WO2009119718A1

WO2009119718A1 - Applicator for tampon

Info

Publication number: WO2009119718A1
Application number: PCT/JP2009/056076
Authority: WO
Inventors: 仁志渡邊; 秀樹近藤
Original assignee: ユニ・チャーム株式会社
Priority date: 2008-03-26
Filing date: 2009-03-26
Publication date: 2009-10-01
Also published as: JP5400313B2; TW201008500A; TWI459932B; JP2009233050A

Abstract

An applicator (1) for a tampon has an outer tube (2) and an inner tube (3). The outer tube (2) and the inner tube (3) are entirely formed of polyolefin such as polyethylene or polypropylene. A tip portion of the inner tube (3) is inserted into a grip tube portion (7), and the distal end face of the inserted inner tube (3) is facing an absorber (4). A distal end portion of a containing tube section (6) is a push-out opening and a petal element (8) is provided continuously to the push-out opening.

Description

Tampon applicator

This invention relates to the applicator for tampon which accommodates an absorber and extrudes an absorber at the time of use.

The tampon applicator includes an outer cylinder that accommodates the absorber and an inner cylinder that pushes out the absorber in the outer cylinder. These outer cylinder and inner cylinder are molded by resin injection molding. The inner cylinder is operated to move into the outer cylinder. This operation acts to push the absorber out of the outer cylinder. In order to reliably move the inner cylinder, a grip cylinder part (grip part) is formed on the outer cylinder. Patent Documents 1 to 4 disclose conventional techniques related to improvement of the gripping cylinder portion.

In Patent Document 1, a flat surface is formed on the gripping cylinder. This flat surface has a high friction structure in which slit grooves and the like are formed. In Patent Document 2, the gripping cylinder portion has a recessed shape within 10 mm. It is set as the structure which formed the convex part of the height below 10 mm in this hollow part.

In Patent Document 3, a substantially elliptical columnar flat portion is formed in the gripping cylinder portion. A rib-like protrusion is provided on the outer periphery of the flat portion. In patent document 4, it is set as the structure which provided the rib-shaped protrusion in the outer periphery while making a grip cylinder part into substantially polygonal shape.
Special table 2004-532712 gazette WO2005-0009312 publication Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-54822 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-54823

In the conventional tampon applicator, the gripping cylinder portion is provided with a non-slip projection, which makes it possible to move the inner cylinder and the absorber smoothly. In this case, in order for the absorbent body to be smoothly pushed out from the extrusion opening, it is necessary for the petal body to open smoothly when pushed by the absorbent body. If the petals do not open smoothly, it is necessary to increase the pushing force by increasing the moving force of the inner cylinder. However, if the pushing force is strong, it becomes difficult to insert the absorber into the body, and the user There is a problem that causes anxiety.

Therefore, the present invention provides a tampon application that can smoothly open the petal body when the absorbent body is pushed out, can smoothly insert the absorbent body into the body, and does not give the user anxiety. The purpose is to provide data.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an extrusion opening through which the absorber is pushed out is provided on one side of the absorber housing cylinder part in which the absorber is housed, and an edge of the extrusion opening extends from the housing cylinder part. And an outer cylinder provided with a plurality of petals that are bent arcuately toward the radial center of the accommodating cylinder, and the absorber is inserted into the outer cylinder by moving into the outer cylinder. An applicator for a tampon comprising an inner cylinder capable of pushing the petal body from the extrusion opening outward in the radial direction of the housing cylinder part and pushing it outward, the petal body and the extrusion opening of the housing cylinder part A spreading force reducing means for reducing a spreading force of the petal body when pushing out the absorber from the inside of the housing cylinder portion is provided in a continuous portion with the edge portion.

The invention of claim 2 is the tampon applicator according to claim 1, wherein the pushing force reducing means sets the cross-sectional area of the continuous part to be smaller than the cross-sectional area of the accommodating cylinder part. .

The invention of claim 3 is the tampon applicator according to claim 2, characterized in that the pushing force reducing means is a thin part in which the thickness of the continuous part is smaller than the thickness of the accommodating cylinder part. To do.

Invention of Claim 4 is the applicator for tampons of Claim 2, Comprising: The said spreading force reduction means is provided between the said continuous parts of the said adjacent petal body, and the notch hole opened between adjacent petal bodies It is a part.

The invention of claim 5 is the tampon applicator according to claim 1, wherein the pushing force reducing means is a thin region in which the thickness is gradually reduced from the continuous portion to the tip side of the petal body. Features.

The invention of claim 6 is the tampon applicator according to claim 1, wherein the spreading force reducing means is provided in the continuous portion of the intermediate portion in the circumferential direction of the petal body along the axial direction of the accommodating cylinder portion. The slit is provided.

