JP2001518407A - Creased paper and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A novel packaging wrap is used in cushioning a product for shipment and is formed from the combination of a layer of pleated sheet material (106), the pleated material being creased at the apices of each pleat, and a planar layer of sheet material (102) which is adhered to, and preferably, adhesively bonded, to a pleated sheet of kraft paper. The pleated sheet material has a weight in the range from about 30 to 50 pounds and the planar sheet material is preferably tissue paper having a weight of less than about 20 pounds. The pleated sheet material preferably has a pleat angle in the range from above 45 degrees to below 85 degrees, and most preferably the pleats have an angle of about 50 to 65 degrees. Preferably, the pleats have a height in the range from about 3 sixteenths of an inch to about one half inch, in terms of distance between top planar sheet and bottom planar sheet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention includes a novel packaging material and a novel manufacturing method for producing the packaging material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The bodies of materials used to provide shielding, supports, cushions, crating, boxing and void filling are paper, plastic, foam, and wood. Is typically given using There is a growing desire to manufacture cushion products from paper, and various products are presently on the market. However, all of these products have various drawbacks, such as being difficult to manufacture or use.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The problems and disadvantages of conventional packaging products can be solved by using novel packaging wrap materials. It can be used to cushion shipping goods, a layer of pleated sheet material, which is creased at the ridge of each fold, and adheres to the pleated material (adhere ) And is preferably formed in combination with a layer of flat sheet material that is adhesively bonded.

[0004] The pleated sheet material is preferably kraft paper having a weight in the range of about 30-50 pounds, and the flat sheet material is preferably tissue paper having a weight of less than about 20 pounds. The pleated sheet material is greater than about 45 ° and 85 °
Preferably, the pleats have a smaller range of pleat angles, and most preferably, the pleats have an angle of about 50-65 °.

[0005] A method of packaging an article for shipping in a protective cushion wrap according to the present invention comprises unwinding a sheet material from a continuous roll to form a series of folds in the sheet material, wherein The roll of material has an axis and the unwinding direction is the direction transverse to the axis. The folds have ridges parallel to the central axis of the continuous roll. Contacting at least one flat sheet from a continuous roll of sheet material with the pleated sheet material, adhering the pleated sheet material to a flat sheet from the continuous roll, preferably tissue paper, The combination of the sheet-like sheet material and the skin sheet layer is formed. The combination of the pleated material and the skin sheet is cut to a length to form a composite packaging wrap material.

[0006] The article is completely wrapped within the packaging wrap material, with at least two end regions overlapping each other to form an area having at least two layers of packaging wrap material. The composite can then conform to the shape of the wrapped article.

The pleats, expressed as the distance between the flat sheet on the top and the flat sheet on the bottom, are approximately
Preferably, it has a height in the range of 3/16 inch to about 1/2 inch.

[0008] A preferred pleated sheet material is kraft paper having a weight in the range of about 50 pounds to less than about 100 pounds, and the folds are required to be used in applications requiring high support stiffness packaging materials. It has a height ranging from 1/2 inch to about 1 inch. Most preferably, the pleated material is a kraft paper having a weight in the range of about 50 pounds to less than about 70 pounds, and the pleated is about 3/16 inch for use in providing a protective cushion to a fragile article. It has a height in the range of about 1/2 inch. For fragile articles, preferred flat sheets have a weight of up to about 20 pounds and are tissue paper. Most preferably, the tissue has a weight in the range of about 10 to about 20 pounds. Most preferably, the pleated sheet material is kraft paper, which is crimped by crushing the fibers at the ridge of the fold.

A preferred method includes crushing the paper fibers at the ridge of the fold between a pair of meshing gears, wherein the meshing gears are in the range of about 60 ° to about 85 °, most preferably about It has a sidewall angle in the range of 65 ° to less than 80 °. The roots of the teeth preferably have a root width in the range of about 0.015 to 0.035 inches, and most preferably a root width of about 0.15 to 0.035 inches.
It has a root width in the range of 015 to 0.025 inches. For sharp creases in the paper, the crest ranges from up to about 0.01 inches, most preferably from about 0.004 to 0.01 inches, depending on the thickness of the paper to be creased. ,
Most preferably, it is in the range of about 0.004-0.006 inches. The main point is that the tooth sidewalls must be wide enough to accept the crest without the sidewalls of the teeth being pressed together. That is, the size must be large enough to provide a gap between the intermeshing teeth and a squash between the root and the crest for areas of the paper that are not crushed. That is, most preferably,
In order to produce a well-defined crease, there is no crush between the side walls, but a crush between the crest and the root.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION [0010] The novel product design results in a unique product and gives it a unique use. By using different types and weights of paper combinations, the new products provide dramatic cushioning and structural products for the packaging industry. The structure of the present invention uses an improved pleat design, whereby all of these tasks can be accomplished using 100% recyclable paper, new paper, or a combination thereof.

