The present invention relates to packaging materials and more particularly is directed to systems and methods used in the manufacturing and utilization of packaging pillows.
Many techniques have been used to pack items for shipping and to absorb impacts on goods that are packed for shipping. Popular shipping protection methods includes the use of foam “peanuts,” molded foam components, formed paper, and molded pulp packaging components.
A technique that has gained recent popularity involves the use of air-inflated cushions formed from a film material (“pillows”), such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,134 and pending U.S. Patent Application Pub. Nos. 2006/0292320 and 2006/0251833. This style of packaging allows low-volume, uninflated pillow film materials to be shipped to packers, who then inflate the pillows as needed into shock-absorbing packing material. Pillow inflating machines can be used at the point of packaging to provide fully formed pillows at the time of packaging, thereby eliminating the need to store bulky packaging materials at the packaging site. The inflated pillows are formed in a continuous strip of individual pillows, and the desired length or number of the inflated pillows are separated from the continuous strip of inflated pillows as they are dispensed from the pillow inflating machine.
Air inflating machine systems may produce the air-inflated pillows at a rate that differs from the rate at which the actual packaging of goods is occurring. To accommodate the differences in the rate of pillow inflation and packaging use, the strip of formed packaging material is often fed into a holding bin adjacent to the inflation device. When packing material is needed by the packer, the end of the continuous strip of inflated pillows is withdrawn from the holding bin, an appropriate length of inflated pillows is measured by the packer, separated from the continuous strip and then placed into a shipping box to protect the packaged goods.
When a packer is using the pillows as packaging material, he must pull the required material out of the holding bin, typically using both hands to pull and place a number of pillows into the shipping box to fill any voids that may be present. When a sufficient number of pillows have been placed in the box to fill the voids, the packer must separate the pillows from the continuous strip of pillows. The need for the packer to reach into the holding bin and manually separate the required length or number of inflated pillows can be a time-consuming and laborious process, decreasing the overall efficiency of the packaging operation and thereby increasing costs. In some applications, a transfer stand may be placed in front of the holding bin with the end of the continuous strip of pillows draped over the transfer stand so that the packer does not have reach into the holding bin every time additional pillows are required. However, this still requires the packer to manually pull and tear the required number of pillows for packaging. A device is needed that can facilitate and improve the efficiency of dispensing air-inflated pillows to aid the packer in the packaging operation.
The present invention relates to a packaging material handling device. The preferred embodiment of the device includes a first pair of traction members configured for cooperatively engaging a chain of pre-inflated pillows from opposite sides thereof and being operable for driving the chain in the flow direction. The device further includes a second pair of traction members configured for cooperatively engaging the chain from opposite sides thereof. The second pair of traction members are spaced apart from the first pair of traction members along a flow direction and are operable for driving the chain in the flow direction. The first and second pairs of traction members are operable for holding the first and second portions of the chain during a breaking operation. The device further includes a breaking member disposed between the first and second pairs of traction members and movable against the chain across the flow direction in the breaking operation to break the chain for detaching the first portion from the second portion.
In a preferred embodiment, the breaking member is in the form of a blade including a substantially blunt leading edge. The leading edge can include a central lobe and a pair of outer lobes, the central lobe being disposed between the pair of outer lobes. Recessed areas can be disposed between the central lobe and the outer lobes, with a sloped surface extending from the central lobe into the recessed areas, such that the lobes contact the weakened area of the chain before the recessed area and the sloped surface gradually breaks the weakened area of the chain as the blade moves therethrough during the breaking operation.
In a further embodiment the packaging material handling device includes a first set of rollers configured for cooperatively engaging a chain of pre-inflated pillows from opposite sides thereof and being operable for driving the chain in the flow direction and a second set of rollers configured for cooperatively engaging the chain from opposite sides thereof. The second set of rollers can be spaced apart from the first set of rollers along a flow direction and can be operable for driving the chain in the flow direction. The first and second sets of rollers can be operable for holding the first and second portions of the chain during a breaking operation. At least some of the rollers, from at least one of the first and second sets of rollers, are preferably disposed on each side of the chain are staggered with respect to the rollers on the opposite side of the chain for engaging the chain at different lateral locations for deforming the chain.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following non-limiting detailed description considered in conjunction with the drawing figures, in which:
In
While inflated pillows 101 continue to accumulate in the holding bin 2, the free end 102 of the continuous strip of inflated pillows 100 is drawn out of the holding bin 2 by the burster 10, which is preferably configured to dispense the free end 102 of pillows 101 to the operator when needed. The sensor 6 on the holding bin 2 can limit the transfer of inflated pillows 101 out of the holding bin 2 when supplies are low to prevent premature tearing of the continuous strip of pillows 100.
