MXPA96001341A - Conformation of self-sealing valve for global non-elastomeric articles through a processing production more - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention refers to self-sealing multivalvulated band for balloons and inflatable products, non-elastomeric, characterized by consisting of two outer sheets, compatible to the thermal seal, to form channels, which when pressed by the outside by the fluid pressure itself inflated balloon, allow the passage of the fluid in but not out, two internal partial layers, inserted in the middle of said sheets, at the lower end of said outer sheets to form the mouth of the valves, with the quality of being, said inner layers, incompatible to the heat seal between them but heat-sealable to the internal faces of the two sheets that make up the band to avoid that when forming the balloon or inflatable article with the multivalvulated band, the embouchure is closed by the thermal seal; series of stamps at a given distance interval in said outer sheets to form the channels and / or valves in said band a, with dimensions of channels, seals and band, such that when a section of said band is installed at the entrance of a balloon or inflatable article, in a random position, at least one integral channel remains in said balloon or inflatable article, and At least one channel is partially included in the area corresponding to the

Description

CONFORMATION OF AUTOSELLING VALVE FOR BALLOONS OR NON-ELASTOMERIC ARTICLES THROUGH A PROCESS OF MASSIVE PRODUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the current market there is a wide variety of self-sealing valves and systems for implanting them to the body of the balloon, particularly the so-called non-elastomeric, metallized or non-metallized, all of them presenting a common characteristic relative to a long one. life, compared to balloons made with rubber or latex, the latter being the most popular and of all known by some generations that precede. All the self-sealing valves that make up the prior art present the same pattern of conformation as well as a series of similarities that are mentioned below: Said valves forming the prior art are constituted by a channel defined by two thermoplastic sheets or films compatible with each other. as with the material that makes up the inner wall of the balloon, to which these valves are incorporated. These valves, all of them in their presentation of rectangular configuration, constitute a completely finished product before its incorporation into the body of the balloon, thus, it can be mentioned that these valves of the previous art constitute without a doubt a part foreign to the body of the balloon , so that its implementation not only in a balloon but in any other product configured by thermoplastic films, such as bags or packaging is independent of the configuration and size of the article, with the only requirement that the materials with which they are manufactured These products are compatible with the material used to manufacture these valves. Another similarity that is common to the valves of the previous art is that these, in their presentation to be implanted to the body of the balloon, always consist of an entrance orifice, an exit orifice and a channel or the entire length of the body of the balloon. valve, said channel being delimited by sealing lines lateral and parallel to each other throughout the length of the valve body, or almost all along it, said seals generating precisely the passage or channel through which the valve will be allowed to pass through. passage of the fluid for filling the balloon. Both the configuration of the channel and the sealing lines can in some cases not be straight, but curved, as well as vary its width to the entire length of the channel. The valves of the type in question, always in relation to those considered as belonging to the prior art, present as a common additional feature a small printed area, with special, thermo-resistant ink that prevents the thermo-sealing in said area of the valve once it is subjected to the implantation in the corresponding balloon and that through the application of heat adheres to the body of the balloon, defining at that moment the access passage of the inflation fluid, thanks to the printing with the aforementioned special ink in the area delimited by said ink, otherwise when said valve is implanted and sealed to the internal walls of the balloon stem, the access passage of the inflation element would not occur and, once said valve is implanted, access to the it through the perforation or cut that is made in the front wall of the balloon stem. As a consequence of the procedure followed for the implantation of the valve to the internal walls of the corresponding balloon body and also considering the specific areas of application of heat for the adhesion of the valve to said balloon, it results that most of the The body of the valve remains like a flap without really a specific use inside the body of the balloon, which in a certain way contributes to diminish the quality and presentation of the product, particularly when it comes to balloons made with transparent plastic material, not elastomeric and of a relatively small size. Another additional feature that unifies to a certain extent the products of the previous art, is that relative to the equipment used for the implementation of the valve to the balloon, requiring therefore and under the consideration that the valve is handled as an additional body, the use of a very sophisticated and expensive equipment, which synchronizes the placement of both layers that make up the body of the balloon, with the arrangement of the valve, because a failure however small it may be, would result in the wrong placement of the valve and therefore the consequent waste of materials in the production line. Only by way of example that could be considered as a clear example of a product of the type that concerns us here is US Patent No. 4,917,646, granted on April 17, 1990, whose inventor is Mr. Garry Kieves, which is refers to a self-sealing and flexible plastic valve for a balloon manufactured with a material different from latex, said valve being made of two flexible plastic sheets, joined together to define both an inlet