The use of pleated paper has been limited primarily to filters, luminaire umbrellas, and the garment industry. Nevertheless, packaging product designs are in the form of pleated paper products. In a particularly preferred embodiment, it is a composite in which a lightweight inner layer of pleated paper, preferably lightweight kraft paper, is sandwiched between inner and outer layers of a very lightweight material such as tissue paper. The performance characteristics of the composite structure include (1) pleat height or profile, (2) pleat weight, (3) top and bottom paper weight, and (4) vertical pleat wall. The number of pleats per foot up and down,
Can be selectively modified by changing. As these walls become vertical, the paper becomes less flexible and the structure becomes more rigid. For absolute stiffness, glue the chipboard or corrugated pleats to the chipboard or corrugated surface and bottom layer, adding more pleats per foot to provide the greatest stiffness can do.

As a control, the use of about 10 or 15 pounds of tissue paper, such as tissue paper for the top and bottom layers and about 30 pounds of paper for 3/16 ″ profile folds, results in a large packaging material. Cushioning and flexibility are provided,
Since it is used as a gap filling material, it can be easily folded. The unique combination is resilient and stiff when subjected to a compressive force, yet extremely flexible. The composite can be substantially molded around the object and conform to the shape of the article.

It should be understood that the product, which is a paper product formed by steaming and chemical impregnation to form a rigid sine wave, has corrugated grooves. Structural stiffness results from the processing of the paper. The pleated paper gains structural strength due to the geometry of the product. Attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,730 relating to structures described as being used as separation or packaging materials. The structure has load-bearing walls, which are consistent with the vertical structural members used in the prior art. The present invention derives structural strength and flexibility based on non-vertical walls, and has no vertically maintained or load-bearing walls. It is advantageous to have a structure that has completely or substantially no vertical walls, as well as a structure that goes to other extremes by using a unique combination of lightweight paper, rather than using vertical load bearing walls. Something has now been found.

[0014] Particularly as a gap filler, a 3/16 "profile is preferred for combination with about 10 pounds of tissue paper and about 30 pounds of kraft paper, resulting in lower utilization costs than can be obtained with comparable plastic foam packaging materials. This is due in part to the greater amount of air taken in during the folding operation of the product and the advantages of manufacturing costs. The pleated material is very flexible across the folds, but is more rigid along the folds of the folds and provides support when stacked. Cushion products leave more void space than cellular cushioning material and are therefore more effective as void fillers, where low rates are higher than high rates. It can be seen that the structural integrity of the pleated structure is given by the geometry of the product, and therefore light paper can be used to produce a unique cushioning product with different properties than the corrugated product. Has been issued.

As shown in FIG. 1, the novel cushioning material, shown generally as 100, comprises a combination of two outer paper layers 102 and 104 surrounding one layer of pleated material 106. The pleated material is bonded above and below each of the ridges or vertices 108. The side wall 106 must be non-vertical and is preferably less than 85 °, but the preferred angle when formed is about 60 ° because the angle increases when loosened prior to bonding the product. This product is in contrast to the conventional corrugated product 200 shown in FIG. 2 as having a groove 202. FIG. 3 illustrates that the product 300 can conform to the shape of an article such as a wine bottle or glass vase or the like.

FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred plication device, generally designated 400. The method of forming the pleats is to produce the packaged product as a sheet pleat, as shown in FIG. 5, or as a combination of the pleats glued to the top and bottom paper layers as shown in FIGS. It was not applied to.

The manufacturing process is different from that used to manufacture corrugated paper products. As shown in FIG. 3, a method for producing a corrugated product comprises:
A round inner groove 202 is formed, providing a substantially vertical wall and a large adhesive surface area for firmness. The groove height or profile is very small to provide maximum stiffness. The strength of a corrugated box is its ability to maintain its shape without stretching or tearing, and because it is corrugated on one or both sides, it is structurally sound without the presence of a flat layer . It is the opposite of cushioning. The pleats can provide various levels of structural rigidity, while still providing a profile
It can be increased at a low cost, well beyond the corrugated height of 1/8 to 1/4 inch, to the height of the rigid pleats of 2 inches or more.

