Manufacture of a flexible container

Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi – Container making – Pliable container

Reexamination Certificate

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C493S210000, C493S929000, C493S931000, C493S933000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06217499

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method for the manufacture of a flexible container such as a flexible fluid container and in particular, though not exclusively, to the manufacture of a flexible fluid container suitable for use as a water bed.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many procedures are known for the manufacture of flexible fluid containers, such as the use of a moulding technique to mould plastics material. However, many of the known techniques are not suitable for the manufacture of heavy duty type fluid containers such as water beds, particularly water beds for cows and other heavy weight livestock.
The known techniques for manufacture of flexible fluid containers also often are suitable only for the manufacture of individual water beds. In the manufacture of, for example, livestock water beds, it may be desired to provide an integral arrangement of a plurality of water beds.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The present invention seeks to provide an improved method of the manufacture of a flexible container which is suitable for the manufacture of a fluid container of a heavy duty type. It seeks also to provide a method suitable for the manufacture of an integral arrangement of a plurality of a flexible containers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One aspect of the present invention provides a method for the manufacture of a flexible container comprising:
providing a first layer of flexible polymeric material;
applying mask means to an inner zone of a first surface of said layer, said mask means being arranged spaced from edges of the first layer thereby to define a substantially continuous boundary zone;
providing a second layer of flexible polymeric material;
arranging said second layer to lie adjacent said first layer with the mask means sandwiched therebetween, and
subjecting the assembly so formed to a treatment operation thereby to form a face to face seal between said boundary zone and confronting surface region of the second layer.
The invention teaches that preferably each of the first and second layers is of vulcanisable polymeric material and that said treatment operation comprises the application of heat and pressure to vulcanise the polymeric material, at least in the region of said confronting boundary zone surfaces, and thereby form a vulcanised joint between the two layers.
One or both of the first and second layers may be reinforced.
The two layers may be layers of substantially wholly unvulcanised polymeric material which are each vulcanised and become united with one another at the boundary zone during a vulcanisation operation. One or each of the layers may be of a kind having a reinforcement structure which is embedded in polymeric material. Preferably in each layer the embedded reinforcement lies sandwiched between two layers of polymeric material. A layer may comprise calendered material.
Suitable polymeric materials include:- NR, SBR, BR, NBR/PVC, BIIR, CIIR, IR, EPR, EPDM, CR, SIR, wherein said abbreviations have the following meanings:
NR Natural Rubber
SBR Styrene-Butadiene Rubber
BR Butadiene Rubber
NBR/PVC a blend of Acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber and Polyvinylchloride
BIIR Bromine-Isoprene-Isobutylene Rubber
CIIR Chlorine-Isoprene-Isobutylene Rubber
IR Isoprene Rubber
EPR Ethylene-Propylene Rubber
EPDM Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Monomer
CR Chloroprene Rubber
SIR Silicone Rubbers
Use may be made also of blends of materials, including blends of the foregoing. The materials are suitable also for an outer surface of the flexible container, i.e. to lie at least outwards of any embedded reinforcement structure, and also for forming an inward facing surface.
The reinforcement structure may be a reinforcement fabric known per se. It may comprise a single layer of reinforcement fabric which provides reinforcement strength in two mutually perpendicular directions. The reinforcement structure may comprise a plurality of reinforcement fabric layers in which case one layer may provide reinforcement in a first direction and a second layer may provide reinforcement in a direction substantially perpendicular to said first direction.
Outwardly facing surfaces of the flexible fluid container may be provided with a profiled surface, for example during a vulcanisation procedure. Examples of methods for providing a profiled surface include the use of a press plate and the use of an impression cloth. Vulcanisation may be performed in press means with a layer of impression fabric lying between a press face and an outer face of at least one of the first and second layers whereby during vulcanisation said outwardly facing surface of a first or second layer has imparted thereto a surface texture representative of the impressed and subsequently removed fabric layer.
The mask means may comprise a layer of a material which does not adhere to the confronting surface materials of either the first or second layers. Typically it is a substantially continuous, free of cut-outs, layer so as to prevent confronting surfaces of the first and second layers coming into contact inwards of the boundary zone.
Suitable materials for the mask means include water-tight rubber, BIIR, CIIR, IIR, polyester, nylon 6, nylon 6.6, rayon, aramide, polyvinyl acetate, polyethylene, polypropylene, cellulose-acetate, silicons, teflon and metal foils.
The mask means may comprise two layers of a material which optionally, and preferably, adheres to a confronting surface of one of said first or second layers but which does not adhere to itself when subject to the temperature and pressure of a vulcanisation operation. Suitable materials include the aforementioned materials which inherently do not adhere to the material(s) of said first and second layers.
The mask means may be arranged to extend locally to an edge of the first layer to provide a localised region at which the boundary zone of the first layer does not become adhered to the second layer. This creates an embryonic access passage so that, in subsequent use of the container, fluid may be introduced into or removed from the fluid chamber created between said first and second layers.
Alternatively, instead of providing that the mask means extends locally through the boundary zone, a tube may be positioned to extend through the boundary zone prior to the first and second layers being united together. That tube may be of a flexible type which may adopt a lay flat configuration during the forementioned treatment operation, or may be a rigid tube such as a tube of e.g. a plastics, or a metallic material such as stainless steel. If the mask means comprises a pair of superimposed layers, an inner end of the tube preferably is arranged to lie between those layers.
The method may be applied to the manufacture of a flexible container which is to contain a fluid which may be a liquid or gas. It may be a container which is to be filled with a high viscosity material, for example of a paste like consistency. It may be filled with a medium which is or becomes a foam; that foam may be a resilient foam.
The present invention provides also a method for the manufacture of a flexible container of a multi-chamber type comprising:
providing a first elongate layer of flexible polymeric material;
applying a plurality of mask means to said first layer to lie in a longitudinally extending series along the length the first elongate layer with successive mask means spaced from one another and each spaced from longitudinal side edges of the first layer;
providing a second elongate layer of flexible polymeric material; arranging said second layer to lie adjacent said first layer with the plurality of mask means sandwiched therebetween, and
subjecting the assembly so for a treatment operation to form face to face fluid seals between the first and second elongate layers at boundary zones around each mask means.
Preferably the method comprises also providing means for independent fluid communication with each fluid chamber zone created in the region of each mask means. The method may further comprises providing that each communication means extends to a common longitudinal

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