and a valve outlet and a passage, with the end of entrance of one of the leaves that configure said valve extending beyond the other to provide a positioning fin that will be attached to the leaves of the balloon, in such a way that the entrance of the valve is inside the nozzle of the balloon. A joining barrier at the inlet end avoids the total sealing of the nozzle c. The manufacture of the balloon also facilitates the automatic insertion of the valve into the balloon. The context of this application is incorporated into the present as one of the many documents that make up the prior art. From the above mentioned it may be concluded that there is still a large field of research and development in the design of valves for balloons or other inflatable items, which tends to facilitate the manufacture of these products, making them competitive for products of smaller dimensions and therefore less cost, still guaranteeing a high quality product at a cost of distribution and minimum market, also facilitating the use of manufacturing equipment with lower investment cost, easier in its application and more recent in its execution, amen of others many advantages that can be discovered <; _ as the description of the invention that concerns us proceeds. In order to make clearly understood the benefits offered by the product object of this application in relation to the articles of the previous art, it is enough to mention that one of the elements that contribute to the increase in the product is, among others, the complexity of the stages of the manufacturing process carried out before obtaining the finished product of the prior art, said stages can be summarized as follows, depending on whether the valves to be inserted are fed from a continuous roll with prefabricated and finished valves or as independent elements, this is one by one. Stages of the process for the implantation of valves to a balloon, derived these from a roll: a) a programmed feeding is required in such a way that the delivery or liberation of a single valve is guaranteed by balloon; b) a cut to register of the valve is required, in order to avoid its damage due to a misplaced cut, which obviously would disable said valve; c) placing the valve by means of a band or arm in a precise place of implantation to the body of the balloon, fixing it based on heat initially to one of the walls that make up the balloon; d) seal the valve to the walls of the inflatable body, limiting said seal to the required positioning area, in order to avoid waste product from a properly valved product. Regarding the procedure for the placement of valves in an inflatable article such as a balloon, which is made up of valves fed individually, the procedure would consist of the following stages: a) cartridges or magazinnes are loaded and used as storage tanks. a certain number of valves stacked, which leads to a continuous replenishment of the same; b) the picking up of each of the valves from the respective cartridge or magazinne is required by means of a positioning arm, which is in itself a vacuum system that acts on the valve to be collected and placed in the precise place of the balloon; c) delivering the valve in the positioning area by the same arm or positioning band and, immediately or simultaneously with this operation, initially sealing it to at least one of the walls that make up the balloon and, subsequently; d) carry out the last stage corresponding to the total sealing of the valve to the walls of the rod or appendix of the balloon. From the foregoing it should be concluded that the implantation of the valve to the inflatable article, according to the prior art technique, requires; of very precise synchronized actions that guarantee the placement of the valves in the precise place of the inflatable article, which logically leads to the acquisition of complex equipment that requires a high technology and investment that will not always be affordable, particularly in the manufacture of balloons of small dimensions whose reduced cost in the market would in no way guarantee such an investment and that would also be necessary to redefine and even redesign the valves of the current art, since otherwise they would have a length that would exceed the limits of the globe, concluding that such valves would be in one way or another unsuitable for balloons of the type contemplated herein.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION A main objective of the invention is the production of a balloon of reduced size and price provided with self-sealing valve, by means of a massive and multiple, simplified manufacturing procedure that avoids the use of complex synchronization means for the placement of the valve in the balloon and therefore the waste of defective products. It is a further object of the invention to provide a balloon manufacturing system of the aforementioned type that by a single action of heat sealing and simultaneous cutting, a product is obtained that includes a self-sealing valve without adding a prefabricated valve body. , oblivious to the body of the balloon. It is another objective of the invention to provide a balloon manufacturing system of the aforementioned type, by means of which more than one balloon can be manufactured simultaneously, thereby ensuring a high production per unit of time of the equipment used in its production. It is yet another additional object of the invention the use of simplified equipment in the system of manufacture of inflatable articles, without the need of the use of peripheral equipment that guarantee the registration of the valves with respect to the rod of the balloon, also avoiding the production of defective products by the wrong implantation of the valves in the body of said articles. It is still another objective of the invention to provide balloons manufacturers with a previously processed material for the manufacture of balloons with self-sealing valves, which allows the manufacture of a balloon without the integration of a prefabricated valve. It is a further objective of the invention to lower the costs of manufacturing balloons or inflatable articles of small dimensions, but with a self-sealing valve, thus allowing them to be placed on the market at a relatively low cost.

