JPS59134145A - Three part vessel - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to container manufacturing and more particularly to a method for manufacturing plastic containers from multiple components. Conventional methods of manufacturing containers generally involve forming metal, glass, or composite paper materials into the container form. Other common methods include forming the plastic into a container form. The present invention relates to the field of technology relating to plastics, and more particularly to polymers such as polyesters and polyolefins. Containers made by the methods disclosed herein are an alternative to those made by conventional plastic, molding, and glass, metal, and paper molding methods.

In conventional plastic bottle manufacturing, bottles can be formed by one of several methods. One such method involves injection molding a molten plastic material into a parison mold and allowing it to solidify to form Silifor λ or Nocrison. The parison is then placed in a blow molding machine that uses a combination of heat, air and mechanical stretching to expand the parison into a finished bottle. Generally, this two- or three-step process is very tedious and expensive due to the time required for production and the large energy input into the equipment and polymer. /Crinone Gold Melting and subsequent cooling of the polymer for injection molding and subsequent reheating for blow molding requires large amounts of heat input.

Another method for manufacturing plastic containers is
A pure injection molding process in which the finished bottle design is formed in a single mold, in which liquid molten polymer is injected directly into the mold to form the finished bottle. Although this method avoids the double heat input of the parison process, it does not achieve orientation of the polymer and suffers from the disadvantage that the resulting bottles are structurally very weak.

Also, due to the lack of orientation in the polymer, oxygen ingress and zero
The barrier property against the escape of 02 is extremely low.

A third method of manufacturing thermoplastic containers involves extruding the tubular linoleum and, while the tubular parison is still in the molten state, enclosing the parison in a mold and blowing it into the final bottle. This is a method of molding. This has the disadvantage that the bottle also has weakened areas in the parts of the bottle where very little orientation occurs in the bottle and where seams occur during the blow molding process.

The present invention provides an entire process by which separate components can be individually formed in the most economical manner currently available, yet each can take advantage of the greatest advantages of thermoforming methods, thereby making thermoplastic bottles and other overcoming the shortcomings of traditional methods in the manufacture of containers. Each component is then joined by rotational welding into a single strong, aesthetic container. In one mode of the invention, a top portion with a threaded neck area and a cylindrical wall edge is thermoformed, a bottom portion with mating properties is thermoformed;
The container is then formed by extruding the cylindrical body portion and rotary welding the upper and lower portions thereto.

Referring to FIG. 1, a container in the form of a bottle 101 is
Partially shown in cross section and side view.

Bottle 101 includes a generally cylindrical central portion 102 formed in the form of a cylindrical tube to which is joined a bottle top or top portion 103 and a lower closure or bottom portion 104.

The upper portion 103 is comprised of a generally cylindrical edge portion 105 that is generally slightly tapered, an inwardly narrowing shoulder portion 106, and an upper cylindrical neck portion 107 with a helical cap thread.

A dual purpose ring 109 is formed around neck portion 107 and projects radially outwardly therefrom. ring 1
The purpose of No. 09 is to provide a filling ring for suspending bottles from a filling machine when filling the bottles.

Ring 109 also has a series of circumferential drive projections formed thereon for engaging the upper portion into a rotating welding mandrel.

Central section 101 is preferably a generally cylindrical tubular section formed by extrusion or coextrusion to the final form. The cylinder is cut to length to form a bottle of the desired volume by means such as a thermal knife or water laser. The embodiment shown in FIG.
In one embodiment of the invention, a cylindrical body portion is formed by coextrusion through a cylindrical coextrusion die to form an inner layer of polymer with a multilayer force ≧. The tatoeha, which prevents the ingress of oxygen through the outer layer and walls and the loss of carbon dioxide from the container,
Known /? such as ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVAL) It is preferred that the car comprises a central /S rear layer formed from a polymeric material. In addition, an additional layer of material such as CXA, an adhesive, may be present between the rear layer and the outer and inner layers to bond the polymers of the inner and outer layers to the barrier. good. CXA is an adhesive manufactured by DuPont Chemical Company.

The bottom member 104 has a relatively flexible central portion 11o1 diaphragm area 111 and an upwardly facing peripheral U-shaped rotary weld 7.
A generally circular septum-shaped closure member having a runno.

