JPS59152145A - Easy open vessel cover - 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 to an easy-to-open container lid, and more particularly to an easy-to-open container lid having a novel opening mechanism.

Conventionally, various types of lids have been known that can be easily opened by hand without the use of special equipment, such as peelable seal types, tape tab types, score shear types, etc., which are used depending on the purpose. ing.

This peelable seal lid has a layer of heat sealant on a flexible base such as metal foil, and the heat sealant is made by blending wax, tackifier, elastomer, etc. with olefin resin such as polyethylene. Accordingly, sealing strength adjusted to the order of 1 kg/15 mm is used.

This type of peelable seal lid lacks sealing reliability when the package filled with contents is heated and sterilized, and even in Ministry of Health and Welfare Notification No. 17 (enacted on August 1, 1978),
Food containers that are heat-sealed and sterilized by pressure and heat are required to have a heat-seal strength of 2.3 kg/15 fins or more.

However, it is extremely difficult to peel off the heat-sealed lid sealed with such high sealing strength by hand at the heat-sealed interface, and it is necessary to provide some kind of opening mechanism other than the heat-sealed portion.

A typical example of this opening mechanism is the line of weakness (score).
This opening part (
There is a method in which a rivet is formed in the planned opening part, a tension tab is fixed by this rivet, and by pulling this cup, the weakening line is broken and the opening part is removed. The opening mechanism requires a fairly strong force to break the line of weakness at the beginning of opening, and for this reason the tab must be fixed very firmly with rivets, making the lid made of aluminum that is both rigid and easy to work with. Other flexible closure materials have the problem of being difficult to apply and requiring a considerable amount of force to open.

In addition, for a simpler opening mechanism, an opening to serve as a drinking spout or pouring spout is pre-formed in the lid, a tape-like tab is applied to cover this opening, and the opening is opened using heat sealant or pressure-sensitive adhesive. It is known that the opening mechanism is glued to the periphery, but since a large opening is formed in the lid body, this type of opening mechanism has the problem that the impact strength due to dropping etc. is generally low, and the sealing reliability is also generally low.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-open container lid equipped with a novel opening mechanism that can be opened with a relatively small force and exhibits excellent resistance to impact caused by dropping. be.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-open container lid that has a relatively simple mechanism and is extremely easy to manufacture.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-open container lid in which an opening portion is formed in the lid by a combination of a pre-formed hole and a line of weakness connected to the hole.

According to the present invention, the opening planned portion is formed in the lid by a combination of a pre-formed hole and a weakening line provided so that at least one end is adjacent to or close to the hole, and the hole is closed. There is provided an easily openable container lid characterized in that it is provided with an opening piece that is coupled to at least a portion of the cover and the portion defined by the line of weakness.

The present invention will be explained in detail below based on specific examples shown in the accompanying drawings.

In Figures 1, 2, 6 and 4 showing an example of the easy-open container lid of the present invention, the lid body 1 has a peripheral portion 2 that is to be sealingly engaged with the container body (not shown) and an inner portion of the lid from this peripheral portion. This center panel portion 3 has a pre-formed hole 4 and a weakened line 5.

In this specific example, as shown in detail in FIG.
The weakened line 5 is provided so that both ends 5α and 5h thereof are adjacent to the hole 4, and the weakened line 5 is connected to the hole 4, the weakened line 5, and the hole 4.
A portion 6 demarcated by the outline forms a scheduled opening portion.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, an opening piece 7, generally indicated by 7, is applied to the outer surface of the lid 1 so as to cover the hole 4. It is joined to at least a portion of the portion 6 defined by the contour by means of adhesive or the like.

In the specific example shown in the above drawing, the opening piece 7 consists of a portion 8 that is adhered to the lid 1 and a non-adhesive gripping portion 9. It is joined to the line section portion 6 and sealed.

An important feature of the present invention is that, as described above, the opening portion is formed by the hole 4 previously formed in the lid, and the portion 6 demarcated by the weakening line 5 and the ring of the hole. , a weakened line 5 is provided so that the end is adjacent to or close to the hole 4,
Moreover, the opening piece 7 covering the hole 4 is connected to a part of the weakened line section.

As already pointed out, in easy-to-open container lids that open by breaking the line of weakness, a fairly large stress is first applied to form a cut in the line of weakness before opening. Once the line of weakness has been scored, shearing along the line of weakness from this score tends to occur easily even with relatively small forces.