IN THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating various sheets of laminated material integrating a finished balloon; Figure 2 is a perspective view of sheets of laminated material integrating the valve of the balloon of the invention; Figure 3 is a further perspective view illustrating the multi-sheet material that will integrate or configure the valves of the balloon of the invention; Figure 4 is a schematic plan view of a distribution of the balloons of the invention in the material of manufacture thereof; Figure 5 is a plan view of one of the faces of the body of the balloon, in its deflated state; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the inflated balloon of the invention, as a finished product according to the teachings of the invention; Figure 7 is a plan view of one of the faces of the body of the balloon in its deflated state, according to another embodiment of the invention. With respect to the accompanying figures and in particular to the first of them, it should be noted that in accordance with the teachings of the techniques of the invention object of this application, the various sheets or laminated materials that make up the balloon product or result of the The manufacturing system of the invention generally consists of two laminated bodies of 1 and 6, which will basically give rise to the body of the balloon, these materials being compatible with the heat seal on their internal faces IB and 6B; the outer faces 1A and 6A may or may not be compatible with the heat seal. As intermediate sheets, the laminated bodies 2 and 5 are cited, with external and internal faces, respectively, 2A, 2B and 5A and 5B. The material from which these two laminated bodies or plastic films are made are compatible with the heat bonding with layers 1 and 6 on their faces IB and 6B as well as with each other. The innermost laminated bodies 3 and 4 are formed by a thermo-sealing plastic material but incompatible with thermosealing between them, or they can be configured by an ink layer, metallic coating such as aluminum vapor. oarniz thermo-resistant, in which case they would not configure a layer of laminated material per se, but a coating on the internal faces 2B and 5B of the laminated bodies 2 and 5, respectively. It is also contemplated that the material from which the layers 3 and 4 respectively are made could be a combination of the aforementioned materials. From figure 2 it can be seen that the sheets 2, 3, 4 and 5, which are precisely those which in the finished product or balloon, will configure the valve, have been represented in a somewhat schematic manner. In this figure, together with figure 3, it can be clearly seen that these sheets 2, 3, 4 and 5 in fact form a preformed sandwich material, separated from the sheets 1 and 2 which are those that ultimately give place to the body of the balloon. Particularly of figure 3, it should be noted that in order to guarantee a self-sealing valve of better quality, and always within the spirit of the invention, these two sheets 2 and 5 are provided with heat-binding lines, parallel to each other 12, which give rise to the passages 21, which are interrupted in a central band, precisely by the arrangement of the sheets or laminated material 3 and 4 which are incompatible with the thermo-sealing one another. As a modality that could result in good results, not as optimal as with the transverse connection lines 12 mentioned above with respect to Figure 3, such connection lines 12 can be dispensed with, however, this modality does not fully guarantee permanence. of the inflation of the finished product. Another embodiment is the labyrinth-type connection, made partially and in parallel along the valve generating strip, as shown in FIG. 7 of the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the selection of the type of materials that can be used with respect to the laminated materials 1 to 6 members, either of the body of the balloon or of the valve, has no other limitation than an adequate selection with regard to the compatibility of heat union between the various waste materials that comprise it, which may have a caliber of between 12 microns to 75 microns, always with the reservation of the absolute incompatibility of union between the internal faces or sections covered with lacquers, inks or varnishes incompatible with the heat seal between each other 3B and 4B of layers 3 and 4. In the case of the use of lacquers, inks or varnishes the term "internal faces" 3E and 4B of sheets 3 and 4 is not applicable, since that it is only a coating. Of course, the internal faces 2B and 5B of the sheets 2 and 5, respectively, will have to be compatible with each other in order to promote the heat sealing of the lines 12 defined in advance in relation to figure 3 of the drawings accompany From Figure 4, which is a schematic representation of the stage of the peripheral sealing of the balloon and its swabbing, the most adequate distribution of the balloons to be manufactured in the production line can be clearly appreciated, as appreciate in said figure 4 these are arranged in the opposite direction, however a more convenient orientation of said balloons can be found, which allows a more efficient production of said articles per unit of width of the materials 1 to 6 fed to the production equipment. It has been found that a more efficient distribution would be that corresponding to approximately a 45 ° arrangement according to the feeding line of the various materials 1 to 6 which are fed to the production equipment, with what would be obtained balloons of the same size and a smaller waste of material, or else a greater number of units produced per square meter of the materials fed. Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings show the balloon 14 produced according to the teachings of the invention described and claimed here, of which it can be noted that said balloon is integrated precisely by the two external sheets 1 and 6 made of a thermocompatible material, joined together at its periphery 16. Also of the figures mentioned above note that the ends 22 and 24 of the rod 18 of the balloon 14 are disjointed due to the material or varnish incompatible to the seal by heat with which layers 3 and 4 are made, the. which, as already explained above, can be formed by a laminated aluminum material, by heat-resistant paint or even by some type of resin that prevents bonding to one another by application of heat. In figures 5 and 6 illustrating the finished balloon 14, it will also be noted that in this case and coincidentally a passage 21 formed between the layers of laminated material 2 and 5

