EP0178303A1 - Packaging arrangement, method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An inflated bag (2) is used as cushioning inside a sealed carton (1) to fill the space that would otherwise remain free around the goods (B) carried in the carton. The bag is inflated after the carton has closed. It is possible to have access to a one-way valve (3) or to a corner of the uninflated bag through an opening in the box, the valve serving as the inlet for compressed air. When air is simply introduced using a hole in the corner of the bag, the bag is sealed after inflation. The bag inflator and sealer uses suction to separate the layers of the bag, one of the layers being pierced by a sharp nozzle of compressed air supply, which inflates the bag. The corner of the bag is then heat sealed.

Description

"PACKAGING ARRANGEMENT, METHOD AND APPARATUS"

This invention relates to a packaging arrangement for, a packaging method and apparatus for, restraining and protecting goods in transit within a sealed container such as a cardboard box.

In the field of packaging, problems arise where the goods to be packaged are not a snug fit within a container in which the goods are to be transported. If the goods are allowed to move about freely within the sealed container when in transit, damage can occur both to the goods and to the container with the result that the (possibly damaged) goods may need to be repackaged in the course of being transported.

It has been known for articles of a particular shape and size to be held in a preformed snug-fitting cavity in a container made of an expanded plastics material such as polystyrene. However such an arrangement is relatively expensive and does not provide a solution where the goods to be packaged in a standard sealed container vary in size, shape and/or number. Previously this latter problem has been dealt with by "stuffing" the free space within the container with straw, crumpled paper, polystyrene beads and similar amorphous packaging materials. However this latter measure has proved unsatisfactory particularly in terms of the large storage requirement for the stuffing material, the general untidiness caused in the working environment when using the stuffing material, the nuisance to customers created by the stuffing material when unpacking the goods and the difficulty in determining in advance the requirements for stuffing a series of sealed containers containing a variety of goods.

According to a first aspect of this invention there is provided a packaging arrangement comprising a substantially rigid-walled container which can be arranged to enclose goods to be packaged and an inflatable or expandable flexible-walled container arranged to lie inside the rigid-walled container and capable of being inflated or expanded to occupy free space existing within the rigid-walled container when the latter contains goods to be packaged.

Preferably the flexible-walled container is arranged to be capable of being inflated when inside the rigid-walled container when the latter is sealed, said inflation preferably being effected from outside the rigid-walled container. Advantageously the rigid-walled container has an aperture in at least one of its walls, said flexible- walled container having an inflating portion which can engage said aperture when the container is sealed to enable inflation of the flexible-walled container via said inflating portion.

The inflating portion may simply comprise a portion of the flexible wall of the flexible-walled container and may be provided by a corner of a sealed rectangular bag made of a double layer of resiliently deformable plastics sheet material one of which layers is pierced by means of an inflation nozzle supplying compressed air to inflate the bag to a predetermined pressure. The plastics sheet material may comprise polyethylene with a 5% addition of vinyl acetate to give the desired characteristics of strength, elasticity and sealability using r.f. welding.

In an alternative arrangement, the flexible- walled container comprises an inflatable bag made of a flexible plastics material and provided with an air inlet terminating externally in a one-way valve which is arranged to be secured in a wall of the rigid-walled container so that air under pressure can be introduced through the valve into the bag after the rigid-walled container has been closed and sealed. Although the valve may be mounted in any of the walls of the rigid-walled container including the top and bottom walls, the valve will normally be mounted in an end wall.

Advantageously it may be arranged that the bag has one or more concertina-like folds in its side walls so that on inflation, the bag will expand in bellows fashion to occupy a generally parallelepiped space.

Expediently the flexible walls of the bag may comprise respective double layers of a flexible plastics material. According to a second aspect of this invention there is provided a method of packaging goods and comprising the steps of placing the goods within a rigid- walled container and filling the remaining free space within the rigid-walled container by means of an inflated or expanded flexible-walled container.