According to the present invention, since the spreading force reducing means is provided at the continuous portion between the petal body and the extrusion opening edge of the outer cylinder to reduce the spreading force of the petal body, the petal body is smoothly spread. It is done. For this reason, the insertion of the absorber into the body can be performed smoothly, and the user does not feel uneasy.

It is a front view of the whole tampon applicator of one embodiment of the present invention. It is the A section expanded sectional view in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the 5th Embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an entire tampon applicator according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an extruded opening portion of an outer cylinder.

The tampon applicator 1 of this embodiment has an outer cylinder 2 and an inner cylinder 3. Each of the outer cylinder 2 and the inner cylinder 3 is entirely formed of polyolefin such as polyethylene or polypropylene.

The absorber 4 is accommodated in the outer cylinder 2. An extraction string 5 is connected to the absorber 4 at the base end. The take-out string 5 is inserted through the inner cylinder 3 from the base end of the absorber 4, and the insertion end is extracted from the inner cylinder 3. The absorbent body 4 can be pulled out from the body by pulling the take-out string 5 during use.

The distal end portion of the outer cylinder 2 is an absorber housing cylinder portion (hereinafter referred to as an accommodation cylinder portion) 6 having a large diameter, and the proximal end portion is a gripping cylinder portion 7 having a small diameter. The leading end portion of the inner cylinder 3 is inserted into the gripping cylinder portion 7, and the leading end surface of the inserted inner cylinder 3 faces the absorber 4. The distal end portion of the housing cylinder portion 6 is an extrusion opening, and a petal body 8 is connected to the extrusion opening. The petal body 8 is normally closed at the edge of the extrusion opening, but when the absorbent body 4 is pushed out by the inner cylinder 3, it is spread and opened by the absorbent body 4. Thereby, since the absorber 4 is extruded from the accommodation cylinder part 6, the absorber 4 can be inserted in a body.

The gripping cylinder portion 7 is a grip portion that is gripped by a finger when the inner cylinder 3 is moved. A plurality of protrusions 7a are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the gripping cylinder portion 7, and the protrusions 7a receive the user's finger. Then, the inner cylinder 3 can be pushed into the outer cylinder 2 by pressing the inner cylinder 3 with a finger hooked on the protrusion 7a.

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the housing cylinder 6 in the outer cylinder 2, and an extrusion opening 10 is provided on one side (left side). A plurality of petals 8 are connected to the edge of the extrusion opening 10. Each petal body 8 is formed in a petal shape in which the base side is wide and the width gradually decreases in a curved manner toward the tip side, and the extrusion opening 10 is normally closed. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the petal body 12 is bent in an arc shape toward the radial center portion of the housing cylinder portion 6, and the extrusion opening 10 is closed by this bending. As described above, the petal body 8 is pushed and spread by being pushed by the absorbent body 4 in the housing cylinder portion 6 to be in the open state shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, a spreading force reducing means for smoothly spreading the petal body 8 is provided, and the spreading force reducing means will be described below.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 13 denotes a continuous portion where the edge of the extrusion opening 10 and the petal body 8 are continuous. The continuous portion 13 is a region that connects the base 8a of the petal body 8 in the circumferential direction, and a spreading force reducing means is provided in this region. As shown in FIG. 2, the accommodating cylinder portion 6 gradually decreases in thickness from the gripping cylinder portion 7 toward the extrusion opening 10, and the continuous portion 13 has the smallest thickness. By changing the thickness in this way, the outer peripheral diameter D1 of the continuous portion 13 and the outer peripheral diameter E1 on the gripping cylindrical portion 7 side of the accommodating cylindrical portion 6 are the same dimension (D1 = E1), whereas the continuous portion 13 Is larger than the inner diameter E2 on the base side (the gripping cylinder part 7 side) of the accommodating cylinder part 6 (D2> E2).

With the above relationship, the cross-sectional area of the continuous portion 13 is smaller than the cross-sectional area of the accommodating cylinder portion 6, and the petal body 8 connected to the continuous portion 13 has a reduced resistance when being pushed open. For this reason, the petal body 8 can be smoothly spread. It is more preferable that the outer peripheral diameter D1 of the continuous portion 13 and the outer peripheral diameter E1 of the accommodating cylinder portion 6 on the gripping cylinder portion 7 side are set as D1 <E1. By setting it as such a dimensional relationship, while being able to reduce the extrusion force of the petal body 8, it becomes possible to forcibly remove in the injection molding.

