METHODS OF MANUFACTURING TOILET PAPER ROLLS

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing toilet paper rolls by which, when four-ply toilet paper is torn, the individually layered sheets of paper are prevented from separating from each other and a good external shape is ensured. The aforementioned method includes the step of creating the laminated paper (101) by bonding the base paper (10a) and the base paper (11a), the step of creating the laminated paper (102) by bonding the base paper (13a) and the base paper (12a), and the step of spraying the adhesive liquid onto the laminated paper (101) and the laminated paper (102), stacking and pressing the laminated paper (101) and the laminated paper (102) by pressure rollers (23c), and creating four-ply toilet paper (200).

Description

How toilet paper rolls are made

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method for manufacturing a four-ply toilet paper roll in which four sheets of paper are stacked and wound.

[0002] Conventionally, toilet paper rolls with one sheet of paper wound up (one ply) and two-ply toilet paper rolls with two sheets of base paper wound up have been manufactured and sold. To increase water absorbency, toilet paper rolls with three or more sheets of paper wound up are also manufactured and sold. When three or more sheets of paper are stacked as described above, the thickness of the stacked paper becomes quite large, making it difficult to separate the portion of the paper roll that has been pulled out. Some paper rolls with three or more sheets of paper stacked up have perforations at regular intervals to make it easier to separate the stacked paper that has been pulled out from the paper roll.

[0003] For example, when manufacturing a three-ply toilet paper roll, one ply on the front side and at least one ply on the middle layer are bonded together using glue, and two plies on the back side are micro-embossed, and these are laminated together to make the plies less likely to peel off. Also, when manufacturing a four-ply toilet paper roll, two plies on the front side are formed with decorative embossing, and two plies on the back side are formed with micro-embossing. One ply on the back side of at least two plies on the front side and one ply on the front side of at least two plies on the back side are bonded together using glue (Patent Document 1).

[0004] In the above-mentioned four-ply toilet paper roll, two of the four plies that form the middle layers are glued together. Furthermore, large decorative embossings are formed on the two outer layers of the four plies, and micro-embossings formed on the two glued layers (middle layers) are firmly abutted against the decorative embossings, making them difficult to peel off. In addition, some four-ply toilet paper rolls have a decorative embossing formed on one ply on the front side and a micro-embossing formed on three plies on the back side, with the one ply on the front side and the second ply from the front side glued together with glue.

[0005] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2018-23561

[0006] A four-ply toilet paper roll manufactured by stacking multiple sheets of paper as described above has portions where embossments of different sizes are tightly pressed together without using adhesive liquids such as water or glue. Therefore, when the roll is attached to a toilet paper holder and cut to the desired length, the stacked sheets may peel off from the cut end. If the stacked sheets peel off and protrude from the toilet paper holder in this state, the appearance will be poor.

[0007] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and provides a method for manufacturing a toilet paper roll that prevents the layers of paper from peeling off when the paper pulled out from a four-ply toilet paper roll is separated, thereby improving the appearance.

[0008] The method for manufacturing a toilet paper roll according to the present disclosure comprises a first step of drawing out base paper from a plurality of base paper rolls, a second step of introducing a plurality of the base papers into a stacking section and stacking the plurality of base papers to form a four-ply toilet paper, a third step of drying the four-ply toilet paper, and a fourth step of winding up the four-ply toilet paper to manufacture a four-ply toilet paper roll, wherein the second step comprises a fifth step of separating the plurality of base papers introduced into the stacking section into a plurality of one-ply base papers, and a fifth step of spraying a first sprayer onto the first and second base papers from the plurality of one-ply base papers. a sixth step in which a second sprayer sprays adhesive liquid between the third and fourth base papers of the plurality of one-ply base papers to form a first laminated paper from the first base paper and the second base paper; a seventh step in which a second sprayer sprays the adhesive liquid between the third and fourth base papers of the plurality of one-ply base papers to form a second laminated paper from the third and fourth base papers; and an eighth step in which a third sprayer sprays the adhesive liquid between the first laminated paper and the second laminated paper, and a first pressure roller overlaps and presses the first laminated paper and the second laminated paper to form the four-ply toilet paper, and the sixth step and the seventh step are performed simultaneously.

[0009] The sixth step is characterized in that, after the adhesive liquid is applied to the first base paper and the second base paper, a second pressure roller is used to overlap the first base paper and the second base paper and apply pressure thereto, and the seventh step is characterized in that, after the adhesive liquid is applied to the third base paper and the fourth base paper, a third pressure roller is used to overlap the third base paper and the fourth base paper and apply pressure thereto.

