Patent ID: 9010075
Filing Date: 2015-04-21
Classification: B31D,B65B,B65D

Abstract:
1. A method for shipping an item, comprising: providing multiple items to be shipped, each of the multiple items having opposing first and second ends; providing a bulk shipping container; providing a first multi-stage gas packaging system comprising multiple shipping units coupled together by separable links in a first stage bulk packaging configuration, and each of the multiple shipping units comprising multiple gas inflatable cushions that are at least partially inflated to define an item cavity therebetween that is configured with a shape and dimension complementary to the outer dimensions of the first end of an item to be shipped; providing a second multi-stage gas packaging system comprising multiple shipping units coupled together by separable links in a first stage bulk packaging configuration, and each of the multiple shipping units comprising multiple gas inflatable cushions that are at least partially inflated to define an item cavity therebetween that is configured with a shape and dimension complementary to the outer dimensions of the first end of an item to be shipped; and positioning the shipped items and the first and second multi-stage gas packaging systems in relation to each other within the bulk shipping container such that each item cavity of the first multi-stage gas packaging system faces a corresponding item cavity of the second multi-stage gas packaging system with a first end of each shipped item disposed in an item cavity of the first multi-stage gas packaging system and with the opposing second end of each shipped item disposed in a corresponding item cavity of the second multi-stage gas packaging system.