For certain applications, the goods to be packaged may be sandwiched between two of the flexible- walled containers which are arranged when inflated or expanded to completely enclose the goods. According to a third aspect of this invention there is provided apparatus for use in carrying out a method according to said second aspect, said apparatus comprising means for inflating a flexible-walled container held in a rigid-walled container arranged to provide access to the flexible-walled container for said inflating means.

Preferably said inflating means comprises means for engaging and holding a flexible wall portion of the flexible-walled container and means for introducing pressure fluid into said flexible-walled container through said flexible wall portion while said holding means is operative. The inflating means may also comprise means for sealing the flexible-walled container where the pressure fluid is introduced through an aperture in the flexible wall portion. The inflating means preferably includes a pressure-fluid supply nozzle sharpened at its end to pierce through the flexible wall portion into the interior of the flexible-walled container.

Such apparatus may also comprise a pressure detector associated with the inflating means and arranged to terminate inflation on detecting a predetermined pressure of the fluid within the flexible-walled container Embodiments of this invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figs. 1 and 2 are perspective views of a packaging arrangement embodying this invention and respectively illustrating two stages in the packaging of a number of books within a sealed carton;

Figs. 3 and 4 are respective schematic views of a packaging device forming part of the packaging arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and corresponding to the packaging stages shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 5 is a part sectional view on a larger scale of part of the packaging arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of part of a modified form of the packaging device shown in Fig. 3; and Fig. 7 is a schematic view of a further modified form of the packaging device shown in Fig. 3

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a modified form of the packaging device shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a packaging system embodying this invention;

Fig. 10 is a plan view of apparatus for use in packaging goods and embodying this invention;

Fig. 11 is a part-sectional view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 10. Referring to Figs. 1 to 5 of the drawings, a substantially rigid-walled carton 1 made of cardboard contains a pile of books B of irregular generally pyra¬midal shape. Arranged above the pile of books B is an inflatable bag 2 having an air inlet 3 terminating in a one-way inlet valve 4 extending through an end wall of the carton so as to be externally accessible.

After the carton has been sealed with sealing tape 5 in the conventional manner (although other means may be provided for sealing the carton such as adhesive, strapping, wire or string), the bag 2 is inflated by injecting air under pressure through the valve 4 of the inlet 3. As a result the bag expands to take up the free space left above the books within the carton and so restrains the books from excessive movement when the carton is in transit.

By shaping the inflatable bag 2 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 so that the side walls of the bag have a concertina-like folded form, the bag inflates in a bellows-like manner to occupy a generally parallelepiped space so that as shown in Fig. 2 the marginal portions of the bag tend to expand downwardly around the generally upwardly tapering pile of books B and so leaving a minimum of free space within the sealed carton. As shown in Fig. 6, the side walls of the bag may have a plurality of concertina-like folds rather than just the single fold provided in the bag shown in Figs. 1 to 4. Referring in particular to Fig. 5, there is shown the shape and arrangement of the valve 4 in the aperture

6 previously provided in the end wall of the carton. The valve has a central portion 7 of maximum diameter and an end flange 8 to assist in locating the valve in the card- board material of the end wall. The valve itself may comprise any of the conventional types of cheap and efficient inflation valves such as are used in toy footballs and other inflatable items.

Referring to Fig. 7, there is shown a modified form 20 of the inflatable bag which may be satisfactory for certain applications. As shown, the bag 20 may simply comprise a pair of wall portions 21,22 sealed together at their edges and provided with an air inlet 23 similar to the air inlet 3 provided in the bag 2.

Referring now to Fig. 8 there is shown a preferred form of inflatable bag 30 which is similar to the bag 20 shown in Fig. 7 except in that the air inlet 23 has been discarded and the inflation is achieved using the apparatus described below. A vent hole 31 is provided in one corner of the bag to facilitate separation of the two layers forming the bag. Referring also to Figs. 9 to 11 a packaging system comprises an inflation and sealing device 40 connected via a compressed air supply line 41, a vacuum line 42 and an electrical supply line 43 to a control unit 44 connected by means of an electrical control line 45 to a control pedal 46 enabling foot-control of the packaging system.

