1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to disposable paper-made eating utensils (plate, tray, or tray type packet) that are ideal for use at buffet type dinner parties and various types of event sites, blanks for producing the utensils, and molding presses for producing the utensils.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, disposable or “oven-to-table” vessels (or tableware) such as cups and plates made of paper and plastic are often used at simple stand-up parties, religious festivals, and outdoor gatherings.
One common method of fabricating such paper-made eating utensils involves cutting an original sheet of paper to dimensions slightly larger than the overall contour of the vessel to produce blanks, and then inserting these blanks one sheet at a time into a cavity mold and compressing them with a core mold to shape a mold object. To give the vessel strength and water resistance, in this case a relatively thick, high-quality cardboard paper whose surface has been coated by a waterproofing agent is used.
As for materials for plied papers in this invention, two sorts of papers are required. One is a sort of cellulose paper commercially available as cardboard paper, corrugated board paper or those provided with self-standing or self-support property durable to form a vessel. The other is a sort of cellulose paper or plastic film such as clear thin plastic film made of polyethylene or polypropylene, water-proof cellulose paper, other chemically treated cellulose paper/plastic film or those provided with non-self standing or non-self support property, which lack the durability to form a vessel.
Japanese Unexamined Pat. App. Pub. No. 2002-53121 discloses paper tableware as a one-way tray obtained by adhering layers of paper and resin film together with an adhesive, stamping this laminate into a blank form, and then applying heat and pressure, although its intended purpose of use is different.
In addition, Japanese Unexamined Pat. App. Pub. No. JP 2001-328622 discloses paper tableware formed by folding in which a stain-proof film is pasted to the inner surface of the paper vessel with an adhesive.
The publication entitled “Plastics Molding,” authored by John Delmonte, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in 1952 is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Food items are placed on the paper vessels or the like manufactured as above and then these food items are consumed, after which the paper vessels are discarded with liquid such as condiments and seasoning liquids still adhered to them. Even if such dirtied paper vessels are recovered, it is nearly impossible to use them as recycled paper, and thus the only option is to burn them. It was only natural that such paper vessels would be frowned upon as a waste both of high quality paper and our natural resources. One approach to solving this problem is presented in the above-cited Japanese Pat. App. Pub. No. 2002-53121. In this case, the vessel is made by adhering layers of upper vessels made of thin paper to a main unit made of thick paper, and after eating, the thin-paper vessel on the inside surface that has become dirty is peeled away and can be discarded separate from the main vessel unit, which has not become dirty, and therefore the main vessel unit, which is made of high-quality paper, can be recycled. This method requires the addition of a manufacturing process of pasting a film to the vessel unit with adhesive to keep the vessel from becoming dirty, and thus not only is this vessel more expensive but the section of the molded vessel where the adhesive agent is applied may change in color, and this may give the impression of uncleanness to the user.
A first aspect of this invention will be described with reference to
Consequently, respective plies are provided with linkage sufficient to serve as a substantially integrated eating utensil. Thus, when put into service, contaminations caused by dished up foods will be limited on an upper most ply paper which has directly been exposed to the stay of foods. Thus, peeling such paper off will renew a fresh paper surface in turn. It brings about economies.
More detailed description concerning wrinkles noted above will be given in the descriptions on
In a second aspect of the invention, a plurality of projection-shaped ribs are formed in the bottom surface of a paper tray, in which two or more sheets of original paper (including plastic film) are layered on one another, and heated and compressed in order to mold them into one piece, such that the plurality of trays made of original paper engage one another at the rib portions of the bottom surface in addition to the wrinkle portions that occur from the rising side wall to the upper end edge portion. This allows the plurality of trays to feel more like a single tray when used, and allows them to be more easily separated.
In a third aspect of the invention, of the two or more sheets of original paper that constitute the blank, one sheet is thick paper, and the other is thin paper that is thinner than the thick paper, silicon-applied paper, plastic film, or biodegradable plastic resin film, one or more of the other sheet is/are layered on the thick sheet and the two are compression molded into a paper tray-type packet. The tray-type packets other than the packet made of thick paper are peeled off one by one over the course of a meal so that there is always a clean, water-resistant packet surface. By giving the outer (main unit) portion made of thick paper sufficient strength, it is possible for the paper tray-type packet to have a large number of thin paper tray-type packet layers.
In a fourth aspect of the invention, a main tray-type packet unit and a lid member that are connected by a hinge are molded into one piece using a blank that is obtained by stacking an inner blank made of thin paper on an outer blank in which one or more open windows have been formed, and the plurality of layered tray-type packets engage one another through vertical wrinkles that occur in the upper edge and in the side wall surface of the main unit and the lid member. By choosing a transparent or semi-transparent paper material as the thin paper, a tray-type packet with viewing ports whose inside can be viewed is achieved.
In a fifth aspect of the invention, a blank for molding the paper vessel made of thick paper is spot adhered to a front surface or a rear surface of an oblong thin paper that is intermittently inserted between a cavity and a core of a metal mold for molding a paper vessel. This configuration achieves the effect that the plurality of layered blanks do not shift with respect to one another, and since the thin paper is continuous paper, the vessel can be molded more efficiently.
In a sixth aspect of the invention, a vessel-shaped cavity with a rising side-wall surface is formed in the mold on one side of a metal mold, and a core that is symmetrical with respect to the cavity across a gap of two to three sheets of original paper is formed in the mold on the other side of the metal mold, and the cavity-side plate and the core-side plate abut one another about their circumference or tightly fit into one another in a manner that produces a shearing blade surface, at a portion of the cavity corresponding to its outer circumferential edge. By inserting the blank made of thick paper and thin paper into the metal mold and compression molding it, the edge portion of the paper vessel that is obtained is trimmed away as the vessel is molded.
As recited in the third and fourth aspects, raw papers include a single sheet of thick original paper while the other component is thin paper, silicon-applied paper, plastic film, or biodegradable resin film (hereinafter, these may be collectively referred to as thin paper), and the lowermost plied vessel is formed by the thick paper while the upper plied protective covering is formed by the other component such as thin paper. The upper covering made of the thin paper or the like will become dirty by condiments or seasoning liquid food items, but the lowermost vessel will not. Thus, at stand-up parties, for example, the thin paper vessel on the surface side that has become dirty can be peeled away one by one so that it is always possible to have a clean thin paper vessel for use, dirtied vessels and non-dirty vessels can be discarded separately, and the thick paper vessel can be used as a recyclable resource without it becoming dirty. Thus, regarding the function of each layer, the lowermost layer serves as a vessel while the upper layers other than the lowermost layer essentially serve as covers; in the following description, however, the layers other than the lowermost layer may be referred to as “vessels” for expressing the entirety as one piece.
If the above blanks that are cut from thick paper and thin paper in a predetermined shape are layered on and spot adhered to one another at a number of locations through ultrasound, for example, then the blanks can be prevented from shifting with respect to one another, which easily occurs when the blanks are inserted into the metal mold for compression molding, the vessels are kept from unnaturally peeling apart from one another or warping (or bulging upward) when used, and moreover, a vessel with a lid can be provided with windows that allow the inside of the vessel to be viewed when a transparent material is used as the thin paper.
The metal mold according to the sixth aspect has a shearing blade that trims the circumferential edge of the vessel as the vessel is molded, and thus if long continued or non-leaf cut raw papers in roll form, for example, is intermittently supplied into and molded, the time for the step of pre-cutting the blank is obviated and the production costs for the paper-made vessel are lowered.
From the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
A circular plate 10 shown in
In this case, as shown in
Illustrated in
The cavity mold 21a and the core mold 22a are provided with mold faces shaped to be complementary to mold a designed product. Illustrated in
Then, frame 23 has cylindrical surface internally on which core mold 22a is allowed to slide vertically, wherein core mold 22a rests on a spring 24 during inoperative period. Further, frame 23 is provided with an inward projection 23a at its top end to form a slightly narrowed cylindrical contour so that core mold 22a will provide an exact engagement with cavity mold periphery 21b, by which engagement a sort of shearing knife will be formed. Thereby a freshly molded piece will be trimmed. Now, it is to be noted that in
The blanks 6(B) and 7(B) are inserted in between the cavity mold 21a and the core mold 22a, which oppose one another, of the metal mold 20, and by activating a press, the plate P1 on the cavity mold 21a side is moved forward and compresses the blank B. When the press continues to apply a pushing force, the core mold 21a overcomes the resilience of the spring 24 and retreats into the mold frame 23, and eventually the circumferential edge 22b of the cavity mold 21a fits into an inner diameter 23a of the front end of the mold frame and trims the molded blank B along the border of the vessel. Next, when the press stops applying pressure in order to cause the plate P1 to retreat, the core mold 21a returns to its original predetermined position within the mold frame 23 due to the repulsive force of the spring 24, ejecting the molded vessel. This vessel made of thick and thin paper blanks is laminated into one piece, and each vessel engaging one another through the wrinkle portion 5 as discussed above.
The above is an overview of the working example 1 of the paper vessel according to the invention that is shown in
The act of heating the metal mold 20 (see
Working Example 2, wherein the vessel is referred to as a “tray,” is described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.
The compression mold for compression molding the vessel using the above blank B is illustrated in
Working Example 3 is described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10. In the paper vessel 111 shown in
It is obvious that the metal mold for molding the above vessel with lid (not shown) needs to be provided with a mold cavity and core that have recessions/projections (21a and 22a in
Above it was mentioned that a single or a plurality of thin paper blanks 7 are used for a single sheet of the thick paper blank 6, but it is also possible for a plastic film to be stacked on a single sheet of the thick paper blank and for the thin paper to be stacked on top of this film and the entire unit compression molded. As mentioned above, since the metal mold for compression molding is heated to around 160° C., the surface of the plastic film will melt when it comes into direct contact with the metal mold surface and the shriveling that occurs as it cools will result in a shriveled pattern in its surface, and this precludes a good surface from being obtained. However, by covering the plastic film with thin paper as discussed above, the plastic film does not come into direct contact with the metal mold and thus an attractive upper vessel can be formed. With this vessel, the thin paper surface is used before the plastic surface is used.
In the three working examples discussed above, a plurality of sheets of blanks 6 and 7 that have been cut to shape in advance are simply placed upon one another and in that state are supplied into the metal mold. The plurality of vessels that are formed in this manner engage one another through vertical wrinkle portions, as discussed above. With this layered blank B, however, there is a possibility that the blanks 6 and 7 will shift relative to one another when they are supplied into the metal mold. As shown in
Working Example 4 is described with reference to
The arrow directly above the metal mold 20 in
Working Example 5 is described with reference to
Only selected embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the present invention. To those skilled in the art, however, it will be apparent from the foregoing disclosure that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Furthermore, the foregoing description of the embodiments according to the present invention is provided for illustration only, and not for limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2003-170763 | Jun 2003 | JP | national |
2004-027069 | Feb 2004 | JP | national |