Patent ID: 6116000
Filing Date: 2000-09-12
Classification: B29L,B31D,B65B

Abstract:
A method of air filling a pair of adjacent upper and lower flat plastic sheets forming adjacent cushioning pillows for the safe shipping of articles when air-inflated and peripherally sealed and having respective parallel air-filling inlet paths on each side of a central axis, that comprises, providing an aperture in the lower sheet at each inlet path; positioning a pair of compressed air inlet straws below the lower sheet for later insertion at an acute angle into the corresponding apertures in the respective inlet paths and under the upper sheet; applying a flattening surface to the sheets over the region of the apertures; inserting the straws through the apertures at said acute angle into the respective inlet paths and under the flattening surface; withdrawing the flattening surface and folding the sheets together about said central axis as a vertex with an article-to-be-protected inserted therebetween; sealing the peripheries of the upper and lower sheets; and thereupon injecting compressed air into the straws to inflate the sheets into upper and lower air-filled pillows cushioning the article therebetween; upon completion of the filling, terminating the air injection, sealing the inlet paths, retracting the straws therebelow, and releasing the folded pillows as a unit, and wherein the straws are flexible but are provided with stiff ends to enable insertion into the apertures under the flattening surface and the flattening surface is provided with channels under which the stiff ends of the straws are guided during insertion under the upper sheets.