JPH0794277B2 - Bottle-sealing method and device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION “Object of the Invention” The present invention relates to a bottle-sealing method and apparatus, and can hold a bottle filling such as fruit wine such as grape wine or raw sake in a predetermined vacuum reduced pressure state. An object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus capable of appropriately plugging and sealing with a mass-produced synthetic resin plug-like plug body.

(Industrial application field) Sealing technology for fruit and raw sake filled in bottles.

(Prior Art) Fruit liquor such as grape liquor, raw sake, and the like have recently become more and more popular because of a tendency toward natural orientation. However, in order to seal these beverages, the spread of favorite beverages that do not sterilize by heating or completely inactivate residual enzymes is becoming popular, and such technology is not limited to beverages, but other bottled foods, etc. Is being spread to.

However, such beverages and foods are extremely difficult to store for a long period of time, and as a quality preservation method in the distribution process after bottle filling, refrigeration or the addition of an antioxidant is used. It is a sideways preservation of a bottle for the purpose of water sealing using the cork stopper that came back.

In the case of bottle filling, the safest and most reliable method is heat treatment, which involves heating to 70-100 ° C.
Some parts other than heat-resistant bacteria can be easily sterilized.By sealing at this high temperature, the volume of the stored contents shrinks after cooling, and by keeping the inside of the bottle in a depressurized state, the inside of the bottle cavity becomes deficient in oxygen. , The activity of residual enzymes is suppressed to prevent the invasion of foreign bacteria from the outside and the quality is maintained.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The conventional refrigeration as described above requires special equipment,
In addition, there is a high possibility of deterioration due to freezing. Addition of antioxidants is often detrimental to flavor and in some cases can be harmful.

On the other hand, when the cork stoppers are stored sideways, as the cork stoppers dry out, the outside air enters through the cell conduits of the cork material and the wood grain every time the temperature of the outside air changes, which promotes air oxidation, and It is a clever method to prevent the cork from drying out by placing it sideways to prevent the various flavors from invading along with the outside air and impairing the flavor of the wine. Is. Also, when the cork material is laid sideways as described above and absorbs liquid, it swells and becomes brittle, and due to its shape change, a force doubled at the time of stoppering is required at the time of stoppering, and therefore an instrument is always required at the time of stoppering, and The tip of the cork stopper often breaks during unplugging, and it is extremely difficult to remove the debris remaining in the bottle mouth due to the breaking. That is, in general, abandoning the withdrawal and pushing it into the bottle on the contrary and dropping it, the content liquid is taken out in the state of floating in the liquid, but it is truly unclean, and the floating fragment cork stopper removes the liquid. Inhibit. Of course, the broken plug remains permanently in the bottle.

Even if the heat treatment can achieve accurate sterilization, raw sake or fruit liquor cannot be heated because the flavor and aroma also change due to the sterilization. That is, it means that the heat-treated product is not raw.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) 1. When plugging and plugging a plug-like plug into the bottle mouth, the plug-like plug is made of a synthetic resin foam having cushioning properties. The tip side small diameter portion is inserted into the bottle mouth, and the tip side small diameter portion is formed integrally with the tip side small diameter portion continuously through a step portion and has a larger diameter than the bottle mouth inner diameter. Prepared by forming a ventilation groove from the above part to the above step part, and striking the plug-like plug body with the small diameter part on the tip side inserted into the bottle mouth part in which the predetermined contents are accommodated. Sent to the stopper mechanism, vacuum decompressing the inside of the bottle body through the ventilation groove under the condition that the head of the bottle and the portion of the plug-like plug protruding from the bottle are closed, and A compression tight fitting portion having a diameter larger than that of the bottle mouth of the plug-like plug is pushed into the bottle mouth to close the ventilation groove. A bottle-sealing method characterized by blocking and sealing.

