Patent ID: 6209286
Filing Date: 2001-04-03
Classification: B29L,B31D,B65B,B65D,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of continuous production of pneumatically filled packaging pillows for use as void fill packaging for the safe shipping of articles, the method comprising the steps of:a) providing a strip of flattened preformed film material of adjacent and connected deflated inflatable pillow sections, each pillow section having upper and lower planar flexible surfaces peripherally sealed to form a pair of adjacent flat pillow chambers intermediately joined by a common flat inflation channel therebetween and oriented in the longitudinal direction of the film material, the common inflation channel being connected to each flat pillow chamber via a respective entrance port oriented in the transverse direction of the pillow sections, each said entrance port being formed in and extending across a longitudinally extending sealable strip of the film material which is located between a side of the inflation channel and a related pillow chamber;b) advancing the film material along a path;c) guiding the common flat inflation channel of the advancing film material onto an inflation tube at a first station, the inflation tube having an orifice adjacent a leading end thereof;d) inflating adjacent pairs of flat pillow chambers of the individual ones of the connected and adjacent pillow sections at the first inflating station by expelling a desired quantity of gas through the orifice of the inflation tube and into the common inflation channel and respective transversely oriented entrance ports of the adjacent pillow section;e) forming a pair of spaced apart longitudinal heat seals to close off the respective transversely oriented entrance ports to the inflated pillow chambers at a second sealing station; said forming of the pair of spaced apart longitudinal heat seals comprising engaging a Teflon coated tape covering of a wire heating element directly on and in light pressure with and in continuous sliding contact with the film material in said sealable strip as the film material is continuously advanced without interruption during said continuous production of pneumatically filled packaging pillows; and wherein the seal across an entrance port is formed complete and secure at the time the film material is advanced out of said sliding contact at the second sealing station without the need for subsequent pressing together or cooling of the film material in the sealed entrance port; andf) slitting open the common inflation channel of the pillow section to release the inflated pillows chambers from the inflation tube at a third slitting station.