JP2821981B2 - Method of manufacturing flower pots - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing a plant pot made of plant fiber such as palm fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 61-66451, after a paste is applied to a plant fiber, the plant fiber is hardened to a predetermined thickness and shape by a press or the like, and the plant pot body is fixed. There is known a flower pot formed by molding and holding the shape of the flower pot main body with a net-like holding member which is externally mounted on the body.

[0003]

In the above method, the plant fibers are laminated in the shape of a flower pot and pressed by a press or the like to form a flower pot. However, it is difficult to laminate the plant fibers uniformly. In addition, plant fibers have poor fluidity, and the flow of fibers from a portion with a large amount of fiber to a portion with a small amount of fiber during pressing is not performed well, so that the thickness of the flower pot tends to be uneven, and the strength of the flower pot decreases, A holding body for holding the shape is required.

[0004] A flower pot made of plant fibers mainly provides ventilation between the fibers of the peripheral wall, mainly retains water between the fibers at the bottom, and retains heavy soil containing water at the bottom. It is preferable that the fiber density of the bottom is made denser than the bulk density and the bottom is formed to be robust and rich in water retention. However, according to the conventional molding method, the plant fibers laminated in the shape of a flower pot are pressed with a constant pressure by a press or the like, so that it is difficult to densely press only the fibers at the bottom.

[0005] In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method capable of producing a plant pot made of plant fiber which is robust and excellent in air permeability and water retention.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for producing a plant pot made of palm fiber or other plant fiber, comprising forming a sheet-like substrate by laminating plant fibers. After the base material is impregnated with the binder, the female type and the male type are heated and the male type is pressed halfway into the female type by the male type and held for a certain period of time. Press molding into a flowerpot shape.

[0007]

Since the plant fibers are laminated to form a sheet-like base material and then press-formed, the plant fibers do not spread over the entire flower pot and the strength is not insufficient.

In addition, since the pressing of the base material is temporarily stopped during the press molding, the plant fibers are heated by the heat from the female mold and the male mold and become soft at the time of the stop, and are naturally pressed into a predetermined shape by the subsequent pushing. Press molded.

Further, since the bottom of the flower pot has a normal direction corresponding to the pressing direction of the male mold, the bottom is more strongly compressed than the peripheral wall of the flower pot, and the fiber bulk density of the bottom becomes higher. Strength and water retention are improved, while the fiber bulk density of the peripheral wall portion is relatively low, and appropriate air permeability is secured.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a flower pot made of plant fiber such as palm fiber formed by the method of the present invention.
The flowerpot 1 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped, and has a concave portion 4 formed of a peripheral wall 2 and a bottom portion 3 for receiving soil.

Next, a method for forming the flowerpot 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The flowerpot 1 is formed by pressing a plant fiber by a female mold 5 having a concave portion 5a corresponding to the shape of the flowerpot and a male mold 6 having a convex portion 6a corresponding to the concave portion 5a.

First, a sheet-like substrate 7 is formed by laminating defibrated plant fibers such as palm fibers, and the substrate 7 is impregnated with a binder. The binder is styrene-butadiene rubber (S
BR) or a phenolic resin adhesive. Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), the base material 7 is placed on the upper surface of the female mold 5 and the male mold 6 is heated while the female mold 5 and the male mold 6 are heated to about 180 ° C. to 210 ° C. As shown in b), the base 7 is lowered to the middle of the recessed portion 5a of the female mold 5 so that the base material 7 is recessed to about half the required depth, and in this state, the lowering of the male mold 6 is temporarily stopped. And
After the base material 7 is conformed to the shape of the recess 5a, the male mold 6 is lowered to the lower end position as shown in FIG. 2C, and the base material 7 is press-formed into a predetermined shape of the flowerpot 1.

A cutting blade 5b is formed around the opening of the recessed portion 5a of the female die 5, so that when the male die 6 descends to the lower end position, an excess portion of the base material 7 is cut.

By pressing the sheet-like base material 7 on which the plant fibers are laminated as described above, the plant fibers are spread over the entire flowerpot, and the plant fibers are warmed by adopting a hot press and pushing in two steps. Softened,
The substrate 7 can be pressed into a predetermined depth without difficulty, and the flower pot 1 having sufficient strength can be formed.

When the base 7 is pushed in, the bottom 3 of the flowerpot 1 is pressed in the downward direction of the male mold 6 by the end face of the convex portion 6a of the male mold 6, so that the plant fibers are strongly compressed and the bulk of the plant fibers is increased. The density is increased, and the bottom 3 can be formed robust and rich in water retention. Further, since the peripheral wall portion 2 is compressed in the horizontal direction perpendicular to the descending direction of the male mold 6 by the peripheral surface of the convex portion 6a of the male mold 6, the bulk density of the plant fiber is relatively low, and a suitable air permeability is secured. it can.

In the above embodiment, one substrate 7 is hot-pressed. However, a plurality of substrates 7 may be stacked and hot-pressed. In this case, the plurality of substrates 7 are bonded by a binder. It becomes like one base material 7 and is formed in the same manner as in the above embodiment, so that a more robust flower pot can be formed.

While the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the manufacture of a square flower pot has been described above, the present invention can of course be applied to the manufacture of a round flower pot.

[0018]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a robust plant pot can be formed from plant fibers. In addition, the bottom of the flower pot can be formed to be robust and rich in water retention, and the ventilation of the peripheral wall can be ensured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example of a plant pot formed by the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing each step of the method of the present invention, wherein (a) is before pressing a substrate, (b) is during pressing of a substrate,
(C) is a diagram showing the substrate after pressing, respectively.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 flowerpot, 5 female type, 5a recess,
6 male type, 6a convex part, 7
Base material

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for producing a plant pot made of palm fiber or other plant fiber, comprising laminating plant fibers to form a sheet-like base material, impregnating the base material with a binder, and then female and male. While heating the mold, press the base material halfway into the female mold by the male mold and hold it for a certain period of time, and then press the base material further into the female mold and press-mold it into a predetermined flowerpot shape. Production method.