As the need for thicker walls of rigid packaging material has increased, the corrugated materials industry has gone from a single corrugated wall to double or triple corrugated walls. The reason is that the larger the corrugated groove, the weaker it becomes, and the easier it collapses, because it does not have the stiffness capability of creasing or pleated paper. If a larger profile was required, a honeycomb structure was introduced to provide a less expensive but extremely stiff material. The folds can provide the same stiffness as corrugated or honeycomb without the use of multi-layered paper and adhesives like corrugated structures, and still slower than honeycomb. The same product can be provided more cheaply in the manufacturing process. It can be seen from FIG. 2 that by varying the number of pleats per foot, the pleat angle can be varied. In this way, different degrees of stiffness can be obtained using the same weight of paper. Furthermore, since the pleat angle can be changed, the cushioning property can be improved. The pleated sheet material can provide the flexibility that honeycomb and corrugated structures cannot afford. This is due, in part, to thin paper that has substantially no structural strength other than tensile strength, and to folds that have large structural strength only for compression perpendicular to the major plane of the pleated sheet. As used herein, the term "principal plane" refers to the plane of the sheet in an unpleasant form, which is also the plane of the flat surface or bottom layer 120 or 122.

A fold is formed having a center line perpendicular to the plane of the paper. The pleat walls have an interior angle at their apex that is substantially less than 90 °. The walls of the corrugated sheet are substantially vertical and the honeycomb structure is a vertical wall structure, while the pleated material must have a substantially smaller angle.

The pleated sheet material 436 is wound on a continuous roll having a central axis 446. The material is passed between meshed teeth 438 of gear 434. Side walls 440 and 44
The angle of 2 need not be narrowly limited. The gear teeth have a crest 432 and a root region 430 for receiving the meshing gear crest.

Another inventive feature of the product is the use of a continuous sheet of pleated paper, as in FIG. 5 using only the folds 500. The plication itself adds rigidity to the paper and provides an inexpensive and easy to use void-filling product as an alternative to Styrofoam granules. The folds are easy to use, do not generate dust, and retain their shape during the shipping process. Unlike other paper products that relied on random crumpling of the paper resulting in random folds, the formation of folds allows the paper to be utilized to its maximum volume and provides the highest rigidity in a uniform pattern. The integrity of the packaging can be standardized to give more stable results. Creasing the paper adds stiffness and air volume to the paper, resulting in a lightweight void-fill material alternative. In the current market, in contrast, the traditional product, Padpak, pushes air between them by folding together three layers of paper. The resulting product is initially bulky, but collapses quickly due to rounding, in contrast to the creasing (pleating) method. Ecopack is a prior art invention which is used in the form of a 1/8 "creased band to provide a better way to permanently entangle thin paper bands. In particular, the novel product adds stacking strength by deliberately using wide sheets with a ridge line width of 6 inches or more, preferably at least about 12 inches or more, which is parallel to the ridge line of the pleats. Provides resistance to folding, this stiffness creates a stability that results in a more durable void-filled product.The product of the present invention can be much more easily discarded than an eco-pack, and a small plurality of papers Used to wrap an article in a single sheet rather than a band.

Yet another approach to void filler is to divide the fold direction of the adhesive bead so that the pleated paper has a stiffness every two or three gaps, or at any gap desired by the customer. Together with the pleated paper. Like pleating, which produces stiffness in the direction of the folds, the adhesive beads provide stiffness by providing a continuous flow of adhesive and flowing up and down the ridges and valleys of the folds. The adhesive beads have been used to maintain the shape of a paper filter, which creates a pressure differential from the liquid passing through the paper under extreme pressure, maintaining the shape of the filter.

The prior art invention, sold under the trade name Geoami, is another paper product used as a cushioning material for brittle goods. Geoami spun
It is made from slit paper stretched from a 1/4 "piece of paper to form a hexagon. These hexagons form rigid, low-profile cells with an angle of approximately 58 °. Has the same advantages as a cell with an angle of, but does not have the dust resulting from mold cutting of geoamiami products.Moreover, geoamiami alone can be thicker in multi-layer packaging because the distance between slits is important for geoami to be useful This inability to change the profile from 3/16 "when rotated to full makes it ineffective and labor intensive, resulting in more paper Will be used. In contrast, the new technology can be fine-tuned to provide optimal paper utilization with the required thickness and the required stiffness.

The formation of the folds can be varied by varying the paper weight, fold profile, and number of folds per foot to form a series of products that provide recyclable packaging designs and applications in one place. Provides different cushioning and structure.
As will now be appreciated by the reader, varying the weight of the pleated paper and the number of folds per foot produces varying stiffness. In addition, the paper weight of the top and bottom layers changes the cushion or structural strength according to a new technology, the technology of the present invention. Thickening the top and bottom layers spreads the load more evenly between the folds of the folds and prevents bending between the folds, thereby providing a stronger product.

Yet another feature of the fold profile is that the fold legs can bend. Thinner materials make them more easily bend than thicker and heavier materials. To that end, the requirement for a higher but softer packaging material can be met by using the same weight of paper used in a smaller pleated profile designed to be stiff. In contrast, very inexpensive cushion designs use lightweight paper folds with short fold profiles. This helps to provide excellent cushioning and cheap packaging for the lightest and brittle goods.

