Special receptacle or package – Shock protection type – Inflated retainer
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-27
2001-10-23
Sewell, Paul T. (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
Shock protection type
Inflated retainer
C206S320000, C206S524800, C383S003000, C220S273000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305545
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to containers for shipping electronics parts such as microchips and the like, from a point of manufacture to a point of assembly into larger, more complex devices such as computers and the like. More specifically, the present invention relates to container arrangement which is provided with its own on-board pump which can partially evacuate the interior of the container and maintain the contents in a suitable sub-atmospheric desiccated condition during transportation to and/or storage.
2. Related Art
Efforts have been made to provide evacuated containers suitable for transport of perishable items. Examples of such containers are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,987 issued on Mar. 16, 1976 in the name of Rossi and U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,211 issued on Aug. 31, 1999 in the name of Woodnorth et al. These arrangements while permitting the interiors to be partially evacuated and to have relief valves via which the negative pressure can be selectively relived, have suffered from the shortcomings that they are not internally padded and nor provided with any means of maintaining a supply of clean dry air on board so that selective pressure relief can be made via the supply of clean dry air. More specifically, the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,987 is directed to a recloseable or reusable container having an air-tight closure seal and an attached means to allow the creation of a partial vacuum in the container after reclosing thereof with perishable contents inside. This container includes a replaceable closure member capable of forming an airtight seal with a body portion of the container. An evacuation valve is provided on the closure member or another accessible part of the container allowing the partial removal of air trapped therein after closing the container. A separate manually operated valve is also provided to relieve the vacuum to facilitate reopening of the container.
On the other hand, the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,211 issued on Aug. 31, 1999 in the name of Woodnorth et al., is such as to include a container system having a one-piece, one-way valve. The container can be evacuated by pressing the lid, thereby forcing air out through the one-way valve. The one-way valve prevents air from entering the container system however includes an interface or release which allows air to enter the container system when the interface is pressed.
Neither of these arrangements, however, have been able to meet the needs of the semiconductor industry wherein it is necessary to pack and ship chips and the like type of devices items with a high degree of safety against damage such as tends to occur if the container is dropped any distance onto a hard surface, and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A manually operable pump is provided which can be used to pump air out of the interior of the container into bladders which are disposed along the interior walls of the container which thus become inflated and serve as shock absorbing barriers which protect the contents of the container from both thermal and physical shock, for example. By flushing the interior of the container with clean dry air at the time of loading the items to be shipped, and by pumping this air into the bladders, it become possible to have an onboard source of such air so that in the event that pressure control is required, clean dry air can be reintroduced into the interior of the containers from the bladders.
Since the bladders have a limited amount of flexibility, as the pumping of air takes place the pressure in the interior of the container lowers as the pressure in the bladders increases. While the bladders will expand to some degree the transfer of air induces an overall negative pressure in the container while forcing the bladders into securing engagement with the contents of the container, thus securing them against movement within the container and cushioning them against external sources of thermal and physical shock.
More specifically, a first aspect of the invention resides in a box for shipping articles comprising: a container into which the articles can be disposed; a plurality of interconnected air chambers in the form of bladders which are disposed on interior wall surfaces of the container; a closure member for hermetically closing an opening which is formed in the container and through which articles are introduced into the interior of the container; and a pump for extracting air from the interior of the housing and for forcing the extracted air into the plurality of interconnected air chambers in a manner which reduces the air pressure in the container and for inducing external air pressure to force the closure member into sealing contact with the container.
This arrangement further comprises an air cushion formed in the closure member which is pneumatically isolated from the plurality of interconnected air chambers. In addition to this, a relief valve which releases air from the interconnected air chambers into the interior of the container upon a pressure differential which is in excess of a predetermined magnitude prevailing between the interior of the container and the ambient atmosphere which surrounds the container, is provided.
The pump includes: a manually deflectable diaphragm which forms part of a variable volume chamber; a first one-way valve which fluidly communicates the interior of the container with the variable volume chamber; and a second one-way valve which fluidly communicates the variable volume chamber with the plurality of interconnected air chambers. The pump and the relief valve can be included in a common structure which is incorporated into the container so that the manually deflectable diaphragm forms part of the external surface of the container.
A further aspect of the invention resided in a method of transporting an article comprising the steps of: hermetically sealing an opening in the container through which an article is introduced into the container; and pumping air from the interior of the container into a plurality of interconnected air chambers which line interior surfaces of the container, thus reducing the air pressure in the interior of the container to sub-atmospheric levels and pressurizing the plurality of interconnected air chambers.
This method further includes the step of releasing air from the pressurized interconnected air chambers into the interior of the container when a pressure differential between the interior of the container and an ambient atmosphere surrounding the container, is excessive. In addition to this, the method can include the step of securing the contents of the container in position via engagement with the interconnected air chambers which expand into engagement therewith as air is pumped from the interior of the container into the interconnected air chambers.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3943987 (1976-03-01), Rossi
patent: 4013265 (1977-03-01), Speidel
patent: 4522623 (1985-06-01), Laüterjüng
patent: 5246114 (1993-09-01), Underwood
patent: 5570780 (1996-11-01), Miller
patent: 5944211 (1999-08-01), Woodnorth et al.
patent: 5989313 (1999-11-01), Mize
patent: 6073770 (2000-06-01), Park
patent: 6135253 (2000-10-01), Weissman et al.
patent: 6135277 (2000-10-01), Armstrong
patent: 6234351 (2001-05-01), Wilcox
Advanced Micro Devices , Inc.
Moh'andesi Jila M.
Sewell Paul T.
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