The inflation and sealing device 40 comprises a sector-portion base plate 47 and a matching top plate 48 arranged for receiving the corner C of a bag to be inflated and sealed.

The base plate 47 has a concave recess 49 disposed generally centrally of its top surface. A pipe union 50 and flexible pipe 51 are in pneumatic communication with the recess 49 via an aperture 52 in the plate 47. The base plate 47 also carries an electrically insulating block 53 carrying a welding strip element 54 connected through the block 53 to an electrical supply line 55. The top plate 48 acts as a carrier and slide- guide for a central coaxial assembly of an outer clamping ring member 56 and an inner inflating member 57. Although now shown in the drawing the central coaxial assembly may be spring-biassed to the clamping position shown in the drawing and while the central assembly described here is manually slidable between a raised or open position and a lowered or clamping position, means may be provided (e.g. an electrical solenoid or pneumatic or hydraulic arrangement) for moving the central assembly between said positions.

The inflating member 57 sealingly engages within the clamping ring member 56 by means of an O-ring and has an annular chamber 58 pneumatically connected to a pipe union 59 and pipe 60 which is connected to the flexible pipe 51 at a common junction 61 to the vacuum line 42. The chamber 58 communicates via a ring aperture 62 with a circular recess 63 formed by the clamping ring member 56. The recesses 49 and 63 combine, when the member 56 is in the clamping position to form an inflation chamber for the bag corner C.

The inflation chamber is effectively sealed by the clamping action around a circular area except for an access passage 64 defined by the clamping ring member 56 and the block 53 and welding strip element 54 are arranged to extend in an arc across the base plate 47 including the portion across the access passage 64. Extending axially through the inflating member 57 is an inflating nozzle 65 sharpened at its end which projects from the bottom end of the inflating member 57. Secured to the top plate 48 is an -arcuate bridging block 66 extending ovor tho arc dofinod by the top plate and in operation the top plate can be moved to cause the bridging block 66 to urge the top and bottom layers of the bag together at the same time as power is supplied to the element 54 to effect welding. In operation the central assembly 56, 57 is raised by sliding it upward relative to and through the top plate 48 to the open position at which point the bag corner C is introduced into the inflation chamber 49,63. The central assembly 56, 57 is then lowered to the clamping position and clamps the bag corner C over the arc defined by the clamping ring member with the arc being interrupted at the access passage 64. At this stage the bridging block 66 is still in its raised position so that the access passage provides pneumatic communication between the bag corner C and the remainder of the bag. Suction is then applied via the vacuum line 42, pipes 51 and 60, chamber 58 and aperture 62 to both sides of the inflation chamber causing separation of the layers of the bag as indicated in broken line in Fig. 11. The upper layer is thus caused to be pierced by the sharpened nozzle 65 and compressed air is introduced into the bag through the line 41 and nozzle 65 When the bag is sufficiently inflated, as detected by means of a pressure detector (not shown) associated with the nozzle 65 or by means of a movement or strain detector associated with the outside of the sealed carton containing the inflated bag, the tope plate is lowered with the bridging block 66 and power is supplied to the element 54 to effect welding of the bag corner over an arc sufficient to isolate permanently the puncture due to the nozzle 65 from the remainder of the inflated bag. The suction via line 42 and compressed air supply via line 41 are then terminated and the top plate 48 and central assembly 56, 57 are then raised to release the bag corner which tends to be drawn into the carton containing 'the inflated bag and the aperture through which the bag corner retreats is sealed by application of a self-adhesive paper or cardboard or plastics seal.

