WO1992007774A1

WO1992007774A1 - Inflated product support packaging

Info

Publication number: WO1992007774A1
Application number: PCT/US1991/007974
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael D. Clee; Robert G. Dickie
Original assignee: Intepac Technologies Incorporated
Priority date: 1990-11-05
Filing date: 1991-10-28
Publication date: 1992-05-14
Also published as: AU9040091A

Abstract

A supporting structure (53) for positioning a product (55) within an outer shipping container (57) takes the form of plastic air bladder shaped on one side to provide a cavity (67) having internal dimensions matching external dimensions of the product and shaped on the other to have external dimensions matching internal dimensions of the shipping container. The air bladder may be either a vertical or a horizontal positioning element and is typically used in pairs within a single container. The air bladder is compact and can be discarded after use with minimal environmental impact. In the examples shown, the air bladder is of a plastic material such as polyethylene and is produced by blow molding, making it particularly suitable for disposal after use by a recycling process, thereby further reducing potential environmental impact.

Description

INFLATED PRODUCT SUPPORT PACKAGING

Technical Field

, This invention relates generally to product support packaging inserts and more particularly to ecologically advantageous packing inserts for supporting products within outer shipping cartons and protecting the supported products against external shock.

Background of the Invention

When shipping fragile products, it is desirable to provide protection against external shock which is as complete as possible and, at the same time, minimize both packaging and shipping costs. In the past, both expanded polystyrene (EPS or styrofoam) and polyurethane polyethylene (flexible foam) inserts have been used for such purposes with considerable success. In recent years, however, environmental concerns over both EPS and flexible foams have been growing. Both are very voluminous per pound and thus tend to exhaust landfill areas much too quickly. Any foamed plastic product is, moreover, both difficult and costly to reclaim or recycle back to its original non- foamed state. There is, therefore, an ongoing need for new packaging techniques which not only provide adequate protection to products against external shock and minimize both packaging and shipping costs but also present minimal ecological problems in the disposal of packaging materials after they have served their intended purpose.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention generally takes the form of a supporting structure for positioning and cushioning a product within an outer packing container. In accordance with a principal aspect of the invention, that structure uses air as its main supporting element and comprises a product specific air bladder with an external cavity on one side shaped to fit external dimensions of the product and with its exterior on the other side shaped to fit internal dimensions of the packing container or shipping carton. The air bladder may be either a vertical or a horizontal positioning element and, typically, is used in pairs within a single outer packing container. The air bladder provides both product support and impact protection during storage and shipping and can be easily collapsed after use. Collapsed, the air bladder is compact and can be discarded with minimal environmental impact. Before final assembly for shipping, air bladder materials require relatively little storage space and even formed air bladders can themselves be stored either wholly or partially deflated to save space.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the air Hadder is composed of a plastic resin material such as polyethylene and is produced by blow molding. Blow molding involves extruding a semi-solid tube of the plastic material into a mold having the product's outer wall shape. After the mold is closed, a jet of air from a nozzle forces the plastic material to expand and contact the metal walls of the mold. The plastic resin is cooled and hardened almost instantly as the mold is kept cool by circulating water through built-in internal cavities. Blow molding is well known and is already the process of choice in the manufacture of many commercial products such as large soft drink bottles, gas cans, and even garbage cans. Use of blow molded plastic material is particularly advantageous environmentally with respect to the present invention in that the materials it makes use of may be recycled with a minimum of cost or inconvenience. There are, furthermore, no environmentally hazardous substances or expansion agents which are used in the manufacturing process. Moreover, the material of the air Hadder itself can be made with up to ninety percent of recyclaHe material.

In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, the air Hadder may contain a plurality of interior chambers or compartments. Such interior chambers, when present, provide location controllable damping by way of separate air shock absorbers in areas such as corners subject to potentially higher impacts. When a passage is provided between one chamber and another, the size of the passage is controlled by baffling and has a direct influence on the rapidity with which those chambers will deflate under load. A high degree of controllaHe damping is thus provided. Alternatively, multiple air Hadder chambers may be entirely sealed from one another in order to provide maximum isolation if needed to meet directional load requirements. When air Hadder chambers are sealed from one another in this manner, the blow molding process makes use of a separate inflation nozzle for each chamber. This aspect of the invention adds yet another controllable design element to protective packaging technology, allowing smaller and more effective protective packing containers or shipping cartons.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the air bladder need be fully inflated only after assembly of the product and the air Hadder within the packing container. The air bladder may thus, when required, be only partially inflated at the time of manufacture, making final assemHy of the product and one or more air bladders within the container easier to accomplish. After final assembly, inflation needles can be forced through the outer container at one or more predetermined inflation points, where they penetrate the designated air bladder chambers and inflate them to designated pressure levels.

