Extensible paper and its use in the production of expanded slit packaging and void fill products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10669086-B2
Application number	US-201816018702-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 26, 2018
Priority date	Jun 26, 2017
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

An extensible slit sheet paper product is produced having an expandable slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion of the paper product. The paper product is an extensible paper having an extensibility in the range from 1-9% in the machine direction and 1-5% in the cross direction. The expansion produces an array of hexagonal cells. The expanded extensible paper can be used to wrap an object for shipping by wrapping and cushioning the object in the expanded slit sheet material. The extensible, expandable slit sheet paper can be wrapped around itself to produce a void fill product.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product, comprising:
a roll of slit sheet paper having a slit pattern including a plurality of slits extending in a cross direction that forms a plurality of open cells upon expansion in a machine direction, said roll resisting pulling of a length of slit sheet paper along the machine direction to enable expansion of the length of slit sheet paper in the machine direction,
said slit sheet paper being formed from an extensible paper made to be extensible in the machine direction and the cross direction without said slit pattern, said extensible paper having an extensibility within a range of 3 to 20% in the machine direction.

2. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said extensible paper is made extensible by imparting a treatment prior to providing the slit pattern comprising inserting a paper web between a roll and an endless pre-stretched blanket to compress the paper web with a nip bar and the blanket.

3. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said extensibility is within a range of 3-15% in the machine direction.

4. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said extensibility is within a range of 3-11.1% in the machine direction.

5. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said extensibility is within a range of 3.3-10.6% in the machine direction.

6. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said extensibility is within a range of 9.7-11.1% in the machine direction.

7. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said extensibility is not less than 5% in both the machine direction and cross direction.

8. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said extensibility is within a range of 5-15% in a cross-direction.

9. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said extensibility is within a range of 7.1-15% in a cross-direction.

10. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of open cells formed upon expansion in a machine direction are a plurality of hexagonal cells.

11. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 10 , wherein said hexagonal cells are three-dimensional hexagonal cells with substantially rectangular land portions situated at an inclined angle transverse to an original plane of the slit sheet paper, and leg portions connecting the land portions.

12. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said slit sheet paper is configured such that expansion is performed by applying an expansion force of 0.15 to 0.22 pounds per inch to form said open cells.

13. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 12 , wherein said hexagonal cells are three-dimensional hexagonal cells with substantially rectangular land portions situated at an inclined angle transverse to an original plane of the slit sheet paper, and leg portions connecting the land portions.

14. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 13 , wherein said slit sheet paper has a weight, prior to expansion, from about 30 to 50 pounds per 3,000 sq. ft.

15. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 7 , wherein said slit sheet paper is configured such that expansion is performed by applying an expansion force of 0.15 to 0.22 pounds per inch to form said open cells.

16. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said extensible paper is a nonwoven fibrous material with fibre-to-fibre bonding that resists tearing upon expansion in a range of 3-15% in the machine direction as measured prior to providing the slit pattern.

17. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 1 , wherein said roll of slit sheet paper is wound on a cylindrical core, and said length of slit sheet paper extends from said roll of slit sheet paper.

18. An extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product, comprising:
a length of slit sheet paper having a slit pattern including a plurality of slits extending in a cross direction that forms a plurality of open cells upon expansion in a machine direction,
said slit sheet paper being formed from an extensible paper made to be extensible in the machine direction and the cross direction without the slit pattern, said extensible paper having an extensibility within a range of 3 to 20% in the machine direction.

19. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 18 , further including a resister that resists pulling of the length of slit sheet paper along the machine direction to enable expansion of the length of slit sheet paper in the machine direction.

20. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 19 , wherein said resister is a roll of slit sheet paper from which said length of slit sheet paper extends.

21. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 18 , wherein said extensibility is not less than 5% in both the machine direction and cross direction.

22. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 18 , wherein said extensibility is within a range of 3-15% in the machine direction.

23. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 18 , wherein said a slit pattern is configured to form a plurality of hexagonal cells upon expansion in a machine direction.

24. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 23 , wherein said hexagonal cells are three-dimensional hexagonal cells with substantially rectangular land portions situated at an inclined angle transverse to an original plane of the slit sheet paper, and leg portions connecting the land portions.

25. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 18 , wherein said slit sheet paper is configured such that expansion is performed by applying an expansion force of 0.15 to 0.22 pounds per inch to form said open cells.

26. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 18 , wherein said slit sheet paper has a weight, prior to expansion, from about 30 to 50 pounds per 3,000 sq. ft.

27. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 18 , wherein said extensible sleet sheet paper cushioning product is a shipping package.

28. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 27 , wherein said slit sheet paper is arranged to protect an object placed inside said shipping package.

29. The extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 28 , wherein said slit sheet paper is arranged to extend around the object placed inside said shipping package.

30. A method of using the extensible slit sheet paper cushioning product of claim 28 , comprising shipping the shipping package with an object protected by said extensible paper inside said shipping package.

31. A shipping package comprising:
a wrapped object,
said wrapped object being wrapped in at least two layers of an expanded slit sheet paper wrap having interlocking hexagonal cells,
said slit sheet paper having a slit pattern including a plurality of slits extending in a cross direction that forms a plurality of hexagonal cells upon expansion in a machine direction and being expanded by applying an expansion force and w

Assignees

• Goodrich David Paul

Inventors

• Goodrich David Paul

Classifications

• B31D3/0292

  involving auxiliary operations, e.g. expanding, moistening, glue-applying, joining, controlling · CPC title

• B65D81/03

  Wrappers or envelopes with shock-absorbing properties, e.g. bubble films {(for thermal insulating purposes B65D81/3888)} · CPC title

• Y10T428/24298

  Noncircular aperture [e.g., slit, diamond, rectangular, etc.] · CPC title

• B65B55/20

  Embedding contents in shock-absorbing media, e.g. plastic foam, granular material · CPC title

• B31D5/0069

  including forming or transforming three-dimensional material, e.g. corrugated webs or material of cellular structure (making articles of cellular structure B31D3/00, corrugating paper or cardboard B31F1/20) · CPC title