container, and a second float held by the belt, a tubular heat-shrinkable film A film pulling chuck, a sealer cutter that melts and cuts the top of the tubular heat-shrinkable film into an arc shape, and a fused part of the tubular heat-shrinkable film on the container. There is provided a container manufacturing apparatus equipped with a tubular heat-shrinkable film characterized by comprising a heating device film pulled rollers and film lower brought into contact with the partial heating allowed to contact and contraction caused to the vessel bottom.

The present invention will be described in detail below. There is no particular limitation on the material and shape of the container to which the heat-shrinkable film can be attached by the method of the present invention, and as for the material, a container made of glass, metal, wood, ceramics, plastic or the like should be used. As for the shape, a container having a cylindrical shape, an elliptic cylindrical shape, a prismatic shape, a tube shape, or the like can be used. The content of the container is also not particularly limited, and a container filled with a liquid, a viscous liquid material, a paste, a powder, a granule, a granular material or the like can be used. The heat-shrinkable film used in the method of the present invention is not particularly limited. For example, a film obtained by extruding the film with a T-die and then simultaneously or sequentially biaxially stretching it, or a film stretched by an inflation processing device, etc. Can be used. The material of the heat-shrinkable film is not particularly limited, and for example, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, vinyl chloride resin, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polyamide, etc., as well as a multilayer film in which different resins are laminated can be used. it can. The heat-shrinkable film used in the method of the present invention is preferably an avalanche film having a heat shrinkage in the lateral direction larger than the heat shrinkage in the longitudinal direction, and particularly the heat shrinkage in the lateral direction is 20 to 60%, The thermal shrinkage in the direction is preferably 0 to 30%. The thickness of the heat-shrinkable film used in the method of the present invention is not particularly limited, and a film having a thickness of about 10 to 200 μm can usually be used.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an example of the method and apparatus of the present invention.
The first stage of the method of the present invention is provided with a first float held by a film feed roller and a second float held by a film feed belt, and a plunger for pushing up the container can be installed. In the method of the present invention, a continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film 1 is passed outside the first float 3 held by a set of film feed rollers 2. The first float is contained inside the tubular heat-shrinkable film, and the tubular heat-shrinkable film is sent to the outside of the second float 4 with the lower end opened by the film feeding roller, and the second float is Include inside. The second float is held by a set of film feed belts 5, and the film feed belts are driven by a plurality of sets of film feed belt rollers 6. The uppermost film feed belt roller preferably has a structure capable of moving laterally to open and close the belt. With such a structure, when the tubular heat-shrinkable film is fed from the first float, the film feed belt can be opened and the tubular heat-shrinkable film can be reliably received in the second float. In FIG. 1, the dotted line shows the state in which the film feed belt is closed, and the solid line shows the state in which the film feed belt is open. After the tubular heat-shrinkable film is received, the film feed belt is closed and driven to pull down the tubular heat-shrinkable film having a length necessary for mounting the film on the container. The length of the tubular heat-shrinkable film required to be attached to the container is usually 2 than the total height of the container.
It is preferably 0 to 60 mm long. The difference between the outer circumference of the tubular heat-shrinkable film used in the method of the present invention and the outermost circumference of the container is 1 to 100 mm, preferably 5 to 70 mm, more preferably 10 to 40 mm. By externally fitting the tubular heat-shrinkable film opened by the second float of the method of the present invention to the container, even if the difference between the outer circumference of the tubular heat-shrinkable film and the outermost circumference of the container is made small, surely The tubular heat-shrinkable film can be fitted onto the container. If the difference between the outer circumference of the tubular heat-shrinkable film and the outermost circumference of the container is less than 1 mm, it is difficult to fit the tubular heat-shrinkable film onto the container by the second float, which is not preferable. If the difference between the outer circumference of the tubular heat-shrinkable film and the outermost circumference of the container exceeds 100 mm,
When the position of the tubular heat-shrinkable film moves on the container, or when the tubular heat-shrinkable film is printed, the amount of shrinkage due to heating is large, so the printed characters and patterns are deformed. There is a risk of this being undesirable. In the method of the present invention, the tubular heat-shrinkable film that has been pulled down to the second float by the length necessary for mounting on the container is used by the film cutter 7 provided between the first float and the second float. Be disconnected. Since the cut tubular heat-shrinkable film has both ends open, compared to a conventional heat-shrinkable film in which only one end is open and the other end is closed, the external heat is not applied to the container. Fitting can be done much easier. In the method of the present invention, the cross-sectional shape of the lower part of the second float is similar to the maximum cross-sectional shape of the container to which the tubular heat-shrinkable film should be fitted. It is preferable because fitting can be performed easily and reliably. The cut tubular heat-shrinkable film held open by the second float and the film feed belt is driven by the film feed belt when the container 31 is transferred to the position just below the second float by the one pitch motion. The tubular heat-shrinkable film 8 cut by cutting is externally fitted to the container.

