Abstract:
A flat sheet of box material has fold lines demarcated thereon for forming the sheet into a rectangular box for containing and protecting articles. Inflatable air pouches are secured to portions of the sheet which become the inner walls of the top, bottom and sides of the box. Air passages communicate the pouches with each other and an air vale enables simultaneous inflation of the pouches after the box has been filled and closed. Assembly of boxes at factories or elsewhere is facilitated as it is not necessary to insert liners or add other cushioning material at that time.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to the packaging of articles for shipping or storage and more particularly to the construction of boxes wherein contained articles are cushioned for protection against external forces that may be exerted against the box. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Articles which are packaged in a box for shipping or storage are often protected by a shock absorbent material which isolates the article from the walls of the box. The shock absorbent material has been of various forms such as, for example, loose granules of compressible plastic foam or sheets of plastic which form arrays of air filled bubbles. In other cases, separable blocks of compressible foamed plastic material are used to support the contained article within the box. Inflatable liner inserts have also been used for this purpose. 
     Boxes for packaging manufactured articles are usually not shipped to the factory in assembled form. Large numbers of assembled boxes would be extremely bulky. Rather, the boxes are initially flat panels of corrugated cardboard or other box material which are marked with fold lines that enable the box to be folded into a box configuration as part of the article packaging operation at the factory. A stack of the flat panels is much easier to transport and store than an equivalent number of assembled boxes. 
     Prior shock absorbent linings including inflatable liners are added to the box after it has been assembled from the initially flat panel. This additional step is a significant complication of the packaging process which adds to the cost of the process. Prior methods of cushioning packaged articles can also complicate opening the box and removal of the article particularly if there are loose granules of shock absorbent material to be disposed of. 
     It desirable to reduce the volume of material which is discarded at landfills or other waste disposal sites. Discarded packaging materials form a significant portion of such wastes. Foamed plastic granules or blocks as used for the purposes described above are bulky and remain bulky after being disposed of. 
     The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one aspect this invention provides container paneling which is foldable to form a pneumatically padded box. The paneling includes a substantially flat sheet of box material having fold lines demarcated thereon which fold lines define a box bottom region of the sheet and a box top region of the sheet and box side regions of the sheet. An array of inflatable air pouches is secured to a face of the flat sheet with air pouches being situated at each of the box bottom, box top and box side regions of the sheet. 
     In another aspect of the invention, the air pouches are joined to each other and air passages extend between the pouches enabling simultaneous inflation of the pouches after an article has been placed in the assembled and closed box. An air valve communicates with one of the interconnected air pouches and is accessible through an opening in the box material after assembly and closure of the box. 
     In another aspect, the invention provides an article container comprising a box having top and bottom and side portions each having an inner wall surface facing the interior of the box. The box includes a plurality of inflatable air pouches with at least one of the air pouches being secured to the inner wall surface of each of the top and bottom and side portions of said box. The air pouches are communicated with each other enabling simultaneous inflation and deflation of the pouches. An air valve communicates with one of the pouches and is positioned to be accessible from outside of the box after closing of the box. 
     The invention enables a simplified and more economical packaging of articles which are to be cushioned against external forces. Folding of flat paneling into a box configuration also folds an array of inflatable air pouches into a configuration which supports and cushions an article or articles in the box. The inflated pouches accommodate to articles of different sizes and shapes. Separate steps for adding cushioning material or a liner to the assembled box are not needed. The air pouches may be deflated when the box is discarded thereby reducing the volume of the discarded material. 
     The invention, together with further aspects and advantages thereof, may be further understood by reference to the following description of preferred embodiments and by reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a plan view of container paneling in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a section view of the container paneling of FIG. 1 taken along line  2 — 2  thereof. 
     FIG. 3 is a section view of the container paneling of FIG. 1 taken along line  3 — 3  thereof. 
     FIGS. 4 to  8  depict successive stages in the forming of the container paneling into a box and packaging of an article therein. 
     FIG. 9 is a top view of the assembled and closed box depicting the configuration of inflated air pouches therein in the absence of a packaged article in the box. 
