Cap device for mouthpiece of container and methods of sealing mouthpiece portion of container and opening the same

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a cap device for sealing a mouthpiece of a container such as a bag-in-box which is required to have sterilizing ability and methods of sealing a mouthpiece portion of the container by utilizing the cap device and opening the same.

There is known a container which is required to be hermetically sealed and, as one example of the container of this character, is known so-called a bag-in-box of the type in which a foldable plastic bag container is accommodated in a corrugated fiberboard box for an outer package so as to utilize the box as a container suitable for conveying and reserving liquid content.

It is important to keep the sterilized condition for drink liquid and chemical liquid in a case where such liquids are fed into the bag-in-box of the character described above. In addition, for such a bag-in-box, it is also required to be easily used and handled. Accordingly, the bag-in-box container and the cap device are subjected to sterilizing treatment (for example, irradiation of .gamma.-ray) beforehand. Many improvements for the structure of the cap device have been made for this purpose. However, almost all existing cap devices are constructed as single unit caps.

In the prior technique, in the actual usage of the bag-in-box container which is filled up with liquid under sterilized condition, a cap is manually removed and a mouth portion of the bag-in-box is then connected to a take-out jig such as a connector to take out the liquid in the bag-in-box. Accordingly, a mouthpiece of the bag-in-box container is temporarily directly exposed to an outer atmosphere at a time of being connected to the connector and there may cause a case where the outer atmosphere is intruded into the bag-in-box container or air of a head space in the container is flown out.

In view of the maintenance of the sterilization of the bag-in-box, it is not desired that the mouth portion is directly exposed to the outer atmosphere even in temporarily and many technical attempts have been tried to eliminate this problem.

A certain conventional cap device for the container such as bag-in-box is provided with a function as a connector. Such cap device is provided with a connector member to which a coupling member is connected to thereby form a dispenser means (external connection line) for optionally taking out the content in the bag-in-box. For the bag-in-box container of this type, it is also required to be provided with the sterilization maintaining property.

However, the connector member of the mouthpiece of the conventional cap device is, in general, sealed by one valve member. Therefore, when the dispenser means is assembled by connecting the coupling member to the connector member as described above, the content in the bag-in-box is always communicated with contaminated portions of the connector member and the coupling member.

The insufficient control of the dispenser means to microorganisms may be resulted, in an adverse case, in the degradation of the content or food poisoning for a person.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of this invention is to substantially eliminate the defects and drawbacks encountered to the prior art described above and to provide cap devices to be mounted to mouthpiece portions of containers and methods of sealing and opening the mouthpiece capable of maintaining suitable sterilized and sanitary condition of the mouthpiece portion during the connection of the cap device and the usage thereof.

This and other object can be achieved according to this invention, in one aspect, by providing a cap device to be mounted to a mouthpiece of a container, comprising a cap member provided with an inner hollow portion and a film member accommodated in the inner hollow portion of the cap member, the cap member being provided with a projection formed on an inner surface thereof and projecting inwardly of the inner hollow portion for temporarily supporting the film member in the inner hollow portion to prevent the film member from falling therefrom and the film member comprising a layered structure composed of at least one metal including layer and a fusing layer abutting against an open end face of the mouthpiece mounted to the container.

In another aspect of this invention, there is provided a cap device to be mounted to a mouthpiece of a container, comprising a connecting portion to be connected to the mouthpiece of the container, the connecting portion being provided with an inner hollow portion, a coupling projecting portion formed integrally with the connecting portion and adapted to be connected to an external connection line, the coupling projecting portion being provided with an axial through hole communicated with the inner hollow portion of the connecting portion, and a movable valve member disposed in the axial through hole to be axially movable. The movable valve member comprises a first seal member for sealing one end of the through hole of the coupling projecting portion, a second seal member for sealing the other end of the through hole and an elastic member disposed between the first and second seal members for outwardly urging the first and second seal members.

