The present invention relates to a highly hermetically-sealable plastic zipper equipped with a slider which zipper is employed in packaging materials for foods, pharmaceuticals, electronic part items and the like, and enables easy opening and resealing, while maintaining hermetical sealability; and to a bag body fitted with the above-mentioned zipper. It also pertains to a plastic zipper equipped with a slider which zipper enables detection of its having been unsealed after sealing packaging; and to a bag body fitted with the zipper just mentioned.
There are widely employed, as packaging materials for a variety of articles in the fields of foods, pharmaceuticals, electronic part items and the like, bag bodies each fitted with a plastic zipper. In particular, there are widely employed plastic zippers each equipped with a slider because of easiness in opening and closing and its capability of resealing. Thus, accompanying the diversification of objects to be packaged, it follows that higher hermetical-sealability is required of the plastic zippers. At the same time, it is desired that the zipper be endowed with the function capable of detection of its having been unsealed after sealing packaging, since unsealing thereafter due to an unfair purpose or mistake brings about such disadvantages as foreign matters being mixed in and impaired quality of the content in the bag bodies.
The example as illustrated on
The example as illustrated on
The example as illustrated on
The method as illustrated on
The systems as illustrated on
As a result of intensive research and investigation, the present inventor has developed a plastic zipper equipped with a slider which zipper has hermetical sealability to a high degree, and further facilitates unsealing and reopening/reclosing; a plastic zipper equipped with a slider which zipper has, in addition to the aforesaid capability, a function capable of detection of its having been unsealed after sealing packaging; and a bag body fitted with either of the above-mentioned zippers equipped with a slider.
The means for solving the subjects are summarized as follows.
The symbols in the drawings shall have the following designations:
The embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the attached drawings.
As an example of sliders not impairing the hermetical sealability of a hermetically-sealable zipper, there is available a slider as described in Japanese Patent Application No. 316469/1999 (Heisei 11). As illustrated in
In the first aspect of the present invention, the continuous tightening wall and the continuous pressing rib are bonded to each other in a state of the zipper being engaged via an easily peelable plastic layer which is installed in advance on the surface of at least one of the continuous tightening wall and the continuous pressing rib.
In the following, some description will be given of the second aspect of the present invention with reference to
The top surface of the male hook and the bottom surface of the female hook are bonded to each other in a state of the zipper being engaged as illustrated on
In the following, some description will be given of the third aspect of the present invention with reference to
The fourth aspect of the present invention comprises the embodiments of both the first and third aspects of the present invention, that is, a pair of protrusions for slider guide are bonded to each other via an easily peelable plastic layer and at the same time, the continuous tightening wall and the continuous pressing rib are bonded to each other via an easily peelable plastic layer.
The fifth aspect of the present invention comprises the embodiments of both the second and third aspects of the present invention, that is, a pair of protrusions for slider guide are bonded to each other via an easily peelable plastic layer and at the same time, a top portion of the male hook and a bottom portion of the female hook are bonded to each other via an easily peelable plastic layer.
By the term “easily peelable plastic layer” as mentioned herein is generally meant a heat-sealed plastic layer having a peel strength of at most 0.6 kgf/15 mm as measured by the method described in JIS Z 0238. In the present invention, the peel strength after the adhesion between the easily peelable plastic layer to be installed in advance and a companion resin to be bonded therewith is properly at most 0.6 kgf/15 mm, preferably at most 0.3 kgf/15 mm in particular. Therein in the case where the easily peelable plastic layers are placed in advance on both sides, the companion resin is an easily peelable plastic layer, while in the case where the easily peelable plastic layer is placed in advance on either side only, the companion resin is a resin which constitutes a zipper and a protrusion for slider guide. When peel strength therein exceeds 0.6 kgf/15 mm, a big force is necessary for opening and closing operations for a zipper, thereby the protrusions for slider guide are sometimes deformed and inconvenience or trouble in opening and closing operations for a zipper are caused. Needless to say, however, a peel strength sufficient for preventing easy peeling is necessary in the case where a zipper is placed in an ordinary state without receiving a force in particular.