Claims (12)

1. Check with the passage 20 which contributes to the intrinsic formation of a self-sealing nozzle for small globes at a relatively low cost, since the production of this type of balloons is done, as already mentioned before, in a multiple quantity for each cycle of the equipment. From figure 6 it should be noted that for the inflation of this type of balloon it will suffice to separate the free end parts 22 and 24 of the rod 18 and by means of the blowing action the user can inflate the balloon, or by inserting some nozzle through the passage 20 of the rod 18. The permanent and highly reliable sealing of the product is established in a much more reliable way by the deformation that occurs inside the balloon of layers 2 and 5 pre-sealed with each other with the configuration of the passages of air 21 established by the lines of union parallel to each other 12. Said connecting lines may be spaced from each other from 4 mm to 30 mm, in accordance with the diameter or width of the balloon or inflatable article may also, as already it has previously established, said joining lines 12 being perpendicular, angled or even parallel to the generating band of the; valves, configuring in this last case a labyrinth through which the fluid passes in passages arranged in a zig-zag. From the foregoing it is clear that all the stated objectives regarding the product developed according to the teachings of the invention have been fully complied with, however, it is evident that some changes can be devised by third-party experts in the field, however, it is intended that these changes form part of the present application, as long as they fall within the scope and spirit of the clauses that are attached. CLAIMS 1.- Conformation of self-sealing valve for balloons or inflatable articles, not elastomeric, by means of a mass production process that involves the configuration of the valve simultaneously with the thermo-sealing and swaging of the balloon body or non-elastomeric inflatable article, characterized in that it comprises the simultaneous feeding of both the laminated bodies that make up the outer walls of the balloon or non-elastomeric article with a laminated body of multiple layers, without the need to supply independent preformed valves either in roll or in loose form previously formed, to be placed registration with the balloon stem or non-elastomeric article.
2. 2. - Conformation of self-sealing valve for balloons or inflatable articles, not elastomeric, by means of a massive production process, according to claim 1, further characterized in that the laminated body of multiple layers is formed by two laminated bodies compatible to thermo-sealing each other and to the internal faces of the laminated bodies that make up the non-elastomeric inflatable article, provided on their internal faces with respective laminated bodies incompatible with heat-sealing each other but heat-sealable to the internal faces of said first two laminated bodies that make up said material of multiple layers.
3. 3.- Conformation of a self-sealing valve for balloons or inflatable articles, not elastomeric by means of a mass production process, according to claim 2, wherein said incompatible material to be heat sealed to each other can be formed by laminated bodies, by painting, plastic films or a layer of thermo-resistant varnish.
4. 4. Conformation of a self-sealing valve for balloons or inflatable articles, non-elastomeric by means of a mass production process, according to claim 3, wherein said multilayer laminated body is provided with thermo-sealed lines separated from each other of 4mm to 30mm thermo-sealed, perpendicular to the length of said laminated body, establishing passages that are interrupted by the arrangement of the two internal layers of this / laminated body incompatible to thermo-seal each other.
5. 5.- Conformation of self-sealing valve for balloons or inflatable articles, not elastomeric, by a mass production process according to claim 4, wherein said heat-sealed lines are longitudinally disposed to said laminated body, establishing a zig-zag labyrinth for the alignment of the inflation fluid of said balloon or inflatable article .
6. 6. Conformation of self-sealing valve for balloons or inflatable articles, non-elastomeric by means of a mass production process according to any of the previous claims, wherein the size of the materials used is approximately 12 to 75 microns.
7. 7. A multi-layered laminated body formed by two external sheets compatible with thermo-seal between each other and by two internal sheets or layers of a material incompatible with thermo-seal each other but heat-sealable to the inner walls of the outer sheets of said multiple sheet body.
8. 8. A multi-sheet laminate body according to claim 7, wherein said two sheets or inner layers of incompatible material to heat-seal each other, is selected from at least one laminate, inks, metal coatings, heat-resistant varnishes, with the only limitation that when a laminated material is selected, it is incompatible with the thermo-seal between each other but thermo-sellable to the internal walls of the outer layers of said multi-sheet body.
9. 9. A laminated body with multiple sheets, according to any of claims 7 and 8, wherein the laminated sheets of said multi-sheet body have thermo-sealed lines, transverse to said multiple sheet body or longitudinally disposed thereon.
10. A multi-sheet laminate body according to any of claims 7, 8 and 9, wherein said multi-sheet laminate body is a self-sealing valve generating material for non-elastomeric inflatable articles. 1.
11. A multi-layer laminate body according to claim 10, wherein the gauge of the materials used is about 12 to 75 microns.
12. 12. - An inflatable non-elastomeric article provided with a self-sealing valve formed simultaneously with the manufacture of said non-elastomeric inflatable article.