The invention may be better understood from the following more detailed description of several specific embodiments, taken in the light of the accompanying drawing and the appended claims. Brief Description of the Drawing

FIG. 1 illustrates a product supporting vertical end cap air Hadder embodying various aspects of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing details of the end cap air Hadder illustrated in FIG. 1; FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C are cross-sectional views of the end cap air

Hadder shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2D is a side view of the end cap air Hadder shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 illustrates product supporting horizontal tray air bladders embodying various aspects of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows an inflation gun suitable for post molding inflation of air bladders embodying various aspects of the invention; and

FIG. 4A illustrates tip details of the inflation gun shown in FIG. 4. Detailed Description

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical application of the invention. In the protective packaging industry, vertical packaging elements are usually referred to as "end caps", while horizontal packaging elements are usually referred to as "trays". FIG. 1 shows one of a pair of "end caps" which may, for example, be used in the packaging of personal computers. In FIG. 1, an air Hadder 11 forming the end cap is shown with a product receiving cavity 13 facing the viewer. Air Hadder 11 is product specific in the sense that, once formed, a specific end cap will receive only a product with external dimensions matching the internal dimensions of cavity 13 and will only fit within shipping cartons matching its own external dimensions. Thus, in the illustrated application, the sides of a personal computer may fit into the cavities 13 of a pair of air Hadder end caps and the entire assemHy may be placed in a snug fitting corrugated cardboard box (not shown) which serves as an outer shipping container. As an alternative for instances in which an inner container is desired for housing multiple products, the internal dimensions of cavity 13 may be made to match the external dimensions of that inner container. Such an alternative may be desirable when multiple products are to be packed within a single inner container, which is then given protective support within the outer shipping container. In a broad sense, the filled inner container then becomes the product to be stored or shipped.

As shown in FIG. 1, product receiving cavity 13 in air Hadder 11 is bounded by four respective comer elements 15, 17, 19, and 21 and by two respective side walls 23 and 25. Although many examples of air Hadder 11 will - have comer elements, the need for side walls will depend a good deal upon the specific application. A relatively large product may, for example, require side walls between comer elements 15 and 17 and between comer elements 19 and 21. A relatively small product, on the other hand, may not require even the presence of side walls 23 and 25. Air Hadder 11 in FIG. 1 is, in accordance with an important aspect of the invention, composed of a suitaHe plastic resin material, such as polyethylene, and is produced by a How molding process to form the illustrated end cap. In that process, a semi-solid tube of the plastic resin material is extruded into a mold that has the shape of the product's outer wall. In the instance illustrated, the shape is that of the outer wall of a personal computer. After the mold is closed a blast of high pressure air through one or more holes in the wall of the mold forces the plastic tube to expand and contact the metal walls of the mold. The plastic resin then cools and hardens as the mold is cooled by circulating water through internal cavities in the mold. In an application such as that illustrated in FIG. 1, air Hadder end cap 11 is inflated during the How molding process to a pressure of about 3 to 5 pounds per square inch.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of end cap air Hadder 11 of FIG. 1, with the side of air Hadder 11 forming cavity 13 shown facing the viewer. FIG. 2 illustrates several details not shown in FIG. 1, one being the division of air Hadder 11 into two separately sealed main chambers 27 and 29, bounded by the exterior dimensions of the air bladder and by side walls 31 and 33, which indicated by respective dashed lines. Chambers 27 and 29 are thus separated from one another in the vertical plane because of the vertical orientation of .air bladder 11. Without the separation, the weight of the product (a computer in this instance) would compress the air in lower chamber 29 into upper chamber 27, resulting in a partial collapse of lower side wall 25 and lower comer elements 17 and 21.