2. A device for inserting and plugging a plug-like plug body into a bottle mouth, and sealing the device, wherein a tip side small diameter portion formed of a synthetic resin foam having a cushioning property and attached to the bottle mouth and the tip side The small-diameter portion is integrally formed continuously through the step portion, and is composed of a compression fitting portion in the bottle having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the bottle, and a ventilation groove is formed from the tip-side small-diameter portion to the step portion. A plug-like plug body having a receiving portion for setting the bottle body with the small diameter portion on the tip side inserted in the bottle mouth, and a sealing throat portion for housing the mouth portion of the bottle body set in the receiving portion; An elevating mechanism for vertically moving the sealing throat portion is provided, and the sealing throat portion is provided with a stopper piston above the bottle mouth accommodating chamber and below the bottle mouth outside accommodating chamber. A sealing material for tightly sealing the seal is provided, and the pressure receiving portion formed on the outer surface of the sealing material Bottle mouth sealing device being characterized in that a vacuum depressurization system which is opened and pressurized fluid system for pressing the fluid to the bottle body mouth accommodating chamber.

(Function) The plug-like plug body including the tip side small diameter portion and the bottle inside compression tight fitting portion having a diameter larger than the bottle mouth inner diameter formed continuously with the tip side small diameter portion through the step portion is extended to the step portion. Can be easily attached to the bottle mouth. Further, in the inserted part at the stepped portion, the inside of the bottle cavity and the outside and the inside of the throat cylinder communicate with each other in the inserted state by the ventilation groove extending from the small diameter portion at the tip end side to the stepped portion.

Therefore, by closing the bottle head in such a state and the part protruding from the bottle mouth of the plug-like plug body, the parts are divided into a closed chamber and the vacuum pressure is reduced under the condition that the outside air is shut off. The inside is also evacuated to reduce the dissolved oxygen in the filling liquid and suppress the activity of the residual enzyme.

In the above-mentioned state, the airtight groove is closed by pushing the compression-tight fitting portion having a diameter larger than that of the bottle mouth into the bottle mouth, and the anoxic state described above is maintained even under atmospheric pressure conditions. In terms of equipment, the bottle mouth portion accommodation chamber need only be extremely small, and the sealing material provided below the accommodation chamber surrounds the outside of the bottle mouth portion, and under such conditions the pressure on the outer surface of the sealing material is received. It is easy to pressurize the fluid under pressure into the portion to form a sealing relationship with the bottle mouth portion.

(Examples) To describe specific embodiments of the present invention as described above, the inventors of the present invention have made earnest studies so as to solve the problems in the conventional ones as described above, and as a result, We succeeded in obtaining a new bottle-sealing method and its equipment without disadvantage.

That is, first, in the present invention, a plug-type plug as shown in FIG. 2 and subsequent figures is used, and the synthetic resin material thereof is a foamed tissue made of polyethylene acrylic copolymer, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, polyurethane or the like. With such a synthetic resin material, the relatively simple structure of the bottle stopper according to the present invention is as shown in FIG. 2, and the molded plug body made of the soft synthetic resin foamed tissue as described above has the core layer 4
Has a relatively low density large bubble structure, and the intermediate layer 3 and the outer layer 2 gradually have high density small bubble structures as they reach the outer layer portion, and the surface layer 1 on the outer surface thereof has a thickness of 2 to 10 μm. The skin layer is in a bubble-free state. However, in the plug body made of such a molded body, the step portion 5 is formed in the middle in the structure shown in FIG. 2, and the tip side 6 from the step portion 5 has an inner diameter on the upper end side of the mouth of the bottle 10 to be applied. The outer diameters are substantially matched, and the upper portion 7 above the step portion 5 is so tightly plugged into the bottle mouth portion 11 as described above that the tip side 6 is formed.
For example, the diameter is about 8 to 14% larger than the outer diameter of the tip side 6. Further, in the bottle stopper according to the present invention, the exhaust groove 8 extends from the tip side 6 to the step portion 5 as described above.
Is formed so that the inner pressure of the bottle mouth 11 can be adjusted with the tip end side 6 inserted in the bottle mouth 11 at the time of tapping.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show an embodiment of the invention in which the sealing is further optimized, that is to say the step 5 is
5 and 5a are formed in multiple stages, and the uppermost part 7a is further provided above the upper part 7 formed in the same manner as in FIG. 1 (however, the axial length is different) via the step part 5a. The structure of bubbles formed in the core layer 4, the intermediate layer 3, the outer layer 2 and the skin layer 1 is the same as that described with reference to FIG. 2, and the outer diameter of the uppermost portion 7a is the same as that of the tip portion 6. The diameter is 16 to 20% larger than the outer diameter. The one shown in FIG. 3 is one in which a locking concave and convex portion 9 is formed on the upper end of the plug body so that it can be removed with fingers, and the one shown in FIG. 4 is a plug opener using a known spiral wire rod or the like. It is designed to be pulled out, and a slight collar portion 19 is protrudingly provided at the upper end, and this collar portion 19 has a stopper action that locks at the top end of the bottle mouth at the time of stoppering using vacuum conditions, as described later. It is an eggplant.

As an example to which such a stopper is applied, the bottle 10 for wine will be described. The detail of the mouth portion 11 is about 20 to 25 mm from the top end of the bottle mouth as shown in FIGS. It is well known that the minimum diameter portion C is formed at the position, and the upper end side and the inner depth side of the minimum diameter portion C are each expanded in diameter to form an hourglass shape. However, when the conventional general cork stopper having a length exceeding the minimum diameter portion C is plugged into such a bottle portion, the minimum diameter portion C is
The upper portion is deformed according to the shape above the minimum diameter portion C after a certain period of time elapses, but the tip side from the minimum diameter portion C is a cylindrical shape that does not change dimensionally from the original shape, The gap between the inner wall surface of the bottle and the diameter of the bottle, which expands downward, is hardly filled. That is, in the case of this conventional general cork stopper, even if the cork stopper is long, it does not contribute to the sealing performance below the minimum diameter portion C unless the cork stopper is swollen. On the other hand, unlike the cork material, the plug according to the present invention does not swell because it does not absorb liquid even if it is laid down sideways and stored, but the inside of the bottle cavity is kept at an appropriate vacuum degree. By collecting, stoppering, and holding at room temperature for a certain time, the bubble structure of the bottle stopper and the shape of the stopper change as shown in FIG. That is, the bubble structure of the portion corresponding to the lower part of the C portion becomes an elliptical bubble compressed in the lateral direction or an enlarged bubble 4b to enlarge the portion.

That is, since the bottle stopper having the bubble structure as described above is different from the bubble in the free cavity at the time of the bubble formation, the bubble internal pressure is higher than the atmospheric pressure (+) because it is different in the mold. Naturally, the (+) pressure state is maintained in each state under normal pressure conditions.

When the bottle stopper in this state is plugged into the bottle mouth, since the upper portion 7 has a diameter considerably larger than the inner diameter of the bottle mouth, the upper portion 7 receives external pressure, that is, it is balanced at normal pressure. As the external pressure increases, the bubbles are transformed into vertically long bubbles. On the other hand, on the other hand, the tip side 6 is exposed to the pressure condition of the inside of the bottle mouth (-) which is decompressed in vacuum, so that the bubbles are expanded or flattened, and change as shown in FIG. It will be.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the case where the stepped portion 5 has one and the diameter of the upper portion 7 becomes extremely large, and there is difficulty in tapping, as shown in FIGS. By forming the step portions 5 and 5a and forming an intermediate large-diameter portion between them, such difficulty in tapping can be solved.

The present inventors have devised a device as shown in FIG. 1 in order to seal the bottle mouth by using the bottle stopper as described above. That is, the machine stand
A receiving portion 21 of the bottle body 10 in which only the tip side of the plug-like plug body 15 is inserted and formed on the 36 is formed, and is manually operated by an operator, or the body of the conveyor or the bottle body 10 is surrounded by the circumference of the rotating plate. The bottle body 10 is intermittently carried in by an automatic transfer / carrying-in means which receives in a receiving concave portion formed on the side and sequentially transfers it. Further, the sealing throat portion 20 is located above the receiving portion 21 and the sealing throat portion 20.
Is attached to a bracket 34 which is guided by a guide means 22 provided on the side of the receiving portion 21 and is raised and lowered by a raising and lowering operation cylinder 37, and a support arm 38 is provided from the guide means 22. As described above, the body of the bottle body 10 received at the predetermined position is held and held at the predetermined position.

The sealing throat portion 20 has a cylindrical sealing member 24 which receives a mouth portion of the bottle body 10 and a sealing member 24 which is provided at a lower portion of the sealing member 24. For example, an air pressure of about 1.0 to 2.0 kg / cm ² is supplied to the receiving groove 26 from the supply source through the passage 25. Further, a mounting seat 35 is attached above the sealing throat portion 20 so that the operating rod 31 of the tapping cylinder 32 extends in the direction of the throat portion 20 to operate the tapping piston 29, and the side surface of the throat portion 20. Is provided with an inert gas supply port 30 such as N ₂ or CO ₂ gas and a connection port 28 for a vacuum pump.

The cylindrical body 27 has a diameter slightly larger than that of the bottle mouth portion, so that the bottle throat portion 20 is lowered by lowering the bottle throat portion 20 with the bottle body 10 set in the predetermined receiving position as described above. It is clear that it will be properly accepted.

The stoppering direction carried out by using the apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 will be specifically described. A certain amount of liquid or other contained material is filled and only the tip of the stopper 15 is inserted into the bottle mouth. The bottle 10 is carried into the receiving portion 21 in the closed state. Since the tip portion is approximately the same as the inner diameter of the bottle mouth, not only by manual work, but also by simple insertion from the stopper supply mechanism such that the stoppers 15 are automatically aligned and inserted Be worn. Detecting that the bottle body 10 has been set in the receiving portion 21 as described above, the cylinder 37 is activated to lower the crosshead portions 34 and 34a to lower the sealing throat portion 20 and the sealing throat portion.
Accept bottle mouths within 20. At the time of receiving the bottle, the pressurized fluid does not act in the receiving groove 26 of the seal member 24, and therefore the bottle is smoothly received while the seal member 24 is retracted into the cylindrical body 27. .

When the bottle mouth is received as described above, the receiving groove 26 of the seal member 24 is acted on by the pressurized fluid, and the seal member 24 is pressure-bonded to the peripheral side of the bottle mouth to seal properly. Urethane resin is used as the sealing material and 1.0 kg / cm ² as the pressure fluid.
By the above air pressure acting, the seal binding to the outside of the bottle neck can be surely achieved. When this state is formed, the detection means operates to connect the vacuum decompression circuit from the connection port 28, and the vacuum pump or the vacuum tank, for example, -65.
When a vacuum degree of about 0 to 720 mm / Hg is formed in the sealing throat portion 20, the detection means acts to activate the cylinder 32, and the stopper piston 29 acts on the top surface of the stopper body 15 to stopper it.
By forming the above-mentioned vacuum condition, the inside of the bottle cavity is evacuated, and not only the activity of the enzyme and the like is suppressed, but also the state in which the oxidation does not proceed can be sealed.

If necessary, N ₂ gas is added from the supply port 30 to stop the oxidation effectively, and the above-mentioned object can be achieved more accurately.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 described above, the rolling-down action by the cylinders 32 and 37 can be similarly performed by using a cam mechanism such as a peripheral surface cam, a grooved cam, or an edge cam if necessary. Further, even if the throat mechanism is kept in the fixed state and the bottle body is pushed up from below by the cam mechanism, the same operation as described above can be performed.

(Specific Example of Sealing Operation) A specific example of the sealing operation according to the present invention will be described. As the plug body 15 as shown in FIG. 4, the tip portion 6 has a diameter of 19.0 mm, specifically as shown in FIG. As such a plug body, the tip portion 6 has a size of 19.0 mm and has a size that matches the minimum diameter portion C of the bottle mouth portion, and the upper portion 7 is 21 mm and the maximum portion 7a is 2 mm.
Formed as 2.5 mm and having a length of 35 mm with foamed tissue such as polyethylene acrylic copolymer, and when plugging this plug at a vacuum degree of about 750 mm / Hg in the bottle cavity, push in the plug The internal pressure of the bottle rises to about 400-450 mm / Hg (even if the internal pressure rises like this, the sealing performance is not affected). It was confirmed that all the plugs deformed as shown in FIG. 6 when they were kept for 48 hours under the temperature condition of near room temperature (18 to 30 ° C.). That is, the above-mentioned 35 mm long stopper body is capped with a free area exposure dimension of 10 mm,
Regarding the results of the test under the above conditions, the dimensions and swelling relationships are summarized and shown in the following table.

A well-known bottle having a mouth shape as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 was filled with commercially available wine containing no antioxidant, completely stoppered as described above, and then bottled at room temperature of 20 ° C. The results of a sensory test conducted by 10 appraisers on what was stored for one month in a standing body state showed that all of them had no change in sourness, sweetness, aroma, and Izawa. Obtained.

"Effects of the Invention" According to the present invention as described above, a bottle stopper made of a resin foam molding obtained in mass production was used to suppress the activity of enzymes such as fruit liquor and sake in an unoxidized state. As a state, it can be effectively sealed, and such a sealing operation can be carried out efficiently and at low cost by a compact facility, and further, the inconvenient sideways storage or storage like the conventional cork stopper can be prevented. It is an invention having a great effect industrially because it has the effects of not requiring storage.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show the technical contents of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing an outline of equipment for carrying out the method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plug type plug 1 used in the present invention.
3 is a partial cutaway side view showing an example, and FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are partial cutaway side views similar to FIG. 2 showing another example of the plug type plug body used in the present invention, respectively, a plan view and a bottom view. Fig. 5 is a side view of the state of partial plugging of the bottle, Fig. 6 is a side view of the state of complete plugging, and Fig. 7 is a state of change in the foamed resin cell structure after plugging. It is a partially cutaway side view. Therefore, in these drawings, 1 is a surface skin layer, 2 is an outer layer, 3 is an intermediate layer, 4 is a core layer, and 4a is a vertically changing bubble thereof,
4b is its oblong or swelling bubbles, 5 and 5a are stepped portions, 6 is a tip portion, 7 is an upper portion, 7a is an uppermost portion, 8 is an exhaust groove, 9 is a concave and convex portion, 10 is a bottle body, 11 is its mouth. Part, 15 is a plug, 19 is a collar part, 20
Is a sealing throat part, 21 is a receiving part, 22 is a guide means, 24 is a sealing material, 25 is a through hole, 26 is a pressurized fluid receiving groove, 27 is a cylindrical part, 28 is a connecting port, 29 is a stopper piston, Reference numeral 30 is an inert gas supply port, 31 is an operating rod, 32 is a stopper cylinder, and 35 is a mounting seat.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When plugging a plug-like plug into a bottle mouth and sealing the plug-like plug body, the plug-like plug body is fitted with a small-diameter portion on the front end side, which is inserted into the bottle mouth by a synthetic resin foam having cushioning properties. It is composed of a compression fitting portion in the bottle mouth having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the bottle mouth, which is integrally formed continuously with the small diameter portion on the tip side and has a ventilation groove extending from the tip small diameter portion to the step portion. The plug-shaped plug body is sent to the capping mechanism with the small-diameter portion on the tip side inserted into the bottle mouth portion in which the predetermined content is housed, and the bottle head portion and the plug-shaped body The inside of the bottle cavity is vacuum-decompressed through the ventilation groove under the condition that the portion protruding from the bottle mouth is sealed, and the diameter of the plug-like plug body is larger than that of the bottle mouth under the vacuum reduced pressure condition. The compressed tight fitting portion is pushed into the bottle mouth to close and close the ventilation groove. Sealing method. 2. A device for inserting and plugging a plug-like plug body into a bottle mouth and sealing the plug mouthpiece, which comprises a small-diameter portion on the front end side which is formed of a synthetic resin foam having a cushioning property and which is inserted into the bottle mouth. A small-diameter portion on the tip side is integrally formed through a step portion, and is composed of a compression fitting portion in the bottle having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the bottle mouth, and a ventilation groove extends from the small-diameter portion on the tip side to the step portion. The formed plug-like plug has a receiving portion for setting the bottle with the tip side small diameter portion inserted and attached in the bottle mouth, and a sealing container for accommodating the mouth portion of the bottle set in the receiving portion. A throat portion and an elevating / lowering mechanism for moving the sealing throat portion up and down are provided, and the sealing throat portion is provided with a stopper piston above the bottle mouth accommodating chamber and a bottle body below the bottle mouth accommodating chamber. A sealing material for tightly sealing the outside of the mouth is provided and is formed on the outer surface of the sealing material. Bottle mouth sealing device being characterized in that a vacuum pressure reduction system in which the pressurized fluid system of injecting a pressurized fluid to the pressure receiving portion is opened to the bottle body mouth accommodating chamber. 3. The bottle closure device according to claim 2, wherein an inert gas supply system is also opened in the bottle mouth chamber.