Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor – With testing – measuring – and/or indicating means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-14
2003-12-09
Ball, Michael W. (Department: 1733)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Surface bonding means and/or assembly means therefor
With testing, measuring, and/or indicating means
C156S543000, C156S553000, C156S583100, C156S583200, C053S079000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06659150
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for inflating and sealing pillows in packaging.
This invention relates particularly to the construction and operation of a machine which is small enough to be installed for operation on site where articles packaged for transport are placed in shipping containers with protective inflated pillow-type strip packaging.
This invention relates particularly to a machine which is compact in overall size, which can be conveniently operated to produce varied lengths of strips of inflated pillow-type packaging as needed, which can begin production of inflated pillow-type strip packaging immediately after being held out of a production cycle for some period of time and which applies a heated sealing element directly to and in sliding contact with a web of film to securely seal the inlet port of an inflated pillow while the pillow is under pressure and as the web of film is continuously and uninterruptedly advanced through the machine.
This invention relates particularly to a machine which forms the seal complete and secure during a short path of travel and during a short interval of time. The seal is made without the need for additional pressing together of the film after the sealing and without the need for additional cooling of the seal after the sealed inlet port moves out of contact with the sealing structure.
Webs of plastic film which are constructed to permit the production of strips of air filled envelopes, cushions and pillows have (in the past ten years or so) been used extensively for cushioning objects to be transported in containers.
The thin webs of plastic film are inexpensive, tough, resilient and recyclable. Strips of inflated pillow packaging which are created from these webs of plastic film are used for void-fill packaging to replace products such as crumpled paper or polystyrene peanuts and for protective packaging to replace molded or extruded foams.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,642; U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,237; U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,328; U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,351; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,392 disclose methods, apparatus, and webs of plastic film used for making strips of inflated pillow packaging of this general kind. Each of these U.S. patents is incorporated by reference in this application.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,116,600 and 6,209,286 also disclose methods, apparatus and webs of plastic film of this general kind and are incorporated herein by reference.
Sealing an inflated pillow made a web of plastic film while the air inflates the pillow under pressure and while the web of plastic film is being transported through the machine presents problems.
The seal must be secure and must not leak in order for the inflated pillow packaging to be used effectively for cushioning objects transported within a container.
The seal needs to be formed efficiently, quickly and without extensive, related pressing and/or cooling structure in- order to make the machine as compact as possible in size and as efficient as possible in production rate.
To simplify machine construction and to provide a high efficiency of production, it is desirable to be able to make the seal as the web of plastic film is moved continuously and without any interruption and/or intermittent stopping of the film transport during the sealing operation.
It is a primary object of the present invention to construct and to operate a machine which is compact in size, which is efficient in production, which is continuous and uninterrupted in operation and which produces seals which are secure and which do not leak.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
In a specific embodiment of the present invention, a machine inflates and seals pillows in packaging while continuously and uninterruptedly advancing a web of film through an inflating station and a sealing station. The inflating station sequentially inflates pillows at preformed patterns in the web of film by introducing pressurized air through a narrow width inlet port of a preformed pattern. The sealing station seals each inlet port by applying a heated sealing element directly to and in sliding contact with the web of film while the air in an inflated pillow is under pressure as the inlet port moves across the heated sealing element.
The web of film has an uninflated pillow pattern and an uninflated inflation channel preformed in the film. The uninflated pillow patterns comprise multiple, spaced apart, pillow patterns aligned along one side of an inflation channel. The inflation channel extends longitudinally and continuously along the entire length of the film. Each uninflated pillow pattern has a narrow width inlet port extending generally transversely to the longitudinally extending inflation channel and connecting the uninflated pillow pattern to the uninflated inflation channel so that, when pressurized air is introduced into the inflation channel, the pressurized air can be transmitted through the inlet port to inflate the pillow pattern. In some cases the preformed pattern is also formed with outlet ports connected to the inflation channel in such a way that air entering the inflation channel can move into a pillow through an inlet port and can also exit out of the inflation channel through the outlet port. The outlet port is generally shaped smaller than the inlet port.
By allowing the air above a desired pressure to escape through an outlet port or ports, the pressure in the inflation channel is maintained at a desired level for inflating the pillows without creating over-pressurization.
The air escaping through the outlet port is also sensed to detect where the pillows are in the machine. These detected outlet port positions are then used as signals for an associated electronic unit to count the number of pillows inflated in a particular run through the machine. This also facilitates being able to stop the movement of the film through the machine after one production run of a selected number of inflated pillows at a position which is the right position to start a subsequent production run of a selected number of inflated pillows.
In a specific embodiment of the present invention, the web of film with the preformed patterns is stored on a storage roller of the machine and is advanced through the machine by a first set of nip rollers and a second set of nip rollers at a respective first film transport station and a second film transport station.
Pressurized air is introduced into the inflation channel of the web of film at an inflating station as the web of film is transported through the first film transport station. The pressurized air inflates at least one of the pillow patterns prior to the time the web of film is continuously transported through a sealing station.
Pressure is maintained in the inflated pillow pattern within a calibrated pressure range during the time that the web of film is continuously transported through the sealing station.
At the sealing station the inlet port of an inflated pillow is sealed by applying a heated sealing element directly to and in sliding contact with the web of film. The heated sealing element slides across the inlet port while the air in the inflated pillow is under pressure and as the web of film is continuously and uninterruptedly advanced throughout all components of the machine.
The heated sealing element has a relatively small longitudinal dimension in the direction of movement of the web of film. In a specific embodiment the length of the heated sealing element is about the same as the width of the inlet port of a pillow pattern. This small size of the heated sealing element helps minimize the amount of sealing heat applied to the web of film.
The sealing station includes a sealing roller disposed alongside the heated sealing element so as to permit the web of film to be advanced between the sealing roller and the heated sealing element. Adjustable biasing means provide for adjustment of the force with which the heated sealing element and the sealing roller are pressed toward engagement with one another.
The sealing roller is positioned with respect to the first
Borchard Philipp
De Luca Nicholas P.
Perkins Andrew
Reyes Oliver M.
Free-Flow Packaging International Inc.
Kilkenny Todd J.
Wright Edward S.
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