Although main chambers 27 and 29 within air bladder 11 in FIG. .2 are sealed from one another, the invention makes it possible to provide sub- chambers within main chambers. Such sub-chambers are partially segregated from other chambers in order to provide a controllaHe shock damping effect. Examples of such sub-chambers are comer elements 15, 17, 19, and 21 in FIG. 2. Comer element 15 is molded to be a corner baffling sub-chamber, defined by the outer walls of air bladder 11 and by fingers or protrusions 35 and 37 extending from the outside of air bladder 11 into the interior until they nearly contact one another. The gap 39 left between protrusions 35 and 37 permits the passage of air between the comer baffling chamber and main chamber 27 but only at a relatively slow rate. The degree of isolation of the sub-chamber forming comer element 15 is controlled by the size of gap 39.

As shown in FIG. 2, remaining comer elements 17, 19, and 21 are similarly constructed and provide comer baffling sub-chambers which operate in a similar manner. Extra shock protection is provided in this manner at the respective comers of the ultimate shipping package. In the interest of clarity, reference numerals 35, 37, and 39 are used to denote corresponding components in all four comer elements in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of air Hadder 11 in FIG. 2, taken along the line A- A, which is broken at the center in order to show details of both exterior and interior construction. Recess 41 in FIG. 2A marks the end of side walls 31 and 33 separating upper and lower chambers 27 and 29. The matching recesses 37 mark the ends of the similarly numbered protrusions into those chambers to provide restricted air flow between upper and lower chambers 27 and 29 and their respective ones of comer sub-chamber elements 19 and 21. FIG. 2B is another cross-sectional view of air Hadder 11 in FIG.

2, this time taken along the line B-B. Here, dividing walls 31 and 33 are farthest apart from one another. Portions of upper and lower chambers 27 and 29 are shown, as is recess 41 at the other end of air Hadder 11.

FIG. 2C is yet another cross-sectional view of air Hadder 11, this time taken along the line C-C. Here the ends of protrusions 35 and 37 into the interior of air Hadder 11 are shown, along with gap 39 which is provided between them to provide for the restricted flow of air needed for comer damping.

FIG. 2D, finally, is a side view of air bladder 11, with side wall 25 and comer elements 17 and 21 facing the viewer. Dashed line 43 marks the bottom and ends of product supporting cavity 13 of air Hadder 11.

FIG. 3 illustrates another typical application of the invention, this time providing horizontal trays for packaging a product such as a television set. In FIG. 3, a first air Hadder 51 forms an upper tray and a second air Hadder 53 a lower tray. The two air Hadder trays provide respective top and bottom support for a product 55 (shown by dashed lines) within a corrugated cardboard outer shipping container 57 (also shown by dashed lines). Air Hadder trays 51 and 53 are shown as mirror images of one another in this particular example for purposes clarity but need not be identical as a general proposition. In FIG. 3, holes 59 and 61 are an example of a number of holes extending entirely through respective air Hadder trays 51 and 53 to constrict the passage of air between various sections of their single main interior chambers by forming sub- hambers. Protrusions 63 and 65, similarly, are examples of protrusions extending partially into respective air Hadder trays 51 and 53 both from the exterior of the air bladders and from the product supporting cavities to perform a similar purpose. In FIG. 3, a product supporting cavity 67 in lower air Hadder tray 53 faces up, while a similar product supporting cavity (not seen) in upper air bladder tray 51 faces downward. In a horizontal application of the invention such as that shown in

FIG. 3, it is sometimes advantageous to manufacture respective air bladder trays 51 and 53 initially slightly deflated. Such slight deflation simplifies the packing process in that the deflated and hence slightly undersized air Hadders will more easily fit into corrugated cardboard outer container 57. After product 55 and the two slightly deflated air bladder trays 51 and 53 are installed within container 57 and container 57 is sealed, air bladder trays 51 and 53 may be further inflated directly through corrugated cardboard container 57 with an inflation gun, an example of which is shown in FIG. 4.

In FIG. 4, an inflation gun 71 is essentially an air valve connected to a hollow needle upon which there is a small heater element installed within a gun tip 73. Inflation gun 71 is connected to a regulated air supply (not shown) through an air line 75 and to a variaHe power source (not shown) through a power line 77 to control the needle temperature. A trigger mechanism 79 on the handle of gun 71 provides the user with on-off control and a heat adjust knob 81 (also on the handle) permits accurate control of the heater element within gun tip 73. An air pressure gauge 83 and a heat gauge 85 complete the combination.

Details of inflation gun tip 73 in FIG. 4 are shown in FIG. 4A.