It should be noted that the upper portion 105 similarly has a downwardly directed U-shaped rotary weld flange 113 similar to the upwardly directed seven rungs 112 of the bottom member 104. U-shaped flanges 112 and 113 are dimensioned to receive therein the cylindrical body portion 102 of the container with a snug fit. It may be preferable to provide an interference fit between the Franz sections 112 and 113 and the cylindrical body portion 102. This provides the heat of melting when the three vessel parts are joined together by rotary welding. As previously noted, container 101 is constructed from a polymer selected from polyester or polyolefin. More particularly, in an uninvented embodiment, container 101 is made of polymeric polyethylene terephthalate (PBT) 75"
l! ljru. This polymer is approved by Fl)A for food use and is particularly advantageous for containers due to its transparency, strength and barrier properties. Also PET
are particularly sensitive to strengthening by means of orienting the structure by stretching the polymer at an orientation temperature. The central main body portion 101 is made of solid PET.
Preferably, it consists of either a material or a coextruded multilayer tube formed by a circular coextrusion die. - In a preferred embodiment, five layers of polymer are coextruded as a cylindrical tube. The outer layer is P, ET, followed by a layer of adhesive, such as Saran, Parex or E.
A layer of European barrier material such as VALQ is used.

The next layer is a layer of adhesive and the last inner layer is PET. These distinctions were passed on to the brain of the present invention."
U.S. Pat. No. 4,249, issued February 10, 1981, to Hart and Lattresso, entitled "Apparatus and Method for Coextrusion of Multilayer Thermoplastic Tube Coextrusion".
By using the spiderless die disclosed in No. 875,
Can be coextruded simultaneously into a single multilayer cylindrical tube. That patent is herein incorporated by reference.

In FIG. 4, an axial cross-sectional view of the upper portion of bottle 101 taken along line 4--4 of FIG.

In FIG. 4, the neck 107 is shown in cross section,
A filling ring 109 is integrally attached to its periphery. Filling ring 109 projects outwardly from the surface of 107 a substantial distance. A series of symmetrical rotary weld projections are formed around the outer periphery of ring 109 and project radially outwardly from 7Dλ. Protrusion 11
4 is particularly adapted for engagement with a rotating welding mandrel to impart rotational movement to the upper portion 105.

Groove 11 in the wall of 7 ranso 112 and the bottom end of yxo2
6 is off. This notch serves as a position for printing the label on the container and to ensure a suitable location for the label when placing the container as a secondary packaging, i.e. Cut into the bottom edge of the container to position it facing outwards.
There is a very important sales phase for marketers who fill packages and sell them under their own trade names. For example, a beverage manufacturer may want to make sure that the product name or logotype is the main part of the product name or logotype on each container in the package so that the eye-catching features of the label are visible to consumers when the package is placed in a supermarket. I strongly hope that the area faces outward. To this end, a notch 116 in the lower line of the container is used to ensure that when the filled container is placed into a standard 6-pack bag, the eye-catching portion of the logotype is placed on the outside of the packaging. This allows the filler to label the containers such that they can be placed facing each other.

Alternatively, a notch 116 in the lower edge 112
Alternatively, positioning means such as a protrusion or a protruding nub may also be provided in the upper portion 103. The protruding part
It may be provided on the side of the container 101 or inside the trough 111 of the bottom 104 which cannot be seen from above. This particular embodiment of positioning means 116 is the preferred method for secondary packaging. The cutout 116 allows for easy placement of the bottle by means of a protrusion in the secondary packaging that can mate with it to provide placement of the bottle in a retail display. Additionally, the positioning in the notch 116 allows the engagement of the arms to provide additional skinning for the container being packaged.

FIG. 2 shows the upper portion 105 of the three-part container prior to joining to the central body portion 102. This figure shows the upper part 105
This shows the possibility of fitting. In FIG. 2, the second upper portion 105 is shown in dotted lines to show how the upper portions fit together. This is particularly important in large scale container manufacturing. Many containers must be manufactured at one location and then transported to another location for filling. For conventional PET bottles in the 1 liter and 2 liter size openings, they are generally manufactured as a single unit and transported empty to the final filling site. Typically, a truck or wagon loaded with single-piece bottles only transports about 1/20th of its legal carrying weight, even if its entire transport volume is filled with empty containers. Thus, the shipper is paying primarily for air transportation. By utilizing the present invention, a shipper can transport the components of a fitted bottle as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, significantly improving the efficiency of transport. FIG. 3 shows the bottom part 104 in partial cross-section and the second bottom part 1 in a mated position therein.
By showing 04 in dotted lines, the possibility of mating of the bottom portion 104 is made clear.