     FIG. 10 is a side view of the assembled and closed box further illustrating the configuration of inflated air pouches therein in the absence of a package article in the box. 
     FIG. 11 is a plan view of container paneling corresponding generally to FIG. 1 while illustrating a modification of the container paneling. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring initially to FIG. 1 of the drawings, container paneling  11  in accordance with the depicted embodiment of the invention includes a flat sheet  12  of box material which will eventually be folded into a rectangular box configuration. The box material may typically be corrugated cardboard although other foldable materials of the types of which boxes are formed may also be used. Three spaced apart transverse fold lines  13 , which are parallel to the transverse edges of sheet  12 , are marked on the sheet. Two spaced apart longitudinal fold lines  14 , which are parallel to the longitudinal edges of sheet  12 , are also marked on the sheet. 
     Referring jointly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the fold lines  12  and  14  are preferably defined by scored grooves indented into the surface of sheet  12 . This causes bending of the sheet  12  to be concentrated at the fold lines  12  and  14  during the box assembly operations to be hereinafter described. 
     Referring again to FIG. 1 in particular, the portions of the transverse fold lines  13  which extend between the longitudinal fold lines  14  and the longitudinal edges of sheet  12  are slits which penetrate through the material of the sheet. This divides the side regions of sheet  12  into independently foldable box top flaps  16  situated along one side of the sheet and independently foldable box bottom flaps  17  situated along the other side of the sheet. Box top flaps  16  jointly define a box top region of the sheet  12  and flaps  17  jointly define a box bottom region of the sheet. Portions of the sheet  12  between longitudinal fold lines  14  constitute a box sides region of the sheet. 
     The spacing of transverse fold lines  13  from each other and the spacing of longitudinal fold line  14  from each other determine the proportions of the box and can be varied to accommodate to the proportions of the article or articles that will be contained in the box. In this example the transverse fold lines  13  are equidistantly spaced from each other and are spaced from the transverse edges of sheet  12  by the same distance. Longitudinal fold lines  14  are spaced from each other by the same distance and are spaced from the longitudinal edges of sheet  12  by one half of that distance. This spacing of fold lines provides for assembly of a cubical box from this example of the container paneling  11 . 
     Cushioning of articles which will be contained in the box is provided for by an array of inflatable air pouches  18  which are secured to the surface of sheet  12  that will face the inside of the box when the box is assembled. Four such pouches  18  of initially rectangular outline are situated between the longitudinal fold lines  14  with each being between a pair of the transverse fold lines  13  or between a transverse fold line and one of the transverse edges of sheet  12 . Additional pouches  18  are secured to two of the top flaps  16  that are separated by a top flap that does not have a pouch thereon and pouches are also present on the corresponding bottom flaps  17 . The pouches  28  on top flaps  16  and on bottom flaps  17  are half as large as the pouches between longitudinal fold lines  14  as the flaps themselves are half as large as the region of the sheet  12  that is between the longitudinal fold lines. The pouches  18  on bottom flaps  17  may be slightly larger than the pouches on top flaps  16  as the bottom pouches sustain the weight of articles which will be contained in the box. 
     Referring jointly to FIGS. 1,  2  and  3 , the inflatable air pouches  18  may be separate pouches but are preferably interconnected components of a single array of pouches formed by first and second layers,  19  and  21  respectively, of air impervious flexible plastic sheeting. The edges of the first and second layers  19  and  21  are bonded together by thermal bonding, adhesive or other means. Portions  20  of the layers  19  and  21  which extend across fold lines  13  and  14  enable passage of air between adjacent pouches  18 . The first layer  19  of plastic sheeting is secured to the flat sheet  12  of box material by a layer of adhesive  25 . 