Manufacture packaging materials that are not only flexible but can be molded around the object to be packaged, maintain their shape permanently and do not require taping or fastening. Therefore, lightweight fold forming paper, ie, about 30 # paper weight (30 pounds / 3000f)
t ² ) or about that much paper with a 3/16 ″ pleat height and a top and bottom surface bonded to 10 # tissue paper (10 lbs / 2880 ft ² ).
This combination surprisingly gives excellent cushion protection. What is very striking is that the overall utility of the product for protective packaging remains the same due to the reduced weight of the top and bottom sheets. The difference lies in ease of use. For a void fill that is desired to be stiff, such heavier outer paper can be used to achieve this desired result.

For packaging, as in this example, the tissue paper has the same cushioning properties as well as great flexibility, improved ease of use, and formation into a permanent form around the object. Give sex. The 3/16 ″ pleat height also makes it easier for the user to make multiple wraps and apply the protective layer for easy packaging. This concept is typically found in plastic foam packaging. Plastic bubble wrap provides its best protection by using smaller profile (3/16 ") bubbles which give more bubbles per inch. Surprisingly, the 3/16 "pleats provide optimal pleats per inch and provide optimal protection by ensuring that the pleat tips come in contact with the same amount of surface area. Although the mechanism is different, the optimum height for bubble wrap and pleated wrap is similar for large cushion applications.

The tissue is essentially just a glue for the structure to perform its function. Without the tissue paper, the pleated paper is more likely to collapse, i.e., to flatten under load. When the tissue is adhered to the pleated sheet, the composite structure retains its shape but retains its unique flexibility. Although tissue paper is a very weak material by nature, it gives in this example the only strength it has, namely its integrity to the tensile strength material.
Tensile strength of 10 # tissue is 21/2 to 3 pounds strength as measured using 5/8 "strips. 15 # tissue is 51/2 to 61/2 pounds. It is in the range of pounds, so it is the tissue strength that gives this "solid material". As the weight of the paper decreases, the area per roll (ft ² ) increases, and 1 ft ²
The hit paper is cheaper. Thus, the optimal design for packaging is an infinitely thin material that provides sufficient tensile strength to maintain this shape. As paper gets lighter, it becomes cheaper and more flexible.

The graph of FIG. 9 shows the cushion strength of 3/16 ″ paper using 30 # pleated paper and 10 # tissue. The tissue can be similar to a bridge cable. It has high tensile strength and adds stiffness through interaction with other bridge components, but by itself the cable has little structural stiffness.Geoami brand expanded sheet materials and foam wraps have similar ingredients The corrugated cardboard is essentially rigid with corrugated grooves and is self-supporting as a result of the manufacturing process that produces the grooves.The top and bottom sheets prevent layer incorporation, but the tissue paper of the present invention. Does not have any important natural features.

The pleating process only produces a series of parallel, continuous folds without adversely affecting the properties of the sheet material. Corrugated grooves by themselves are usually very rigid against compression, but pleated sheets collapse easily on compression unless secured in place. Like a bridge cable, the tissue intersects the angled walls of the folds and forms an engineering material. This is why the tissue paper can serve as a structural material in combination with the pleated kraft paper sheet.

The preferred paper weight combinations to use are surprisingly low. In a pleated structure, the structural pleated layer is about 30 pounds kraft paper and the outer layer (s) is about 10 pounds.
Or 15 pound tissue. This is due to the use of a pair of equally angled side walls. In corrugated sheets, the grooves are much heavier and thicker, and the weight spectrum (weight)
spectrum). The slit pattern in the Geoami brand material determines the maximum expansion of the product. In contrast, the pleated material uses a bonded lightweight layer to maintain the product in the desired maximum expanded shape. Preferably, the width of the crimped paper and the top and / or bottom sheet is at least about 12 inches wide.
Unlike products such as those described in US Pat. No. 5,593,755, the present invention uses continuous pleats for optimal performance. The width of the continuous pleated sheet can be any desired length, but widths up to about 4 feet can be used. Continuous, i.e., uninterrupted, fold widths of 12 inches or less are preferred.

In the present invention, the preferred range for the weight of kraft paper is about 30 to 50 pounds. In contrast, the range for the GeoAmi brand cushioning material, kraft paper, is in the range of 50-80 pounds, and for corrugated sheets the range is more than 70 pounds. As the weight of the paper is increased with the pleated cushion design of the present invention, the ability of the final product to be formed into a packaged article is reduced. Thus, although the chipboard material can be used to make the pleated product, it imparts completely different performance characteristics to the pleated product in the 30-50 pound range and cannot be molded, i.e., the article contained therein. The contour cannot be adjusted to the shape of.

