Patent Application
20090308888
The present invention relates to a package filled with a gel or paste content and a gas in a formed product formed into the form of a cylinder by heat welding a sheet-like planar polymeric film.
Packages filed with contents and gases have been known in the art, including bag-like containers capable of directly administering jelly formulations held in the containers into the mouths in a simple manner without using any administration device or the like (see, e.g., Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
These are limited to medical jelly formulations. Besides, the medical jelly formulations are restricted in kinds and amounts of bases which can be used as pharmaceutical additives. Therefore, any molded jelly formulation is provided with slippery properties for the use and dosage of the jelly composition, so that the dosage-form design thereof intends to control syneresis. In this case, water expelled from the boundary between the jelly formulation and the inner surface of the container in contact with the jelly formulation exerts its ability as a lubricant to allow the whole amount of the jelly formulation to be pushed out of the container upon opening.
However, products produced in the fields of foods, cosmetics, and so on are provided in the form of packaged products in cups and bottles, respectively, so that they have no need of controlling syneresis as far as they have preferable physical properties even in difficulties of pulling the whole amounts of the contents out of the respective containers. Therefore, many products are in the form of a gel extremely stable without syneresis or in the form of a paste having viscosity. Regarding such a gel or paste product, there have been disadvantages in that a gel product filled in a formed product, which is formed into the form of a cylinder by heat welding a sheet-like planar film, cannot be easily discharged upon opening, since the gel product is firmly attached to or adhered to the surface of a polymeric film (i.e., the contact surface with the gel), and that in the case of a paste, the whole amount thereof cannot be discharged, and a large amount of the product attaches and remains in the container. In addition, the sheet-like planar polymeric film used for the formed product may be difficult to rip open. Thus, there is a need of devising the design of a notch or the like to make opening easy.
The inventors of the present invention intend to provide a package prepared by filling a formed product formed in a cylindrical form by heat welding a sheet-like planar polymeric film with a very stable gel product without syneresis or a paste product having viscosity as a content together with a gas, in which the gel product is easily discharged upon opening without being tightly attached or adhered to the contact surface of the surface of the polymeric film, or the whole amount of the paste product is discharged without attaching to and remaining in the formed product.
In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a package having a notched form to make opening easier since some of the sheet-like planar polymeric films used for the formed product is difficult to rip open.
The present invention relates to a package comprising: a formed product formed into a form of a cylinder by heat welding a sheet-like planar polymeric film; and a gel or paste content and gas encapsulated in the formed product, in which: the formed product includes a drum part and heat-sealed parts on at least one longitudinal end of the drum part and a longitudinal side portion of the drum part; the drum part includes a gel or paste content-encapsulated part and a gas-encapsulated part, which are divided in the longitudinal direction thereof; and an opening notch is provided on the heat-sealed part formed on the longitudinal side portion of the drum part, such that the notch is formed between the tip of content, which is opposite to the gas-encapsulated portion, on the side of the content-encapsulated portion and the tip of content on the side of the gas-encapsulated portion, and the notch has a shape of I or V type and placed perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the drum part, while the notch is inclined at an inclination angle of 45 degrees to 80 degrees to be split toward the tip of the content opposite to the gas-encapsulated portion.
According to the present invention, in the package, a ratio of a long diameter to a short diameter of a cross-section of the drum part is 1:1 to 1:0.3.
According to the present invention, in the package, a volume ratio of the gel or paste contents to the gas is 9:1 to 1:9.
According to the present invention, in the package, the gas comprises air, nitrogen gas, argon gas, helium gas, or carbon dioxide.
According to the present invention, in the package, the sheet-like planar polymeric film is a monolayer or a laminate of two or more layers glued together, the sheet-like planar polymeric film is made of a transparent or opaque material, and the sheet-like planar polymeric film has a thickness of 50 to 200 μm.