The materials which constitute the above-described easily peelable plastic layers are not specifically limited, but exemplified by resin compositions that are usually employed as easily peelable plastics such as polybutene, ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer, polyethylene/polypropylene mixture and resin mixtures containing these resins. With regard to the mechanism of easy peelability, interfacial peeling is excellent as compared with cohesive peeling in terms of preservation of hermetical sealability at the time of opening/closing a zipper after unsealing.
The heat seal temperature of the easily peelable plastics is preferably lower than the melting point of the resin constituting the zipper.
In the case of heat sealing a bag body fitted with a zipper in which part thereof is bonded in a state of the zipper being engaged via an easily peelable plastic layer, there is usually adopted without specific limitation, a method in which a prospective content is filled in the bag body through the bottom thereof in a state of the zipper being engaged and thereafter, the filling port is heat sealed (hereinafter the bag is referred to as “bottom opened bag”).
A method for bonding part of a zipper by means of an easily peelable plastic layer may be properly optionally selected in accordance with the physical properties of the layer to be used from among a heat sealing method using a hot air nozzle, a method using a heat sealing hot plate, a method using a ultrasonic heat sealing machine, a method using a high-frequency heat sealing machine and the like.
In regard to the timing of adhesion with the easily peelable plastic, it is preferably put into practice at the time of producing a bag body fitted with a zipper by the use of a bag making machine in the case of a bottom opened flat bag or the like, while in the case of a gusset bag or the like, it follows that adhesion is conducted after the prospective content is filled in the bag by using a heat sealing machine attached to a filling machine.
On the portion to be bonded using the easily peelable plastic layer, by taking a bicolor system, that is, making the color of the easily peelable plastic layer to be installed in advance different from the color of a companion resin to be bonded therewith, it is enabled to impart the function capable of detection of having been unsealed after sealing packaging. Therein in the case where the easily peelable plastic layers are placed in advance on both sides, the companion resin is an easily peelable plastic layer, while in the case where the easily peelable plastic layer is placed in advance on either side only, the companion resin is a resin which constitutes a zipper and a protrusion for slider guide. In the case of selecting yellow and blue as bicolor, the adhesion portion in a state of bonded (heat sealed) assumes green, but turns yellow and blue after peeling, and never returns to green unless adhesion (heat sealing) procedure is carried out again, thereby clarifying the fact of having been unsealed.
In the case of the first and second aspects of the present invention where adhesion of the zipper is made via the easily peelable plastic layer, the color change is somewhat difficult to observe in a state of the zipper being closed. However in the case of the third to fifth aspects thereof where adhesion of the protrusions is made via the easily peelable plastic layer, the color change is remarkably observed.
In the case where the easily peelable plastic layer is placed in advance on either side only, it is preferable that the companion resin for adhesion which constitutes the zipper and/or protrusions for slider guide be colored on the surface portion thereof alone, since change in color tone due to peeling becomes easier to observe.
Implementation methods for opening the bag body fitted with the zipper bonded via the easily peelable plastic layer by the use of the slider include a method wherein the zipper is completely opened, including the adhesion portion via the easily peelable plastic layer and a method comprising regulating the size of the inside guide of slider 15-1 as illustrated on
In the following, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to comparative example and working examples, which however shall never limit the present invention thereto.
There was prepared a hermetically-sealable zipper as illustrated on
Subsequently, there were prepared bottom opened flat bags which measured 140 mm in width and 200 mm in height by dry laminating a LLDPE film, an aluminum foil and a polyamide resin film having a thickness of 60 μm, 12 μm and 15 μm, respectively, from the inside towards outside of a prospective bag so as to form a laminate film, bonding through heat sealing, the flange portions of the sealed zipper-1 in a width of 4 mm to the inside of the resultant laminate film and thereafter heat sealing both the ends through heat sealing in a width of 4 mm. Then a slider was attached to the top of the bag thus prepared and thereafter the inside portion of the protrusions out of contact with the slider on the top end of the sealed zipper was heat-sealed. As a result, the heat-sealed portion turned green.