In the method of the present invention, the plunger 9 is provided immediately below the second float, and the container is pushed up so that the upper part of the container can be inserted into the opened tubular heat-shrinkable film. In FIG. 1, the dotted line shows the container in the pushed up position. By pushing up the container with the plunger, the tubular heat-shrinkable film can be more securely fitted onto the container. In the method of the present invention, the container to which the tubular heat-shrinkable film is fitted on the first stage is moved to the second stage by one-pitch motion.
It is sent to the stage. Since the difference between the outer circumference of the tubular heat-shrinkable film and the outermost circumference of the container is small, the externally fitted tubular heat-shrinkable film remains in place on the container without shifting. In the second stage, the upper end of the cut tubular heat-shrinkable film is clamped by the film pulling chuck 10 and pulled up to a position suitable for fusion cutting the upper portion of the film. The shape and mechanism of the film lifting chuck can be arbitrarily selected, and any film can be used without particular limitation as long as it can hold and lift the film. In the method of the present invention, the container holding the tubular heat-shrinkable film at the pulled-up position in the second stage is sent to the third stage by one-pitch motion. At the third stage, the upper part of the tubular heat-shrinkable film is a sealer cutter (not shown).
Is fused and cut into an arc shape. By providing the arc-shaped fusion cutting part 11 on the upper part of the tubular heat-shrinkable film,
Compared with the case where a tubular heat-shrinkable film is fusion-cut in a straight line, the film has a less excess portion after heat-shrinking and has a beautiful appearance. The radius of the arc of the fusion cutting portion can be appropriately selected according to the shape of the upper portion of the container. further,
The shape of the fusion cutting portion does not need to be strictly a circular arc, and an arbitrary curve can be selected according to the shape of the upper portion of the container.
In the method of the present invention, the scrap 12 generated by fusion cutting in the third stage can be clamped using a known mechanism and transferred to the disposal system. In the method of the present invention, it is possible to carry out fusion and cutting separately in two stages without performing fusion and cutting of the upper portion of the tubular heat-shrinkable film at the same time, but usually it is performed simultaneously in one stage. It is possible and economical.

