Patent Application
20100012762
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to air cushion makers, and more particularly, to a film-aligning device for aligning a plastic film during a feeding stork, so as to ensure smooth inflating and sealing processes.
2. Description of Related Art
For protecting packed objects from being damaged under accidental impact, buffer or cushion materials are generally used to fill void. As can be seen in
A desk-top air cushion maker has been therefore developed to remedy the aforementioned problem by providing an inflated and sealed air cushion, as depicted in
One primary objective of the present invention is to provide a film-aligning device for automatically aligning and orienting a plastic film before the plastic film receives inflating and sealing processes in an air cushion maker.
To achieve this and other objectives of the present invention, the film-aligning device comprises a plastic film roll rotatably mounted on a base of a desk-top air cushion maker, a plurality of film-pulling roller sets, a heater settled on the base. The heater provides a heating temperature ranging from 55 to 60 Centigrade degrees. The heater is positioned between the plastic film roll and the film-pulling roller sets that continuously draw out a plastic film from the plastic film roll. Thereby, the plastic film over the heater is heated and softened. In the event that the film is tending to become slant, two sides of the film receive different magnitudes of pulling force from the film-pulling roller set. At this time, the side receiving the relatively great pulling force becomes taut and the other side receiving the relatively small pulling force becomes loose, so that the film crossing over the heater performs plastic deformation that stops the uneven pulling force being transmitted toward the plastic film roll. As a result, the film between the plastic film roll and the heater is protected from receiving the uneven pulling force and kept aligned, thereby rectifying the film stroke from slanting and ensuring the following film proceeding straightly.
The invention as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to- the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
While some preferred embodiments are provided hereinafter for illustrating the concept of the present invention as described above, it is to be understood that the components in these drawings are made for better explanation and need not to be made in scale. Besides, in the following description and the drawings, resemblances are indicated by the same numerals.
Referring to
Another perspective view of the air cushion maker according to the present invention can be seen in
A heater 30 is provided on the base 10, between the plastic film roll 17 and the film-pulling roller set 21, and below a plane where the plastic film passes along. A pressing roller 31 is provided on the cover 12 adjacent to the plastic film roll 17 for contacting the heater 30 so as to press the plastic film 171 on a surface of the heater 30 for enhanced heating. The heater 30 is in a bar shape, and parallel to the film-pulling roller set 21. It is to be noted that the heater 30 has a length long enough to heat the plastic film 171 for an entire width of the plastic film 171, as shown in
The film-pulling roller set 21 draws out the plastic film 171 from the plastic film roll 17. Thereby, the plastic film 171 over the heater 30 is heated and softened. In the event that the film is tending to become slant, two sides of the film 171 receive different magnitudes of pulling force from the film-pulling roller set. At this time, the side receiving the relatively great pulling force becomes taut and the other side receiving the relatively small pulling force becomes loose, so that the film 171 crossing over the heater 30 performs a plastic deformation that stops the uneven pulling force being transmitted toward the plastic film roll 17. As a result, the film between the plastic film roll 17 and the heater 30 is protected from receiving the uneven pulling force and kept aligned, thereby ensuring the plastic film 171 continuously and straightly released from the plastic film roll 17. Consequently, the heater 30 facilitates aligning the plastic film 171 and preventing the plastic film 171 from a slanting feeding stork.
Although the particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that numerous variations will be possible to the disclosed embodiments without going outside the scope of the invention as disclosed in the claims.
