Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi – With cutting – breaking – tearing – or abrading – And with bending
Utility Patent
1999-04-16
2001-01-02
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3721)
Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi
With cutting, breaking, tearing, or abrading
And with bending
C493S464000, C493S340000, C493S967000
Utility Patent
active
06168560
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally as indicated to a cushioning conversion machine/method including a pad-transferring device/step.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the process of shipping an item from one location to another, a protective packaging material is typically placed in the shipping case, or box, to fill any voids and/or to cushion the item during the shipping process. Some conventional commonly used protective packaging materials are plastic foam peanuts and plastic bubble wrap. While these conventional plastic materials seem to adequately perform as cushioning products, they are not without disadvantages. Perhaps the most serious drawback of plastic bubble wrap and/or plastic foam peanuts is their effect on our environment. Quite simply, these plastic packaging materials are not biodegradable and thus they cannot avoid further multiplying our planet's already critical waste disposal problems. The non-biodegradability of these packaging materials has become increasingly important in light of many industries adopting more progressive policies in terms of environmental responsibility.
These and other disadvantages of conventional plastic packaging materials has made paper protective packaging material a very popular alterative. Paper is biodegradable, recyclable and renewable; making it an environmentally responsible choice for conscientious industries. While paper in sheet form could possibly be used as a protective packaging material, it is usually preferable to convert the sheets of paper into a relatively low density pad-like cushioning dunnage product. This conversion may be accomplished by a cushioning conversion machine, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,026,198; 4,085,622; 4,109,040; 4,237,776; 4,557,716; 4,650,456; 4,717,613; 4,750,896; 4,884,999; 4,968,291; 5,061,543; 5,188,581; and 5,322,477. These patents are assigned to the assignee of the present application and their entire disclosures are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
A cushioning conversion machine, such as those disclosed in the above-identified patents, usually includes a stock supply assembly, a forming assembly, a feeding assembly, and a severing assembly. During operation of the machine, the stock supply assembly supplies the stock material to the forming assembly and the feeding assembly. The forming assembly and the feeding assembly (which may be collectively referred to as the converting assembly) convert the sheet-like stock material into a strip having two pillow-like portions and a compressed connecting portion therebetween which maintains the geometry of the pillow-like portions. Specifically, the forming assembly causes inward rolling of the lateral edges of the stock material to form the pillow-like portions and the feeding assembly (which pulls the stock material through the forming assembly) coins the central band of the strip to form the compressed connecting portion. The severing assembly then cuts the strip of dunnage into sections or pads of a desired length.
Typically, the cut cushioning pad is transferred downstream to a transitional zone (e.g., a table, a conveyor belt, a bin etc.) and is thereafter removed from the transitional zone and inserted within a container for cushioning purposes. To aid in this transfer, the transitional zone may be positioned beneath the severing assembly whereby gravity will cause the cushioning pad to fall towards the transitional zone, or, in other words, away from the severing assembly. Additionally or alternatively, the approaching coined strip would urge the cut cushioning pad in the downstream direction.
The practice of depending upon the force of gravity and/or the urging of the approaching strip for pad-transferring purposes has, for the most part, been very successful. Nevertheless, in certain circumstances (such as high/constant volume cushioning situations), pad-transfer problems sometimes, albeit very rarely, occur. For example, because of the lightweight nature of the pad, one would occasionally fail to travel downstream to the transitional zone. While, in most instances, the approaching pads would eradicate this failure by pushing the “stalled” pad downstream, periodically the approaching pads would instead “shingle” (i.e., the pads would stack one on top of the other in a shingle-like arrangement). Such shingling (although itself uncommon) would usually result in the “jamming” the cushioning conversion machine and this jamming would almost always translate into machine downtime.
In the past, pad-transferring devices have been used in conjunction with cushioning conversion machines. For example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/154,911 to Simmons (filed Nov. 19, 1993 and entitled “CUSHIONING CONVERSION MACHINE INCLUDING A PAD-TRANSFERRING ASSEMBLY”) discloses a pad-transferring assembly or device including a conveyor which frictionally engages the strip prior to it being cut and frictionally transfers the cut pad away from the severing assembly. The conveyor belt spans the width of the cushioning product and thus frictionally engages the pillow-like portions of the cushioning pad during the transfer procedure. Also, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/942,569 to Ratzel et al. (filed Oct. 1, 1997 and entitled “CUSHIONING CONVERSION MACHINE”) discloses an output chute including a number of vanes radially extending from a shaft which may be rotatably driven by the motor of the feeding assembly. The vanes span the width of the cushioning product and thus engage the pillow-like portions of the cushioning pad
The inventors appreciated that when transferring force is imparted upon the pillow-like portions of the cushioning product, a balance was necessary between providing a sufficient transferring force which, at the same time, would not unduly deform the pillow-like portions of the cushioning product. Accordingly, the inventors appreciated that a pad-transferring device which did not deform the pillow-like portions of the cushioning product would be desirable and advantageous.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a pad-transferring device which concentrates its transferring force on a certain portion of a cushioning product, such as a portion of the pad compressed during the conversion process and which does not form part of the pillow-like portions of the cushioning product. In this manner, there is no need to worry about the device deforming the pillow-like portions of the cushioning product.
More particularly, the present invention provides a cushioning conversion machine comprising a converting assembly, a severing assembly, and a pad-transferring device. The converting assembly converts a sheet-like stock material into a strip of dunnage having at least one pillow-like portion and another portion and the severing assembly severs the strip to form a cushioning pad having at least one pillow-like portion and another portion. The other portion of the cushioning product (or strip of dunnage) is preferably compressed, centrally located, and/or performs a connecting function to maintain the geometry of the pillow-like portion. More preferably, the converting assembly converts the sheet-like stock material in such a manner that the strip of dunnage has two pillow-like portions and the compressed, central, and/or connecting portion therebetween.
The pad-transferring device transfers the cushioning pad away from the severing assembly by applying a transferring force which is concentrated at the other portion of the cushioning pad. Also preferably, the transferring force is at least great enough to move the cushioning pad at the same speed as the converting assembly is moving the strip of dunnage and, more preferably, the transferring force is greater than the force necessary to move the cushioning pad at the same speed as the converting assembly is moving the strip of dunnage whereby the cushioning pad will be transferred at a faster feed than it is converted.
In a first preferred embodiment of the cushioning conversion machine, the pad-transferring assembly includes a pair of
Kobben Pierre H. G.
Pluymaekers Serge H. L. C.
Timmers Mike J.
Gerrity Stephen F.
Ranpak Corp
Renner , Otto, Boisselle & Sklar, LLP
Tawfik Sam
LandOfFree
Cushioning conversion machine and method with pad... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Cushioning conversion machine and method with pad..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cushioning conversion machine and method with pad... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2477384