In FIG. 2, one can appreciate the savings in transportation space achieved by utilizing the present invention. Considering the distance that the upper part 105 shown in dotted lines projects outwardly from the upper part 105 shown in solid lines: - the upper part only occupies an additional space of about % of the original space it occupies; That is clear. Thus, the bottle manufacturer can save approximately % of typical loading space by transporting multiple interdigitated tops 105. Similarly, by fitting the bottom portions 104 together,
Further space savings τ can be achieved.

In addition to being able to fit the top and bottom parts together, the use of a co-extruded cylinder for the central part of the container
It allows bottle makers and bottle fillers to manufacture the center section at the filling site, thereby saving the cost of shipping cylindrical tubes. Thus, for the central part, the shipper only needs to transport bulk polymer pellets, which is extremely efficient as far as space utilization is concerned, and which can then be easily extruded into cylinders at the filling station. can be turned into a cylindrical tube.

The design of the present invention for the container thus provides the significant benefits of significantly lower shipping costs for empty containers as well as improved durability and other properties of the finished container 3-f resulting from the rotary bath-touched construction. .

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the bottom portion 104 of a three-part container. In FIG. 5, the bottom portion 204 has a U-shaped rotary weld flange 212 and seven lanterns 21 formed around it.
It has a bent portion 211 located inside from 2. The central part 210 consists of a cylindrical raised cap receiving part 210 under which the upper neck part 107 of the bottle head can be received. The neck portion 107 has a cap 115 screwed thereon. The lower shoulder 213 of the receiving portion 210 is dimensioned to engage a fill ring 109 of length X7 located below the bottle having the bottom 204. The storage portion 210 thus formed in the bottom 204 allows the filled containers to be placed on shelves in a storage cabinet or display room in a stacking arrangement for displaying the product neatly and conspicuously.
Allows stacking. One drawback of conventional solutions, such as glass bottles and Grigino-style plastic bottles, is that they are extremely unstable and cannot be stacked without stacking sheets between each layer of the container. That's true. Thus, when a retailer, such as a suit-and-sew marketer, wishes to display merchandise in stacks, he must place costly and time-consuming stacking sheets between each layer of containers. In the present invention, which uses a cylindrical bottle receptacle 210 at the bottom of each container, the neck portion 107 with the cap 115 can be pushed upwardly into the field of the filled container and the weight of the filled container can be supported by a heavy and strong filling ring 109 of the container directly below it.

Although the upper portion 103 and the bottom portions 104 and 204 can be molded by conventional means, such as injection molding, it is recognized that new means can be used to mold these parts. Should. For example, C. Y. Byrne et al., filed July 1, 1982, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention,
In co-pending patent application no. 394.382, entitled "Biaxially Oriented Thermoplastic Product Forming Apparatus," an apparatus for thermoforming products such as container heads and bottoms is disclosed. Because of the benefits obtained by this thermoforming method and apparatus, 1 it is particularly advantageous for use in the present invention. In the Byrne et al. patent application, either a single sheet or a multilayer sheet polymer is prepared by heating it to a temperature above the orientation temperature and applying a supply of air at a moderate pressure to the sheet material. Press onto the preform mold, thereby creating a parison. Some cooling occurs on the preform to reduce the temperature of the polymer to within its orientation range.

At this point, high pressure air is forced into the preform mold to push the sheet into its final shape in the final mold, making it ideal for achieving biaxial orientation while molding the final product. Stretch. The use of Byrne's device provides the head and bottom portions of the present invention being oriented to a degree sufficient to obtain optimal strength and barrier properties. Also, by using Byrne's equipment, additional strength can be obtained due to orientation, which is not shown to be achievable in injection molding equipment, unlike conventional injection molding methods. Additionally, by using coextruded sheet materials, it is possible to obtain multilayer top and bottom parts of a conventional container polymer, such as PET, consisting of a barrier polymer layer narrowed between 2) the WI; can.