Burster 10 is shown in detail in
Driving mechanism 16 includes a first pair of oppositely-disposed traction elements 20a,20b and a second pair of oppositely-disposed traction elements 22a,22b. Each pair of traction elements 20a,20b and 22a,22b is configured to co-operatively grip the chain 100 of pre-inflated pillows 101 in order to move the chain 100 therethrough and to hold chain 100 during the breaking operation, both without tearing through one of the web layers 120,122 or creating too great a pressure within a pillow 101 resulting in popping thereof. The pairs of traction members 20a,22 and 22a,22b are further configured to move the chain 100 in a substantially straight path in downstream direction 18, such that the perforations 118 remain substantially aligned with breaking member 42 and such that chain 100 does not travel laterally within burster 10, which could result in chain 100 pushing up against a portion of the housing 11 of device 10 and could lead to jamming of burster 10 or damage to the chain 100.
Each pair of traction elements 20a,20b and 22a,22b consists of an upper element 20a,22a and a lower element 20b,22b, wherein the upper element 20a,22a is disposed so as to contact the top of chain 100 as it passes therethrough, and wherein the lower element 20b,22b is disposed so as to contact the bottom of chain as it passes therethrough, the upper element 20a,22a being substantially vertically aligned with the corresponding lower element 20b,22b.
Referring to the second pair of traction elements 22a,22b, each traction element 22a,22b consists of an axle 24 rotatably affixed to housing 11 and extending perpendicularly to the flow direction 18 across the width of the interior of housing 11. Axle 24 has a plurality of rollers 26 affixed thereto that are configured to contact chain 100 so as to move chain 100 in the flow direction 18 and to hold chain 100 during the breaking operation. Rollers 26 can include an elastomeric outer surface to aid in gripping chain 100 form moving and holding thereof. In a preferred embodiment, rollers 26 are made from an elastomeric material such as carboxylated nitrile. By forming rollers 26 from an elastomeric material, rollers 26 can frictionally grip chain 100 without causing damage thereto. Further, some of the elastomeric rollers 26 can be biased against one another, such as a roller of the upper traction element 22a and a corresponding roller of the lower traction element 22b, causing deformation of the rollers 26, which allows for increased gripping pressure against a portion of chain 100.
Rollers 26 are preferably in the form of a cylinder having a diameter of between about 1.5 in. and about 3 in. In a preferred embodiment the diameter of rollers 26 is about 2 in. Rollers 26 preferably further have a width of between about ¼ in. and about ¾ in., and more preferably about ½ in. Rollers 26 also preferably include a fillet at the outside edges of the film-contacting surface thereof. The fillet preferably forms an angle of about 45° and extends into the film-contacting surface by between about 0.01 in and about 0.05 in, and more preferably about 0.03 in.
The number of rollers 26 included along each of axle 24a of upper traction element 22a and axle 24b of lower traction element 22b and the spacing between adjacent rollers on each axle 24a,24b can vary and can be selected to suitably grip a number of differently-configured chains of pre-inflated pillows. The various configurations of the chains include various chain lateral widths, various perforation-to perforation longitudinal lengths, varying pillow thicknesses and pillows having different sizes or geometries. An exemplary arrangement of rollers 26 for one pair of traction elements 22a,22b is shown in
The film material used to form the chain 100 of pre-inflated pillows 101, is preferably formed having an inflation channel 198, as shown in
In a further alternative arrangement, shown in
The arrangement of rollers 26 of axles 25a,25b of the first pair of traction elements 20a,20b can be the same or different from the arrangement of rollers 26 of the second pair of traction elements 22a,22b. Any of the various roller arrangements discussed above with respect to the second pair of traction elements 22a,22b is suitable for use with the second pair of traction elements 20a,20b. The arrangements of the rollers 26 in each of the first pair of traction elements 20a,20b and second pair of traction elements 22a,22b can be selected to interact with each other to provide the desired movement and holding characteristics for device 10. The use of substantially the same roller arrangement in both the first pair of traction elements 20a,20b and the second pair of traction elements 22a,22b can provide improved holding characteristics for device 10 during the breaking operation.
