Coating apparatus – Projection or spray type – Plural projectors
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-28
2004-04-13
Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)
Coating apparatus
Projection or spray type
Plural projectors
C118S302000, C118S062000, C239S296000, C239S105000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06719846
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a device and a method for applying adhesive filaments to materials such as strands and flat substrates.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The structure of a disposable diaper is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Kokai No. 11[1999]-285,510. In the structure of this disposable diaper an elastic strand(s) is provided at various locations including at the bending section and free ends of a sheet so as to form a barrier. In the process of producing disposable diapers with this kind of structure, the disposable diapers are produced through steps such as applying an adhesive to elastic strand material being fed continuously, then bonding the elastic strand material to a base or substrate material which forms the main part of the diaper and which is also fed continuously, and finally in a subsequent step cutting the resulting product into individual diapers.
Not only in the production of the aforesaid disposable diapers but also in the process of producing, for example, disposable surgical gowns to be used in operating rooms, elastic strand material and nonwoven or woven fabrics are bonded together with an adhesive. Also, in a process of this kind, the materials to be coated with the adhesive are not always elastic members, there are cases where strand materials with no stretching properties are coated with the adhesive and bonded to a substrate. Accordingly, the term “strand material” or similar terms as used in the present specification are meant to also include both elastic materials such as elastic yarn and nonelastic material.
Furthermore, the cross-sectional shape of the strand material is not only circular but includes various shapes such as elliptic, square, and rectangular, and the thickness also ranges from the order of hundredths of a millimeter to the order of several millimeters. Thus, there are no particular limitations with regard to the shape and thickness of the strand material. As the adhesive to be used, a hot-melt adhesive is used in many cases, but other types of adhesive can be used as well.
A conventional device and method for applying an adhesive to strand material in the process of producing the aforesaid disposable diapers or other products will now be explained with reference to
FIGS. 9-12
.
FIG. 9
shows a front view of the conventional coating device.
FIG. 10
shows a vertical sectional view of the conventional coating device. FIG.
11
shows an expanded view of the leading end portion of FIG.
10
.
FIG. 12
shows an enlarged view of encircled portion D of FIG.
9
.
In
FIGS. 9-12
, coating device
51
includes a valve mechanism
65
which is opened and closed by operating air
80
. A gun body
52
forms the coating device
51
; a cylinder block
53
is attached with a plurality of bolts
54
to the top of the gun body
52
, and a piston
55
moves up and down and is located inside the cylinder block
53
. A valve stem
56
is fastened to the piston
55
and is extended into a liquid chamber
59
through a seal block
57
. A seal member
58
is provided in the gun body
52
, and includes a valve ball
60
at the leading end.
Furthermore, a valve seat member
62
that has an outlet
62
a
is attached with a plurality of bolts
63
to the lower part of the gun body
52
. A screw
62
b
is provided in the lower outer diameter section of the valve seat member
62
. The valve ball
60
is at the leading end of the valve stem
56
and the valve seat member
62
forms the valve mechanism
65
. A spring
75
is placed between the large-diameter section at the leading end of the valve stem
56
and the underside of the seal block
57
, and closes the valve mechanism
65
by forcing the valve stem
56
downward at all times.
A nozzle member
66
has a flange section
66
a
. A cap nut
67
is provided with a small-diameter section
67
a
to be engaged with the flange section
66
a
of the nozzle member
62
and a screw section
67
b
to be engaged with the screw
62
b
of the valve seat member
62
. The nozzle member
66
is attached to the lower end of the valve seat member
62
by engaging the small-diameter section
67
a
of the cap nut
67
with the flange section
66
a
, and attaching the screw section
67
b
of the cap nut
67
over the screw
62
b.
Moreover, a flat section
66
b
is formed in the nozzle member
66
, and a nozzle plate
68
is fastened with a plurality of bolts
69
to the flat section
66
b
. A through-hole
66
c
communicates with the outlet
62
of the valve seat member
62
. A horizontally long groove
66
d
extends in the horizontal direction in communication with the through-hole
66
c
and opens to the flat section
66
b
, and three branched nozzle grooves
66
e
communicate with the horizontal groove
66
d
in the nozzle member
66
. The horizontal groove
66
d
and the nozzle grooves
66
e
are combined in such a way that the nozzle plate
68
covers the open section of the grooves. The nozzle groove
66
e
is open at the lower end and a nozzle hole
70
couples with the nozzle plate
68
.
The lower ends of the nozzle member
66
and the nozzle plate
68
have exactly the same shape, and are formed like teeth of a comb stretching to below the nozzle hole
70
. An inverted V-shape groove
61
with its lower end slightly spreading is formed with the nozzle hole
70
at the center. This groove
61
plays a role as a guide for the strand material
14
to be coated with the adhesive. An example of the conventional coating device shown in the figures is a device wherein three nozzle holes
70
are formed so as to apply three strands
14
simultaneously by one coating device
51
. The device is not limited to this and may have one nozzle hole or many more nozzle holes to enable the coating of one or more strands.
To return to the explanation of the gun body
52
, the gun body
52
is provided with an air through-hole
52
a
for feeding operating air
80
to the underside of the piston
55
, and an adhesive through-hole
52
b
for feeding an adhesive
81
to the liquid chamber
59
. The gun body
52
is fastened with a plurality of bolts
72
to a manifold
71
. The manifold
71
is provided with an air feed hole
71
a
that communicates with the air through-hole
52
a
of the gun body
52
, and an adhesive feed hole
71
b
that communicates with the adhesive through-hole
52
b
. An operating air feed device
73
is connected with the air feed hole
71
a
of the manifold
71
via a tubular path such as a hose, and an adhesive feed device
74
is connected with the adhesive feed hole
71
b
of the manifold
71
via a tubular path such as a hose.
In the coating device thus constructed, the adhesive
81
fed from the adhesive feed device
74
is stored in the liquid chamber
59
through the adhesive feed hole
71
b
of the manifold
71
and the adhesive through-hole
52
of the gun body
52
. If operating air
80
is fed from the operating air feed device
73
to the underside of the piston
55
, the piston
55
and valve stem
56
operate upward against the force of the spring
75
, and the valve mechanism
65
is opened.
While the valve mechanism
65
is open, the adhesive
81
in the liquid chamber
59
is extruded from the nozzle hole
70
via through-hole
66
c
of the nozzle member
66
and the horizontally long groove
66
d
from the outlet
62
a
of the valve seat member
62
, and applied to the surface of strand material
14
. In this case, the nozzle hole
70
, the topmost part of the inverted V-shape grooves
61
of the nozzle member
66
and nozzle plate
68
are in contact with the strand material
14
. The strand material
14
is coated with the adhesive
81
and adhered to the substrate in a not-illustrated device in a later step. If the feeding of operating air
80
is stopped and the air pressure on the underside of the piston
55
is released, the valve mechanism
65
closes by the force of the spring
75
, and the extrusion of adhesive
81
from the nozzle hole
70
stops. The adhesive can be applied intermittently by the opening and closing operations
Nakamura Yukio
Todo Hiroshi
Crispino Richard
Nordson Corporation
Tadesse Yewebdar T
Wood Herron & Evans L.L.P.
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