Patent Application
20060201110
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for wrapping a rolled material, particularly a roll or coil of metal, such as steel or aluminum.
2. Description of the Related Art
In steel mills the steel is often made in sheets having a length many times greater than its width. The sheets are wound into coils for compactness during storage. The coils of steel may be stored on pallets for ease in moving and manipulating the coils. It is desirable to wrap the coils of steel in material which is relatively impermeable to water to prevent corrosion of the steel during storage and transport. The process of wrapping coils of metal, and particularly large coils of sheet steel, is labor intensive and costly. There is a need for an efficient method for wrapping coils for transport and storage.
Japanese Patent No. 2-127,271, published May 15, 1990, discloses a strip of packaging material having two edges and a plurality of cuts formed along each edge to form tongues which overlap. The strip further includes an adhesive agent attached to the tongues. The strip is intended to make the process of wrapping steel coils easier.
Neither the Japanese '271 patent nor any other apparatus or method of packaging coils of which the present inventor is aware, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a method of packaging coils solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The method of packaging coils uses a tear-resistant packaging tube having openings at either end. The tear resistant packaging tube is made from at least one layer of material. The coil is generally cylindrical and defines a length, a circumference, an inside diameter, and an opening with an inner periphery. The coil is placed inside of the tube so that there is excess circumferential tube material extending from a first end of the coil. The excess circumferential material of the tube is then inserted through the opening at the center of the coil and drawn through the coil to the second end. The edges of the tube which extend from the second end of the coil are then folded back around the outside of the coil and sealed to secure the tube on the roll.
A packaging tube according to one embodiment of the present invention includes at least one rectangular sheet of a polymeric material, having a first edge, an opposing second edge, a third edge, and an opposing fourth edge. The tube is formed by folding the sheet along a line bisecting the sheet and sealing the first and second edges together. The sheet may be impregnated with a volatile corrosion inhibitor or a multi-purpose inhibitor to prevent deterioration of the coil by corrosion. The sheet may be a multi-layered material semi-laminated around the periphery and/or at continuous or discontinuous intervals across the width or length of the sheet.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
The present invention relates to a method for packaging coils for transport or storage. The coils are wrapped in packaging tubes made from flexible material, such as plastic. The coil has a length, a circumference, opposing first and second ends, and an inside diameter defining an opening with an inner periphery. When the coil is a large coil, e.g., a coil of sheet steel, the coil may be lifted, e.g., by a forklift, as shown in
The tube 10 may be formed in any suitable manner from one or more layers of a tear resistant, polymeric material. In one embodiment, the tube 10 is made from an appropriately sized rectangular or square sheet of polymeric material. As shown in
As shown in
The excess circumferential material 20 of the tube 10 is then inserted through the opening at the first end of the coil, as shown in
In some manufacturing facilities, it may be impractical to lift the coil with a forklift in order to pull the tube 10 over the coil S. In these situations, it may be necessary to temporarily separate edges, 12 and 14, in order to place the coil on top of the sheet 11, as shown in
The method of the present invention is capable of being carried out using tubing constructed of various materials, formed into tubing by various methods, and packed or sold in different forms. Although the tubing has been described as being made from rectangular sheets of plastic material subsequently formed into tubes, nevertheless, the method includes tubing made from plastic, textiles, wovens, nonwovens, films, mixtures of poly-materials with cellulose (also known as Kraft, natural Kraft, or Kraft paper), poly base extrusion, composites, or other suitable material.
Further, the tubing may be made from a single layer of material, or from multiple layers of material either fully laminated together or partially laminated together, as described above. When formed from multiple layers, the material comprising the layers may be the same material or different materials, e.g., a layer of Kraft paper bonded or laminated to a layer of plastic by extrusion, adhesive, chemical bonding, etc.
The packaging tube may be formed from rectangular sheets having opposing sides bonded together axially as described above, or may be formed as a seamless tube by extrusion through an appropriate die, or in any other manner known in the art for forming a tube of material. The tubing may also be sealed across one end to form a bag in some embodiments. The tubing may be supplied as individually sized tubes or bags for coils of specific sizes, in rolls perforated at selected intervals for easily detaching a length of tubing for coils of specific sizes, or in continuous rolls that the customer can cut to any desired length.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
