The present invention relates to bubble pack arrangement for shipping articles.
Modem competition makes it important that manufacturers minimize shipping and packaging costs, while providing optimal scratch resistance and anti-damage support to product being shipped. This is especially important for highly visible items, such as interior rear view mirrors in vehicles which end up just inches from a driver's head. Recently, consumers and companies have also recognized that it is important to use “green” (environmentally-friendly) materials that, among other things, can be recycled and/or reused and/or disposed of in a “green” environmentally-friendly manner. The term “green” also can be used to imply that the original manufacture of packaging must be environmentally friendly, such as through its production being non-damaging and non-polluting to the environment. However, many materials often used in shipping are not particularly “green”. For example, foam materials (often used in packaging, such as foam “peanuts” placed in boxes to cushion shipped products and/or sheets/pieces of foam) are not very “green” since they are non-recyclable and their original manufacture uses environmentally-unfriendly ingredients and processes. Corrugated cardboard is also often used in packaging, but cardboard is surprisingly abrasive and can scratch product, and further it does not provide as soft of cushioning as may be desired for many products. Further, foam and cardboard can be difficult and expensive to return and/or recycle and/or dispose of. For example, where they are used to ship product into large cities, the shipping materials must be carried away as part of the delivery. This often requires that the shipping truck haul in the product, then leave (since they can't just wait around in congested cities), and return to pick up the shipping materials. Further, recycling and/or disposal is not “green”, as discussed above.
Materials are often combined to arrive at packaging with particular characteristics, such as by using foam sheets or foam “peanuts” to protect easily-damaged product, and cardboard for structure, support, and containment. However, combinations of materials have assembly costs and further they often do not solve the problem of non-green materials, such as those problems noted above. Bubble pack sheets and wraps can provide good non-abrasive support to product, but they are so flexible and cumbersome to deal with that they can be difficult to use. Further, there is a tendency to include too much of them in shipping, making it difficult to efficiently and effectively use them. Further, their use can result in substantial waste as it is wrapped excessively around product.
In one aspect of the present invention, an article for shipping first and second non-uniformly-shaped packed product in a dense overlapped shipping arrangement, includes a sheet product having a spaced array of bubbles therein, the sheet product being formed into a sleeve with at least one integral longitudinally-extending first flap that can be tucked inside the sleeve to form a vertical support structure for supporting a laterally-extending part of the first packed product, and a second flap configured to protect and separate the second packed product from the first packed product in a dense overlapped packed arrangement in the sleeve.
In another aspect of the present invention, an article for shipping non-uniformly shaped product with an extending stem includes a sheet product defining a sleeve, and at least one bent flap inside the sleeve to define a vertical support structure within the sleeve for the extending stem, with sections of the bent flap each including bubbles, for supporting product in the sleeve in an overlapped densely stored arrangement.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method of making an article for shipping includes steps of providing a sheet having an array of bubbles therein, slitting a first portion of the sheet to define longitudinal flaps and not slitting a second portion, forming the second portion into a tubular sleeve, and tucking at least one of the flaps into the tubular sleeve to form a bent vertical support structure for receiving and supporting stored product, the bent vertical support structure including bubbles on each side and having sufficient structure to support a lateral stem extending from the stored product.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method of packing product for shipping includes steps of providing a bubble sheet with a first portion defining a sleeve and a second portion forming flaps that can be folded into the sleeve; at least a first one of the flaps being positioned in the sleeve to define a support structure adapted to support a stem extending laterally from the product, placing a first product into the sleeve with an associated stem of the first product resting on the support structure, folding a second one of the flaps onto the associated stem of the first product, and placing a second product into the sleeve with an associated stem of the second product resting on the support structure and positioned generally adjacent the stem of the first product but separated therefrom by the second flap.
In another aspect of the present invention, a packaging article includes two layers of sheet material bonded together along continuous longitudinal and transverse weld lines to define an array of air-containing bubbled areas separated on at least one side by non-bubbled strips, with at least one of the longitudinal and transverse weld lines each including one of the bubbled areas on one side and a non-bubbled area on an opposite side, with the non-bubbled strips facilitating folding. A first portion of the sheet is formed into a sleeve and a second portion of the sheet is slit to form flaps that fold into the sleeve to support product for shipment.
In a narrower aspect, the bubbled areas and the non-bubbled strips are elongated, and also the non-bubbled strips are about half a width of the bubbled areas.
An object of the present invention is to provide an article for shipping formed from a bubble pack sheet and having integral flaps that can be folded and formed to support product in a dense overlapped arrangement, even when the product has a laterally-extending stem.
An object of the present invention is to provide an article for shipping stored product where bubble sheeting includes a V-shaped support structure within a sleeve, the V-shaped support structure supporting laterally-extending stems extending from two of the stored product in an overlapped arrangement.