In the method of the present invention, the container holding the tubular heat-shrinkable film obtained by fusion-cutting the upper portion of the tubular heat-shrinkable film in the arc shape in the third stage is sent to the fourth stage by one pitch motion. In the fourth stage, the tubular heat-shrinkable film is pulled down by the pair of film pulling-down rollers 13 until the fusion cutting part contacts the upper part of the container. The lower end of the tubular heat-shrinkable film extends downward from the periphery of the bottom of the container in a state in which the fusion cutting part is pulled down until it contacts the upper part of the container. It is preferable that the length extending from the periphery of the bottom of the container is 5 mm or more and less than the length that covers the entire bottom of the container when heat-shrinking, and this length is usually 10 to 15 mm. Preferably. If the length of the tubular heat-shrinkable film extending from the periphery of the container bottom is less than 5 mm, the shrinked film may not adhere to the bottom of the container when the lower part of the tubular heat-shrinkable film is heat-shrinked. It is not preferable because there is. If the length of the tubular heat-shrinkable film that extends from the periphery of the container is too long and covers the entire bottom of the container when heat-shrinks, it takes time to remove the shrunken film when using the container. It is not preferable because it takes a lot of time. The upper limit of the length of the tubular heat-shrinkable film extending from the periphery of the bottom of the container is determined by the size and shape of the container. In the method of the present invention, the container in which the tubular heat-shrinkable film is pulled down until the fusion cut portion of the tubular heat-shrinkable film contacts the upper part of the container in the fourth stage is sent to the fifth stage by one-pitch motion. To be In the fifth stage, the bottom of the container is heated by the heating device 14, and the tubular heat-shrinkable film of the part around the bottom of the container and the part extending from the vicinity of the bottom of the container contracts and comes into close contact with the bottom of the container. Is performed, and the displacement of the film when the entire tubular heat-shrinkable film is shrunk in the sixth stage is prevented. The method of heating the bottom of the container in the fifth stage is not particularly limited, and for example, heating by blowing warm air, radiant heat of a heater or heating by an infrared lamp can be used. In the method of the present invention, the container in which the lower portion of the tubular heat-shrinkable film is brought into close contact with the container bottom in the fifth stage is sent to the sixth stage. In the sixth stage, the entire container is heated by passing through the shrink tunnel 15, and the entire tubular heat-shrinkable film shrinks and is closely attached to the container. The heating method for shrinking the entire tubular heat-shrinkable film is not particularly limited as long as it is an atmosphere in which almost the entire container surface is uniformly heated, but the size and shape of the container, the material of the heat-shrinkable film and An appropriate one can be selected depending on the properties and the like, and for example, it can be performed by blowing the entire hot air, heating by uniform radiant heat from the heating element, or the like. In the method of the present invention, various shapes of the first float and the second float can be used in the first stage. FIG. 2 (a) is a front view of another embodiment of the float used in the method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 (b) is a side view of another embodiment of the float used in the method of the present invention. In the second float shown in FIG. 2, the corner of the upper edge portion of the float is processed into a curved shape, and the lower part of the float has a shape extending below the film feed belt. With such a shape, the tubular heat-shrinkable film can be moved more smoothly.

In the method of the present invention, the tubular heat-shrinkable film may be produced by any method. For example, the tubular film produced by the inflation method can be used as it is, or the tubular film can be used by processing the flat film by adhesion or fusion, or the flat film can be used. The step of producing a tubular heat-shrinkable film from the heat-shrinkable film and the step of mounting the tubular heat-shrinkable film in a container can be continuously performed in a consistent manner. Characters, patterns, etc. can be printed on the film in advance and used as a label. FIG. 1 also shows a step of producing a tubular heat-shrinkable film from a flat heat-shrinkable film, which is one embodiment of the method of the present invention. The film is unwound from an original fabric roll 21 of a plate-shaped heat-shrinkable film which has been appropriately printed, and is folded in half by a triangular plate 22.
The heat-shrinkable film folded in two has its end portion fused and cut by the in-line sealer 23 to form a tubular heat-shrinkable film. The in-line sealer is not particularly limited, and for example, a heat sealer, an impulse sealer, a high frequency sealer, an ultrasonic sealer or the like can be used depending on the properties of the film and the processing speed. Further, the fusion cutting of the end portion can be performed continuously or intermittently. The heat-shrinkable film formed into a tubular shape by fusing and cutting the end portions has an excellent appearance as compared with the heat-shrinkable film formed into a tubular shape by adhesion because there is no overlapping portion of the films. The heat-shrinkable film processed into a tubular shape by the in-line sealer is then in the vicinity of the fusion cutting portion when the tubular heat-shrinkable film is fusion-cut at its upper part in the third stage by the small hole punching device 24. Drill a small hole to locate at. In the fourth stage, when the tubular heat-shrinkable film is pulled down by the film pull-down roller, air escapes from the small holes in the vicinity of the fusion cutting portion, so that the tubular heat-shrinkable film can be pulled down easily. The tubular heat-shrinkable film perforated by the small hole punching device is further perforated by the perforation processing device 25 so that perforations are formed in the lower part of the tubular heat-shrinkable film cut by the film cutter. It The small hole forming process and the perforating process are not performed in this order, and the small hole forming process can be performed after the perforating process is performed, or the small hole forming process and the perforating process can be performed at the same time. Providing perforations in the lower portion of the cut tubular heat-shrinkable film is preferable because the consumer can easily open the container in which the shrinkable film is mounted.