     The second layer  21  of plastic sheeting is shaped to be of greater area at each pouch  18  than the portion of the first layer  19  which is at the pouch. This allows the second layer  21  at each pouch  18  to bulge outward from the first layer  19  when the pouch is inflated as will hereinafter be described in further detail. Preferably the second layer  21  of plastic sheeting is shaped to cause the pouches  18  which are between longitudinal fold lines  14  to assume the shape of truncated four sided pyramids when the pouches are inflated. The portions of second layer  21  which are between the longitudinal fold lines  14  and the longitudinal edges of the sheet  12  of box material are preferably shaped to cause the pouches  18  at those locations to assume the shape of one half of such a pyramid upon being inflated. This shaping of the portions of the second layer  21  which are at each pouch  18  causes those portions to exhibit folds  22  when the pouches are uninflated and the second layer is flattened against the first layer  19 . 
     The inflated pouches assume the truncated pyramidal configuration when an article contained in the assembled box has a rectangular shape and essentially surround the article with pneumatic padding. The inflated pouches inherently deform into other configurations which may be needed to surround articles of different shape with padding. In either case the pouches accommodate to articles of different sizes. 
     The air passages  24  between adjacent pouches  18  which are formed by the plastic sheeting layers  19  and  21  at fold lines  13  and  14  in this embodiment enable simultaneous inflation and deflation of all of the pouches  18  through a single air flow valve  23 . Alternately, air pouches which are otherwise isolated from each other can be intercommunicated through bendable plastic tubes which extend across the fold lines. 
     Valve  23  may, for example, be of the known type which is used on vehicle tires to inflate and deflate the tire. The valve  23  of this example extends outward from an air pouch  18  which is on a top flap  16  and projects outward from the adjacent longitudinal edge of the sheet  12  of box material. An opening  26  in an adjacent top flap  16  is located to enable access to valve  23  after the container paneling  11  has been folded into its box configuration and been sealed closed with adhesive tape as will hereinafter be described. 
     Formation of a pneumatically padded box from the container paneling  11  begins by folding the paneling along transverse fold lines  13  into a rectangular configuration as shown in FIG. 4. A strip  27  of adhesive coated tape, shown in FIG. 5, is then used to join the opposite transverse edges of the container paneling  11  together. The bottom flaps  17  which have air pouches  18  thereon are then folded into a right angled relationship with the side regions of the box, as shown in FIG. 5, to form the inner portion of the bottom of the box. The other two bottom flaps  17  are then folded to lay against the first two and are joined together by another strip  28  of adhesive coated tape as shown in FIG.  6 . 
     Referring to FIG. 7, the box  29  may then be turned to an upright position and the article  31  or articles which are to be contained are entered into the box. The two top flaps  16  which have air pouches  18  thereon are then folded down into a right angled relationship with the sides of the box  29  after which the other two top flaps are folded to lay against the first two top flaps. Another strip  32  of adhesive coated tape, shown in FIG. 8, is then used to join the abutted edges of the outermost of the top flaps  16 . 
     Referring jointly to FIGS. 9 and 10, pouches  18  are then inflated and pressurized by directing compressed air into the pouches through valve  23 . The pouches  18  than expand to bear against and cushion the contents of the box  29 . For purposes of illustration, FIGS. 9 and 10 show the inflated pouches  18  in the previously described truncated pyramidal and half pyramidal shapes which are assumed if the box  29  is empty. In practice, the inflated pouches  18  deform as necessary to accommodate to the shape of the article or articles which are contained in the box  29 . 
     Referring to FIG. 11, the configuration of the array of inflatable air pouches  18  may vary from that previously described. In this embodiment the bottom of the box is cushioned by a single pouch  18  secured to a single one of the bottom flaps  17  and the top of the box is cushioned by a single pouch  18  secured to a single one of the top flaps  16 . The pouches  18  on the bottom flap  17  and top flap  16  in this case are of the same size as the other pouches in the box and expand into the previously described truncated four sided pyramidal shape rather than into the half pyramids as in the previously described embodiment. Air valve  23  in this case extends from the top panel pouch  28  in a direction which is parallel to the longitudinal fold lines  14 . The embodiment of FIG. 11 may otherwise be similar to the previously described embodiment. 
     Thus while the invention has been described with reference to certain specific embodiments for purposes of example, many variations and modifications are possible and it is not intended to limit the invention except as defined in the following claims.