According to the present invention, in the package, the heat-sealed part of the longitudinal side portion of the drum part has a width of 5 to 15 mm, and the heat-sealed part of at least one longitudinal end of the drum part has a width of 5 to 40 mm.
According to the present invention, in the package, a lubricant is further applied to a contact portion between the sheet-like planar polymeric film and the gel or paste contents.
According to the present invention, in the package, the content is a gel or paste material which has the properties selected from those having the properties of viscosity, elasticity, and viscoelasticity.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.
According to the present invention, there is provided a package comprising: a formed product formed into a form of a cylinder by heat welding a sheet-like planar polymeric film; and a gel or paste content (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “content”) and gas encapsulated in the formed product, in which: the formed product includes a drum part and heat-sealed parts on at least one longitudinal end of the drum part and a longitudinal side portion of the drum part; the drum part includes a gel or paste content-encapsulated part and a gas-encapsulated part, which are divided in the longitudinal direction thereof; and an opening notch is provided on the heat-sealed part formed on the longitudinal side portion of the drum part, such that the notch is formed between the tip of content, which is opposite to the gas-encapsulated portion, on the side of the content-encapsulated portion and the tip of content on the side of the gas-encapsulated portion, and the notch has a shape of I or V type and placed perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the drum part, while the notch is inclined at an inclination angle of 45 degrees to 80 degrees to be split toward the tip of the content opposite to the gas-encapsulated portion on the side of the content-encapsulated portion.
The package of the present invention uses a formed product formed into the form of a cylinder by heat welding a sheet-like planar polymeric film (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “cylindrically formed product”). Preferable examples of the sheet-like planar polymeric film capable of the heat welding (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “film”) include polyamide (e.g., nylon) films, polyester (e.g., polyethylene terephthalate) films, polyethylene films, polypropylene films, and silica-deposited polyethylene terephthalate. In addition, the film used in the formed product of the present invention may be a mono-layer film or a multilayer film made of two or more layers. When the film is a multilayer film, aluminum foil may be used as an intermediate layer or an outer layer from the viewpoint of air-tightness or the like. Specific examples of the film include laminate films of polyethylene/aluminum foil/polypropylene, polyethylene/silica-deposited polyethylene terephthalate/polyethylene terephthalate, and polyethylene/nylon/polyethylene. In particular, a preferable example is a laminate film of polyethylene/silica-deposited polyethylene terephthalate/polyethylene terephthalate. Further, the film can be selected depending on the content. Further, the thickness of the film may be suitably adjusted as far as it is a thickness enough to prevent the drum part from bursting when the drum part is swollen, preferably 50 to 200 μm, particularly preferably 60 to 100 μm.
The package of the present invention includes a drum part formed into the form of a cylinder filled with a content and a gas and a heat-sealed part formed by heat welding. The above drum part includes a portion in which the content is encapsulated and a portion in which the gas is encapsulated. In the present specification, hereinafter, the portion encapsulating the content in the drum part of the package may be referred to as a “content-encapsulated portion” and the portion encapsulating the gas may be referred to as a “gas-encapsulated portion”. Further, between both longitudinal ends of the drum part, one end on the side of the content-encapsulated portion may be referred to as a “content-encapsulated end” and the other end on the side of the gas-encapsulated part may be referred to as a “gas-encapsulated end”.
The above heat-sealed portion may be mounted on each of both longitudinal ends of the cylindrically formed product so that the internal thereof can be sealed off. At least, it is mounted on the end on the side of the content-encapsulated portion. In addition, the heat-sealed part may be also mounted on the longitudinal side portion of the drum part of the package to make a notch or a break line for opening the package provided as the cylindrically formed product. In other words, the heat-sealed parts are formed in two directions in total, one longitudinal end portion and one longitudinal side portion of the drum part of the package. Alternatively, the heat-sealed parts may be formed in three different directions in total, on both longitudinal ends and the side portion or one longitudinal end and both side portions, or in four different directions in total, both longitudinal ends and both side portions.