[0010] The eighth step is characterized in that the second sprayer sprays an amount of adhesive liquid that will cause the adhesive liquid to penetrate and spread between the fibers of the first laminated paper and between the fibers of the second laminated paper, and the first pressure roller applies pressure that will cause the moisture in the adhesive liquid to be expelled from between the fibers of the first laminated paper and between the fibers of the second laminated paper.

[0011] According to the present disclosure, when the paper is pulled out from a four-ply toilet paper roll and separated, peeling of the individual layers of the paper can be prevented, resulting in a beautiful appearance.

[0012] Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a paper roll manufacturing apparatus that uses a toilet paper roll manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a lamination unit provided in the toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing another example configuration of the toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus of Fig. 1.

[0013] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. (Embodiment) Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the schematic configuration of a toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 that uses a toilet paper roll manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 is configured to manufacture a four-ply toilet paper roll 300.

[0014] The toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 includes, for example, a guide roller 2 that moves the base papers 10a, 11a, 12a, and 13a that are respectively drawn out from the base paper roll 10, the base paper roll 11, the base paper roll 12, and the base paper roll 13 to the lamination unit 20, and the lamination unit 20 that overlaps the base papers 10a, 11a, 12a, and 13a to form four-ply toilet paper 200. The toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 also includes a drying unit 30 that dries the four-ply toilet paper 200, and a winding unit 40 that winds up the dried four-ply toilet paper 200 to form a four-ply toilet paper roll 300.

[0015] It should be noted that the base papers 10a, 11a, 12a, and 13a exemplified here are all single-ply base papers. The toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 illustrated in Figure 1 is configured to manufacture a four-ply toilet paper roll 300 using one ply each of the base papers 10a, 11a, 12a, and 13a. The toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 in Figure 1 is provided with a plurality of guide rollers 2 so that, for example, the base paper 10a pulled out from the base paper roll 10 and the base paper 11a pulled out from the base paper roll 11 are overlapped and introduced into the stacking unit 20, and so that the base paper 12a pulled out from the base paper roll 12 and the base paper 13a pulled out from the base paper roll 13 are overlapped and introduced into the stacking unit 20.

[0016] Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the schematic configuration of the laminating unit 20 provided in the toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 of Figure 1. The laminating unit 20 is equipped with a sprayer 22a that sprays an adhesive liquid such as water or an aqueous solution containing a fragrance component or a deodorizing component onto the area where the base paper 10a and the base paper 11a are overlapped, and a sprayer 22b that sprays an adhesive liquid onto the area where the base paper 12a and the base paper 13a are overlapped. Note that by configuring the sprayers 22a, 22b to spray water from one of them and an aqueous solution containing, for example, a fragrance component from the other, it is possible to control the concentration of the aqueous solution.

[0017] The lamination unit 20 is provided with a plurality of guide rollers 21 so as to separate the base papers 10a and 11a that are overlapped when introduced into the lamination unit 20, and to move the base papers 10a and 11a toward a spatial position where the sprayer 22a sprays the adhesive liquid onto the surfaces of the base papers 10a and 11a that were in contact when they were overlapped. The lamination unit 20 is also provided with a plurality of guide rollers 21 so as to separate the base papers 12a and 13a that are overlapped when introduced into the lamination unit 20, and to move the surfaces of the base papers 12a and 13a that were in contact when they were overlapped toward a spatial position where the sprayer 22b sprays the adhesive liquid onto the surfaces of the base papers 10a and 11a.

[0018] The laminating unit 20 is provided with a pressure roller 23a at (or near) the spatial position where the sprayer 22a sprays the adhesive liquid, which overlaps and presses the base paper 10a and the base paper 11a, and a pressure roller 23b at (or near) the position where the sprayer 22b sprays the adhesive liquid, which overlaps and presses the base paper 12a and the base paper 13a. The laminating unit 20 also has a sprayer 22c which sprays adhesive liquid onto the contacting surfaces of the laminated paper 101 formed by the pressure roller 23a and the laminated paper 102 formed by the pressure roller 23b when they are overlapped. The stacking unit 20 also has a plurality of guide rollers 21 that move the stacked paper 101 and the stacked paper 102 to a spatial position where the sprayer 22c sprays the adhesive liquid, and a pressure roller 23c that overlaps and presses the stacked paper 101 and the stacked paper 102 together at (or near) the spatial position where the sprayer 22c sprays the adhesive liquid.

[0019] Next, the operation of the toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 will be described. In the toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 of Figure 1, for example, long strips of base paper 10a, 11a, 12a, and 13a are pulled out from four single-ply base paper rolls 10, 11, 12, and 13, respectively, and transferred to a laminating unit 20 using multiple guide rollers 2. The laminating unit 20 applies an adhesive liquid to the base papers 10a, 11a, 12a, and 13a introduced by each guide roller 2, as described below, and laminates them to form a long strip of four-ply toilet paper 200. The four-ply toilet paper 200 formed by the laminating unit 20 is introduced from the laminating unit 20 to a drying unit 30.

[0020] The drying unit 30, for example, has a plurality of cylinders inside, and heats the four-ply toilet paper 200 introduced into the drying unit 30 by passing it through each of the cylinders, thereby drying the four-ply toilet paper 200. The four-ply toilet paper 200 dried by the drying unit 30 is introduced into the winding unit 40. The winding unit 40 uses a winding pressure roller 42 and a plurality of winding rollers 43 to wind up the four-ply toilet paper 200 introduced into the winding unit 40, thereby producing a four-ply toilet paper roll 300.

[0021] The winding unit 40 is also equipped with a cutter 41, and after a predetermined length of four-ply toilet paper 200 has been wound up by the winding pressure roller 42 and winding roller 43, the cutter 41 is used to cut the four-ply toilet paper 200 introduced into the winding unit 40. The winding unit 40 sequentially winds up the four-ply toilet paper 200 that is introduced therein, and repeats cutting the four-ply toilet paper 200 using the cutter 41 as described above, thereby producing a four-ply toilet paper roll 300. Note that the winding unit 40 may also be equipped with a cutter (not shown) that forms perforations in the width direction of the four-ply toilet paper 200, for example, to form perforations in the four-ply toilet paper 200 at predetermined intervals, thereby producing a four-ply toilet paper roll 300 with the perforations.

[0022] Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the schematic configuration of the laminating unit 20 provided in the toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 of Figure 1. The toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 is configured, for example, to overlap base paper 10a and base paper 11a using the aforementioned guide rollers 2 and introduce them into the laminating unit 20, and also to overlap base paper 12a and base paper 13a using the guide rollers 2 and introduce them into the laminating unit 20.

[0023] The stacking unit 20 includes a plurality of guide rollers 21, and sprayers 22a, 22b, and 22c that spray the adhesive liquid. As will be described later, the stacking unit 20 also includes a pressure roller 23a that applies pressure to the stacked base papers 10a and 11a, a pressure roller 23b that applies pressure to the stacked base papers 12a and 13a, and a pressure roller 23c that applies pressure to the stacked stacked papers 101 and 102.

[0024] When the stacked base papers 10a, 11a are introduced into the laminating unit 20 by the guide rollers 2 as described above, the laminating unit 20 separates the base papers 10a and 11a using multiple guide rollers 21 and transports them near the sprayers 22a. Each of the guide rollers 21 transports the base papers 10a and 11a, for example, so that the back surface of the base paper 10a and the front surface of the base paper 11a face each other at the spatial position where the sprayer 22a sprays the adhesive liquid. In other words, each guide roller 21 transports the base papers 10a and 11a so that the back surface of the base paper 10a and the front surface of the base paper 11a face the area where the sprayer 22a sprays the adhesive liquid.

[0025] The sprayer 22a sprays (deposits) adhesive liquid onto the back surface of the base paper 10a and the front surface of the base paper 11a, for example, onto the base paper 10a and the base paper 11a that have been transported to a spatial position where the sprayed adhesive liquid can be deposited. At this time, the sprayer 22a sprays an amount of adhesive liquid that allows the deposited adhesive liquid to penetrate, thereby widening the gaps between the fibers on the back surface of the base paper 10a and widening the gaps between the fibers on the front surface of the base paper 11a, so that when the base paper 10a and the base paper 11a are overlapped, these fibers can become entangled.

[0026] The lamination unit 20 is provided with a pressure roller 23a, for example, at a spatial position (or nearby) where the sprayer 22a sprays the adhesive liquid. The pressure roller 23a brings the back surface of the base paper 10a, to which the adhesive liquid has been applied, into contact with (overlaps) the front surface of the base paper 11a, sandwiching the base paper 10a and the base paper 11a, and applies pressure such that the adhesive liquid (moisture) that has permeated the base paper 10a and the base paper 11a is expelled to the outside. In other words, this pressure causes the adhesive liquid (moisture) that had spread between the fibers on the back surface of the base paper 10a and the adhesive liquid (moisture) that had spread between the fibers on the front surface of the base paper 11a to be expelled from between the fibers, and these fibers become entangled, forming a two-ply laminated paper 101 in which the base paper 10a and the base paper 11a are bonded together.

[0027] Furthermore, when the stacked base papers 12a and 13a are introduced into the laminating unit 20 by the guide rollers 2 as described above, the laminating unit 20 separates the base papers 12a and 13a using multiple guide rollers 21 and transports them near the sprayers 22b. Each of the guide rollers 21 transports the base papers 13a and 12a, for example, so that the back surface of the base paper 13a and the front surface of the base paper 12a face each other at the spatial position where the sprayers 22b spray the adhesive liquid. In other words, each of the guide rollers 21 transports the base papers 13a and 12a so that the back surface of the base paper 13a and the front surface of the base paper 12a face the area where the sprayers 22b spray the adhesive liquid.

[0028] The sprayer 22b sprays (deposits) the adhesive liquid onto, for example, the back surface of the base paper 13a and the front surface of the base paper 12a of the base paper 13a and the base paper 12a that have been transported to a spatial position where the sprayed adhesive liquid can be deposited. At this time, the sprayer 22b sprays an amount of adhesive liquid that allows the deposited adhesive liquid to penetrate, thereby widening the gaps between the fibers on the back surface of the base paper 13a and widening the gaps between the fibers on the front surface of the base paper 12a, so that when the base paper 13a and the base paper 12a are overlapped, these fibers can become entangled.

[0029] The lamination unit 20 includes a pressure roller 23b at (or near) the spatial position where the sprayer 22b sprays the adhesive liquid. The pressure roller 23b brings the back surface of the base paper 13a, to which the adhesive liquid has been applied, into contact with (overlaps) the front surface of the base paper 12a, sandwiching the base paper 13a and the base paper 12a, and applies pressure that expels the adhesive liquid (moisture) that has permeated the base paper 13a and the base paper 12a to the outside. In other words, this pressure expels the adhesive liquid (moisture) that had spread between the fibers on the back surface of the base paper 13a and the adhesive liquid (moisture) that had spread between the fibers on the front surface of the base paper 12a from between the fibers, entangling these fibers and forming a two-ply laminated paper 102 in which the base paper 13a and the base paper 12a are bonded together.

[0030] In addition, the stacking unit 20 is capable of simultaneously performing the process of forming the laminated paper 101 using, for example, a sprayer 22a, a pressure roller 23a, etc., and the process of forming the laminated paper 102 using, for example, a sprayer 22b, a pressure roller 23b, etc.

[0031] The laminated paper 101 formed by the pressure roller 23a and the laminated paper 102 formed by the pressure roller 23b are each transported by a plurality of guide rollers 21 to a spatial position where the sprayer 22c sprays the adhesive liquid. These guide rollers 21 transport the laminated paper 101 and the laminated paper 102, for example, so that the back surface of the laminated paper 101 and the front surface of the laminated paper 102 face each other at the spatial position where the sprayer 22c sprays the adhesive liquid. In other words, each guide roller 21 transports the laminated paper 101 and the laminated paper 102 so that the back surface of the laminated paper 101 and the front surface of the laminated paper 102 face the area where the adhesive liquid is sprayed from the sprayer 22c.

[0032] Sprayer 22c sprays (deposits) adhesive liquid onto the laminated paper 101 and laminated paper 102 that have been transported to a spatial position where the sprayed adhesive liquid can be deposited, for example, toward the back surface of laminated paper 101 and the front surface of laminated paper 102. At this time, sprayer 22c sprays an amount of adhesive liquid that allows the deposited adhesive liquid to penetrate, thereby widening the gaps between the fibers on the back surface of laminated paper 101 and widening the gaps between the fibers on the front surface of laminated paper 102, so that when laminated paper 101 and laminated paper 102 are overlapped, these fibers can become entangled.

[0033] The stacking unit 20 includes a pressure roller 23c at (or near) the spatial position where the sprayer 22c sprays the adhesive liquid. The pressure roller 23c brings the back surface of the laminated paper 101, to which the adhesive liquid has been applied, into contact with (overlaps) the front surface of the laminated paper 102, sandwiching the laminated paper 101 and the laminated paper 102 together, and applies pressure that expels the adhesive liquid (moisture) that has permeated the laminated paper 101 and the laminated paper 102 to the outside. In other words, this pressure expels the adhesive liquid (moisture) that had spread between the fibers on the back surface of the laminated paper 101 and the adhesive liquid (moisture) that had spread between the fibers on the front surface of the laminated paper 102 from between the fibers, entangling these fibers and forming the four-ply toilet paper 200 in which the laminated paper 101 and the laminated paper 102 are bonded together.

[0034] The four-ply toilet paper 200 formed by the pressure roller 23c is dried by the drying section 30 as described above, and then wound by the winding section 40 to produce a four-ply toilet paper roll 300.

[0035] Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram showing another example configuration of the toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 of Figure 1. This figure shows the part of the other example configuration of the toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 where base paper 14a, 15a pulled out from base paper rolls 14, 15 are introduced into the stacking section 20. In this other example configuration of the toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1, the stacking section 20, drying section 30, winding section 40, etc. are configured in the same way as those shown in Figures 1 and 2.

[0036] The base paper roll 14 and the base paper roll 15 are each formed by winding two plies of base paper 14a, 15a that are not bonded using, for example, an adhesive liquid, etc. In another configuration example shown in Figure 3, the two plies of base paper 14a drawn from the base paper roll 14 and the two plies of base paper 15a drawn from the base paper roll 15 are each guided by a plurality of guide rollers 2 and introduced into the stacking section 20.

[0037] The lamination unit 20 in Fig. 3 is configured in the same manner as the lamination unit 20 shown in Fig. 2, and for example, separates base paper 14a into a first one-ply base paper (not shown) corresponding to base paper 10a and a second one-ply base paper (not shown) corresponding to base paper 11a, and each of these is subjected to the same processing as base papers 10a and 11a. The lamination unit 20 in Fig. 3 also separates base paper 15a into a third one-ply base paper (not shown) corresponding to base paper 13a and a fourth one-ply base paper (not shown) corresponding to base paper 12a, and each of these is subjected to the same processing as base papers 13a and 12a. In the lamination unit 20 in Fig. 3, as described above, laminated papers 101 and 102 are formed, and then four-ply toilet paper 200 is formed.

[0038] The toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 1 described here can be configured to supply one ply of base paper 10a, 11a, 12a, 13a from each of the base paper rolls 10, 11, 12, 13 to the stacking unit 20, and can also be configured to supply two plies of base paper 14a, 15a from each of the base paper rolls 14, 15.

[0039] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Toilet paper roll manufacturing apparatus 2 Guide roller 10 Base paper roll 10a Base paper 11 Base paper roll 11a Base paper 12 Base paper roll 12a Base paper 13 Base paper roll 13a Base paper 14 Base paper roll 14a Base paper 15 Base paper roll 15a Base paper 20 Laminating section 21 Guide roller 22a, 22b, 22c Sprayer 23a, 23b, 23c Pressing roller 30 Drying section 40 Winding section 41 Cutter 42 Winding pressure roller 43 Winding roller 101, 102 Laminated paper 200 4-ply toilet paper 300 4-ply toilet paper roll

Claims

1. A toilet paper manufacturing method comprising: a first step of drawing out base paper from a plurality of base paper rolls; a second step of introducing a plurality of the base papers into a stacking section and stacking the plurality of base papers to form a four-ply toilet paper; a third step of drying the four-ply toilet paper; and a fourth step of winding up the four-ply toilet paper to manufacture a four-ply toilet paper roll, wherein the second step comprises: a fifth step of separating the plurality of base papers introduced into the stacking section into a plurality of one-ply base papers; a sixth step of using a first sprayer to spray an adhesive liquid between a first base paper and a second base paper among the plurality of one-ply base papers, thereby forming a first laminated paper from the first base paper and the second base paper; and a seventh step of using a second sprayer to spray the adhesive liquid between a third base paper and a fourth base paper among the plurality of one-ply base papers, thereby forming a second laminated paper from the third base paper and the fourth base paper. an eighth step in which a third sprayer sprays the adhesive liquid between the first laminate paper and the second laminate paper, and a first pressure roller overlaps the first laminate paper and the second laminate paper and applies pressure to form the four-ply toilet paper, wherein the sixth step and the seventh step are carried out simultaneously.

2. The method for manufacturing a toilet paper roll according to claim 1, characterized in that the sixth step involves applying the adhesive liquid to the first base paper and the second base paper, and then using a second pressure roller to overlap and press the first base paper and the second base paper together, and the seventh step involves applying the adhesive liquid to the third base paper and the fourth base paper, and then using a third pressure roller to overlap and press the third base paper and the fourth base paper together.

3. The method for manufacturing a toilet paper roll according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the eighth step comprises the steps of: the second sprayer spraying an amount of adhesive liquid such that the adhesive liquid penetrates and spreads between the fibers of the first laminated paper and between the fibers of the second laminated paper; and the first pressure roller applying pressure such that the moisture in the adhesive liquid is expelled from between the fibers of the first laminated paper and between the fibers of the second laminated paper.

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