In this embodiment, since the inner diameter D2 of the continuous portion 13 is larger than the inner diameter E2 on the base side of the housing cylinder portion 6, the diameter of the absorber 4 can be increased accordingly. For this reason, an absorptance can be improved. In addition, when the diameter of the absorber 4 is constant, a space is created between the absorber 4 and the housing cylinder 6, so that the housing cylinder 6 is inserted into the outer diameter of the absorber 4 when inserted into the body. It can be a collapsed ellipse shape reaching up to. In addition to this, it is possible to make the accommodating cylinder portion 6 other than a cylinder.

3 to 6 show other embodiments of the spreading force reducing means, respectively.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the thickness of the portion corresponding to the continuous portion 13 connecting the base portion 8 a of the petal body 8 in the accommodating cylinder portion 6 is made thinner than the other portions of the accommodating cylinder portion 6. A portion corresponding to 13 is a thin portion 15. By forming the thin portion 15, the resistance of the petal body 8 against spreading is reduced, and the petal body 8 can be smoothly spread.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a notch hole 17 is formed in the base 8 a of the petal body 8. The cutout hole 17 is provided in the base 8 a of the petal body 8, so that it is located in the region of the continuous part 13 and is stretched over the base 8 a of the adjacent petal body 8. By providing such a notch hole portion 17, the resistance of the petal body 8 against spreading is reduced, so that the petal body 8 can be smoothly spread.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, one or a plurality of slits 18 are formed in a portion corresponding to the vicinity of the base 8 a of the petal body 8. The slit 18 is provided in the continuous part 13, and in this embodiment, is formed in the radial direction of the accommodating cylinder part 6 so as to cross the bottom part of each petal body 8.

Here, the slit 18 may have a groove shape (a shape that does not penetrate in the thickness direction of the housing cylinder portion) or may penetrate through the thickness direction of the housing cylinder portion.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, one or a plurality of slits 19 are formed along the axial direction of the accommodating cylinder portion 6. The slit 19 is a position corresponding to the base 8 a of the petal body 8 and is provided at the bottom of the petal body 8, whereby the slit 19 is formed in the continuous part 13. The slit 19 in FIG. 6 is formed along the axial direction of the accommodating cylinder portion 6. By forming the

slits

18 and 19 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the resistance when the petal body 8 is pushed out can be reduced, and the petal body 8 can be smoothly spread out.

In the above embodiment, since the spreading force of the petal body 8 is reduced, the petal body 8 can be smoothly spread and insertion of the absorber 4 into the body can be performed smoothly. For this reason, the user does not feel uneasy.

In addition, in the present invention, the above embodiments may be combined, which makes it possible to more smoothly spread the petal body.

Note that the entire content of Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-081965 (filed on March 26, 2008) is incorporated herein by reference.

As described above, according to the present invention, the absorbent body can be smoothly inserted into the body, which is useful in a tampon applicator.

Claims

An extrusion opening through which the absorber is pushed out is provided on one side of an accommodation cylinder portion of the absorber in which the absorber is accommodated, and an edge of the extrusion opening extends from the accommodation cylinder portion so that a distal end side is the accommodation cylinder. An outer cylinder provided with a plurality of petals that are bent in an arc shape toward the center in the radial direction of the part, and the absorber is inserted into the outer cylinder and moved into the outer cylinder by pushing the absorber from the extrusion opening to the petal body An applicator for a tampon comprising an inner cylinder that can be pushed outward by pushing the container cylinder portion radially outward,
A spreading force reducing means for reducing the spreading force of the petal body when pushing out the absorber from the inside of the housing cylinder part is provided at a continuous part between the petal body and the edge of the pushing opening of the housing cylinder part. A tampon applicator characterized by the above.
2. The tampon applicator according to claim 1, wherein the spreading force reducing means sets the cross-sectional area of the continuous portion to be smaller than the cross-sectional area of the accommodating tube portion.
3. The tampon applicator according to claim 2, wherein the pushing force reducing means is a thin portion in which the thickness of the continuous portion is smaller than the thickness of the accommodating tube portion.
3. The tampon applicator according to claim 2, wherein the spreading force reducing means is a notch hole portion provided between the continuous portions of the adjacent petal bodies and opened between the adjacent petal bodies. Applicator for tampon.
2. The tampon applicator according to claim 1, wherein the pushing force reducing means is a thin-walled region in which the thickness is gradually reduced from the continuous portion to the tip side of the petal body. .
2. The tampon applicator according to claim 1, wherein the spreading force reducing means is a slit provided in the continuous portion in the circumferential intermediate portion of the petal body along the axial direction of the accommodating cylinder portion. A characteristic tampon applicator.