In a further aspect of this invention, there is provided a cap device to be mounted to a mouthpiece of a container, comprising a connecting portion provided with an inner hollow portion to be connected to the mouthpiece of the container, a coupling projecting portion integrally connected to the connecting portion and adapted to be connected to an external connection line, the coupling projecting portion being provided with an inner axial through hole communicated with the inner hollow portion of the connecting portion, a film member accommodated in the inner hollow portion of the connecting portion, and a movable valve member accommodated in the through hole of the coupling projecting portion to be axially expandable and shrinkable, the film member having a layered structure composed of two fusing layers constituting inner and outer layers of the film member and at least one metal including layer disposed between the two fusing layers.

In a still further aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of sealing a mouthpiece of a container by a cap device comprising a cap member provided with an inner hollow portion and a film member accommodated in the inner hollow portion of the cap member, the film member having a layered structure composed of a fusing layer abutting against an opening end face of the mouthpiece of the container and at least one metal including layer and the cap member being provided with a projection formed on an inner surface thereof and projecting inwardly of the inner hollow portion for temporarily supporting the film member in the inner hollow portion, the method being characterized by comprising the steps of mounting the cap device to the mouthpiece of the container with the film member being accommodated in the inner hollow portion of the cap member, heating the film member by means of high frequency induction heating to heat the metal including layer and fuse the fusing layer and sealing the open end face of the mouthpiece of the container with the fused fusing layer.

In a still further aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of opening a mouthpiece of a container from a cap device, after sealing the same, comprising a cap member provided with an inner hollow portion and a film member accommodated in the inner hollow portion of the cap member, the film member having a layered structure composed of a fusing layer abutting against an open end face of the mouthpiece of the container and at least one metal including layer and the cap member being provided with a projection formed on an inner surface thereof and projecting inwardly of the inner hollow portion for temporarily supporting the film member in the inner hollow portion, the method being characterized by comprising the steps of removing a cap member, connecting a connection line to the mouthpiece portion and applying a pressure to the film member from either one of outer and inner sides of the container to break the film member to thereby establish communication between an interior of the container and the connection line without being exposed to an atmosphere.

In a still further aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of opening a mouthpiece of a container from a cap device, after sealing the same, comprising a cap member provided with an inner hollow portion and a film member accommodated in the inner hollow portion of the cap member, the film member having a layered structure composed of a fusing layer abutting against an open end face of the mouthpiece of the container and at least one metal including layer and the cap member being provided with a projection formed on an inner surface thereof and projecting inwardly of the inner hollow portion for temporarily supporting the film member in the inner hollow portion, the method being characterized by comprising the steps of preparing a connector having a cutter and a connection line, removing the cap member, connecting the connector to the mouthpiece of the container so that the cutter is directed to the film member, connecting the connection line to an outer end of the connector, projecting the cutter towards the film member to break the film member to thereby establish communication between an interior of the container and the connection line without being exposed to an atmosphere.

In a still further aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of sealing a mouthpiece of a container by a cap device, after sealing the same, comprising a connecting portion provided with an inner hollow portion to be connected to the mouthpiece of the container, a coupling projecting portion integrally connected to the connecting portion and adapted to be connected to an external connection line, the coupling projection portion being provided with an inner axial through hole communicated with the inner hollow portion of the connecting portion and a film member accommodated in the inner hollow portion of the connecting portion, the film member having a layered structure composed of two fusing layers constituting inner and outer layers of the film member and at least one metal including layer disposed between the two fusing layers, the method being characterized by comprising the steps of mounting the cap device to the mouthpiece of the container with the film member being accommodated in the inner hollow portion of the connecting portion, heating the film member by means of high frequency induction heating to heat the metal including layer and fuse the fusing layers to an open end face of the mouthpiece and a top portion of the inner hollow portion of the connecting portion of the cap device and sealing the mouthpiece of the container with the fused fusing layers of the film member.

In a still further aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of opening a mouthpiece of a container from a cap device, after sealing the same, comprising a connecting portion provided with an inner hollow portion to be connected to the mouthpiece of the container, a coupling projecting portion integrally connected to the connecting portion and adapted to be connected to an external connection line, the coupling projecting portion being provided with an inner axial through hole communicated with the inner hollow portion of the connecting portion, a film member accommodated in the hollow portion of the connecting portion, and a movable valve member accommodated in the through hole of the coupling projecting portion to be axially expandable and shrinkable, the film member having a layered structure composed of two fusing layers constituting inner and outer layers of the film member and at least one metal including layer disposed between the two fusing layers, the method being characterized by comprising the steps of preparing a connector having an inner hollow portion in which a projecting pin is provided, connecting a connector to an outer end portion of the coupling projecting portion so that the pin extends inward of the coupling projecting portion, applying a pressure to one end of the movable valve member by the pin to depress and open the one end thereof, applying a pressure to the film member from either one of outer and inner sides of the container to break the film member and open the other end of the movable member to thereby establish communication between an interior of the container and an outer connection line without being exposed to an atmosphere.