An object of the present invention is to provide an article for shipping stored product where a first part of a sheet is formed into a sleeve and a second part is slit to form foldable integral flaps that can be used to both divide the sleeve into pockets and also cushion product stored therein.
These and other aspects, objects, and features of the present invention will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art upon studying the following specification, claims, and appended drawings.
A bubble pack 20 (
The weld lines form natural bend lines around and between the bubbles 22 when bending the sheet product 21. A first half portion 26 of the sheet product 21 is formed into a sleeve and a second half portion 27 is slit to form integral flaps A, B, C, D. The integral flaps can be tucked inside the sleeve portion 26 to support, protect and separate 1st and 2nd vehicle mirrors G and H with their stem mounts G′ and H′ overlapped in a densely stored arrangement within the sleeve portion 26. The flaps A and C support the mirrors, while the flaps B and D separate the mirrors G, H and hold apart their respective mounting stem G′, H′, with the mirrors and stems being separated and protected by bubbles 22 of the sleeve portion 26 and bubbles 22 of the flaps A, B, C, D.
Two flaps A and C (or one flap A) are bent along their mid-level weld line 23 and then folded into the sleeve portion 26 to form a tent-like vertical support (also called “V-shaped support structure”). (See
As product G and H are placed into the sleeve, the bubbles 22 compress and shift against the product G and H. This causes the bubble pack 20 to “glove” onto the product, because the two products G and H within the bubble pack 20 are tightly held by compression of the bubbles against the mirrors. This results in a tightly cushioned and very secure non-scratching protection arrangement that is highly desirable for shipping and storing purposes. Any movement or stress on the product is compensated for by an equal movement or cushioning action of the packing material. Mechanical shocks during shipment are greatly dampened and distributed. There is substantially no scuffing or abrasive action between the packed product and the shipping packaging material because of give and take by the bubble pack material due in part to the softness and flexibility of the bubble pack material. Further, the bubble pack substantially forms the entire support structure for the packed product, thus leading to a packaging that is extremely “green” by being completely reusable and/or recyclable and/or easily disposed of in an environmentally-friendly “green” manner.
It is contemplated that many manufacturers will want to use a cardboard box to contain a multi-cell arrangement of the present bubble pack articles. In such case, the bubble packs are easily placed into (or removable from) the box, and further the cardboard box can be made collapsible for compact shipment away from the site where product is unpacked.
The material of the sheet product is a polymeric material that is relatively easily formed and easily bonded, such as thin sheet polyethylene or even polypropylene. Such materials are well known in the art, and need not be described in detail for an understanding of the present invention by a person skilled in this art. It is contemplated that a wide variety of different sheet materials can be used in the present invention, with a selection of the material being driven by functional requirements of the packing, as well as by compatibility with the product being packed, recyclability, and the like considerations.
It is contemplated that the bubble size, spacing and arrangement can be varied to adapt to particular product and particular functional requirements. The illustrated bubbles 22 have a particular size and shape and spaced arrangement chosen to assist in their ability to fold along a desired line and also to form self-supporting structure for the sleeve portion 26 and for the bent vertical support structure to be self-supporting and product-supporting when supporting mirrors. The illustrated bubbles 22 have the following dimensions: 5″ length×1¼ width. The non-inflated strips 24 have the following dimensions: 5″ length×½″ width. The weld lines have the following width dimension: 1/16″ to ⅛″.
It is contemplated that the sheet size and shape can be varied to adapt to particular product and particular functional requirements. The illustrated sheet product 21 is cut from a continuous band 29 of bubbled material (
The angled offset cut along the side of the sheet product forms a tab-like flange 33 which ultimately becomes an edge part of the flap D. Three slits 34-36 are cut from flange 30 halfway into the sheet product 21 (i.e. to the weld line at a middle of the blank,
The flanges along edges of the cut sheet are bonded at location 28 (
The bubble pack articles 20 can be welded together (
The present bubble pack article is a self-supporting arrangement that fully encloses and holds the product. It provides cushioning as well as non-shearing support to thus eliminate scuffs and abrasive action causing damage to packed product. The material of the bubble sheet has a skin like quality that shifts with the packed mirrors and doesn't rub. Further, the material of the PE film that touches the packed mirrors is softer than structural plastics, allowing softer plastics to be used in mirror housings. Softer plastics are often better suited for use on visible surfaces and for aesthetics, since they are easier to mold and potentially lower cost (versus harder non-scratch plastics). The present bubble pack material is recyclable and/or reusable. For example, it can be reground and re-pelletized for molding of plastic parts or additional bubble packs. It is generally considered to be “green” and environmentally friendly.
It is to be understood that variations and modifications can be made on the aforementioned structure without departing from the concepts of the present invention, and further it is to be understood that such concepts are intended to be covered by the following claims unless these claims by their language expressly state otherwise.