Spatula

Abstract

To provide a spatula which makes it easy to peel off an adhesive mat from a mounting surface. [Solution] A spatula 10 having a thin plate-shaped spatula portion 11 provided at the front and a handle 12 provided behind the spatula portion 11, wherein a groove forming area 13 having a plurality of grooves 14 extending in the front-to-rear direction is provided on at least one side of the spatula portion 11, the groove forming area 13 having a predetermined length from the front end of the spatula portion 11 toward the rear, and being provided across the entire width of the spatula portion 11.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This invention relates to a spatula suitable for removing adhesive mats from surfaces such as floors and stands. [Background technology]

[0002] In factories, homes, etc., devices and equipment installed on floors, stands, etc. may tip over, fall, or move due to vibrations caused by earthquakes or shocks caused by collisions of objects. In order to prevent this, it has been proposed to use an adhesive mat. For example, in Patent Document 1, a home appliance is installed on an installation surface, an L-shaped fixture having a first adhesive surface on the home appliance side and a second adhesive surface on the installation surface side is placed on the home appliance and the installation surface, and the home appliance and the first adhesive surface, and the installation surface and the second adhesive surface are respectively bonded with an adhesive mat. In Patent Document 2, a fixture is provided on a support leg that supports the device, and the bottom surface of the fixture and the floor surface are bonded with an adhesive mat.

[0003] Such adhesive mats may need to be peeled off from the surface on which they are to be placed, such as a floor or a stand. In this process, a spatula is wetted with a release agent that reduces the adhesiveness of the adhesive mat, and then the spatula is inserted between the adhesive mat and the surface on which it is to be placed and moved. Conventionally, spatulas used for this process have a handle attached to a spatula portion that is flat on both sides without any irregularities. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2014-039609 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2011-010691 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In order to peel off the adhesive mat from the installation surface, it is necessary to supply a release agent to the adhesion part between the adhesive mat and the installation surface. However, in the above-mentioned work using a conventional spatula, it was difficult to supply a sufficient amount of release agent to the adhesion part between the adhesive mat and the installation surface. In particular, when a spatula moistened with release agent is inserted between a partially peeled adhesive mat and the installation surface, the part of the adhesive mat that was peeled off first hits the spatula and removes the release agent that was attached to the spatula, making it difficult to supply a sufficient amount of release agent to the adhesion part between the adhesive mat and the installation surface.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has an object to provide a spatula that makes it easy to peel off an adhesive mat from the surface on which it is placed. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention includes the embodiments shown below.

[0008] [1] A spatula having a thin plate-shaped spatula portion provided at the front and a handle provided rearward of the spatula portion, characterized in that at least one side of the spatula portion is provided with a groove forming area in which a plurality of grooves extending in the front-to-rear direction are arranged, the groove forming area having a predetermined length from the front end of the spatula portion toward the rear and being provided across the entire width of the spatula portion.

[0009] [2] The spatula described in [1], wherein the width of the groove is 0.5 mm or more and 2.0 mm or less, and the depth of the groove is 50% or more and 80% or less of the thickness of the groove formation area.

[0010] [3] The spatula described in [1] or [2], wherein the length of the groove formation area in the front-to-rear direction is 20 mm or more.

[0011] [4] The spatula according to any one of [1] to [3], wherein the entire spatula including the spatula part and the handle is made of a thermoplastic resin.

[0012] [5] A spatula described in any of [1] to [4], wherein a wavy portion extending in the front-to-rear direction is formed on one side of the width direction of the handle, and the wavy portion forms three valleys aligned in the front-to-rear direction.

[0013] [6] A spatula described in any of [1] to [5], wherein the spatula portion is a portion that is inserted between a surface and an adhesive mat adhered to the surface, and the groove is a portion where a liquid that reduces adhesion between the surface and the adhesive mat is applied. Effect of the Invention

[0014] With the above-mentioned spatula, when the spatula part to which the release agent has been applied is pressed between the adhesive mat and the installation surface, the release agent can be supplied to the groove between the adhesive mat and the installation surface, making it easy to peel the adhesive mat from the installation surface. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] Top view of a spatula. [Diagram 2] Bottom view of the spatula. [Diagram 3] Right side view of the spatula. [Figure 4] Left side view of the spatula. [Diagram 5] 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 1. [Figure 6] A diagram of two spatulas arranged in a staggered fashion. [Figure 7] A diagram showing how to peel off an adhesive mat with a spatula, as viewed from the width direction of the spatula. [Figure 8] A diagram showing how to peel off an adhesive mat with a spatula, as viewed from the width direction of the spatula. [Figure 9] 2 is a cross-sectional view of a groove formation region of a modified example, and is a cross-sectional view taken along the same line as the AA cross-sectional view of FIG. [Figure 10] FIG. [Figure 11] Diagrams of the modified spatula. (a) is a plan view, (b) is a bottom view, and (c) is a right side view. [Figure 12] FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] The embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the embodiments described below are merely examples, and any appropriate modifications that do not deviate from the spirit of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention.

