Manufacturing equipment for cushioning material

Abstract: Objective To provide an equipment which automatically manufactures cushioning material by filling air inside the polyvinyl alcohol laminated paper and sealing them into individual bags. Solution The manufacturing equipment 1 is provided with a material roll 20 to which a sheet material of polyvinyl alcohol laminated paper is wound, the sheet material 10 is rolled out by the feeding roller 40 from the material roll 20, and the sheet material 10 in a certain length, adjusted by the length adjusting device 50 having a roller 42 which goes up and down, is supplied intermittently to the bag forming device 100 located at downstream. The bag forming device 100 is provided with a pipe member 105 and a sailor 110 which is a guide plate to reverse the sheet material 10 and to form it into a tubular shape, and the sheet material 10 is fed along the pipe member 105 after being formed into a tubular shape. Feed rollers 130 and auxiliary belt 120 are arranged at the periphery of the pipe member 105. The feed rollers 130 catches the superposed sections of both edges of the sheet material formed into a tubular shape and feeds the material, then inserts the superposed section into a center sealer 150. The center sealer 150 is provided with a heater, and welds together the superposed sections. As a result of this welding, the sheet material is formed into a long tube. The center sealed tubular sheet material is further sent downstream from the lower end of the pipe member 105. The air is being supplied from the top of the pipe member 105, and the air is filled inside the tubular sheet material. In such condition, the sheet material is sent to the end sealer/cutter. The end sealer/cutter 160 is provided with a pair of end sealers facing each other, which welds the tubular sheet material to be a bag shape and cuts into individual bags by the cutter 165. At this time, the air amount is adjusted by the filled air amount adjusting device 170. The air filled cushioning material 200 is sent to the next process by a conveyor 210.

Description: Field of the Invention This invention relates to a manufacturing equipment for cushioning material made mainly of paper and sealing air inside. Background of the Invention While the distribution of spare parts is increasing year by year, the method of packaging those parts remain unchanged in that the parts are put in a carton box and cushioning material and sealing material are stuffed in gaps to protect the parts from shifting inside the box and from being affected by vibration from outside. Generally speaking, the cushioning material used for packaging can be categorized into two groups, the granular cushioning material put in the carton box as is and the sheet type cushioning material which is used for wrapping the parts then put in the carton box. Furthermore, they can be categorized in terms of raw material into plastic, paper and starch family, and granular or sheet type cushioning material of polystyrene foam (EPS), polyethylene foam (EPE), polypropylene foam (EPP), a copolymer between ethylene and styrene, and polyurethane in the plastic family, sheet type cushioning material of corrugated cardboard, molded pulp, threefold kraft paper, paper core, etc. in the paper family, and granular type cushioning material of hybrid corn starch in the starch family are commonly used. And from the aspect of ease of distribution, throwaway system is employed for cushioning and packaging material and they are disposed when their role of protecting the content during transportation is accomplished. In the meantime, space for storage and disposal of cushioning material have been a major problem because of its volume which is greater than the packaging material. Now, looking back on the cushioning material as listed above, while the paper and starch families are inferior to plastic family in terms of water resistance and heat insulation, they generate less calorie when incinerated, collectable as ordinary waste and recyclable, and the starch family, in particular, is biodegradable and easy to be disposed. On the other hand, the plastic family cushioning material have problems of high calorie when incinerated, impossible to be incinerated in an incinerator, plus difficulty in recycling when disposed as industrial waste, while the performance and stability as a cushioning material are superior. Summary of the Invention Under such circumstances, studies have been made for space saving in the storage of packaging and cushioning material, and for selection of material which is less bulky, recyclable and.separable as a means to cope with the waste disposal issue. On top of that, development of a packaging material which adequately protects the content physically and chemically, from a static point of view, and which does not convey dynamic impact of a dropping object to the content, and development of a cushioning material which absorbs dynamic impact are required. For example, official gazette TOKU-KAI-HEI 7-189182 discloses about a laminated paper as cushioning material. The U.S.