Process of making padding material

Details Process of making padding material Process of making padding material

2000-01-21

2002-07-16

Tentoni, Leo B. (Department: 1732)

Plastic and nonmetallic article shaping or treating: processes

With severing, removing material from preform mechanically,...

Making hole or aperture in article

C264S103000, C264S147000, C264S163000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06419867

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the manufacture of padding material, particularly for packaging purposes, as well as a corresponding padding material.
In many fields of the trade in goods, e.g. in production enterprises, in commerce or for final consumers frequently packagings arise in large quantities and are usually disposed of unused following the removal of the goods, Packagings made from inherently rigid flat material such as cardboard, corrugated board, board or the like are generally torn for this purpose or broken into small pieces in some other way and after collection serve as waste paper.
Not inconsiderable labour and other cost arise in the case of disposal in accordance with regulations.
A further problem in the packaging sector occurs with padding materials, which are used in the packing of products sensitive to mechanical actions, so as to protect said products, e.g. during transportation against impacts and similar effects. Frequently use is made of plastic chips as padding material and they give rise to considerable costs both during manufacture and disposal and are prejudicial to the environment if not correctly disposed of.
The object of the invention is to propose improvements in the packaging sector.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the method of the invention a padding material more particularly suitable for packaging purposes is manufactured from inherently rigid flat material, such as cardboard, board, etc., in that the flat material is so partially separated into strip sections, that in the transverse direction of the strips neighbouring strip sections remain interconnected by spaced connecting areas and in that the strip sections are so deformed in a direction at right angles to a neutral face of the flat material between the connecting areas that in the transverse direction adjacent strip sections are deflected in opposite directions.
As a result of the inventive shaping of the flat material with respect to the starting flat material a disposal problem may be solved and as a result of the resulting padding material a manufacturing problem is solved. An inherently prejudicial, namely superfluous starting material, such as cardboard packaging is not disposed of in an expensive manner and is instead appropriately transformed directly for reuse. From the substantially two-dimensional flat material, which can e.g. have a thickness between approximately 0.5 and approximately 5 mm and which is only generally slightly compressible perpendicular to the surface extension, as a result of the shaping according to the invention a padding material with a substantially three-dimensional structure is created and now the material “thickness” determined by the enveloping surface of the deformed material can be a multiple of the starting thickness and a shock-absorbing resilience is created in the vicinity of the deflected strip sections. Through the separation into longitudinal strips the padding material is readily flexible in the transverse direction, so that it can e.g. be eminently placed around the bottle contour for packing bottles. A bending and/or compression of the structure comprising connected strips is also possible in the longitudinal direction. The padding effect is essentially produced in the vicinity of the oppositely deflected strip sections which, following separation and deformation, are substantially permanently deflected and are frictionally held in shape by edge friction. Improvements in retaining the deflection can be obtained in that the cut is made slightly frayed or toothed. This can be achieved by correspondingly manufactured cutting disks of the apparatus.
Although it is possible to deflect several adjacent strips as a group in one direction and a following group or an individual strip in the opposite direction, preferably individual strip sections are alternately deflected in opposite directions, so that a particularly good padding action is obtained.
The open, three-dimensional padding material structure can e.g. be produced by a punching process, in which the shaping substantially takes place simultaneously over a larger and in particular the entire surface of the starting material. Preference is given a separation by strip cutting with a cutting direction parallel to the neutral face of the flat material and for producing the connecting sections strip cutting is zonally interrupted. This permits the shaping of the starting material in energy-saving manner in a continuously progressing process and for producing larger area padding material parts use can be made of relatively small cutting devices which can be set up in space-saving manner. For padding material production it is possible to use appropriately modified document shredders or the like designed for strip cutting.
A particularly advantageous material structure can be obtained in a further development in that groups of e.g. three transversely adjacent connecting areas are in each case separated from one another in the transverse direction. This makes it possible to improve the flexibility of the padding material in the longitudinal direction, i.e. with a curvature about a transverse direction-parallel axis, because in the separating area it is possible to obtain an opposing movement of the groups of strips in each case connected at the connecting areas. This also creates a reversible extensibility of the material in the transverse direction.
The padding material made possible by the invention can exclusively comprise the inherently rigid starting flat material, because in padding material production it is not necessary to add new substances such as adhesives or the like or to work at temperatures or environmental conditions where possibly unfavourable changes could occur. Suitable starting materials are in particular packaging materials such as stiff paper, fine board, cardboard or corrugated board, the materials being in single or multiple layer form. Typical starting thicknesses are between approximately 0.5 and approximately 5 mm, but in exceptional cases can be larger or smaller. Typical padding material thicknesses can be approximately twice to five times the starting material thickness and/or between approximately 1 mm and approximately 25 to 30 mm. Particularly suitable strip widths of the normally substantially parallel side-bounded strip sections can be between approximately 0.5 and 4 times the flat material thickness, particularly between once and twice said starting thickness. Such relatively compact cross-sections are particularly shape-retaining and damping-aiding.
The average strip length between successive connecting areas can be more than 5 times, preferably between 20 and 40 times as large as the flat material thickness and/or between approximately ca. 3 and approximately 20 times, particularly between approximately 10 and approximately 15 times as large as the strip width. This makes it possible to obtain a good compromise between the padding material thickness co-determined by the free strip length and the damping or absorbing action. It must be borne in mind that experience has shown that the padding action decreases as the strip length increases.
Through the use, made possible by the invention, of substantially two-dimensional, inherently rigid flat or packaging material for the production of substantially three-dimensional, shock-absorbing padding material not only is the disposal problem solved with respect to the not further usable cardboard packaging or the like, but also inexpensively producible padding material is provided, which can optionally be used several times and if a further use is not necessary or desired, can be returned in environmentally friendly manner to the disposal cycles already established for packaging materials. It is obviously possible to use as the starting material flat material which has previously been used for another purpose.
An apparatus for the manufacture of padding material particularly suitable for performing the described method is based on the principle of the kno

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