[0017] 1 to 4, spatula 10 of the embodiment has a thin plate-like spatula portion 11 provided at the front, and a handle 12 provided continuous with spatula portion 11 behind spatula portion 11. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, handle 12 is narrower than spatula portion 11. Handle 12 is provided close to one side in the width direction of spatula portion 11, and one end 12a of handle 12 and one end 11a of spatula portion 11 in the width direction are linear in plan view (i.e., when viewed from the direction of Fig. 1).

[0018] The average thickness of spatula portion 11 is, for example, about 3 mm or more and 4 mm or less. When spatula 10 is viewed in the width direction as shown in Figures 3 and 4, one surface of spatula portion 11 (this surface will be referred to as first surface 15) appears to be a single straight line as a whole. On the other hand, the other surface of spatula portion 11 (this surface will be referred to as second surface 16) has an inclined surface 17 formed on the front end 18 side. This inclined surface 17 is a surface that is inclined greatly in the direction in which the thickness of spatula portion 11 becomes thinner the closer it is to front end 18. The intersection of the front end of this inclined surface 17 and the front end of first surface 15 is front end 18 of spatula portion 11.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 1, the first surface 15 of the spatula part 11 is provided with a groove forming region 13 in which a plurality of grooves 14 extending in the front-rear direction are arranged. The groove forming region 13 has a predetermined length from the front end 18 of the spatula part 11 to the rear. The length L1 in the front-rear direction of the groove forming region 13 and the groove 14 is preferably 20 mm or more, and preferably 100 mm or less. The length L1 in the front-rear direction of the groove forming region 13 and the groove 14 is preferably 20% to 70% of the length L2 in the front-rear direction of the spatula part 11. It is more preferable that the length L1 is 20 mm to 100 mm, and 20% to 70% of the length L2 in the front-rear direction of the spatula part 11. The groove forming region 13 is provided over the entire width of the spatula part 11. The grooves 14 are not formed in the rear part of the first surface 15 of the spatula part 11, and this part is flat.

[0020] Groove 14 is a recess in the plane of spatula part 11 other than groove forming region 13, and extends in the front-rear direction. The cross-sectional shape of groove 14 (the shape of a cross section perpendicular to the extension direction of groove 14) is triangular as shown in FIG.

[0021] 5 are rounded surfaces on the actual spatula 10. This rounded surface is for manufacturing purposes, and is used to remove spatula 10 from a mold, for example, when spatula 10 is manufactured by injection molding.

[0022] In the groove formation region 13, grooves 14 of the same cross-sectional shape and size are arranged in parallel. The interval between the grooves 14 is preferably small, for example, 20% or less of the width W (see FIG. 5) of the groove 14. It is most preferable that adjacent grooves 14 are in contact with each other and the interval between the grooves 14 is zero, as shown in FIG. 5.

[0023] The width W of the groove 14 is preferably 0.5 mm or more and 2.0 mm or less, and more preferably 0.9 mm or more and 1.2 mm or less. The depth D of the groove 14 (see FIG. 5) is preferably 50% or more and 80% or less of the thickness T of the groove formation region 13 (see FIG. 5), more preferably 60% or more and 70% or less, and most preferably 70%. When the depth D of the groove 14 is specified by the length, it is preferably 0.5 mm or more and 2.5 mm or less, and more preferably 2.2 mm or more and 2.5 mm or less. It is even better if the ratio (%) of the depth D of the groove 14 to the thickness T of the groove formation region 13 falls within the above range, and the length (mm) also falls within the above range.

[0024] In addition, when spatula portion 11 is tapered and thickness T of groove formation region 13 varies depending on the location, the above ratio of depth D of groove 14 to thickness T of groove formation region 13 refers to the ratio of depth D of groove 14 to thickness T of groove formation region 13 at each location. Therefore, when thickness T of groove formation region 13 varies depending on the location and the ratio of depth D of groove 14 to thickness T of groove formation region 13 is constant regardless of location, depth D of groove 14 will be small in places where groove formation region 13 is thin and depth D of groove 14 will be large in places where groove formation region 13 is thick.

[0025] Furthermore, in the range of the groove formation region 13 where the inclined surface 17 on the front end 18 side is formed, the thickness T of the groove formation region 13 becomes very small, so the ratio of the depth D of the groove 14 to the thickness T of the groove formation region 13 does not have to be in the range of 50% or more and 80% or less.

[0026] 1 to 5, the groove formation region 13 is provided only on the first surface 15 of the spatula part 11. The second surface 16 of the spatula part 11 is a flat surface without any irregularities.

[0027] Such spatula 10 is manufactured by injection molding. Therefore, the entire spatula 10 is made of a thermoplastic resin. Among thermoplastic resins, polyamide is preferable, and polyamide containing carbon fiber is more preferable. Since the handle 12 is biased to one side in the width direction of the spatula part 11 as described above, the mold can be made smaller by using a mold that completes the two spatulas 10 in a staggered arrangement as shown in FIG. 6 during molding.

[0028] A method of using such a spatula 10 will be described with reference to Figures 7 and 8. This spatula 10 is a mat remover for removing an adhesive mat 20 from an installation surface 21 such as a floor or a stand. Figures 7 and 8 are views of the spatula 10, seen from the width direction of the spatula 10, showing how the adhesive mat 20 is being removed with the spatula 10.

[0029] First, the worker applies a release agent to the groove formation area 13 of the spatula 10 by a method such as spraying. The release agent is a liquid that reduces the adhesiveness of the adhesive mat 20. As the release agent, water, ethanol, a mixture of water and ethanol, a mixture of water and / or ethanol with another liquid added, and the like can be used. The release agent applied to the groove formation area 13 enters the grooves 14.

[0030] Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the worker peels off the adhesive mat 20 from the installation surface 21 with the spatula 10 to which the release agent has been applied. In more detail, the worker presses the spatula part 11 between the adhesive mat 20 and the installation surface 21 with the first surface 15 on the groove formation region 13 side facing up, i.e., the adhesive mat 20 side. The pressing direction is shown by arrow B in FIG. 7. When pressed in this way, the adhesive mat 20 is peeled off a little, and the release agent is supplied from the groove 14 of the groove formation region 13 between the adhesive mat 20 and the installation surface 21, so that the adhesiveness of the adhesive mat 20 decreases. The supply direction of the release agent in the groove 14 is shown by dashed arrow C in FIG. 7. The worker presses the spatula part 11 further into the area where the adhesiveness of the adhesive mat 20 has decreased due to the action of the release agent. As a result, the adhesive mat 20 is further peeled off a little, and further release agent is supplied from the groove 14 to the peeled area, so that the adhesiveness of the adhesive mat 20 decreases. In this manner, the adhesive mat 20 is gradually peeled off from the installation surface 21. If the release agent in the groove 14 runs low during the process, the worker adds more release agent to the groove formation area 13.

[0031] During the peeling operation, as shown in Fig. 8, the peeled adhesive mat 20 may come into contact with the grooved region 13 of the spatula part 11. However, even when the adhesive mat 20 comes into contact with the grooved region 13, it does not penetrate into the groove 14, and therefore the release agent in the groove 14 is not easily wiped off by the adhesive mat 20. Therefore, the release agent can continue to be held in the groove 14, and the groove 14 can continue to supply the release agent between the adhesive mat 20 and the installation surface 21.

[0032] The effects of the above embodiment will be described. In the spatula 10 of the embodiment, a groove forming region 13 in which a plurality of grooves 14 extending in the front-rear direction are arranged is provided on the first surface 15 of the spatula part 11. Therefore, as described above, the adhesive mat 20 can be peeled off while supplying the release agent held in the grooves 14 between the adhesive mat 20 and the installation surface 21. In addition, since the groove forming region 13 is provided over the entire width of the spatula part 11, the adhesive mat 20 can be peeled off while supplying the release agent over the entire portion where the front end 18 of the spatula part 11 touches. For these reasons, the spatula 10 of the embodiment makes it easy to peel the adhesive mat 20 from the installation surface 21.

[0033] Furthermore, the width of the groove 14 is 0.5 mm or more and 2.0 mm or less, and the depth of the groove 14 is 50% or more of the thickness of the groove formation region 13, so that a sufficient amount of release agent can be held in the groove 14. This also makes it easy to peel the adhesive mat 20 from the installation surface 21 with the spatula 10 of the embodiment.

[0034] Even if the groove 14 is somewhat deep, problems such as the spatula part 11 becoming easily bent due to an extremely small strength of the spatula part 11 are basically unlikely to occur. Specifically, even if the groove 14 is somewhat deep, the strength of the spatula part 11 is large in the direction perpendicular to the first surface 15 and the second surface 16. It also seems that the strength of the spatula part 11 becomes small in the width direction of the spatula 10 when the groove 14 is deep. However, since the spatula part 11 has a portion without the groove 14, problems such as the spatula part 11 bending are unlikely to occur even if a large force is applied to the spatula part 11 in the width direction of the spatula 10. Although problems are unlikely to occur even if the groove 14 is somewhat deep, in order for the spatula part 11 to have a sufficient strength, it is effective that the depth of the groove 14 is not too deep, that is, 80% or less of the thickness of the groove formation region 13.

[0035] Also, by having the depth of groove 14 be 0.5 mm or more and 2.5 mm or less, a sufficient amount of release agent can be held in groove 14, and spatula portion 11 can have sufficient strength.

[0036] Furthermore, since the length of the groove forming area 13 and the groove 14 in the front-rear direction is 20 mm or more, a sufficient amount of release agent can be held in the groove 14. Even when the front end 18 of the spatula part 11 is hidden by the adhesive mat 20 during the peeling operation, the release agent can be applied to the groove 14, which extends far to the rear, by spraying or the like.

[0037] Furthermore, since adjacent grooves 14 are in contact with each other in the groove formation region 13 and there is no space between adjacent grooves 14, a large amount of liquid can be held in the groove formation region 13. Furthermore, since adjacent grooves 14 are in contact with each other and there is no space between adjacent grooves 14, even if the adhesive mat 20 hits the groove formation region 13, the contact area between the adhesive mat 20 and the groove formation region 13 is small and the release agent in the groove formation region 13 is difficult to wipe off by the adhesive mat 20.

[0038] Furthermore, since the spatula 10 is made of a thermoplastic resin, it is possible to easily manufacture the spatula 10 by injection molding. Furthermore, since thermoplastic resin is less expensive than heat-resistant resin, the manufacturing cost of the spatula 10 is low.

[0039] Various modifications can be made to the above embodiment.

[0040] For example, the cross-sectional shape of groove 14 (shape in a cross section perpendicular to the extension direction of groove 14) may be a semicircle as shown in Fig. 9(a) or a rectangle as shown in Fig. 9(b). However, a triangle as shown in Fig. 5 is preferred in terms of ease of retaining the release agent in the groove and ease of manufacture.

[0041] The shape of spatula 10 may be, for example, a shape in which handle 12 is narrower than spatula portion 11 and is located in the widthwise center of spatula portion 11 as shown in FIG. 10(a), a shape in which the width of spatula portion 11 gradually decreases toward handle 12 in more than half of the spatula portion 11 in the front-to-rear direction as shown in FIG. 10(b), or a shape in which handle 12 and spatula portion 11 have the same width as shown in FIG. 10(c).

[0042] As another shape of spatula 10, as shown in Fig. 11, a corrugated portion 12b extending in the front-rear direction is formed on one side of the width direction of handle 12. This corrugated portion 12b forms three valleys 12c aligned in the front-rear direction. By gripping handle 12 with the fingers hooked on the valleys 12c of corrugated portion 12b, the worker can hold spatula 10 firmly and can easily apply force to spatula 10. Note that the reference numerals in Fig. 11 indicate spatula part 11, handle 12, groove-forming region 13, groove 14, first surface 15, second surface 16, inclined surface 17, and front end 18.

[0043] Moreover, the groove formation region 13 in which the multiple grooves 14 are arranged may be provided on both the first surface 15 and the second surface 16 of the spatula part 11. Moreover, the groove formation region 13 may be provided only on the second surface 16 of the spatula part 11.

[0044] The spatula 10 can also be manufactured by additive manufacturing using a 3D printer. When the spatula 10 is manufactured by additive manufacturing, the corners of the grooves 14 can be sharp rather than the rounded corners described above.

[0045] Next, the results of experiments using test pieces will be described. The following Experiments 1 to 3 were carried out.

[0046] Experiment 1 Using a thermoplastic resin as a raw material, a test piece 22 was produced that imitates the groove formation region 13 of the spatula 10 shown in Fig. 12. The test piece 22 had a length l of 30 mm in the front-rear direction, a width w of 20 mm, and a thickness t of 3 mm. Twenty test pieces 22 were produced, and the width and depth of the groove 14 were set to the values ​​shown in Tables 1 and 2.

[0047] The weight of each test piece 22 was measured before and after immersion in the liquid, and the difference was calculated. The weight before immersion was measured when the test piece 22 was in a dry state. The immersion was performed by completely submerging the test piece 22 in the liquid. After immersion, the test piece 22 was pulled up vertically (i.e., the extension direction of the groove 14 was the up-down direction). After pulling up, the weight of the test piece 22 in a wet state was measured.

[0048] The results (weight difference) when pure water was used as the liquid are shown in Table 1, and the results (weight difference) when ethanol was used are shown in Table 2. The unit of weight difference is g (grams). The larger the weight difference, the higher the ability to hold more liquid in the grooves 14. There was a weight difference in all test pieces 22, and the ability to hold liquid was confirmed, but the weight difference was particularly large when the width was 1.0 mm and the width was 2.5 mm, confirming that the ability to hold liquid was high.

[0049] In addition, the same tendency was observed in the results for pure water and ethanol, which have different surface tensions. From this, it is estimated that the same tendency as in Tables 1 and 2 will be observed for the mixture of pure water and ethanol.

[0050] [Table 1]

[0051] [Table 2] Experiment 2 Three types of test pieces 22 were produced by changing the length l of the groove 14 in the front-rear direction as shown in Tables 3 and 4. The width of the groove 14 was 1.0 mm, and the depth of the groove 14 was 2.0 mm. Other characteristics of the test pieces 22 were the same as those in Experiment 1.

[0052] As in Experiment 1, the weight of each test piece 22 was measured before and after immersion in the liquid, and the difference was calculated.

[0053] Table 3 shows the results (weight difference) when pure water was used as the liquid, and Table 4 shows the results (weight difference) when ethanol was used.

[0054] There was a weight difference in all test pieces 22, and the ability to retain liquid was confirmed. However, within the experimental range, it was confirmed that the longer the front-to-rear length l of the groove 14, the greater the weight difference and the greater the ability to retain liquid.

[0055] [Table 3]

[0056] [Table 4] Experiment 3 Three types of test pieces 22 were produced in which the distance between grooves 14 was changed to 0 mm (i.e., grooves 14 were in contact with each other as shown in FIG. 12), 1 mm, and 2 mm. In addition, the width of groove 14 was 1.0 mm, and the depth of groove 14 was 2.0 mm. Other characteristics of test piece 22 were the same as those in experiment 1.

[0057] As in Experiment 1, the weight of each test piece 22 was measured before and after immersion in the liquid, and the difference was calculated.

[0058] Table 5 shows the results (weight difference) when pure water was used as the liquid, and Table 6 shows the results (weight difference) when ethanol was used.

[0059] It was confirmed that the smaller the distance between grooves 14, the greater the weight difference and the greater the ability to retain liquid. It was also confirmed that when the distance between grooves 14 was 0 mm, the greatest weight difference and the greatest ability to retain liquid were achieved.

[0060] [Table 5]

[0061] [Table 6] [Explanation of symbols]

[0062] 10...spatula, 11...spatula part, 11a...end, 12...handle, 12a...end, 12b...wave-shaped part, 12c...valley, 13...groove-forming area, 14...groove, 15...first surface, 16...second surface, 17...inclined surface, 18...front end, 20...adhesive mat, 21...installation surface, 22...test piece

Claims

1. A spatula having a thin plate-shaped spatula portion provided at a front portion and a handle provided at a rear portion of the spatula portion, A groove forming area in which a plurality of grooves extending in the front-rear direction are arranged is provided on at least one surface of the spatula portion, A spatula, characterized in that the groove-forming region has a predetermined length from the front end of the spatula portion toward the rear, and is provided across the entire width of the spatula portion.

2. 2. The spatula according to claim 1, wherein the width of the groove is 0.5 mm or more and 2.0 mm or less, and the depth of the groove is 50% or more and 80% or less of the thickness of the groove-forming region.

3. The spatula according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the length of the groove formation region in the front-rear direction is 20 mm or more.

4. The spatula according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the entire spatula including the spatula portion and the handle is made of a thermoplastic resin.

5. 3. The spatula according to claim 1, wherein a wavy portion extending in the front-rear direction is formed on one side of the handle in the width direction, and the wavy portion forms three valleys aligned in the front-rear direction.

6. The spatula portion is a portion that is inserted between a surface and an adhesive mat that is adhered to the surface, The groove is a portion to which a liquid that reduces adhesion between the surface and the adhesive mat is applied. The spatula according to claim 1 or 2.

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