In the present invention, since the weakened line 5 is provided so that the end portions 5α and 5h are adjacent to or close to the hole 4 formed in advance,
When unsealing, when one end 9 of the unsealing piece 7 is grasped and pulled upward, peeling occurs between the periphery of the hole and the unsealing piece 7, and unsealing is started, and the weakened line section 6 is opened. Piece 7
, the weakening line 5 is sheared as the opening piece 7 is pulled upward, and the weakening line dividing portion 6
is removed, and an opening 10 is formed as shown in FIG.

That is, in the present invention, since the pre-formed hole 4 acts as a cut when the weakening line 5 is sheared, there is an advantage that the seal can be easily opened by shearing the weakening line 5 with a relatively small force. It is something that can be achieved. In addition, for easy-open lids where the area to be opened divided by the score is relatively large, the tip of the tab is pushed in to form a cut in the score, and then the area to be opened is lifted for each tab to shear the score. A two-stage action was required, but
In the present invention, an advantage in the unsealing operation is achieved in that the intended opening portion can be opened or removed by a single action of lifting the unsealing piece upward.

Moreover, in the present invention, by forming the planned opening portion with the pre-formed hole 4 and the portion 6 partitioned by the weakened line 5, the opening pre-provided in the lid body 11 can be made small in area, and the drop This has the advantage that impact resistance, pressure resistance, sealing performance, etc. can be significantly improved.

In addition, compared to the case where an opening is provided to serve as the drinking spout or spout and a tape tab is provided to cover this opening, when the composite opening method of the present invention is adopted, the drinking spout or spout can be connected to the edge of the lid body.
That is, it can be brought close to the sealing engagement edge, and advantages such as ease of drinking and less leftovers are achieved when using the sealed package.

Further, the lid of the present invention is manufactured by simple processing and operations such as perforation, scoring, and pasting of an opening piece, and the structure itself is not complicated, so it is easy to manufacture and its cost is relatively low. is also achieved.

In the present invention, the pre-formed hole 4 and the weakened line section 6 are generally in a circumscribed relationship, but from the viewpoint of making it easier to open the seal by pulling the opening piece 7, the hole 4 and the weakened line end Adjacent position or close position A, B with parts 5α, 5b
As shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable that the hole 4 protrudes from a portion 11 of the partition 6 beyond the straight line AB. That is, by connecting the protruding end 11 from the straight line AB to the unsealing piece 7, the divided portion 6 can be pulled upward more smoothly, and the weakening line 5 can be easily sheared.

The area ratio between the hole 4 and the weakened line section 6 can be changed in various ways, but the ratio between the two should be within the range of 1:50,000 to 50:1, particularly 1:20,000 to 10:1 for ease of opening. It is desirable from the viewpoint of the combination of strength and impact resistance or pressure resistance.

In the present invention, the shapes of the hole portion 4 and the weakened line division portion 6 are as follows:
Any material may be used without particular restriction as long as it satisfies the above requirements. What is shown in Figures 1 to 4 is
Although the weakening line section 6 is shaped like a raindrop and the hole 4 is shaped like a blade, various other shapes as shown in the figures 5A to 5- can be used.

In FIG. 5A, the hole 4 is of both types, and the partition 6 is of the rain drip type, and in FIG. 5B, the hole 4 is approximately circular, but this hole 4 has a notch 4α.

4h, and a weakening line 5 is connected to the notches 4α and 4b. FIG. 5c shows an example in which the partition 6 is approximately circular and in combination with the hole 4 forms a raindrop-shaped opening portion. Fig. 5-D shows an example in which a circular groove-shaped hole 4 is formed and a weakening line 5 is connected to the end thereof, and Fig. 5E shows a planned opening in a rain drip type. This is an example in which a semicircular hole 4 is formed. FIG. 5p shows an example of a fully open container lid, in which a circumferential line of weakening 5 and an arched hole 4 are formed adjacent to the peripheral portion 2 for sealing engagement. Figure 5G shows the fifth-
Although it is similar to Fig. F, only one end of the circumferential weakening line 5 is connected to the hole 4, and a wide gap is provided between the other end of the weakening line and the hole 4. It is a detachable type. FIG. 5H shows a fully open type in which two concentric circumferential weakening lines 5c and 5d are formed, and a hole 4 connected to these lines is provided between them. No. 5-1
The figure shows a fully open type, but two spiral weakening lines 5g and 5f are provided, and a hole 4 is provided in the center of the spiral. FIG. 5-1 is also an example of a non-detachable opening mechanism, and is provided with two weakened lines 5da and 5A-10- connected to the moon-shaped hole 4. The fifth figure shows the hole 4 and the weakened line 5.
This is an example in which the two are disposed close to each other, and when the package is opened, the weakening line 5 is sheared after the bridging portions 12α and 12b between the two are broken.