Gun tip 73 is composed of a neoprene bellows 87 which surrounds a hollow air and heater needle 89 and a heater coil 91. Heater coil 91 encircles the base of needle 89 and bellows 87 compresses upon itself to expose needle 89 when the user presses the gun against an intended target such as outer container 57 in FIG. 3.

In practice, when in the idle mode needle 89 in FIG. 4 A remains at a temperature approximately ten percent higher than the melting temperature of the plastic air bladder material. Outer packing container 57 in FIG. 3 may have pre-printed inflation point instructions and markings of locations where the needle is to be forced through corrugated cardboard container 57 and into the air Hadder. By way of example, the areas where the extruded plastic tube is pinched off and sealed, the air Hadder walls are often three to four times thicker than the walls of the rest of the Hadder. Such areas, generally, are good post- assembly inflation points. Pressing trigger 79 in FIG. 4, will inflate the Hadder to the preset pressure level. In order to keep needle 89 from continuing to melt the Hadder and creating an oversize opening during the five to ten second filling time, incoming air is relied upon to drop the temperature of needle 89 quickly below the melting point of the plastic Hadder material. Once the preset pressure is reached and incoming air stops, needle 89 quickly cycles back up to temperature, allowing it to remelt the plastic to ease its withdrawal. As needle 89 withdraws, internal Hadder pressure pushes some of the melted plastic into the hole left by the needle and reseals the Hadder.

Upon final disassembly when the shipped product reaches its destination, graphic instructions on the Hadder itself may be used to instruct the consumer to puncture the Hadder for easy removal of the product as well as to provide either general or specific disposal and recycling instructions. It is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention which have been described are illustrative. Numerous other arrangements and modifications may be readily devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A supporting structure for positioning a product within an outer packing container, said structure comprising an air bladder with an external cavity on one side shaped to fit external dimensions of the product and with its exterior on the other side shaped to fit internal dimensions of the packing container.

2. The supporting structure of claim 1 in which said air Hadder contains a plurality of interior chambers providing directional load control.

3. The supporting structure of claim 1 in which said air Hadder contains a plurality of interior chambers providing directional load control, at least one of said interior changers being sealed with respect to the others.

4. The supporting structure of claim 1 in which said air Hadder contains a plurality of interior sub-chambers formed by baffle members extending into the interior of said air bladder to provide a damping effect.

5. The supporting structure of claim 1 in which said air Hadder contains a plurality of interior sub-chambers formed by baffle members extending into the interior of said air Hadder to provide a damping effect and in which at least some of said interior sub- chambers are positioned at comers of said supporting structure.

6. The supporting structure of claim 1 in which said air Hadder is fully inflated only after assembly of the product and said air bladder within the packing container.

7. The supporting structure of claim 1 in which said air Hadder is fully inflated only after assembly of the product and said air Hadder within the packing container by injecting air into said air Hadder through an external wall of the packing container.

8. A supporting structure for positioning a product within an outer packing container, said structure comprising a plastic resin air Hadder with an external cavity on one side shaped to fit external dimensions of the product and with its exterior on the other side shaped to fit internal dimensions of the packing container.

9. The supporting structure of claim 8 in which the plastic resin material of said air Hadder is polyethylene.

10. The supporting structure of claim 8, fabricated by extruding a semi solid tube of plastic resin material into a mold shaped to conform to at least some of the external dimensions of the product and cooling the extruded plastic resin material to harden it.

11. The supporting structure of claim 8 in which said air Hadder contains a plurality of interior chambers providing directional load control.

12. The supporting structure of claim 8 in which said air Hadder contains a plurality of interior chambers providing directional load control, at least one of said interior changers being sealed with respect to the others.

13. The supporting structure of claim 8 in which said air Hadder contains a plurality of interior chambers formed by baffle members extending into the interior of said air Hadder to provide a damping effect.

14. The supporting structure of claim 8 in which said air Hadder contains a plurality of interior sub-chambers formed by baffle members extending into the interior of said air Hadder to provide a damping effect and in which at least some of said interior sub- chambers are positioned at comers of said supporting structure.

15. The supporting structure of claim 8 in which said air Hadder is fully inflated only after assembly of the product and said air Hadder within the packing container.

16. The supporting structure of claim 8 in which said air Hadder is fully inflated only after assemHy of the product and said air Hadder within the packing container by injecting air into said air Hadder through an external wall of the packing container.