In this case, the width of the heat-sealed part on the longitudinal side portion of the drum part of the package (hereinafter, also referred to as “vertical sealed part”) is preferably 5 mm to 15 mm. In addition, the width of the heat-sealed part formed on one end of the drum part of the package in the longitudinal direction (hereinafter, also referred to as “heat-sealed part in the miner axial direction” or a “lateral sealed part”) is preferably 5 mm to 40 mm.
If the vertical sealed part is 5 mm or less, when a notched portion is going to be cut by hand, it is hard to cut because the width thereof is too short to be grasped by hand. On the other hand, if it is 15 mm or more, the width of the notched portion is oversized and, even facilitating the grasping with hand, the depth of the notch can be hardly controlled when it is formed.
If the lateral sealed part is 5 mm or less, it is hard to grasp by hand. A sufficient width of the sealed part, which facilitates grasping by hand, is 5 to 40 mm. If it exceeds such a range, useless properties of the product and useless parts of a packaging material excessively increase. In addition, an increase in width of heat-sealing leads to an increase in width of a roller part of a machine, worsening the sealing ability of packaging and workability.
In the package of the present invention, it is preferable to make heat-sealed parts on one end and a side portion on the side of the content-encapsulated portion in the longitudinal direction of the package drum part as described above. It is also preferable to form a notch or a break line for opening on the heat-sealed part provided on the side portion of the package. An opening can be easily formed such that the package is cut open along the notch or the break line formed on the heat-sealed part, and the convenience in use thereof is improved.
Further, in the package of the present invention, the notch or the break line for the opening is formed on the heat-sealed part formed on the longitudinal side portion of the drum part such that it is formed between the end of the content, which is opposite to the gas-encapsulated portion, on the side of the content-encapsulated portion and the tip of the content on the side of the gas-encapsulated portion on the heat-sealed part formed on the longitudinal side portion of the drum part. A specific position of the notch or the break line for the opening is located at a distance of preferably 1.5 to 5.5 mm, more preferably 2 to 4 mm inside from the tip of the content, which is opposite to the gas-encapsulated portion, on the side of the content-encapsulated portion to the gas-encapsulated portion in the longitudinal direction of the drum part on the heat-sealed part formed on the longitudinal side portion of the drum part (
The package can be easily opened from the notch or break-line portion by forming the notch or the break line on such a position. In addition, the content is not scattered or part thereof is not torn upon opening. Further, after the opening, the whole amount of contents can be smoothly pushed out of the opening, while keeping the shape thereof or even with deformation, by pressing the gas-encapsulated portion by fingers.
Further, on the heat-sealed part formed on the longitudinal side portion of the drum part, the notch, which is arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the drum part, is inclined so that it can be split off toward the tip of the content opposite to the gas-encapsulated portion on the side of the content-encapsulated portion, where the angle of inclination is 45 to 80 degrees, preferably 60 to 75 degrees (
The reason for providing the notch with the angle of inclination is that a resin pool of a film roll is generated in the tip portion of the content-filled part, so the end of the package can be smoothly cut when it is cut toward the inside of the package. In addition, the form of the notch may be in the form of the letter I or V (
The polymer film having directivity by which the polymer film can be cut in a transverse direction may be formed of a material such as polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, or polyethylene terephthalate prepared so as to have the directivity. Examples of the material include olefin, polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, polyethylene terephthalate, polyester, polyvinilidene chloride, polyvinyl chloride, polyamide, polyacrylonitrile, polyvinyl alcohol, polycarbonate, an ethylene-acryl copolymer, ethylene vinyl alcohol, a polystyrene copolymer, and an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer. Of those, polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate are preferable.
If the opening notch has an inclination angle of more than 80 degrees or less than 45 degrees, in many cases, the package cannot be smoothly opened such that it may be split off in an oblique direction (i.e., in an unintended direction) or hardly split off. This inconvenience is remarkable as the size of the package is small.
In the drum part of the package of the present invention, it is preferable that contents and a gas be enclosed and the inner pressure of the drum part be higher than the outer pressure thereof to keep the drum part in a distended state. The inner pressure is preferably at a level where a bag-like container is not disrupted and the content enclosed in the inside before opening is not broken down by normal handling, such as at a level where it is not broken down by pressing with human hand at room temperature (a pressing force almost at a level of touching or holding). Specifically, the inner pressure of the drum part is preferably 1.005 to 1.5 times, more preferably 1.01 to 1.2 times, particularly preferably 1.02 to 1.05 times higher than the outer pressure (hereinafter, the “outer pressure” corresponds to 1 atm unless otherwise specified) under the temperature condition at 20° C. Examples of the gas filled in the drum part include air, nitrogen, argon or helium, and carbon dioxide.
The package of the present invention houses the content and the gas in the drum part in a distended state, so that it can smoothly push the content out of the package. The above expression the “drum part is in a distended state” means a state in which, when the content and the gas are placed in the drum part and then pressurized therein, the cross-section of the drum part in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the drum part can be changed from a circular shape to an elliptical shape le to an ellipse. The ratio of the long diameter (X) to the short diameter of the drum part from the circular shape to the elliptical shape is preferably 1:1 to 1:0.3, more preferably 1:1 to 1:0.4 (
Under the conditions other than those described above, the whole amount of contents may not be completely taken out even a gas portion is pressed to push out the content out the gas. In other words, if the ratio of X to Y is 1:0.3 or less (elliptical shape), the package itself can be swollen by pressing the gas portion. Part of the gas portion may be leaked outside before the above gas portion pushes the whole contents out, so that it may be resulted in failure of taking out the whole contents.
The drum part of the package of the present invention is preferably in the form of a rod. The ratio of a length in the longitudinal direction to a length in the miner axial direction of the drum part is preferably about 15:1 to 2:1. Both the length in the longitudinal direction and the length in the miner axial direction of this drum part can be appropriately changed on the basis of the amount of content-encapsulated. Further, in a rod-like drum part having a cross-section from a circular shape to an elliptical shape as described above, because of making a heat-sealed part on the longitudinal end of the drum part, there is the case that a cross-section in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction at this end is not always changed from a circular shape to an elliptical shape. However, the present invention also deals with such a kind of the drum part as one having a cross-section to be from a circular shape to an elliptical shape.
The content-encapsulated in the package of the present invention is a gel or paste material which has the properties selected from viscosity, elasticity, and viscoelasticity. The gel or paste materials include various kinds of foods, such as health foods, functional foods, confectioneries, gelatinous dressing, and spice pastes; cosmetics, such as cleansing gels, creams, humidity retaining gels, gelatinous foundation garments, gelatinous conditioners, paste shampoos, paste soaps, gelatinous packs, and paste and gelatinous toothpastes; and guasi drugs, such as gel and paste medical toothpastes, oral tonic gels, depilatory creams, underarm deodorant creams, hair dye creams, gelatinous permanent waves, gelatinous medicated soaps, repellent pastes, insecticide gels, shaving gels, and face washing gels; accessories of medical equipments and appliances, such as electrolyte pastes and gels for electrocardiographs; and various kinds of animal medicines except for humans, such as animal drug pastes and gels.