In the pleated structure, the structural pleated layer is about 30 pounds of kraft paper and the outer layer (s) is 10 pounds of tissue paper. In corrugated sheets, the grooves are much heavier and thicker and represent the other end of the weight spectrum.

[0034] Eight pleated products were produced for testing. Curve 1 represents the reference line for a test where the test apparatus was operated without the test material. Curves 2-9 correspond to tests 1-8.

The first test is a fold using 100 # paper. The second is a fold using about 70 # paper. Both products use a top and bottom layer of about 60 # paper weight. A 5/8 "or 0.625" pleat profile was used in both tests. The addition of the top and bottom layers resulted in an overall length of 0.639 "thickness. For both products the pleats had an average of 3/4" pleat spacing (16 pleats per foot). Tests 3-8 (curves 4-9) used 30 # fold paper with a 1/16 "(0.1875") profile and varied the weight of the top and bottom layers. Furthermore, curves 5, 7, and 9 show the case using three layers of material to show the difference when using multiple layers. Curve 8
The tests represented by and 9 are for the pleats themselves.

[0036] These tests were performed to show that the strength varies with varying paper weight. FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show the different pleat designs used. In the test, the test product was subjected to a downward breaking force, i.e., a force producing a deflection of 0.031 ", and the weight required to produce the deflection was recorded. FIG. 7 shows the test for comparison of the data. The results are shown graphically.

The first curve represents a machine blank test, a “0” test rig, that is, it defines a reference line for the test, the zero line. The control arm of the device bends under tension and this bend is perceived as a phantom deflection. The angle of deflection of the machine alone, curve 1, shows that all the test material actually became slightly steeper, and the material was completely destroyed when the curve became similar to that of the machine itself. Should be taken into account only for the purpose of expressing

Chart I product Applied weight X-axis 0 reference weight Position Total deflection Test 1 Machine blank test 0 0 0 0 40 40 1 0.03135 72 72 2 0.0627 104 104 3 0.09405 130 130 4 0.1254

Product applied weight X-axis 0 reference weight Position Total deflection Test 2 5/8 "100 # Fold total thickness 0.639" -2 0 0 0 3 5 1 0.03135 10 12 2 0.0627 11 13 3 0.09405 13 15 4 0.1254 17 19 5 0.15675 17 19 6 0.1881 19 21 7 0.21945 19 21 8 0.2508 19 21 9 0.28215 14 16 10 0.3135 17 19 11 0.34485 19 21 12 0.3762 19 21 13 0.40755 23 25 14 0.4389 26 28 15 0.47025 29 31 16 0.5016 34 36 17 0.53295 40 42 18 0.5643 49 51 19 0.59565 63 66 20 0.627 79 81 21 0.65835 102 104 22 0.6897

Product applied weight X axis 0 reference weight Position Total deflection Test 3 5/8 ″ 70 # fold total thickness 0.639 ″ -4 0 0 0 0 4 1 0.03135 0 4 2 0.0627 0 4 3 0.09405 1 5 4 0.1254 2 6 5 0.15675 3 7 6 0.1881 4 8 7 0.21945 6 10 8 0.2508 10 14 9 0.28215 11 15 10 0.3135 16 20 11 0.34485 23 27 12 0.3762 24 28 13 0.40755 25 29 14 0.4389 33 37 15 0.47025 38 42 16 0.5016 45 49 17 0.53295 58 62 18 0.5643 77 81 19 0.59565 100 104 20 0.627

Product Applied weight X axis 0 reference weight Position Total deflection Test 4 3/16 ", 1 layer, 30 # fold, 15 # tissue paper, total thickness 0.1875" -3 0 0 0 2 5 1 0.03135 13 16 2 0.0627 27 30 3 0.09405 42 45 4 0.01254 55 58 5 0.15675 70 73 6 0.1881 85 88 7 0.21945

Product Applied weight X-axis 0 reference weight Position Total deflection Test 5 3/16 ”× 3 layers, 30 # fold, 15 # tissue paper, total thickness 0.5625 ″ -3 0 0 0 4 7 1 0.03135 13 16 2 0.0627 21 24 3 0.09405 30 33 4 0.1254 36 39 5 0.15675 41 44 6 0.1881 48 51 7 0.21945 54 57 8 0.2508 64 67 9 0.28215 68 71 10 0.3135 75 78 11 0.34485 90 93 12 0.3762 105 108 13 0.40755 117 120 14 0.4389

Product Applied weight X axis 0 reference weight Position Total deflection Test 6 3/16 "× 1 layer, 30 # fold, 10 # tissue paper, total thickness 0.5625" -2 0 0 0 7 9 1 0.03135 17 19 2 0.0627 30 32 3 0.09405 38 40 4 0.1254 32 34 5 0.15675 34 36 6 0.1881 56 58 7 0.21945

