Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2003-09-08
2004-11-09
Osele, Mark A. (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S304600, C156S502000, C156S504000, C156S507000, C242S552000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06814827
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to an apparatus and process for joining films, particularly laminate films each comprising a thermoplastic drawn base film layer and a sealant layer and used, for example, as a film for package, and proposes a technique in which the joint portion of the films is subjected to a liquid-tight and airtight heat sealing likewise the other film portion in the manufacture of package bag or the like.
BACKGROUND ART
For example, a film for package used in a case of continuously filling and packaging a liquid, a powder or the like or a case of intermittently filling and packaging it and supplied in the manufacture of a package bag filled with a material to be filled, particularly laminate film for package is generally applied through printing step, laminating step and slitter step to an automatic filling and packaging apparatus at a state of winding in the form of roll.
In the slitter step, the cutting removal of side portions of the film is carried out for mainly making a width size of a laminate film for package after the lamination but also the laminate films for package are joined with each other in order to adjust a length of the film to be wound in the form of roll to render a total winding length of the film into, for example, a given length such as 1000 m, 2000 m or the like, and the joining of the films is conducted after a poor printed portion or a poor laminated portion is removed by cutting. For this end, about 2 to 3 joint portions of the films are existent in the wound film of 2000 m.
Also, in the packaging step for applying the laminate film for package having a specific rolled length to an automatic filling-packaging apparatus to conduct the filling and packaging of a material to be packaged, a rear end portion of a preceding film for package fed from a roll is joined to a front end portion of a trailing film for package fed from another roll, whereby the trailing film for package is passed through a given pathway of a packaging apparatus.
The joining between mutual films at the slitter step is carried out by joining these films with an adhesive tape or the like at a state of butting the rear end of one film to the front end of the other film from the old time. Also, the film joining at the filling and packaging step is carried out by overlap-joining the rear end portion of the one film to the front end portion of the other film with an adhesion tape or the like.
However, when the thus joined laminate film for package is applied to the packaging apparatus to manufacture a package bag, the adhesion tape or the like made of a material different from the laminate film for package, or the overlap of the front and rear end portions of the laminate films for package in addition to the adhesion tape or the like brings about the increase of the thickness in the laminate film for package at the joint portion of the films and also the sufficient heat transfer from a heat seal blade of the packaging apparatus to a sealant layer of a film portion contributing to the formation of the package bag is obstructed by properties inherent to the adhesive tape or the like, so that it is substantially impossible to rapidly fuse the sealant layer to a sufficient extent of fusing the mutual sealant layers.
When the continuous filling and packaging of a material to be packaged is carried out, for example, by the above laminate film for package, even if it is possible to pass the joint portion between the films through a space between a longitudinal heat seal blade and a lateral heat seal blade as a pair of rotational seal blades rotating at a constant clearance as it is, the sealant layers can not be sufficiently heat-fused due to the presence of the adhesion tape, increase of total film thickness and the like even under the heating and pressurizing action of the heat seal blades, so that there is a problem of causing leakage, scattering and the like of a liquid or other material to be packaged in the packaging apparatus.
This is also caused in a case that the joint portion is particularly located in a middle part of the package bag in up-down directions due to the fact that the mutual laminate films for package can not be joined by the adhesion force of the adhesion tape at a strength required for the package bag with sufficient liquid tightness and airtightness.
Heretofore, the whole of the packaging device or the function of a main part such as heat seal functioning part, filling part and the like is temporarily stopped at every feeding of the joint portion between the laminate films for package from the wound roll and at every film joining at the packaging device, and the filling and packaging are re-opened after the film joint portion is passed through the main part of the device. In the re-opening, the confirmation of amount of a material to be packaged in the package bag, confirmation of heat seal position and sealing state, confirmation of cutting position of the package bag and forming position of tear notch are conducted and all of them are placed within an acceptable range and thereafter the device is fully re-operated.
Therefore, there is a big problem in the operation efficiency that many time and operation steps are required over a time ranging from the temporary stop of the device as a whole or main functioning part thereof to the re-operation of the device but also there is a problem that the yield of the material lowers due to the fact that it is obliged to consume significant amounts of the laminate film for package and the material to be packaged owing to the above various confirmations.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an apparatus and a process for joining of films suitable for both of the slitter step and the packaging step, in which the mutual joining between the rear end portion of one film and the front end portion of another film are carried out without using a joining material such as adhesion tape or the like and the resulting joint portion is sufficiently contributed to the heat seal likewise the other portion of the film and the liquid tightness and airtightness of the joint portion itself are realized and further the tensile strength required to the film itself is given to the joint portion to effectively enhance the efficiency of the filling and packaging operation for the material to be packaged as a film for package and also the field of the material can be largely increased.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus for joining films according to the invention lies in that a rear end portion of a preceding film for package fed from a winding roll is joined to a front end portion of a trailing film for package fed from another roll, and comprises a seal means for fuse-sealing both films at a butt-seam state in the vicinity of the film running path or in the vicinity of any one of up and down and right and left portions, a film-holding means for holding the front end portion of the trailing film at a side opposite to the seal means with respect to the running path by clamping, adsorbing or the like, an insert plate for pushing the front end portion of the trailing film held by the film-holding means into the seal means together with the preceding film, and an extra film removing means for separating a turnup portion of the film pushed by the insert plate over the seal means at a clamped state from a fuse-sealed portion of the films.
In this apparatus, the rear end portion of the preceding film and the front end portion of the trailing film held by the film-holding means are pushed into the seal means by the action of the insert plate, respectively, and the turnup portion of the films pushed over the seal means is clamped by the extra film removing means and thereafter both the films are fuse-joined in a butt-seam form by the action of the fuse-seal means at a posture state of moving the insert plate backward, and subsequently the extra film removing means is moved in a direction separating away from the seal means to separate the film turnup portion from the fuse-sealed portion, whereby both the films
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Osele Mark A.
Taisei Lamick Co., Ltd.
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