Subsequently, the sealed zipper was opened by operating the slider, whereupon the green color disappeared on the protrusions (and the joint of the continuous tightening wall and continuous pressing rib), whereby separation into blue and yellow was visualized. Thereafter, the sealed zipper was closed by operating the slider, whereupon green color linearly remained in part, but never returned to the original green color of the time of the adhesion. Thereby it was made possible to confirm the function of detecting unjust unsealing.
The above-mentioned bottom opened flat bags which each measured 140 mm in width and 200 mm in height and which were each fitted with the sealed zipper with a slider attached were prepared in 20 numbers.
Two sheets of tapes the material of which was LLDPE and which measured 300 μm in thickness in and 15 mm in width were interposed, one end of the tapes was heat sealed each other in a width of 4 mm, and the other end thereof was heat sealed in a width of 4 mm onto the inside of the a laminate film whose material and size were the same as those of the film which had been used for the preparation of the above-mentioned bottom opened flat bags each fitted with the sealed zipper with a slider attached. Thereafter both the ends were heat sealed in a width of 4 mm.
As a result, the bottom opened flat bags which each measured 140 mm in width and 200 mm in height and which were each sealed at the three sides including the top portion and both the sides were prepared in 20 numbers.
Nitrogen gas at a relative humidity of 50% in a volume of 700 milliliter (ml) was filled in each of the bags which had been prepared in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, respectively so that the nitrogen gas was enclosed inside the bags by heat sealing the bottom portion in a width of 4 mm. Then, 10 bags×2 types of nitrogen-filled bags out of these 20 bags×2 types thereof were each used to measure the initial concentration, and the remaining bags were allowed to stand in a steel box which was filled inside with oxygen gas at ordinary temperature, atmospheric pressure and a relative humidity of 50% for 100 hours and thereafter, were subjected to the measurement of oxygen concentration of the nitrogen gas inside the bags. The results are given in Tables 1, where no significant difference was recognized in oxygen permeation amount between the bags of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, whereby it was confirmed that the sealed zipper of Example 1 had hermetical sealability comparable to that of the heat seal of Comparative Example 1.
In addition, it was confirmed that after once opened, the sealed zipper exhibited the functions of a hermetically-sealable zipper for general purpose.
There was prepared a colorless transparent hermetically-sealable zipper as illustrated on
Subsequently, there were prepared bottom opened flat bags which measured 140 mm in width and 200 mm in height in the same manner as in Example 1, and by the use of the sealed zipper-2 thus prepared, a slider was attached to the top of the bag thus prepared and thereafter the inside portion of the protrusions out of contact with the slider on the top end of the sealed zipper was heat sealed. As a result, the heat-sealed portion turned green.
Subsequently, the sealed zipper was opened by operating the slider, whereupon the green color disappeared on the protrusions, whereby separation into blue and yellow was visualized. Thereafter, even when the sealed zipper was closed by operating the slider, the color never returned to the original green color of the time of the adhesion. Thereby it was made possible to confirm the function of detecting unjust unsealing. Moreover, by opening the sealed zipper the green color on the joint of the continuous tightening wall and continuous pressing rib disappeared, whereby separation into blue and yellow was visualized.
The above-mentioned bottom opened flat bags which measured 140 mm in width and 200 mm in height and which was fitted with the sealed zipper with a slider attached were prepared in 20 numbers. Subsequently, oxygen permeation amount was measured in the same manner as in Example 1. The results are given in Table 1, thus enabling to confirm that the sealed zipper of Example 2 had hermetical sealability comparable to that of the heat seal of Comparative Example 1.
According to the present invention, it is made possible to provide a bag body fitted with a zipper with a slider attached which bag body is capable of assuring high hermetical-sealability enabling long-term preservation of contents therein, is easy to open, and is imparted with a function of revealing unjust unsealing as well, since a pair of male and female hooks and/or protrusions for slider guide are bonded via easily peelable plastic layers.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2000-345057 | Nov 2000 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP01/09867 | 11/12/2001 | WO | 00 | 5/9/2003 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO02/38459 | 5/16/2002 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040025308 A1 | Feb 2004 | US |