The Byrne et al. patent application cited above is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

In a typical operation, the three sections shown in Figures 2-5 are used to form a container for a beverage or other item. More specifically, a head 105 having seven lanterns 113 for rotary welding with a downward profile, formed by injection molding or in-phase pressure forming (thermoforming), is placed in a rotary welding mandrel. put. A shaped cylindrical wall section 102, for example by extrusion or blow molding, is placed in a central mandrel of a rotary welding apparatus. The bottom portion 104 or 204 with the upturned shaped rotating weld pot flan is placed in the lower rotating welding mandrel. Preferably, the central rotating welding mandrel containing the central body portion is a stationary mandrel and is a vehicle capable of operating the upper and lower V/l/C reciprocating operations.

After the three container sections have been squeezed into their respective mandrels, their rotation relative to the central mandrel is rapidly caused by applying upper and lower mandrels. Although it is possible to rotate the upper and lower mandrels in the same direction, it is unreasonable to rotate both mandrels in opposite directions in order to cancel each other's torque. After reaching the intended rotational speed selected based on the particular polymer used and the degree of interference fit in the rotating weld flanges 112 and 113,
The head and bottom are brought into quick engagement with the center section, forcing the walls of the center section into the U-shaped flantz, causing temporary melting and fusion of the plastic in place. This results in a neat, clean, hermetically sealed dark blue gem in Franz 112 and 113.

The hoop strength provided by the rotary weld seams at 112 and 113 contributes significantly to the overall strength of the vessel, but in addition, the radially outwardly projecting shoulders created by the seven lansos 112 and 113 are Provide a protected label area for the container. Generally, these protruding shoulders at 112 and 113 are referred to as "roll rings." , rings 112 and 113 contact similar rings on adjacent bottles to prevent the label printed on portion 102 from slipping off.Significant protection of such labels is of vital importance to retailers. Thus, the advantages of the present invention include the possibility of a good fit when transporting the container components prior to the manufacture of the container.A second advantage is that the stacking of filled containers at the retail location is A third advantage is the increased hoop strength provided by the rotary weld seam in the container wall, and another advantage is the protection of decorative labels on the container. This is a protruding roll ring.

Another special advantage of the invention is the ability to manufacture each component by different methods in order to obtain the optimum properties of each particular component. For example, as mentioned above, the top and bottom portions can be manufactured by various methods to provide optimal strength and barrier properties and the central portion can be manufactured by various methods to provide improved orientation and barrier properties. In the finished container, additional properties can be achieved; for example, rotational welding at the top and bottom of the tubular center section provides additional strength to the entire container and protects the label attached to the center section. Additionally, the use of an elongated central portion provides maximum surface area for receiving advertising labels for food or beverage manufacturers filling containers. This is also known as ``optimizing notice space on containers6.''

The present invention provides more display space for labels than any of the conventional bottle-shaped containers known for use in packaging beverages.

In addition to maximum display area, the present invention also provides the opportunity to improve the exterior surface of the container to accept printed and/or painted labels. For example, if the central tubular portion 102 is formed by coextrusion I-, one layer of the coextruded cylinder, the outermost layer, may be made of, for example, polystyrene, high-impact polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, or polypropylene. It can be comprised of a white, opaque, semi-porous material phase that provides a highly desirable surface for the printing of vivid label colors by conventional label printing methods.

The bottle head 103 is made of, for example, PET, which is attractive to the consumer and provides a clear display of the contents of the bottle.
It is best to mold it from a transparent and strong material such as. Similarly, the bottom 104 can be selected from the most suitable material to provide the characteristics desired by the container filler. By using a relatively inexpensive material for the bottom 104, such as polystyrene or high-impact polystyrene, the cost of the final container can be reduced. The selection of any material depends, of course, primarily on the suitability of each component for rotary welding. For example, the head 103
The contact surfaces in the outer flanges of the bottom part 104 and the bottom part 104 must be compatible for rotational welding with the outer and inner surfaces of the wall part 101 of the cylinder. Materials suitable for rotary welding are known to those skilled in the art, and thus variations in materials can be made.

Although the above description relates to the making of bottles according to the method of the present invention, the method disclosed herein is applicable to "single serving" (sin serve) bottles in the beverage and food industry.
It can also be applied to the production of containers called gle-serving cans. This is in place of the head 103 in the patent application entitled ``Container Lid with Plastic Head'', filed concurrently with the present invention [7 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention].