The shapes of the holes 4 and weakened lines 5 described above are merely a few examples for the purpose of explanation, and the container lid of the present invention should not be limited to these examples in any way. .

In the present invention, the lid body may be made of rigid or flexible materials without limitation, and materials such as metal materials, plastic materials, composite materials thereof, and even A composite material of these and paper is used.

As a metal material, untreated steel plate (black plate)
In addition, examples include electroplated or hot-dip plated steel sheets such as tin plate, galvanized sheet, chrome plated sheet, steel sheet chemically treated with chromic acid, phosphoric acid, etc., and chemically treated steel sheet such as electrolytic chromic acid treated steel sheet. Furthermore, light metal plates such as aluminum plates can be used in the form of sheets or foils. Plastic materials include polyethylene, polypropylene, thermoplastic polyester, polycarbonate, ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, hinyl chloride resin,
ABS resin or the like is used in the form of a sheet or film.

Among these lid materials, the present invention is particularly useful for use as a heat-sealable laminated lid material. In FIG. 6 showing a suitable example of this laminated lid material, this lid material 1 is a gas barrier layer.
A heat-sealable thermoplastic resin inner material layer 14 is applied to the side of the base that is to become the inside of the package, and the other side of the base is provided with an outer protective coating made of, for example, a paint film. A layer 15 can be provided. As the gas barrier substrate 13, a metal foil such as aluminum foil is advantageously used, but a high gas barrier resin layer such as ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer is used.

As the heat-sealable inner material 14, polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, various polyamides, various homo- or copolyesters, etc. can be used. In this case, it is desirable that the weakening line 5 is provided so as to reach partway through the thickness of the base such as metal foil, as shown in the figure.

Since the opening piece 7 is provided so as to cover the hole 4, it is desirable that the opening piece 7 has gas barrier properties, and it is also desirable that the opening piece 7 has flexibility in view of the opening function.

From this point of view, metal foils such as aluminum foil, tinplate, steel foil, and iron foil are advantageously used. In addition to metal foil, gas-barrier opening pieces include other resins with high gas barrier properties, such as saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, vinylidene chloride resin, vinyl chloride resin, high nitrile resin, polyvinyl alcohol, and biaxially oriented polyester. , a film such as biaxially oriented polypropylene, or a metal-deposited film. Of course, these materials can also be used in the form of a laminate.

As already mentioned, the opening piece 7 and the lid 1 must be such that one end of the line of weakness section 6, that is, the opening start end 11, is connected to the opening piece 7. 11 must be installed in a way that ensures a secure seal around the area. This sealing and bonding is accomplished, for example, by adhesive, heat sealing, heat fusion, or the like.

For example, in FIG. 7, the opening piece 7 is a laminated layer consisting of a gas barrier substrate 16 such as metal foil, a protective resin coating layer 17 (for example, biaxially oriented polyester) on the outer surface, and an adhesive layer 18 in a broad sense on the inner surface. The opening piece 7 is glued around the hole 4 via the adhesive layer 18 to seal the hole and seal the end 1.
The connection to 1 is being performed.

As the adhesive layer 18, any material such as the heat-sealable resin or heat-sensitive adhesive described above, a pressure-sensitive adhesive, or an epoxy adhesive can be used. At this time, the adhesion between the lid 1 and the unsealing piece 7 is so-called "peelable adhesion", and peeling occurs between the area around the hole and the unsealing piece when unsealing, but the opening start end 11 and the unsealing piece Peeling does not occur between the piece 7 and the line of weakness 5 is sheared instead.

This can be used to adjust the adhesion force or the adhesion area. This is easily done by making a clause.