Possibly the walls of the bag in each case may comprise a double layer of a flexible synthetic plastics material such as polyethylene (which may have a light- reflecting coating) and for specialised applications may even comprise a self-sealing material.

For certain applications, it may be desirable to sandwich the goods to be packaged between two of the bags 2 so that on inflation of the latter their marginal portions meet to provide a complete cushion enclosure for the goods which not only provides protection from shock but also provides a considerable degree of protection from water and damp as well as thermal insulation and even protection from attack by insects.

While the bags described above co-mprise flexible- walled inflatable containers, it is clear that the invention has further application where the flexible- walled container is expandible by some other means than pressurised air inflation for example by means of a synthetic plastics foam injection. Such foam may be settable so that the invention provides a quick and easy means of forming a solid protective cushion around the goods to be packaged.

Instead of the form of the valve 4 described above, it may be that the valve would take another form and for example may have retaining flanges at each end the valve being insertable by sliding into an open slot at the top edge of the end wall. Such an open slot may form part of a keyhold shaped aperture crossing the fold between the end wall and the foldable flap normally provided to form part of the top wall of the carton. While in the above described embodiments the inflatable bag is inserted into the carton only after the goods have been placed in the carton, a further modification may comprise pre-fitting of the bag within the carton with the valve or bag corner located in a wall of the carton in a more permanent fashion so that in order to place the goods within the carton, either the bag has to be folded to one side or the goods have to be loaded into the carton via an open side opposite the side of the carton across which extends the inflatable bag. Thus, in practice, it is only necessary to stock a limited range of standard size cartons and a further limited range of standard size and form inflatable bags to enable a very large variety of goods of different shapes and sizes to be packaged in a satisfactory manner. The features of the packaging arrangement are summarised below:-

1 - cartons (the basic outer protection) are manufactured with a small hole tailored to allow access to the bag 2 - the carton is erected and the goods placed inside to partially fill the carton

3 - prior to sealing, the air-bag is placed on top of the goods and the valve or one corner of the bag pushed through the hole 4 - the carton is sealed in the normal manner tape, glue, strapping or string

5 - the final action is to provide a compressed air supply to the bag and inflate the bag to the required pressure. This process has many different applications within the packaging industry and, of course, with suitable adaptation a standard range of bags can be produced to cover almost any product where the carton is larger than the contents and requires 'stuffing' or 'filling out' to ensure the safe protection of the goods. More than one bag could be used, of course, to provide, for example, a product suspended between two bags, one in the bottom and one in the top. This particular idea is important in, say, the electrical goods industry where such an anti-shock protection would be desirable. It is a matter of course that such a stuffing would act as a water-proofing, a common cause of damage in postal and other shipping methods.

The advantages offered include:-

A - fast application, ideal for mechanisation of non-standard packs, advantages over other alternative 'stuffing material' as follows:-

B - substantial reduction of storage requirements when compared with either pre-cut foam blocks, granules, 'bubble-wrap' and similar stuffings C - far tidier working environments than created by shredded paper, scrap paper or granular filler

D - stock of bags not affected by change in design of product which might otherwise require wasteful disposal of unsuitable pre-cut form filler, etc. E - easily disposable bags simply removed by recipient of the parcel. Blocks, shreadding granules are all messy or bulky to dispose of at the recipient end F - inherently water-proof, unlike moisture absorbing foams and paper stuffings

G - lightness will save on postage in critical weight bands of postal rates over heavier stuffings

H - re-usable and, having novel post-functional uses. People, particularly children, may find many uses for tough 'balloon-bags' which can be inflated with a football pump.

Claims

CLAIMS : -

1. A packaging arrangement comprising a substantially rigid-walled container which can be arranged to enclose goods to be packaged and an inflatable or expandable flexible-walled container arranged to lie inside the rigid-walled container and capable of being inflated or expanded to occupy free space existing within the rigid-walled container when the latter contains goods to be packaged.