Product Applied weight X axis 0 reference weight Position Total deflection Test 7 3/16 "× 3 layers, 30 # fold, 10 # tissue paper, total thickness 0.5625" -3 0 0 0 0 3 1 0.03135 6 9 2 0.0627 19 22 3 0.09405 29 32 4 0.1254 38 41 5 0.15675 35 38 6 0.1881 35 38 7 0.21945 40 43 8 0.2508 38 41 9 0.28215 43 46 10 0.3135 38 41 11 0.34485 38 41 12 0.3762 38 41 13 0.40755 39 42 14 0.4389 49 52 15 0.47025 61 64 16 0.5016

Product Applied weight X axis 0 reference weight Position Total deflection Test 8 3/16 ″ × 1 layer, 30 # fold only, total thickness 0.5625 ″ 0 0 0 0 7 7 1 0.03135 23 23 2 0.0627 33 33 3 0.09405 39 39 4 0.1254 58 58 5 0.15675 77 77 6 0.1881

Product Applied weight X-axis 0 reference weight Position Total deflection Test 9 3/16 ″ × 3 layers, 30 # fold only, total thickness 0.5625 ″ −3 0 0 0 4 7 1 0.03135 18 21 2 0.0627 27 30 3 0.09405 25 28 4 0.1254 26 29 5 0.15675 31 34 6 0.1881 33 36 7 0.21945 30 33 8 0.2508 34 37 9 0.28215 34 37 10 0.3135 38 41 11 0.34485 51 54 12 0.3762 44 47 13 0.40755 49 52 14 0.4389 61 64 15 0.47025 77 80 16 0.5016 89 92 17 0.53295

The first column of Chart I shows the pleated material load numerical data and the second column shows the weight recorded for each quarter turn (0.031 ″ movement) of the downward movement.
The column shows the value of the load adjusted to the "0" pound reference for the actual force applied.
The fourth column shows the position increased by 1/4 turn. The fifth column shows the value of the position converted to the actual total deflection by multiplying the position by 0.031 ".
It will be seen that it is flattened with a 64 inch deflection. Because they are 0.639 "thick.

The graph of FIG. 8 schematically shows that different cushion protections can be produced using different paper weights. As the weight of the paper fold is increased, all else being the same, the structure of the present invention bears a greater load by cushioning, thus demonstrating that a series of products can be created using the technology of the present invention. are doing. Testing on a 3/16 "profile with lighter weight paper required more force to deflect the product, which resulted in more pleats per foot. Despite the dramatic decrease in paper weight, the increase in pleats per foot has made the product much stronger.This combination provides optimal utilization of the paper because 1 t of the material used This is because the yield per hit decreases with the use of a light weight.

The slit pattern of the Geoami brand material determines the maximum expanded state of the product.
As an object, the pleated material uses a bonded lightweight layer to maintain the product in the desired maximum expanded shape.

In general, as the fold profile increases, so does the packaging speed. This is especially true in the void filler market. A higher pleat profile increases the volume of the package more quickly than a lower pleat profile. From our tests, a paper weight of about 70 pounds for a pleat layer with 16 to 30 pleats per foot, a paper weight of 30 to 70 pounds for the top and bottom layers, about 1 / A pleat height of 2 "to 1" has been proven to provide the best flexibility and resiliency for the void filling product.

Tests show that for best cushion protection, a fold profile of about 3/8 "with a fold paper weight of 30-70 pounds and about 30-30 folds from tissue weight as 16-30 folds per foot. It has become apparent that the top and bottom layers of pound paper provide the best cushion protection for fragile items such as crystals and other glassware. For this purpose, 10 # to 15 # tissue using 30 # to 40 # paper has been found to be ideal.A preferred combination is tissue in the range of about 10 to 20 pounds, and one sheet, most Preferably kraft paper in the range of about 30 to 50 pounds adhered to both the top and bottom sheets, the combination comprising a continuous fold having a width of at least 12 inches. Preferably, it is used with those having about 16 to 30 pleats per foot, the pleat height being the distance between the topsheet and the bottomsheet being at least about 3/8 inch. A preferred upper limit is about 1/2 inch for soft cushion products, with a pleat height in the range of about 1/2 to 1 inch, and most preferably about 3/4 to 1 inch, provides a low cost void. It provides a filling material and is used with kraft paper in the range of about 50-70 pounds, with heavier folds.If the product is to be used for packaging, the outer layer is sold under the trade name Tyvek. It should also be noted that high-strength materials such as the products in question can be used.