As shown in
The first and second pairs of traction elements 20a,20b and 22a,22b are preferably configured to be driven by a single motor 34 such that all of the axles 24a,24b,25a,25b move at the same speed. As shown in
As stated previously, the breaking operation is carried out by breaking mechanism 40, as shown in
A preferred embodiment of blade 42 is shown in
In general leading edge 60 of blade 42 is configured to evenly and completely tear perforation 118 of chain 100 without deforming or otherwise damaging chain 100, including pillows 101, or without substantially altering the position of chain within burster 10. The preferred embodiment of blade 42 shown in
Alternative configurations for blades that can be used in breaking mechanism 40 are shown in
The breaking mechanism 40 can also include a pair of parallel bars 41 that are spaced beneath a plane defined by the intersection of traction elements 20a and 20b and extending in the flow direction 18 to the intersection of traction elements 22a and 22b. Bars 41 can be spaced beneath this plane at a distance sufficient to allow clearance thereover of pillows 101 as they pass through drive system 20. Bars 41 are further spaced apart along the flow direction 18 at a distance slightly greater than the thickness of blade 42. During the breaking operation, blade 42 extends into the space between bars 41 such that bars 41 can assist blade 42 during any tearing of perforation 118, at which point a portion of chain 100 surrounding perforation 118 will deform so as to contact bars 41. Such a configuration is shown in
As shown in
A control system can be included in burster 10 that is configured to properly dispense a chain segment of a desired number of consecutive pillows 101 and to automatically separate the chain segment from the chain 100 by properly aligning the appropriate perforation 118 with blade 42 and for causing blade to tear chain 100 along the selected perforation 118. To achieve the proper alignment of the appropriate perforation 118 with blade 42, the control system can include an optical sensor 97 that is aligned with an edge of the chain 100 that includes a plurality of markings 121 that are spaced apart from a corresponding perforation at a distance that is substantially equal to the distance between sensor 97 and blade 42. Accordingly, when a marking 121 is aligned with sensor 97, the corresponding perforation 118 is aligned with blade. This allows the control system to count the number of markings that pass thereunder to keep track of the number of pillows 101 being dispensed and to stop the movement of the drive mechanism 20 such that a perforation 118 is aligned with blade 42 once a chain segment having the desired number of pillows 101 has been dispensed. The control system can additionally or alternatively be configured to be controlled by a user and to receive an input therefrom by, for example, a foot pedal.
Additionally, the control system can include a sensor affixed to one of a number of fingers 98 that are affixed to a rod 99 extending across outlet 14 of burster 10. Fingers 98 are generally configured to extend downwardly across the outlet 14 when there is no portion of chain 100 present in outlet 14. Fingers 98 can, accordingly, be configured such that they can not rotate inwardly against the flow direction 18 which can add help prevent a user from accidentally reaching into outlet 14, which could cause injury. Fingers 98 are also configured to ride across the upper surface of pillows 101 as they are dispensed from outlet 14, and can further be configured to retain a chain segment within outlet 14 after the breaking operation, until a user removes the chain segment therefrom. Accordingly the sensor on one of the fingers 98 can be configured to detect the presence of a pillow within outlet 14 based on the position of the finger 98. This arrangement can be used, for example, to prevent the device from dispensing pillows 101 after a breaking operation has been performed while a pillow 101 from a previously-dispensed chain segment is still present in outlet 14 or to provide an audible or visual signal to a user indicating that the outlet 14 should be cleared. The control system can also be connected to one or more emergency switches 99 that can be configured to allow a user to stop operation of burster 10 during an emergency situation.
All of the references specifically identified in the detailed description section of the present application are expressly incorporated herein in their entirety by reference thereto. The term “about,” as used herein, should generally be understood to refer to both the corresponding number and a range of numbers. Moreover, all numerical ranges herein should be understood to include each whole integer within the range.
While illustrative embodiments of the invention are disclosed herein, it will be appreciated that numerous modifications and other embodiments may be devised by those skilled in the art. For example, the features for the various embodiments can be used in other embodiments. Therefore, it will be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and embodiments that come within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
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