U.S. patent application number 10/064089 was filed with the patent office on 2002-09-26 for inflatable air cell dunnage.
Invention is credited to Simhaee, Ebrahim.
Application Number | 20020134049 10/064089 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 23141717 |
Filed Date | 2002-09-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020134049 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Simhaee, Ebrahim |
September 26, 2002 |
Inflatable air cell dunnage
Abstract
Air cell dunnage is disclosed which collapses for shipment and
is constructed to be subsequently inflated for use. The air cell
dunnage is a bubble sheet containing a multiplicity of gas cells
and a base layer fused to the bubble layer. The bubble layer
further includes conduits interconnecting selected groups of the
selected cells and a common channel extending longitudinally on the
sheet in fluid communication with each of the selected groups. The
conduits provide access to selected groups of gas cells for
collapsing and inflating the cells for shipment and use,
respectively.
Inventors: |
Simhaee, Ebrahim; (Beverly
Hills, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DARBY & DARBY P.C.
POST OFFICE BOX 5257
NEW YORK
NY
10150-5257
US
|
Family ID: |
23141717 |
Appl. No.: |
10/064089 |
Filed: |
June 10, 2002 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10064089 |
Jun 10, 2002 |
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09296363 |
Apr 22, 1999 |
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6423166 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
53/408 ; 156/145;
156/156; 156/209; 53/403; 53/79 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B29C 53/16 20130101;
Y10T 428/24661 20150115; Y10T 428/24744 20150115; Y10T 428/24562
20150115; B31D 5/0073 20130101; B32B 3/30 20130101; B32B 2553/026
20130101; Y10T 428/24777 20150115; Y10T 428/1334 20150115; Y10T
156/1023 20150115; B32B 38/0032 20130101; Y10T 428/234 20150115;
B29L 2031/7138 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
53/408 ; 156/156;
53/403; 53/79; 156/145; 156/209 |
International
Class: |
B65D 081/18; B65B
031/00 |
Claims
1. A device for inflating collapsed air cell dunnage including a
flattened bubble sheet having a bubble layer, a base layer
connected thereto and gas expelled from the bubbles in the bubble
sheet, the bubble layer further including conduits interconnecting
selected groups of bubbles and a common channel extending
longitudinally on the sheet and in fluid communication with each of
the groups through the conduits, comprising: a nozzle including an
exterior blade with a cutting edge, the nozzle being inserted into
the leading edge of the channel in order to introduce gas under
pressure into the channel; a heat sealing device including two
rollers constructed to seal the conduits in between the bubbles in
the selected groups after the bubbles have been inflated; and the
exterior blade adapted to cut the channel so that the inflated air
cell dunnage can be separated from the nozzle for use.
2. A method for inflating collapsed air cell dunnage including a
flattened bubble sheet having a bubble layer, a base layer
connected thereto and gas expelled from the bubbles in the bubble
sheet, the bubble layer further including conduits interconnecting
selected groups of bubbles and a common channel extending
longitudinally on the sheet and in fluid communication with each of
the groups through the conduits, comprising: inserting a nozzle
into the leading edge of the channel in order to introduce gas
under pressure into the channel; sealing the conduits in between
the bubbles after the bubbles have been inflated; and cutting the
channel so that the inflated air cell dunnage can be separated from
the nozzle for use.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a division of pending U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 09/296,363 filed Apr. 22, 1999, the
specification of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference
in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to air cell dunnage and, more
particularly, to air cell dunnage which is intended to be inflated
at the time of use.
[0003] Air cell dunnage is typically used for shipping products
which may be subject to breakage. The dunnage may be wrapped around
the product or stuffed into a container to prevent movement of the
product within the container during shipment and to protect against
shock.
[0004] Conventionally, manufacturing air cell dunnage involves
vacuum forming a multiplicity of bubbles to form a bubble layer.
The bubbles are separated by flats which are bonded (thermally) to
a flat base layer to form a bubble sheet in which air is trapped
within the hemispherical vacuum formed bubble. This bubble sheet or
air cell dunnage as it is commonly known, is shipped in this form
to end users who use the dunnage to package their products for
shipment.
[0005] The manufactured bubble sheet is relatively bulky, being
close to 100 times the thickness of the combined thickness of the
plastic film from which the bubble sheet is manufactured.
Obviously, this bulk increases the cost of shipping of the
manufactured air cell dunnage to the ultimate end user.