From testing, it has been found that for best structural rigidity for crating or boxing, about 200 weight of corrugated material with approximately the same weight of top and bottom layers as the pleated material It is also clear that the material is a 3/4 "to 4" layer pleated material of 10 pt chipboard material. It should be noted that this type of product has performance characteristics that are dramatically different from the combination of tissue paper and 30-50 pound kraft paper.

The properties and performance of a pleated product are related to the folding angle of the product. The range is 45-80 °, preferably about 55-65 °, to provide optimal cushioning performance characteristics and volume to material ratio.

Another important feature of the present invention is the sharpness of the fold. The round corrugated vertex is
The result is a product that lacks the geometrical requirements of the present invention. The rounded vertices will cause the product to collapse under load due to the curvature of the paper. In contrast, true pleats, ie, those with sharp folds, transmit the force from the top along the paper to the bottom. Curved apexes, i.e., unfolded products, bend or curl under load and cannot transfer load from the apex to the bottom surface. Thus, as used herein, the term fold refers to the sheet material resulting from folding the fiber at the top of the fold, and is distinguished from a product that simply bends the sheet material and is not broken at the top. Things.

For forming folds, three methods are commercially available. The first is a paddle wheel (a steel roller and a paddle wheel that contacts it) that operates on a smooth metal anvil.
) Is used. The paddles are spaced according to the required design folds. Paddles serve not only as a fold mechanism, but also to press the folds together to form folds. Because it spins somewhat faster than crimping the paper sliding on the anvil together. The second manufacturing method uses two overlapping plates that move up and down. As the top plate slides down just forward of the top plate, it draws the paper into a pleating position. Next, the bottom plate is pressed against the top plate to form a fold. The boards then separate and, conversely, overlap and the bottom plate draws the paper inward, and the procedure continues. While both of the above methods progress slowly, the rotating paddle design is much faster, which provides friction to the paper that can tear the paper at high speeds. The third method used for this product is a rotary pleating machine, also using two meshing gears. A rotary shirring tool, similar to a gear, has a critical difference in the correct production of pleated paper.

The pleating tool is made of teeth where the teeth of the opposing pleating tool fit together. The apex of the tooth is called the crest. The very bottom of the valley formed between the two teeth is called the root. Unlike typical meshing gear designs, it is critical that the crest be able to contact the root at each pleat angle to make a clear and absolute crease in the paper. To achieve this, the crest is made narrower than the base. Since both tools have the same angle of inclination, there is a natural gap between the teeth even when the crest and the root contact. This side gap prevents the inclined angles from coming into contact with each other and ensures that the crest and the root come into contact unimpeded from the side of the teeth. If the tooth sides contact, additional force is required to form a permanent fold in the paper, which increases manufacturing costs. Optimal pressure results in squeezing of the fibers without tearing, maintaining crimp strength and reducing the slack that occurs when the crimp angle is not broken with sufficient force.

To cope with the loosening that takes place, the teeth are 5-10 times less than the desired product actually manufactured.
° Typically made at steep angles. For example, if a 60 ° angle is desired, it is first manufactured at 70 ° and the paper is loosened to 60 °. As different papers are used, recycled paper, new paper, or a combination of both, the amount of relaxation will vary. It is not necessary to particularly limit changing the pleat tool angle for each type of paper. The worst case of relaxation needs to be taken into account, but if the paper does not relax to the desired angle, what is needed is a fold formation compared to the gluing process (which is immediately downstream of the crimping machine). It is to slow down the process. This slowing causes the pleats to open, thereby reducing the pleat angle to the desired angle.

Thus, to optimize a 3/16 inch product, the pleat tool is manufactured to have a mating pleat angle of 60-85 °, with the preferred range being the desired 60 ° angle,
About 65-79 °. The root has a width ranging from about 0.015 to 0.035 inches, with a preferred root width ranging from about 0.015 to 0.025 inches. The greater the difference in size between the root and the crest, the easier it is to mesh the two gears.

For sharply folding the paper, the crest is most preferably in the range of about 0.004 to 0.01 inches, with the optimal range being about 0.004 to 0. 0, depending on the thickness of the paper being folded.
006 inches. The lower limit of crest size depends on the ability to sharpen the tool. The upper limit is determined as desired to avoid substantial truncation of the top. The truncated or flat top surface provides a good surface for applying the adhesive and bonding the pleated sheet to the flat sheet, but also serves to reduce the number of folds per inch.

Many geared shirring operations use a simple method of folding the folds. Since they are already in the form of gears, both gears can be easily rotated by driving one. However, for pleated products for packaging, the method needs to be more accurate. This is because it is important to be able to fold consistently using the root and crest. To do this, the gears power to rotate independently of each other. In this manner, the top crest of the gear teeth strikes the center of the root, maintaining loose paper between the teeth and creating enough clearance to break only at the point of impact. This method ensures that the full depth of the tool is used. If the tool is not properly timed, the crest will hit the side walls and prevent the full length of the pleat from being obtained.