According to this invention of the characters described above, the cap device to be mounted to the mouthpiece portion of a container, preferably a bag-in-box container, has a structure hermetically mounted to the mouthpiece portion of the container. The mouthpiece portion can be easily sealed and opened without being exposed to the atmosphere, thus being sanitory and the content can be easily taken out. The connection line can also be connected to the cap device under the sterilized condition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of this invention and to show how the invention can be carried out, reference will be made, by way of preferred embodiments, to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a bag-in-box of double bag structure provided with a mouthpiece and a cap device of the first embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view, in an enlarged scale, of the cap device shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views showing layered structures of film members to be accommodated in the cap device shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a bag-in-box of double bag structure provided with a mouthpiece and a cap device of the second embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view, in an enlarged scale, of the cap device shown in FIG. 5;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are sectional views showing layered structures of film members to be accommodated in the cap device shown in FIG. 6;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are plan and sectional views of the second sealing member of the cap device shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a modified example of a movable valve member of the cap device shown in FIG. 6;

FIGS. 11A and 11B are sectional views of another modified example of the movable valve member;

FIGS. 12A to 12F are sectional views of the cap device of the first embodiment for the explanatory of the cap device sealing and opening method in respective steps;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of the cap device shown in FIG. 12 showing a condition that the film member is cut out by means of a cutter blade;

FIGS. 14A to 14E are sectional views of the cap device of the second embodiment showing conditions similar to those of FIGS. 12A to 12E; and

FIGS. 15 and 16 are sectional views of the cap device of the second embodiment for the explanatory of the operation of the movable valve member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This invention will be described in detail hereunder with reference to a cap device to be connected to a mouthpiece of a bag-in-box as one typical example of a cap device for the mouthpiece of a container in which liquid content is contained.

FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a cap device 20, as the first embodiment of this invention, in a condition before the sealing of the cap device to a bag-in-box 1 provided with a connection mouthpiece 4.

The bag-in-box 1 is formed as a double-bag structure comprising an inner bag 2 and an outer bag 3 enclosing the inner bag 2, and the connection mouthpiece 4 of unitary structure for filling and taking out a content in and from the inner bag 2.

In the illustration of FIG. 1, an outer box as an outer package in which the bag-in-box 1 is accommodated is eliminated for the sake of convenience.

As shown in FIG. 1, the connection mouthpiece 4 comprises a cylindrical mouthpiece body 45, a lower flanged portion 46 as an adhesive portion for the inner bag 2 and an upper flanged portion 47 as an adhesive portion for the outer bag 3, the lower and upper flanged portions 46 and 47 being integrally formed to the lower and upper portions of the mouthpiece body 45. Two projections 45a and 45b in form of threads are formed to a portion near the periphery of the upper end of the mouthpiece body 45.

The mouthpiece body 45 is provided with a base portion from which a connection plug 48 is projected upwardly as viewed. The mouthpiece body 45 is also provided with an axial opening having relatively large diameter and communicating with an interior of the inner bag 2. The opening constitutes a communication hole 10 with respect to the inner bag 2 for filling the content into the inner bag 2 or taking out the content therefrom. Another hole having relatively small diameter is bored in the connection plug 48 and the mouthpiece body 45 so as to form a communication hole 11 with respect to the outer bag 3.

The inner and outer bags 2 and 3 are formed of a plastic film material such as polyethlene by forming the plastic film materials into multi-cylindrical portions having slightly mutually different inner diameters and the both open end portions of the cylindrical portions are heat fused by a heat sealer, for example, to form seal portions 2a and 3a, thus forming the plastic film materials into double bag structure.