[0006] Moreover, the manufacture of the bubble sheet takes place at
relatively high temperature (for example, about 120 E c). After the
base layer is fused to the bubble layer, the temperature of the
bubble sheet drops to room temperature which is approximately 20 E
c. Because of this drop in temperature, the volume of the air
within the individual bubbles or cells decreases by about 25%.
Using these figures, this would mean that only about 75% of the
available volume of a bubble is being used. It can be shown that
when 75% of the available volume of a bubble is used, the height of
the bubble is only 56% of the height of a fully inflated bubble.
This means that if the individual bubbles could be expanded to
their full size, the bulkiness (thickness) of the product would be
almost doubled. Conversely, to achieve the bulkiness of a prior art
bubble sheet in which the bubbles are only expanded to 75% of their
volume, a fully expanded bubble sheet would require 44% less raw
material. Thus, it is desirable to increase the percentage of the
available volume of the bubbles which is filled with air.
[0007] The main object of this invention is to provide air cell
dunnage which can be inflated by the end user, which means that the
manufactured product is much less bulky than before and which also
enables the individual bubbles to be filled with a greater volume
of air.
[0008] A further object of the invention is to provide air cell
dunnage in which less material is required for a specified amount
of bulkiness.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] In accordance with the invention, the individual cells of a
bubble sheet are interconnected by a series of conduits which lead
to atmosphere. When the bubble layer is fused to the base layer,
the conduits function as a vent so that the fused bubble sheet can
be flattened to evacuate the air within the bubble sheet. The
flattened bubble sheet is shipped to the end user.
[0010] The end user inflates the bubble sheets by connecting the
conduits to an air supply. This will take place at room temperature
which means that the individual cells or bubbles can be completely
filled with air. After the bubble sheet has been inflated, the
individual conduit(s) are sealed so that the captured air is
retained within the bubble sheet which can then be used in
conventional fashion.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a bubble sheet in accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2 is a plan view of a
bubble sheet showing a preferred mechanism for expelling air from
the bubbles; FIG. 3 is a side sectional view along the line 3-3 of
FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a side sectional view along the line 4-4 of FIG.
2; FIG. 5 is a plan view showing schematically how the bubbles are
inflated and, the conduits sealed; and FIG. 6 is a side sectional
view along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] FIG. 1 shows a bubble layer 10 in accordance with the
invention after vacuum forming. A multiplicity of bubbles 12 are
typically formed in a diagonal pattern which maximizes the number
of bubbles in a given area. In accordance with the invention, in
each "diagonal" row, the bubbles 12 are interconnected by means of
conduits 14. On one side of the sheet, i.e, the right hand side
illustrated in FIG. 1, the conduits 14 lead to a channel 15 at the
edge of the bubble layer 10. Channel 15 can be used as an exhaust
channel for deflating the bubbles and the conduits, and it can be
accessed by the end user for the purpose of inflating the bubble
sheet as described below.
[0013] For purposes of explanation, the interconnected bubbles in a
single row have been labeled in FIG. 1 with the letters A through
Z, respectively, with the right hand bubbles indicated by the
subscript 1 and the bubble in the left hand position of the same
row by the subscript 5. For example, a single diagonal row of
interconnecting bubbles, contains bubbles A.sub.1 through A.sub.5.
Typically, the sheet 10 will be about 1.5 meters wide which means
that a single diagonal row of bubbles may contain as many as sixty
bubbles. The drawings are not intended to illustrate an actual
bubble sheet but represent instead a schematic example for purposes
of explanation.
[0014] By way of example only, if the bubbles 12 are formed as one
inch hemispheres, the conduits 14 may be semi-cylindrical forms
about 1/8 inch in diameter and channel 15 about 1/4 inch in
diameter. They would also be vacuumed formed during the process of
manufacturing the bubble layer. This would mean that the roller
which contains the female hemispherical dies for forming the
bubbles would also include comparable female semi-cylindrical dies
for forming the conduits 14 and channel 15. It is also contemplated
that the conduits 14 and channel 15 may be formed in the base layer
16, either in whole or in part.
[0015] After the bubble layer shown in FIG. 1 has been formed, it
is joined to a base layer 16 in conventional fashion to form a
bubble sheet (FIGS. 2 and 3). The base layer 16 contacts the bubble
layer only in those regions which are "flat", i.e. the regions
outside of the bubbles 12, conduits 14 and channel 15. Typically,
layers 10 and 16 are thermally fused together.