Looking at the gear teeth, the crest of one tooth is sized to ride on the root of the other tooth, such that the paper is crushed between the mating root and the crest. It turns out that you have to be. Most advantageously, the space between the root region providing the compression crest fit and each of the two side walls of the pair of teeth forming the surrounding teeth is at least equal to the thickness of the paper to be crushed. is there. Note that the position between the two mating gears changes over time, and the aforementioned spacing is at the point of crushing the paper. By this mechanism, the force is applied at the point of collapse and is not distributed along the pleat walls. This dramatically minimizes the amount of force required to achieve the desired result.

Once the pleats have been achieved, the pleats are sent to a joining process where the thin leaf layer is sprayed with a pressure-sensitive adhesive to make it adhesive and then rollered against the pleats,
The thin leaf layer is adhered to the folds. Belts are placed around the rollers, and continuous pressure is applied to the lamina and folds to ensure bonding.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a cushion material according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional corrugated material.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cushioning material of the present invention wrapped around an article.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a fold forming operation using a pair of fitted gears.
FIG. 5a is a schematic illustration of the fold forming device of FIG. 4, further illustrating the application of a top sheet and a bottom sheet adhesively bonded to the fold sheet.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a pleated sheet material.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the pleated sheet material of FIG. 5 with one sheet of thin paper.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the pleated sheet material of FIG. 5 with thin sheets of a top layer and a bottom layer.

FIG. 8 is a deflection graph shown for comparison of deflection curves for various products.

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Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. A method of packaging an article for shipping in a protective cushion wrap, wherein sheet material is unwound from a continuous roll, wherein said roll of sheet material has an axis, said unwinding direction crossing said axis. Direction, forming a series of folds in said sheet material, said folds having ridges parallel to said axis, and removing at least one flat material from a continuous roll into said pleated sheet material. Contacting at least one surface of said pleated sheet material with said flat sheet from said continuous roll to form a combination of pleated sheet material and skin sheet layer, said pleated material and skin Cutting said combination with a sheet to a length to form a packaging wrap material, completely wrapping the article in said packaging wrap material, overlapping at least two end areas with each other, Forming an area having at least two layers of material and conforming the packaging wrap material to the shape of the article. 2. A layer of pleated sheet material which is creased at the ridge of each fold and a layer of flat sheet material adhesively bonded to said pleated material. Packaging wrap material used to cushion shipping articles in combination with a sheet material layer. 3. The packaging material of claim 2, wherein the pleated sheet material is kraft paper having a weight in the range of about 30 to 50 pounds. 4. The packaging material of claim 3, wherein the flat sheet material is tissue paper having a weight in the range of about 10 to about 20 pounds. 5. The packaging material of claim 2, wherein the pleated sheet material has a pleated angle in the range of greater than about 45 ° and less than 85 °. 6. The packaging material of claim 2, wherein the wrap has an angle of about 50-65 °. 7. The packaging material of claim 2, wherein the folds have a height ranging from about 3/16 inch to about 1/2 inch. 8. The pleated sheet material is kraft paper having a weight in the range of about 50 pounds to less than about 100 pounds, and the pleated sheet material has a height in the range of about 3/16 inch to about 1/2 inch. The packaging material according to claim 2, which has: 9. The packaging material of claim 7, wherein the flat sheet has a weight in the range of about 10 to about 20 pounds and is tissue paper. 10. The packaging material of claim 2, wherein the fold has a ridge at least 6 inches long. 11. The packaging material according to claim 10, wherein the flat sheet has a weight in the range of about 10 to about 20 pounds and is tissue paper. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the pleated sheet material is kraft paper and is crimped by crushing the fibers at the ridges of the folds. 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the length of the cut ridge has a length of at least 6 inches. 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the length of the cut ridge has a length of at least 12 inches. 15. The pleated sheet material is fiber paper, further comprising the step of crushing the fibers at the ridge ridge between a pair of intermeshing gears, wherein said intermeshing gears are about 6 inches.
A sidewall angle in the range of 0 ° to about 85 °, wherein the root of the tooth has a root width smaller than the width of the crest, and the width of the crest is in the range of about 0.015 to 0.035 inches; The method of claim 1, wherein: 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the fibers are pleated between intermeshing gears having a root width in the range of about 0.004-0.01 inches. 17. The method of claim 12, wherein the crest ranges from about 0.004 to 0.006 inches. 18. The root width is in the range of up to about 0.01 inches, the root width is in the range of about 0.015 to 0.025 inches, and the paper fibers mesh with the root of one gear. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method is squeezed between a tip of a gear.