In the package of the present invention, the proportion of the content to the gas, which are encapsulated in the package is, but not specifically limited to, preferably 9:1 to 1:9, more preferably 8:1 to 1:8 in volume ratio (
Further, in the package of the present invention, it is further preferable to apply a lubricant to the part where the film is in contact with the gel or paste contents. The lubricant is preferably a water-repellent lubricant. Examples of the water-repellent lubricant include silicon oil, light liquid paraffin, almond oil, coconut oil, beef fat hardened oil, olive oil, hardened oil, sesame oil, safflower oil, bean oil, refined bean oil, cotton seed cake oil, camellia oil, castor oil, colza oil, sunflower oil, bergamot oil, arachis oil, liquid lanolin, cacao butter, caster wax, carnaubawax, beef fat, lard, hard wax, white beeswax, beeswax, candelilla wax, dammar, sumac wax, montanic acid ester wax, silicone resin, white petrolatum, plastibase, squalan, medium chain fatty acid glyceride, hard fat, white shellac, paraffin, polyoxyethylene hardened castor oil 10, microcrystallin wax, myristyl alcohol, glycerin, and polyethylene glycol. It is preferable that each of them or a combination of two or more of them is previously applied in a thin film on the contact surface between the film and the content or the possible contact surface between them. The amount of the lubricant applied is preferably 0.1 mg to 50 mg per 10 square meters.
In the conventional bag-like container (JP 11-123231 A and JP 2000-256181 A; each discloses a medical jelly formulation in a bag-like container), the material of a film in contact with the medical jelly formulation is, for example, a polyamide, polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyterephthalate polymeric film. In the above case, the contact surface between the polymeric film and the medical jelly formulation having the property of syneresis in any way allows water left from the medical jelly formulation to exert its performance as a lubricant to smoothly push the medical jelly formulation out of the container.
However, the content to be encapsulated in the package of the present invention is a very stable gel without syneresis or a paste having viscosity. Therefore, the film and the content are firmly attached to each other and such an attached state is retained, thereby making the discharge of the content difficult. Even if it is discharged, in many cases, the whole amount of the content will be never discharged and part thereof remained. Therefore, the package of the present invention exerts an effect of smoothly pushing out the whole amount of the content as a water-repellent lubricant is previously applied in a thin film on the part where the film is in contact with the very stable contents without syneresis or the paste contents having viscosity.
A specific method of manufacturing the package of the present invention is not specifically limited as far as it is any of those in which a gel or paste content and a gas is encapsulated in a formed product formed into the form of a tube by heat welding a sheet-like planar polymeric film and then sealed. For example, a method described in JP 2000-256181 A can be used. In other words, the method may be of filling a cylindrically formed product having an opening with contents, sandwiching the opening between two bag-like rolls being touched to each other on their peripheral portions, and turning the rolls downwardly to press the gas in the drum part of the cylindrically formed product to raise the inner pressure higher than the outer pressure of the drum part to distend the drum part, followed by sealing the film on the side of pressing the cylindrically formed product by heat welding.
In the case of distending the drum part, the drum part may be filled with the content and compressed air may be then encapsulated in the drum part to distend the drum part. Alternatively, the steps of filling the cylindrically formed product with the content and sealing the bag-like container by heat welding may be carried out in a pressurized chamber to keep the drum part in a distended state. Alternatively, the cylindrically formed product may be shaped in a rod form in advance and then filled with the content to distend the drum part. Further, the method of heat welding, the formation of a cylindrically formed product to be shaped in a rod form when the drum part is distended, the method of making a notch or a break line, and so on can be carried out by the usual method.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to these examples.
The surface of a polyethylene layer of a heat-weldable film, in which the layer was made of polyethylene terephthalate/silica deposited polyethylene terephthalate/polyethylene film (about 80 μm in film thickness), was applied to 25 mg of silicone oil as a lubricant per 10 square centimeters and then heated welded such that the applied surface of the silicon oil is located inside, thereby forming into a cylindrical shape. The cylindrically formed product was subjected to heat-sealing so that the width of a longitudinal heat-sealed part of the cylindrically formed product was 9 mm and the width of a miner axial heat-sealed part of cylindrically formed product was 15 mm, thereby forming a bag-like formed product having an upper part with an opening and a heat-sealed lower part. The bag-like formed product was filled with contents having a composition described below (3 g for non-syneresis gel, 2 g for paste) and air so that the inner pressure was about 1.05 time higher than the atmospheric pressure (1 atm), the volume ratio of the content to the gas was 7:3, the ratio of the long diameter to the short diameter of the cross-section of the drum part was 1:0.6. On the longitudinal side portion of the heat-sealed part of the cylindrically formed product, an I-type notch was formed 3 mm inside from the tip of the content on the side of the content-encapsulated portion to the longitudinal direction of the drum part. The notch was inclined at 75 degrees so that cutting would occur on the side of the container-encapsulated portion in the direction of the tip of the content opposite to the gas-encapsulated portion, thereby resulting in the package of the present invention. The present package was opened from the notch. Subsequently, the dischargeability of the content was observed by pushing an air portion by fingers. The results are listed in Table 1.
(Method of Preparing Non-Syneresis Gel)
Soft drink gel: 0.3% by mass of κ-carageenan, 0.3% by mass of locust bean gum, 0.6% by mass of iota-carageenan, 30% by mass of sucrose, 10% by mass of glycerin, a very small amount of menthol, and a very small amount of peppermint oil were added with water to obtain 100% by mass of a gel in gross, and the gel was then dissolved by warming.
Moisturizing gel: 7% by mass of dipropylene glycol, 8% by mass of PEG1500, 0.4% by mass of carboxyl polymer methyl cellulose POE (15), 1% by mass of oleyl alcohol ether, 0.1% by mass of potassium hydroxide, and 83.5% by mass of water were dissolved by warming.
A package was prepared in a manner similar to Example 1, except that the heat-weldable film of Example 1 was changed to a polyethylene/aluminum foil/polypropylene film (80 μm in film thickness) and plastibase was used (25 mg thereof was applied per 10 square centimeters) as a lubricant on the contact portion between the polyethtlene layer and the content. The content of the package was then taken out. The results are listed in Table 1.
A package was prepared in a manner similar to Example 1, except that the heat-weldable film of Example 1 was changed to a polymeric film (30 μm, made of nylon) having a directional property with which the film can be cut in the lateral direction and bees wax (25 mg 10 square centimeters) was applied as a lubricant on the contact portion between the film and the content. The content of the package was then taken out. The results are listed in Table 1. Further, in the case of the present example, differ from Example 1, a break line that indicates an opening direction was clearly printed at a position, which was 3 mm inside from the tip of the content filled on the side of the content-encapsulated portion to the longitudinal direction of the drum part and was inclined at 70 degrees so that it can be split off toward the tip of the content opposite to the gas-encapsulated portion on the side of the content-encapsulated portion, on the side portion of heat-sealed part of the cylindrically formed product.
Packages were prepared in manners similar to those of Examples 1 to 3 except that the lubricants were not used and contents were then taken out of the respective packages. Each result is listed in Table 1.
Example 4: A package was prepared such that the notch had an inclination angle of 45 degrees in Example 1.
Example 5: A package was prepared such that the notch had an inclination angle of 60 degrees in Example 2.
Example 6: A package was prepared such that the notch had an inclination angle of 80 degrees in Example 3.
Comparative Example 4: A package was prepared such that the notch had an inclination angle of 90 degrees in Example 1.
Comparative Example 5: A package was prepared such that the notch had an inclination angle of 90 degrees in Example 2.
The easiness of opening was evaluated as follows by allowing ten users of A to J to open the above packages:
(+2): opened easily without force;
(+1): opened easily with little force;
(0): All samples were similarly opened;
(−1): could not be opened easily despite force; and
(−2): split diagonally and hardly opened.
The results are listed in Table 2.
The present invention provides a novel package filled with a gel or paste content and gas in a formed product formed into the form of a cylinder by heat welding a sheet-like planar polymeric film, by which the package can be easily opened and the whole amount of contents can be smoothly pushed out.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-331219 | Nov 2004 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP04/18846 | 12/16/2004 | WO | 00 | 6/12/2007 |