The attachment of the mouthpiece 4 to the inner and outer bags 2 and 3 are performed by first forming holes to the film materials of the inner and outer bags 2 and 3 in vertical alignment, inserting the lower portion of the mouthpiece body 45 into these holes and then heat fusing the lower and upper flanged portions 46 and 47 of the lower portion of the mouthpiece body 45 to the film materials of the inner and outer bags 2 and 3.

The cap device 20 of the first embodiment of this invention to be mounted to the connection mouthpiece 4 of the character described hereinabove will be described hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2, showing a sectional view of the cap device 20 before the mounting to the mouthpiece 4, the cap device 20 comprises an outer cap member 25 of substantially cylindrical shape having an inner hollow portion E1 and a film member 21 disposed in the inner hollow portion E1.

The film member 21 is of a disk-shape having flexibility and is directly contacted to an open end face 45c of the mouthpiece 4 as described hereunder.

The film member 21, as shown in FIG. 3, has a laminated structure, for example, three-layered structure comprising a supporting layer 21a, a metal including layer 21b and a fusing layer 21c with the metal including layer 21b being interposed between the other two layers 21a and 21c.

In a preferred example, the metal including layer 21b may be formed of an aluminum foil having a thickness of about 30 .mu.m or a material made by blending metal particles into resin material. The metal including layer 21b attains its function when the film member 21 is subjected to high frequency fusing treatment.

The supporting layer 21a may be made of a resin material having a flexibility such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) having a thickness of about 15 .mu.m.

It is preferred to form the fusing layer 21c with the same material as that constituting the mouthpiece 4 for the reason that the fusing layer 21c is fused to the open end face 45c of the mouthpiece 4. For this reason, the fusing layer 21c may be formed of polyethylene (PE) having thickness of about 45 .mu.m.

The film member 21 is not limited to the three-layered structure and, in an alternation, the supporting layer 21a may be removed or the film member 21 may be formed to have multilayered structures having more than four layers by interposing other intermedicate layers as occasion demands.

As shown in FIG. 4, it may be desired to form a recess g1 having a shape of cutout groove, for example, in a portion of the flat surface of the film member 21 (it is preferred to form the recess g1 without cutting the fusing layer 21c) for providing a suitable seal opening function as described hereunder. In an alternation, the supporting layer 21a and the fusing layer 21c may be cutout without cutting out the metal including layer 21b.

The cylindrical outer cap member 25 has two projections 25a and 25b projected inwardly of the inner hollow portion E1 so that the flexible film member 21 is disposed temporarily, without being dripped out, in an uppermost space E2 as viewed in the inner hollow portion E1. Namely, since the inner diameter of the upper projection 25a is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the flexible film member 21, the film member 21 forcibly fitted into the space E2 cannot be easily dropped out.

The second embodiment of the cap device provided with a connection means, i.e. connector, according to this invention will be described hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the bag-in-box container 1 of double bag structure provided with the connection mouthpiece 4 and a cap device 50, before the sealing, according to the second embodiment of this invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the structure of the bag-in-box 1 of this embodiment is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment, so that the details thereof are omitted herein and, accordingly, the cap device 50 to be mounted to the mouthpiece 4 of the bag-in-box 1 is now described hereunder.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the cap device 50 according to the second embodiment before the mounting to the mouthpiece 4. The cap device 50 comprises a connection portion J to be connected to the mouthpiece 4 of the bag-in-box container and a coupling portion P formed integrally with the connection portion J so as to extend upwardly as viewed.

The connection portion J is provided with an inner hollow portion E3 into which the mouthpiece 4 is inserted. In a preferred example, a flexible film member 121 is disposed in the hollow portion E3. The connection portion J is also provided with two projections 125a and 125b, for example, so as to project inwardly of the hollow portion E3 as described with reference to the first embodiment as the projections 25a and 25b, and the disk-shaped flexible film member 121 is temporarily disposed in an uppermost space E4 in the hollow portion E3. Since the inner diameter of the projection 125a is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the flexible film member 121, the film member 121 forcibly inserted into the space E4 cannot be easily dropped out.

As shown in FIG. 7, the film member 121 has a laminated structure, for example, three-layered structure comprising a fusing layer 1