2. A packaging arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the flexible-walled container is arranged to be capable of being inflated when inside the rigid-walled container when the latter is sealed, said inflation preferably being effected from outside the rigid-walled container.

3. A packaging arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the rigid-walled container has an aperture in at least one of its walls said flexible-walled container having an inflating portion which can engage said aperture when the container is sealed to enable inflation of the flexible-walled container via said inflating portion.

4. A packaging arrangement according to claim 3 wherein the inflating portion comprises a portion of the flexible wall of the flexible-walled container.

5. A packaging arrangement according to claim 3 wherein the inflating portion is provided by a corner of a sealed rectangular bag made of a double layer of resiliently deformable plastics sheet material one of which layers can be pierced by means of an inflation nozzle supplying pressure air to inflate the bag to a predetermined pressure.

6. A packaging arrangement according to claim 5 wherein the plastics sheet material comprises polyethylene with 5% added vinyl acetate.

7. A packaging arrangement according to claim 1 wherein an inflatable bag made of a flexible plastics material and provided with an air inlet terminating externally in a one-way valve which is arranged to be secured in a wall of the rigid-walled container so that air under pressure can be introduced through the valve into the bag after the rigid-walled container has been closed and sealed.

8. A packaging arrangement according to claim 7 wherein the bag has one or more concertina-like folds in its side walls so that on inflation, the bag will expand in bellows fashion to occupy a generally parallelepiped space.

9. A method of packaging goods and comprising the steps of placing the goods within a rigid-walled container and filling the remaining free space within the rigid-walled container by means of an inflated or expanded flexible-walled container.

10. A method according to claim 9 wherein the flexible- walled container is inflated inside the rigid-walled container after the latter has been sealed, said inflation being effected from outside the rigid-walled container.

11. A method according to claim 10 wherein the inflation is carried out to a predetermined pressure within the flexible-walled container via a nozzle introduced through an aperture in one of the flexible walls and the inflated portion of the flexible-walled container is then sealed off from said aperture.

12. A method according to claim 9 wherein the goods are sandwiched between two of the flexible-walled containers which are arranged when inflated or expanded to completely enclose the goods.

13. Apparatus for use in carrying out a method according to claim 9 said apparatus comprising means for inflating a flexible-walled container held in a rigid- walled container arranged to provide access to the flexible-walled container for said inflating means.

14. Apparatus according to. claim 13 wherein said inflating means comprises means for engaging and holding a flexible wall portion of the flexible-walled container and means for introducing pressure fluid into said flexible-walled container through said flexible wall portion while said holding means is operative.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14 wherein the inflating means comprises means for sealing the flexible- walled container where the pressure fluid is introduced through an aperture in the flexible wall portion.

16. Apparatus according to claim 14 wherein the inflating means includes a pressure-fluid supply nozzle sharpened at its end to pierce through the flexible wall portion into the interior of the flexible-walled container.

17. Apparatus according to claim 13 wherein, a pressure detector is associated with the inflating means and arranged to terminate inflation on detecting a predetermined pressure of the fluid within the flexible- walled container.

18. Apparatus according to claim 14 wherein said holding means comprises a clamping means arranged to define an inflation chamber around a portion of the flexible-walled container with an access passage out of the inflation chamber to allow communication between the clamped portion and the remainder of the flexible- walled container, means being provided for applying suction to opposite sides of the inflation chamber to cause separation of the layers of the flexible-walled container a sharpened nozzle arranged to pierce one of said layers when separated and means for supplying a pressure fluid supply through the nozzle into the flexible-walled container.

19. A packaging arrangement substantially as described herein with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 in combination with Figs. 3 to 5 alone or as modified by Fig. 6 or Fig. 7 or Fig. 8 of the accompanying drawings.

20. A method of packaging goods and substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

21. Apparatus for use in carrying out the method according to any one of claims 13 to 18 and 20 said apparatus being substantially as described herein with reference to Figs. 9 to 11 of the accompanying drawings