-Patent 4,564,407 describes a method and an apparatus for manufacturing cushioning material consisting of air-filled plastic cells. The apparatus consists of a cylindrical member for shaping a sheet of plastic film into a cylindrical shape, a longitudinal sealer beneath that cylindrical member, guide rollers beneath said longitudinal sealer and a transverse sealer positioned beneath said guide rollers. The purpose of this invention is to provide a manufacturing equipment for cushioning material which is water resistant, air tight, biodegradable, less bulky, having high performance in absorbing impact force, superior in protective function of the content, and easy to be disposed and recyclable. The manufacturing equipment for cushioning material under this invention basically consists of a device which feeds out a sheet material of polyvinyl alcohol laminated paper out of a material roll, a means to form a tube by the fed sheet material, a pipe member which is placed inside the sheet material formed into a tube, a center sealer which is located outside of the pipe member and seals both edges of the tubular sheet material, a blower which is located at the entrance side of the pipe and blows air into the tubular sheet material, an end sealer/cutter which is located at the exit side of the pipe and holds the center sealed sheet material between its fingers and seals the opening, and then cuts into separate bag shaped cushioning material, and an air adjusting device which adjusts the air volume to be filleld into the cushioning material. Furthermore, the air adjusting device has a function to adjust the thickness of the tubular sheet material in combination with the end sealer/cutter. Brief explanation of the drawings Fig.1 is an explanation drawing which describes the basic configuration of the manufacturing equipment under this invention. Fig.2 is a front view drawing of the manufacturing equipment for cushioning material under this invention. Fig.3 is a left side view drawing of the manufacturing equipment for cushioning material under this invention. Fig.4 is a perspective view drawing showing the detailed construction of the air adjusting device. Fig. 5 is a side view drawing showing the detailed construction of the air adjusting device. Fig.6 is an explanation drawing showing a manufacturing equipment of other type of embodiment of this invention. Fig.7 is a perspective view drawing showing the structure of the air adjusting device. Best mode of the invention Fig.1 is an explanation drawing showing the basic configuration of the manufacturing equipment under this invention. The manufacturing equipment, which is described as symbol 1, is provided with a material roll 20 around which the sheet material 10 of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) laminated paper is wound, and the roll 20 is supported on a support roll 30 in a way that it can freely rotate. The sheet material 10 is rolled out from the material roll 20 by a feeding roller 40, and a certain length of sheet material 10, adjusted by a length adjusting device 50 having a roller 42 which goes up and down, is supplied intermittently to the bag forming device 100 located downstream. The bag forming device 100 comprises a pipe member 105 and a sailor 110 which is a guide plate that reverses the sheet material 10 for tube forming, and the sheet material 10 is made into a tube and fed along the pipe member 105. Feed roller 130 and auxiliary belt 120 are located in the periphery of the pipe member 105. The feed roller 130 feeds the tube formed sheet material by catching the superposed section of both edges of the sheet material and inserts the superposed section into the center sealer 150. The center sealer 150 is provided with a heater, and welds together the superposed section. As a result of this welding, the sheet material is made into a long tube. The tubular sheet after center sealing is fed further downstream from the lower end of the pipe member 105. Air is being supplied into the pipe member 105 from the top resulting the tubular sheet material to be filled with air. At this condition, the sheet material is fed to the end sealer/cutter 160. The end sealer/cutter 160 is provided with a pair of end sealers facing each other, which welds the end of the tubular sheet material to make a bag, and separates into individual bags by a cutter 165. At this time, the air volume is adjusted by the filling amount adjusting device 170. The air filled cushioning material 200 is sent to the next process by a conveyor 210. Fig.2 is a front view drawing and Fig.3 is a left side view drawing of the manufacturing equipment for cushioning material under this invention. The bag forming device 100 is provided with a sheet material feeder and a feeding length adjusting device 50 on the upper section of a frame 112. The fed out sheet material is curved into a tube form by the sailor 110, and both edges of the sheet material curved into a tube and wound around the periphery of the pipe member 150 are welded together by the center sealer 150, and the material is further sent downstream from the pipe member 105 as a welded and sealed pipe. Air blower 115 is located at the top end of the pipe member 105 to blow air into the pipe 105. This air is filled into the pipe shaped sheet material from the lower end of the pipe 105. The end sealer/cutter 160 is provided with a pair of sealer/cutter, 164 and 166, which slide along a guide 162, to catch and weld the upper edge of the pipe shaped sheet material and to cut the sheet material by the center section of the sealer, making a bag shaped cushioning material. An adjusting device for the filling air consisting of a pair of adjusting plate, 172 and 174, is provided to the pair of end sealer/cutter, 164 and 166, which are driven in the direction of against or toward each other. These adjusting plates, 172 and 174, adjust the air volume remaining in the bag by pushing out the air inside the sheet material by holding the pipe shaped sheet material as it is fed with air filled and the bottom part sealed. By changing the distance L between the adjusting plates, 172 and 174, the bag thickness can be changed and the air volume can be adjusted. Operating