[0016] In accordance with the invention, after the bubble sheet has
been formed, the bubbles are deflated so that the sheet can be
shipped in a flattened condition. For this purpose, as shown in
FIGS. 2 and 4, a pair of nip rollers 18 and 20 are provided. The
axes of the nip rollers 18 and 20 are arrayed as shown in FIG. 2 so
that they are perpendicular to the conduits 14 of each diagonal row
of bubbles A, B, C, etc. The nip rollers 18 and 20 rotate in the
direction of the arrows causing air to be expelled from each row of
bubbles through the side channel 15 to atmosphere. Assuming that
the bubble sheet moves in the direction of arrow 22 as it is
produced, the bubbles shown to the left of the nip rollers 18 and
20 will be flattened and the bubbles on the right hand side will
still contain air. It is desirable for the nip rollers 18 and 20 to
be transverse to the conduits 14 to make sure that all of the air
in a given bubble is expelled by the nip rollers. If the nip
rollers were not transversed to conduits 14, air could be trapped
within the individual bubbles. The nip rollers 18 and 20 do not
function to move the bubble sheet and provide only negligible
resistance to the movement of the bubble sheet as it is
produced.
[0017] The flattened bubble sheet, as indicated above, may be
approximately 100 times thinner than the inflated bubble sheet.
Because of this enormous reduction in bulk, the cost of
transporting and storing the bubble sheet is greatly reduced.
[0018] After the deflated bubble sheet has been shipped, it is
necessary to inflate the bubble sheet so that it can be used. For
this purpose, apparatus of the type shown schematically in FIG. 5
can be employed. The apparatus includes a nozzle 30 having an
exterior blade 32 which includes a cutting edge 34, and a heat
sealing arrangement which includes two rollers 36 and 38 (FIG. 6).
As shown the nozzle 30 is tapered with its wider portion sealing
the channel 15 so that air from the nozzle cannot escape.
[0019] The flattened bubble sheet typically will be shipped in the
form of a large roll as shown at the bottom of FIG. 5 at 39 and
will be unwound in the direction of arrow 40 using conventional
rollers (not shown). The nozzle 30 is inserted into the leading
edge of channel 15. Nozzle 30 provides air under pressure which
inflates each of the diagonally interconnected rows of bubbles A,
B, C, etc. as the bubble sheet is unrolled. The heat sealing
process requires the application of heat and pressure to the
plastic bubble sheet in the areas of the conduits 14. For this
purpose, the upper roller 36 may include a multiplicity of cavities
42 which conform generally to the shapes of the individual air
bubbles. The lower roller 38, on the other hand, may be cylindrical
in shape with heating wires embedded in the surface of the cylinder
to raise the temperature of the plastic sheet to a temperature at
which fusion will occur under the pressure applied by the two
rollers. The heating wire will trace a path as shown by the dotted
lines 44 which ensures that the high temperature is not applied
directly to the bubbles and also that the seal at the conduits 14
is generally transverse to the individual conduits.
[0020] The heat sealing rollers 36 and 38 are arranged to seal the
bubbles after an entire diagonal row has been inflated. For
example, as shown in FIG. 5, the heat sealing rollers must not seal
the conduit 14 between bubble E.sub.1 and channel 15 until all of
the bubbles E.sub.1-E.sub.5 have been inflated because after that
seal has been made, it is no longer possible to provide air to the
remaining bubbles in the diagonal line which has been sealed. After
the conduit 14 between bubble E.sub.1 and channel 15 is sealed, as
the sheet continues to move in the direction of arrow 40, the
conduit 14 between bubbles E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 is sealed and so
forth until finally the conduit between bubble E.sub.4 and E.sub.5
is sealed. At this point, each of the bubbles E.sub.1-E.sub.5 is
independent of the remaining bubbles.
[0021] The same procedure, of course, applies to each successive
diagonal row of bubbles. When the leading bubble of each row, e.g.
bubble C.sub.1, reaches the blade 32, cutting edge 34 cuts the
channel 15 so that the inflated bubble sheet can be separated from
the nozzle 30 for use in conventional fashion. Because the nozzle
30 fits tightly within the channel 15 it is still possible to
expand the bubbles through the unsevered portion of channel 15
below the outlet of nozzle 30.
[0022] Other arrangements of the conduits can be shown in addition
to what is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. It is not necessary that
each diagonal row of bubbles be separately inflatable and any
practical number of diagonal rows may be interconnected so that
they can be simultaneously inflated.
* * * * *