In FIG. 8 showing the most preferred embodiment of the present invention, an opening piece 7 made of the laminate shown in FIG. . This sealing material 19 not only firmly adheres to the inner wall 20 around the hole of the lid 1 and the cut edge 21, but also tightly adheres to the opening piece 7.
The heat sealant layer 18 is also firmly fused. With this structure, the aperture cut edge of the lid body 1 is completely protected,
Not only metal leaching and corrosion are effectively prevented, but also excellent advantages are achieved upon opening. That is, in FIG. 9 showing the opening state of this type of lid, the opening piece 7
Due to the tension of The unsealing will take place in this section. The opening start end 11 of the weakened line section has a structure in which the opening piece 7 and the sealing material 19 are sandwiched and bonded.
1 is reliably lifted upward, and the line of weakness 5 is easily sheared.

In the container lid of the present invention, since opening starts at the pre-provided hole, in internal pressure containers such as carbonated beverage containers, internal pressurized gas is gradually released through the opened hole. In addition, in internal vacuum containers such as fruit juice containers, outside air is gradually introduced through the holes, so the opening operation can be easily and reliably performed without causing problems such as the contents blowing out. It is something that

Furthermore, the connection between the opening piece 7 and the opening start end 11 does not necessarily have to be through direct adhesion via the adhesive layer 18;
For example, in the example shown in FIG. 8, the adhesive layer 18 is firmly adhered to the inner surface sealing material 19, but it may not be possible to directly adhere to the outer surface protective coating layer 15 of the lid body 1. In this case, assuming that the inner sealing material 19 is firmly adhered to the lid 1, the unsealing 7 is eventually connected to the opening start end 11 of the lid 1 via the adhesive layer 18 and the inner sealing material 19. Therefore, if the degree of bonding is sufficient, the package can be opened in the same manner as in the above example without any problem.

Further, the cut edge portion 21 of the hole 4 is protected by the heat sealant layer 18 in the opening piece 7, as shown in FIG.
This can also be done by making the opening piece 18 sufficiently thick (by pressing the opening piece 18 onto the lid 1 while heating to melt the heat sealant and make it protrude into the hole.

In this case, Figure 11-A, Figure 11-B and Figure 11-
As shown in Fig. 0, after the hole 4 is formed in the lid 1, the sealing material 19 is applied to the inner surface, and the opening piece 7 is then pressed under heat, so that the cut edge 21 can be more completely protected. Become something.

The invention is illustrated by the following example.

Example 1: Thickness 10 with epoxy-phenol paint baked on one side
A 0 μm soft aluminum foil was prepared, and a 50 μm thick polyethylene film was extruded and laminated on the other side of the aluminum foil to make a lid material.

The lid material was punched and formed by press working to create a container lid with an outer diameter of about 60 mm as shown in Figures 12-A and 12-B with the painted surface as the outer surface. Next, a raindrop shape with a length of 30 m and a width of 18 strips was formed on the portion of the container lid that was to become the drinking spout, and a score with a depth of 50 μm was applied by pressing to form a weakened line. (Fig. 12-0) Furthermore, a moon-shaped hole of approximately inverted 8wn was bored adjacent to the weakened line to form a lid body having a shape as shown in Fig. 12-D. A soft aluminum foil with a thickness of 9 μm was prepared, and biaxially oriented polyester with a thickness of 17 μm and 12 μm was pasted on one side of the aluminum foil using an adhesive, and ethylene-vinyl acetate with an adhesive was attached to the other side. A film made of a polymer having a thickness of 50 μm was laminated and then cut into pieces of 30 m in length and 20 m in width to prepare opening pieces. In addition, a polyethylene film with a thickness of 50 μm was prepared and cut into pieces of 15 m in length and 15 in width to be used as an inner sealing material.

The opening piece is placed on the outer surface of the lid in such a manner as to cover the hole in the lid having the shape shown in Figure 12-D, and at the same time, the inner seal material is placed on the inner surface of the lid while covering the hole, and then the seal is sealed. The lid body, the opening piece, and the sealing material are heat-sealed by pressing them together with a heat-resistant rubber plate with a thickness of 1 section, and the opening piece with a hot plate heated to 200°C. Completed. By this heat sealing, the unsealing piece is connected directly to a portion of the portion defined by the weakened line near the hole, and also indirectly through the sealing material.

In the above manner, an easily openable container lid of the present invention was created.

An approximately inverted 52-inch laminate made of a laminate consisting of polyethylene/aluminum foil/polyethylene/paper/polyethylene, which is mainly made of paper with a thickness of 0.3 ttm and has polyethylene as an inner layer to provide heat-sealability. A container was prepared by using a case having an internal volume of 250 grams and heat-sealing a normal lid as shown in FIG. 12-A to one end of the case. After hot filling the container with orange juice, the easy-to-open container lid of this example was fitted and heat-sealed to produce a fruit juice beverage container.

Comparative Example 1 After creating a lid with the weakening line shown in Figure 12-0 using the same method and using the same procedure as in Example 1, an opening piece was attached to the outer surface of the lid. Hot glued. That is, as shown in FIG. 13, the insertion area of the hot plate during thermal bonding is modified so that bonding is performed only on the area 22 that is to be pulled up first when opening the package, out of the areas demarcated by the weakening line. A tear-off piece of the same type as that used in Example 1 is placed on the outer surface of the lid body, and the tear-off piece and the lid body are heated and bonded using the hot plate to weaken the tear-off piece and the lid body. The areas demarcated by lines were heat-sealed.

A 250 gram container similar to that in Example 1 was heat-filled with orange juice in the same manner as in Example 1, and then the container lid prepared in this comparative example was fitted and heat-sealed to produce a fruit juice drink and a packed container. It was.

Comparative Example 2 A lid body shown in FIG. 12-A was made using the same materials and procedures as in Example 1, and then the lid body had a length of 25 mm and a width of 18 mm.
A raindrop-shaped opening was drilled into the hole. The length of the opening is shorter than that of Example 1, but this is because with a tape tab type container lid like this comparative example, it is necessary to provide a margin around the opening to allow for adhesive between the opening piece and the lid body. This is caused by not being able to bring the margin opening closer to the periphery of the lid. Next, the same type of opening piece and inner sealing material as those shown in Example 1 were used to cover the opening and placed on the outer and inner surfaces of the lid, respectively, and then the same type of heat resistance as used in Example 1 was applied. The opening piece, the lid body, and the sealing material were heat-sealed to each other by pressing them together using a rubber plate and a hot plate.

(Figure 14) A 250-gram container similar to Example 1 was heat-filled with orange juice in the same manner, and then the container lid prepared in the comparative example was fitted and heat-sealed to form a fruit juice beverage container. It was created.

The fruit juice beverage packaging containers of Evaluation Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2 were subjected to the following various tests. The test results are shown in Table 1.

(2) Opening test The grip of the opening piece was pinched with fingers, the opening piece was pulled off in a conventional manner, and the state of opening was observed.

■ Drop test A container with an easily openable lid was dropped twice onto a concrete floor from a height of 50α with the lid facing downward, and the presence or absence of leakage after the drop was observed.

■ Ease of drinking After opening the bottle, the bottle was drunk in the usual manner, and the amount of liquid remaining was observed.

21- Table 1

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4 are diagrams showing an example of an easy-to-open container lid of the present invention, and FIGS. 5A to 5 are diagrams showing various shapes of holes in the easy-to-open container lid of the present invention. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a laminated lid material. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the opening piece of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the most preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 shows the agent layer showing the opening state of the lid shown in FIG. 8. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the protection state of the cut edge portion of the hole in the container lid of the present invention, and FIGS. 11-A to 11-0 are diagrams showing the protection state of the cut edge portion of the hole in the container lid of the present invention. Figures 12-A and 12-B are diagrams showing preferred examples; Figures 12-A and 12-B are diagrams showing the container lid made in Example 1; Figure 12-0 is the same as Figures 12-A and 12-B. Figure 12-D is a diagram showing the container lid with a weakening line, Figure 12-D is a diagram showing the container lid of Figure 12-0 with a hole, and Figure 16 is the container lid used in Comparative Example 1. Figure 14 shows the container lid used in Comparative Example 2. Reference number 1 is the lid body, 6 is the center panel part, 4 is the hole part,
5 is a weakening line, 7 is an opening piece, 13 is a gas barrier substrate,
14 is a heat-sealable thermoplastic resin inner material layer, 15 is an outer surface coating layer, 16 is a gas barrier substrate, 17 is a protective resin coating layer, 18 is an adhesive 26- Patent applicant Kishimoto Sho 24- Figure 11-B Figure 12-0 Figure 12-D Cause Figure 13 Figure 14

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A pre-opened portion is formed in the lid by a combination of a pre-formed hole and a weakening line provided so that at least one end is adjacent to or close to the hole, and the hole is covered and weakened. An easy-to-open container lid, characterized in that it is provided with an opening piece that connects to at least a part of a portion demarcated by a line.