[0010]

According to the method and apparatus of the present invention, a cylindrical heat-shrinkable film having a small difference from the outer circumference of the container can be easily attached to the outer circumference of the container. There is no distortion of the letters or patterns printed on the flexible film, and a container equipped with a shrinkable film with an excellent appearance,
It can be manufactured efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the method and apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view and a side view of another embodiment of the float used in the method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film 2 film feed roller 3 first float 4 second float 5 film feed belt 6 film feed belt roller 7 film cutter 8 cut tubular heat-shrinkable film 9 plunger 10 Film lifting chuck 11 Arc fusion cutting section 12 Scrap 13 Film lowering roller 14 Heating device 15 Shrink tunnel 21 Raw roll 22 Triangular plate 23 Inline sealer 24 Small hole drilling device 25 Perforation processing device 31 Container

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A one-pitch motion intermittently transfers a container in a horizontal direction, and a tubular heat-shrinkable film is fitted onto the container.
After holding the tubular heat-shrinkable film in a predetermined position of the container, a method of manufacturing a container equipped with a tubular heat-shrinkable film that shrinks the heat-shrinkable film by heating,
(1) Pass a continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film outside the first float held by the film feed roller, and the tubular heat is placed outside the second float held by the film feed belt by the film feed roller. Feed the shrinkable film, cut the tubular heat-shrinkable film with the film cutter provided between both floats, transfer the tubular heat-shrinkable film opened by the second float with the film feed belt, and perform one-pitch motion By the first fitting which is fitted onto the outer circumference of the container transferred to the position immediately below the second float by the
Stage, (2) second stage for pulling up the tubular heat-shrinkable film by the film pull-up chuck, (3) third stage for fusing and cutting the upper portion of the tubular heat-shrinkable film in an arc shape by a sealer cutter, (4) Fourth stage of pulling down the tubular heat-shrinkable film by the film pull-down roller until the fused portion contacts the upper part of the container, (5) Partially heating the lower part of the tubular heat-shrinkable film to shrink it and bring it into close contact with the container bottom. A method for producing a container equipped with a tubular heat-shrinkable film, comprising: a fifth stage; and (6) a sixth stage in which the entire tubular heat-shrinkable film is heated to bring it into close contact with the entire container. . 2. The cylindrical heat according to claim 1, wherein in the first stage, the upper part of the container is inserted into the cylindrical heat-shrinkable film opened by the second float by pushing up the container with the plunger. A method of manufacturing a container equipped with a shrinkable film. 3. A continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film is formed by folding a flat plate heat-shrinkable film in two and fusion-cutting the ends, and is continuously supplied. A method for producing a container equipped with the tubular heat-shrinkable film as described above. 4. A small hole for air release is provided at a position corresponding to the upper portion of the cut tubular heat-shrinkable film, and a perforation for removing the film is provided at a position corresponding to the lower portion. A method for manufacturing a container equipped with a tubular heat-shrinkable film. 5. A film feed roller for feeding a continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film to a second float, a first float held by the roller, a film cutter for cutting the continuous tubular heat-shrinkable film, A film feeding belt that opens the cylindrical heat-shrinkable film and transfers it to the outer circumference of the container, a second float held by the belt, a film pull-up chuck that pulls up the cylindrical heat-shrinkable film, and a circular upper part of the cylindrical heat-shrinkable film. It is equipped with a sealer cutter that cuts and fuses in an arc shape, a film pull-down roller that makes the fused portion of the tubular heat-shrinkable film contact the upper part of the container, and a heating device that partially heats and shrinks the lower part of the film to make it adhere to the container bottom An apparatus for manufacturing a container equipped with a characteristic tubular heat-shrinkable film.