panel 190 is provided on the front face of the frame 112, on which a product counter 191, an extension timer 192, an adjusting switch 193 for the end sealer/cutter, an adjusting switch 194 for the center sealer, and an adjusting switch 195 for the bag length are located. Fig.4 is a perspective view drawing and Fig.5 is a side view drawing showing the detailed construction of the air adjusting device. The air adjusting device 170 is provided with a base plate 180, which is fixed to the end sealer/cutter via a bolt 101, and a backplate 185, which is mounted to a bolt 182 piercing through the base plate 180. Two nuts, 183 and 184, which are screwed onto the bolt 182, catch the base plate 180 from both sides and adjust the distance between the base plate 180 and the backplate 185. By adjusting the position between the backplate 185 and the sealer/cutter, the bag thickness can be changed and the air filled volume can be changed. Fig.6 is an explanation drawing showing a manufacturing equipment of other type of embodiment of this invention. This manufacturing equipment, which is described as symbol 300, is provided with a feeding roller for the sheet material 10, and feeds the sheet material to the bag forming device 310 by a sheet material feeding roller 305. The bag forming device 310 is placed horizontally in the case of this equipment, and the bag forming device 310 forms the sheet material 10 into a tube. The sheet material 10 formed into a tube is center sealed between the feeding roller 320 and the center seal roller 322. Air blower 350 is located at the upstream side of the bag forming device 310 and fills the air into the tubular sheet material. While the tubular sheet material after center sealing passes the air adjusting device 400, the bag thickness is adjusted and the air filled volume is adjusted. Then, the tubular sheet material is sealed and separated into individual bags by the end sealer/cutter 330. The cushioning material 200, which is a product, is sent to the next process by the ejection conveyor 360. Fig.7 is a perspective view drawing showing the structure of the air adjusting device 400. The rectangular tube shaped sheet material, fed inside a gutter shaped guide 410 of the bag forming device, goes through an air adjusting device 400 which is an area where a plate 420 covers the top section of the guide 410. The height of the cover 420 against the guide 410 can be adjusted by adjusting screws 430. While passing through this device, the thickness of the tubular sheet material is adjusted. Then, the sheet material is cut into individual bags by the end sealer/cutter 330, and the cushioning material 200, which is the product, is completed. Effects of the Invention As explained above, this invention enables continuous auto manufacturing of sealed bag type cushion material filled with an appropriate amount of air having the sheet material of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) laminated high density paper as a raw material. Size of the cushion material and the amount of filled air can be freely changed.

Claims: A manufacturing equipment for cushioning material comprising a feeder which feeds out a sheet material of polyvinyl alcohol laminated paper from a material roll (20), a means (110) to form the fed sheet material into a tubular shape, a pipe member (105) located inside the sheet material formed into a tubular shape, a center sealer (150) which seals both edges of the tubular shaped sheet material, a blower (115) located at the entrance side of the pipe (105) which blows air into the tubular shaped sheet material, and an air adjusting device (170,400) which adjusts the amount of air filled inside the cushioning material characterized in that said center sealer (150) is located outside of the pipe member (105) on the periphery thereof and that an end sealer/cutter (160,330) is located at the exit side of the pipe (105) which catches the center sealed sheet material and seals the opening and then separates said center sealed sheet material into individual bag shaped cushioning material. A manufacturing equipment for cushioning material as described in claim 1 characterized in that the pipe member (105), the center sealer (150), the end sealer/cutter (160) and the air adjusting device (170) are arranged vertically. A manufacturing equipment for cushioning material as described in claim 1 characterized in that the pipe member (105), the center sealer (150), the end sealer/cutter (330) and the air adjusting device (310) are arranged horizontally. A manufacturing equipment for cushioning material as described in claim 1 characterized in that the air adjusting device adjusts a tubular shaped sheet material thickness in combination with the end sealer/cutter. A manufacturing equipment for cushioning material as described in claim 1 characterized in that the air adjusting device adjusts the tubular shaped sheet material thickness by holding the sheet material in between.

Inventors: AOYAMA AKIRA, MIZUTANI TSUYOSHI, OHTAWA ITSUKU, TAHARA YUKIO, TAKAHASHI JIRO, YAMAGISHI NORIKAZU, AOYAMA, AKIRA, MIZUTANI, TSUYOSHI, OHTAWA, ITSUKU, TAHARA, YUKIO, TAKAHASHI, JIRO, YAMAGISHI, NORIKAZU, AOYAMA, AKIRA, C/OHITACHI ELECT. SERV. CO., LTD, MIZUTANI, TSUYOSHI, HITACHI ELECT. SERV. CO., LTD, OHTAWA, ITSUKU, C/OHITACHI ELECT. SERV. CO., LTD, TAHARA, YUKIO, C/O HITACHI ELECT. SERV. CO., LTD, TAKAHASHI, JIRO, C/O HITACHI ELECT. SERV. CO., LTD, YAMAGISHI, NORIKAZU, HITACHI ELECT. SERV. CO., LTD
Applicants: HITACHI DENSHI SERVICE KK, HITACHI ELECTRONICS SERVICES CO., LTD.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B31F1
IPC codes: B31D5, B65D81, B65B9, B29D22, B31B21