This can be achieved by using a plastic lid as disclosed in Fortuna co-pending patent application SHN8tE. The V.

E. Fortuna patent application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Referring to the drawings of the incorporated Fortuna patent application 101.201.301 and 401, the lid shown at 101.201.301 and 401 is specifically designed for use as a tip-over beverage can reservoir lid. More particularly, these lids are highly desirable for use with the three-piece drinking containers disclosed herein for the manufacture of single-serving cans. The upper portion 1030 of the head described above may be rotary welded to the cylindrical tube of the present invention. The method for attaching the entire Fortuna kanbuta is to the bottle part] 03
The method is substantially the same as that for attaching the . That is, the cylindrical body portion 102 may be fully rotated by welding. All of the above mentioned Forteyuna cans offer the advantage of a U-shaped rotary welding flanse on the outer periphery which is compatible with the rotary bath welding method for the manufacture of the inventive containers. It is thus clear that the lid disclosed in the incorporated patent application can be applied to the present invention not only for the manufacture of bottles but also for the manufacture of cancer bottles.

Although the foregoing detailed description describes certain preferred embodiments of the invention, this description is to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention is limited thereto. This description is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments disclosed herein, as it will be clear that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed herein. The invention thus includes all changes and modifications to the specific embodiments of the invention herein disclosed by way of illustration that do not constitute a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view, partially in section, of a container made in accordance with the present invention. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of the head of the container of FIG. 1; FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of the bottom of the 'J% of FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional top view of the drive projection ring of the head of FIG. 2; FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view of the bottom of another container, with stacks stacked on the top of one container. The 6th cry, 3 crows, 3 crows, the commandment of Lord Honbayashi.
゛Shima U2% Permit [j, A Cosden Technology Incorporated

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. an upper container portion having at least partially low gas permeability and having closure means thereon and formed from a first polymeric material; has a downwardly facing U-shaped Franz member circumferentially positioned thereabout; a bottom portion formed from a second polymeric material, wherein the bottom portion is positioned around the second polymeric material; a central portion comprising a cylindrical tubular member formed from a third polymer compatible with the first and second polymers; A container for the packaging of foodstuffs and beverages, characterized in that the upper part and the bottom part are joined in a gas-tight manner to the central part by rotary welding. 2 the upper part has a generally cylindrical, tapered, threaded neck part, a circumferentially extending filler ring with an outwardly projecting rotary welding projection therefrom, an angled shoulder part;
2. The container of claim 1, further comprising a downwardly extending cylindrical skirt portion containing said rotary welded flan; λ a relatively flat flue head, the upper portion of which includes a generally flat upper surface having pull-open tab means therein and surrounded by a downwardly facing U-shaped rotary weld 7 run; 2. A container according to claim 1, comprising:
4. The central tubular portion comprises a multi-layer cylinder having an outer layer and an inner layer of a structurally strong polymeric material and a central layer between the inner layer and the outer layer; 2. A container according to claim 1, wherein the central layer has low gas permeability properties. 5 in a predetermined desired position in the secondary packaging such that a preselected part of the container faces outward in the packaging;
The container of claim 1 further comprising locating means formed in the container for positioning the container. 6. The container according to claim 5, wherein said positioning means comprises miso formed in the green at the lowest end of said container σ. 7. The bottom portion further includes a stacking recess formed in the garden of the container adapted to receive the head of a second container in a relatively snug fit. Container as described in Range 1. 8. An upper container portion exhibiting low gas permeability and high strength properties and having: a downwardly extending cylindrical portion, wherein the cylindrical portion is located peripherally around the lower facing portion; a bottom portion consisting of a circular vessel bottom with an upwardly directed U-shaped rotary weld flan located circumferentially around it; with an inner and outer grooved polymer layer; a multilayer cylindrical tubular central section comprising a central barrier polymer layer between the inner and outer polymer layers; the tubular central section is adapted for interference fit within the U-shaped Franz section; the inner and outer polymer layers of the central portion are comprised of polymers that are rotationally welded to the upper and lower container portions; the upper and lower container portions are rotationally welded to the central portion; A thermoplastic container suitable for containing beverages and foodstuffs, characterized in that: