CUSHIONING PRODUCT AND MACHINE AND METHOD FOR
PRODUCING SAME
Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to cushioning products for
protecting during shipping an item packaged in a box or carton and machines for making same, and more particularly to an air pillow cushioning product
and a machine for making such an air pillow.
Background of the Invention
In the process of shipping an item from one location to another,
a protective packaging material is typically placed in the shipping carton or
box, to fill any voids and/or to cushion the item during the shipping process.
Some conventional protective packaging materials are plastic, for example
expanded polystyrene, foam peanuts and starch peanuts. While these
conventional materials seem to perform adequately as cushioning products,
they are not without disadvantages.
The most serious drawback of these types of cushioning
products is the mess that is tended to be made when unpacking a carton or
box shipped with such loosefill as the cushioning material. The peanuts tend
to be strewn about the unpacking area, requiring time intensive cleanup.
Further aggravating matters, in the case of plastic peanuts, is the tendency of
the plastic peanuts to cling to the item shipped in the box, to people, to
clothing, to carpet and to other structures in the unpacking area, due to static
electricity.
One proposed solution for overcoming the deficiencies of
loosefill as described above is the Flo-Pak Pouch™ marketed by Free Flow
Packaging International, Inc. of Redwood City, California. The Flo-Pak
Pouch™ utilizes a cylindrical plastic sleeve which is filled with polystyrene
loosefill and the ends of which are gathered and tied off to form a cylindrical
shaped or "sausage" shaped bag of loosefill. While the Flo-Pak Pouch™ does
prevent the mess described above caused by loosefill, it is not without its own
drawbacks. For example, the Flo-Pak Pouch™ is somewhat difficult to utilize
when packing articles to be shipped, as the cylindrical shaped bags do not
bend easily to conform about an article within a box. Furthermore, the Free
Flow Packaging machine which makes the Flo-Pak Pouch™ does not include
any capability for producing a string of bags of loosefill interconnected end-to-
end, i.e. the Free Flow Packaging machine has the capability for producing
only individual filled bags.
It would be desirable to better harness such loosefill material for
cushioning purposes to exploit the cushioning properties of such loosefill but
at the same time to eliminate the drawback of the mess associated therewith,
while at the same time solving the problems presented by the Flo-Pak
Pouch™ .
To this end, the invention disclosed in application Serial No.
09/065,221 filed April 23, 1998, assigned to the assignee of the present
invention and hereby incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in its
entirety, provides a number of cushioning products utilizing loosefill yet which
avoid the prior problem of mess associated therewith, and which also provide
for convenient loading of the product to be shipped into a carton therewith.
One such cushioning product comprises a bag filled with loosefill packing
material. The bag has a length, a width and a thickness, with the length and
the width being substantially greater than the thickness. The loosefill packing
material may be plastic peanuts, for example expanded polystyrene peanuts,
or starch peanuts. A filled bag of loosefill according to this invention is
preferably generally rectangular when viewed in side elevation and in end
elevation, to promote wrapping an item to be shipped. The bag, which
preferably is made of plastic, or even transparent plastic, preferably allows air
to escape from it. To that end, the bag preferably includes a number of small
holes therein. By allowing air to escape a "balloon" effect of the bags is
avoided and the cushioning effect derives only from the cushioning qualities of
the loosefill, rather than the compressability of the air within the bag and/or
the elasticity of the bag. The cushioning product of that invention may also
comprise a plurality of bags filled with loosefill packing material, with the bags
being connected end-to-end in a string. In that case, a web of preformed and
interconnected bags is provided, and loosefill packing material is inserted into
the bags which are then sealed.
The invention of application Serial No. 09/065,221 thus
provides the cushioning qualities of loosefill, for example plastic or starch
peanuts, yet without the attendant difficulties associated therewith. In
addition, the preferred geometry of the bags of loosefill provide for easy
insertion into a shipping box or carton as well as wrapping around the item to
be shipped.
One limitation of the invention of application Serial No.
09/065,221, however, is that the length of the cushioning product is not
readily varied since the length of the cushioning product is dependent upon
the length of the preformed interconnected bags which are purchased in web
form and loaded onto the machine in a roll. It would be desirable to be able
to vary the length of cushioning product produced without having to remove
the existing roll of bags of one length and replacing that roll of bags with
another roll of bags of the desired length.
Another feature of the invention of application Serial No.
09/065,221 is the provision of loosefill for filling the bags to provide
cushioning capability. In some applications it might be desirable to do away
with the loosefill if an acceptable cushioning product can still be produced.
One attempt at eliminating the web of preformed and
interconnected bags in forming a product containing bag has been made by
Dibipack of Italy. The Dibipack machine uses a sheet of plastic film which is
unrolled off of a roll, is formed into a cylindrical container, is filled with
product and is then sealed. That machine comprises a frame, a plastic sheet
supply assembly mounted on the frame, a forming assembly mounted on the
frame downstream of the plastic sheet supply assembly which forms the plastic
sheet into a tube with the lateral edges of the plastic sheet overlapping, a
pulling assembly mounted on the frame downstream of the forming assembly
which pulls the plastic sheet from the plastic sheet supply assembly to and over
the forming assembly, a first heat sealing assembly mounted on the frame
downstream of the forming assembly which heat seals the overlapping lateral
edges of the tube together, and a second heat sealing assembly mounted on
the frame downstream of the first heat sealing assembly which transversely
heat seals the tube at each end of the longitudinal heat seal formed by the first
heat sealing assembly. This machine is limited, however, in that the first heat
sealing assembly is comprised of a fixed length heat sealing bar which is
movable into and out of contact with the overlapping lateral edges of the tube
to longitudinally heat seal the overlapping lateral edges. Thus, a user is limited
to the length of bag capable of being produced on this machine to multiples of
the length of this longitudinal heat sealing bar. Stated differently, this machine
provides no capability of forming a desired length of bag other than in a length equal to the length of the longitudinal heat sealing bar or multiples
thereof.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention is a machine for producing cushioning
product which allows a user to select a length of product to be produced from
a continuous plurality of selectable lengths. A user is not limited to the length
of preformed interconnected bags, nor to the length of the longitudinal heat
sealing bar and multiples thereof, as determining the length of cushioning product to be formed.
In one aspect of the present invention, a machine for producing
cushioning product comprises a frame, a plastic sheet supply assembly
mounted on the frame, a forming assembly mounted on the frame
downstream of the plastic sheet supply assembly which forms the plastic sheet
into a tube with the lateral edges of the plastic sheet overlapping, a pulling
assembly mounted on the frame downstream of the forming assembly which
pulls the plastic sheet from the plastic sheet supply assembly to and over the
forming assembly, a first heat sealing assembly mounted on the frame
downstream of the forming assembly which is selectively activatable to
longitudinally heat seal the overlapping lateral edges of the tube together a
selected length from a continuous plurality of selectable lengths, and a second
heat sealing assembly mounted on the frame downstream of the first heat
sealing assembly which transversely heat seals the tube at each end of the
longitudinal seal formed by the first heat sealing assembly to thereby form an
air pillow.
The forming assembly preferably comprises in combination a
cylinder and a collar, the collar transitioning the plastic sheet from a generally
planar configuration as the sheet is pulled off of the plastic sheet supply
assembly to a generally cylindrical configuration about the cylinder.
The pulling assembly preferably comprises a pair of drive belts,
one belt of the pair of belts being located on each lateral side of the tube, and
each of the pair of drive belts drivingly engaging the tube.
The first heat sealing assembly preferably comprises a heated
wheel which is selectively movable into and out of contact with the
overlapping lateral edges of the tube to heat seal the tube overlapping lateral
edges together.
The second heat sealing assembly preferably comprises a pair of
heated movable bars, positioned transversely of the longitudinal axis of the
tube, and which are movable from an inoperative position spaced apart fore
and aft of the tube to an operative sealing position wherein the bars are
moved together such that the fore and aft wall portions of the tube are heat
sealed together.
The present invention also provides a method of making a
cushioning product, as well as a cushioning product made by the method.
The method comprises providing a plastic sheet with lateral edges, forming the
plastic sheet into a tube with the lateral edges of the plastic sheet overlapping,
selecting a length from a continuous plurality of selectable lengths along which
to longitudinally heat seal the overlapping lateral edges of the tube together,
longitudinally heat sealing the overlapping lateral edges of the tube together
the selected length, and transversely heat sealing the tube at each end of the
longitudinal heat seal to thereby form an air pillow.
The major advantage of the present invention is that a user may
readily vary the length of cushioning product produced. The user is not
limited to any predetermined bag length as when a web of such preformed bags is utilized, nor is a user limited to a discrete length by the length of a
longitudinal heat sealing bar and multiples thereof. Rather, a supply of plastic
sheet is fed into the machine of the present invention which has the capability
of producing air pillows of continuously variable lengths. In addition, as the
machine of the present invention produces sealed air pillows, loosefill is not
required as the cushioning qualities of the air itself can be exploited.
However, if desired, the peanut dispensing portion of the machine of
application Serial No. 09/065,221 can be incorporated into the machine of
the present invention to produce a bag or a string of interconnected bags of
loosefill packing material.
These and other advantages of the present invention will
become more readily apparent during the following detailed description taken
in conjunction with the drawings herein, in which:
Brief Description of the Drawings
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the machine of the present
invention;
Fig. 2 is a front elevation view of the machine of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a side elevation view of the machine of Figs. 1 and 2;
Fig. 4 is a view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 2;
Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the operation of the machine of
Figs. 1-4; and
Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the machine of Figs. 1-5 in
combination with the peanut dispensing portion of the machine of application
Serial No. 09/065,221.
Detailed Description Of The Invention
Referring first to Figs. 1-3, there is illustrated a machine 10 for
producing cushioning product according to the present invention. The
machine 10 includes a machine frame 12. A plastic sheet supply assembly 14
is mounted on the frame 12 and supplies a sheet of plastic film 16 to a
forming assembly 18. Alternatively, the plastic sheet supply assembly 14
could be mounted on a separate cart which is dockable to or otherwise usable
with the frame 12. Thus, the term "frame" is intended to embrace all such
variations. The forming assembly 18 is mounted on the frame 12 downstream
of the plastic sheet supply assembly 14. It forms the plastic sheet 16 into a
tube 20, for example a cylindrical tube 20, with the lateral edges 22 and 24 of
the tube 20 overlapping as at 26 (Fig. 4).
More particularly, the forming assembly 18 comprises in
combination a forming tube, e.g. forming cylinder 30, and a forming collar 32, though the invention is not limited to any such combination or illustrated
geometries of tube and collar. The cylinder 30 is mounted to the upper end of
the machine frame 12 via a support 34, and it extends downwardly into the
machine 10 as is shown in Fig. 2. The collar 32, also known as a film forming "shoe," is likewise mounted to the upper end of the frame 12. Clearance is
provided between the cylinder 30 and the radially inner edges 36 of the collar
32 to allow the plastic sheet 16 to pass over the collar 32 downwardly and
around the cylinder 30. The cylinder 30 and collar 32 thus form the plastic
sheet 16, which is in a generally planar configuration as it is pulled off of the
plastic sheet supply assembly 14, into a generally cylindrical, tubular
configuration about the cylinder 30.
As best seen in Figs. 2-4, a pulling assembly 40 is mounted on
the frame 12 downstream of the forming assembly 18. The pulling assembly
40 pulls the plastic sheet 16 from the plastic sheet supply assembly 14 to and
over the forming assembly 18. More particularly, the pulling assembly 40
comprises a pair of drive belts 42 and 44, one belt of the pair 42, 44 of belts
being located on each lateral side of the cylinder 30 and hence on each lateral
side of the cylindrically configured plastic tube 20. Belt 42 passes over a
driven roller 50 and idler rollers 52, 54 and 56. Likewise, belt 44 passes over
a driven roller 60 and idler rollers 62, 64 and 66. The rollers 50, 52, 54, 56
and 60. 62, 64 and 66 are rotatably mounted to a pair of brackets 51 and 53
respectively which themselves are mounted to a vertical plate 55 forming a
part of machine frame 12. All the rollers 50, 52, 54, 56, 60, 62, 64 and 66 are
preferably fabricated of Delrin.
Referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the driven roller 50 is
driven by a motor 70 mounted to a motor mounting plate 72 by upper and
lower motor mounting brackets 74 and 76 respectively. The motor 70 is
connected to the driven pulley 50 through a coupling 78, gear 80 and bearing
82. Gear 80 drives a similar gear (not shown for clarity) mounted to a shaft
(also not shown for clarity) on which driven roller 60 is also mounted. Thus,
motor 70 drives both driven rollers 50 and 60.
An optical encoder 84 is mounted on the drive shaft 86 of the
motor 70. The encoder 84 registers or indicates the rotation of the shaft 86
and hence the rotation of the driven rollers 50 and 60, and sends pulse signals
to a microprocessor (not shown in Fig. 3) programmed to relate those signals
to the linear amount of plastic sheet advanced in tubular, cylindrical form 20
by the drive belts 42, 44.
Referring now to Figs. 2-4, there is illustrated a first heat sealing
assembly 90. This assembly 90 includes a heat sealing wheel 92 preferably
fabricated of brass including sealing edge 94 and outboard insulating disks or
rings 95 preferably fabricated of glass-filled phenolic. The wheel 92 is
rotatably mounted on a shaft 96, preferably fabricated of bronze, including a
heater 98 imbedded therein and including leads 100, 102 for connection to an
electricity supply. Shaft 96 is secured on each end to one end of a dog leg link
110 which is pivoted at 112 to a bracket 114 mounted to the frame 12. The
other end of dog leg link 110 is connected to the piston 120 of a pneumatic
piston and cylinder 122 mounted to the bracket 114.
Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, at the lower end of the machine
10 there is illustrated a second heat sealing assembly 140. This assembly 140 comprises a pair 142, 144 of heated movable bars. The bars 142, 144 are
positioned transversely along the longitudinal axis of the cylinder 30 and
hence transversely of the cylindrically formed plastic tube 20. The bars 142,
144 are movable by way of a pneumatic cylinder 146 from an inoperative
position spaced apart fore and aft of the tube 20 to an operative sealing
position wherein the bars 142, 144 are moved together such that the fore and
aft wall portions 20a and 20b respectively of the tube 20 are heat sealed
togther.
Preferably, the bars 142 and 144 include separate upper 150,
lower 152 and intermediate 154 heater elements. Element 150 forms the
bottom heat seal of an upper air pillow 160. The lower element 152 forms the
upper heat seal of a lower air pillow 162. The intermediate element 154 melts
completely through the plastic sheet to separate the upper and lower air
pillows 160, 162. In the event that a string of interconnected air pillows is
desired to be produced, rather than individual air pillows, the machine 10
would preferably include a means for selectively activating and deactivating
the intermediate element 154 as desired. Alternatively, the element 154 could
be replaced with a selectively activatable blade to sever adjacent air pillows.
Referring back to Fig. 1, a control box 170 houses the
associated electrical (e.g. microprocessor) and pneumatic controls for the
machine 10. A keypad 172 with display 174 allows a user to input the desired
length of air pillow to be formed, as well as the desired number of pillows to
be formed. A cycle start button 176 activates the machine 10, whereas an
emergency stop button 178 stops the machine 10 in the event of an
emergency. Temperature dials 180 and 182 control the temperature of the
heat sealing wheel 92 and heat sealing bars 142, 144 respectively. Control
184 is provided for turning power to the machine 10 on and off.
In use, a user inputs the length of air pillow desired (e.g., 10
inches, 12 inches, etc.), along with the number of air pillows desired, via the
keypad 172 and verifies same with the display 174. The temperatures are
adjusted with the dials 180 and 182 (heat sealing wheel 92 preferably being
set at 380°F and heat sealing bars 142. 144 preferably being set at 390-
400°F) and then the start button 176 is depressed. Simultaneously, air
cylinder 122 retracts moving heating wheel 92 into contact with the
overlapped portion 26 of the cylindrically formed plastic tube 20, and the
motor 70 is started thus driving belts 42 and 44 pulling the plastic sheet 16 off
of the plastic sheet supply 14 and over the collar 32 and around the cylinder
30. Heating wheel 92 is rotated solely by the advancing cylindrically formed
plastic tube 20. When the heat wheel 92 has formed a longitudinal heat seal
along the overlapped portion 26 corresponding to the desired length of the air
pillow entered via the keypad 172 (as monitored by encoder 84 and the
microprocessor) , simultaneously the pneumatic cylinder 122 extends thus pivoting the wheel 92 away from and out of contact with the overlapped
portion 26, and the motor 70 is stopped. While the now longitudinally sealed
cylindrical plastic tube 20 is stationary, the second heat sealing assembly 140
is activated once to form the lower seal of the air pillow being formed. Then,
again, simultaneously, air cylinder 122 retracts moving heating wheel 92 back
into contact with overlapped portion 26, and motor 70 is started causing the belts 42 and 44 to advance the plastic tube 20 downwardly. Once a second
like length of longitudinal heat seal has been formed, the motor 70 is again
stopped, cylinder 122 again extends pivoting heat wheel 92 away from
overlapped portion 26 and the second heat sealing assembly 140 is activated a second time to form the upper seal of the air pillow being formed. The
cycle is repeated until the desired number of air pillows of the desired length
have been produced, at which time operation of the motor 70 ceases, cylinder
122 is moved to and remains in the extended position, and bars 142, 144 are
moved to and remain in their spaced apart positions, the machine 10 awaiting
input of the next command via the keypad 172. A block diagram of the
operation of the machine 10 is illustrated in Fig. 5.
The plastic sheet 16 is preferably .0015 inches thick and is
preferably of the type available from AEP Industries, Inc. of Hackensack, NJ
as part number 11CFPPF or 26FLPPF. Collar or shoe 30 is preferably of the
type available from Former Tech, Inc. of Austin, TX as part number FBS-500.
Belts 42 and 44 are perfectly of the type available from Burrell-Leder, Inc. of
Skokie, IL as part number 802-06-013/B-13905. Motor 70 is preferably a
Dayton 1/15 hp, 115V. 100 rpm, 27 in-lb gear motor available from Grainger
of Addison, NJ as part number ZZ803D. Coupling 78 is preferably a 3-jaw
coupling available from Boston Gear of Boston, MA as part number BF10.
Gear 80 is preferably a cast iron stock spur gear, 14V2° pressure angle, 9" pitch
diameter available from Martin Sprocket and Gear of Arlington, TX as part
number C1090. Bearing 82 is preferably of the type available from Nice
Bearing Co. and distributed by Motion Industries of Chicago, IL as part
number R12ZZ. Encoder 84 is preferably of the type available from Monroe
Machine and Design, Inc. of Jamesburg, NJ as part number 802-05-011.
Heater 98 is preferably a Vz inch O.D., 2 fe inches long, 300 Watt, 120V unit
available from Watlow Corp. of Columbia, MD. Cylinder 120 is preferably of
the type available from Bimba, Inc. of Monee, IL as part number 022-RP.
Heat sealing assembly 140 is preferably of the type available from Monroe
Machine And Design, Inc. of Jamesburg, NJ as part number 802-06-012. The
speed of the cylindrically formed plastic sheet film is variable with motor 70 up
to a speed of 471 inches per minute; the preferred speed is 400-430 inches
per minute.
Those skilled in the art will readily recognize numerous
adaptations and modifications which can be made to the present invention
which will result in an improved cushioning product and machine, yet all of
which will fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in
the following claims. For example, and as discussed above, the machine of
the present invention could be combined with the peanut dispensing portion
of the machine of application Serial No. 09/065,221 to produce a bag or a
string of interconnected bags of loosefill packing material. See Fig. 6. In that
case the film or sheet would need to be porous or otherwise include holes, slits or perforations therein to allow air to escape from the bag to avoid a "balloon"
effect. Further, film or sheet other than plastic film may be used with the
machine of the invention. For example, biodegradable starch-based film may be used; the only requirement is that the film be heat fusable or heat weldable.
In such a case starch peanuts could be used to fill the bags made from starch- based film to produce a biodegradable cushioning product. Still further, the
bags formed by the present invention could be used to contain product other
than cushioning product, for example food items, hardware items, medical
supplies or any other type of consumer product which is typically packaged in
such a bag. Accordingly, the invention is to be limited only by the scope of
the following claims and their equivalents.
What is claimed is: