Shipping and dispensing box for slit sheet material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11584585-B2
Application number	US-202016740666-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 13, 2020
Priority date	Oct 12, 2017
Publication date	Feb 21, 2023
Grant date	Feb 21, 2023

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments pertain to a combined shipping and expansion device for shipping a roll of unexpanded slit sheet material and for expanding the slit sheet material. In some examples, the device includes: a container made with recyclable paper or board; a roll of slit sheet material wound around a core member and positioned within the container; the roll of slit sheet material having a slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion; the core member being made with recyclable paper or board and having a length greater than a width of the roll of slit sheet wound around the core member and having protrusions that extend beyond each side of the roll of slit sheet material; a plurality of yoke members within the container, including at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a first of the protrusions and at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a second of the protrusions; and the container having a dispensing opening through which the slit sheet material wound around the core member can be extended and pulled, causing the core member to rotate relative to the yoke members via rotation of the roll of slit sheet material. The combined shipping and expansion device is made from substantially entirely recyclable paper or board materials, whereby after complete dispensing of the slit sheet material from the shipping and expansion device, the combined shipping and expansion device can be recycled in a paper recycling facility.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A combined shipping and expansion device for shipping a roll of unexpanded slit sheet material and for expanding the slit sheet material, comprising:
a) a container made with recyclable paper or board;
b) a roll of slit sheet material wound around a core member and positioned within said container;
c) said roll of slit sheet material having a slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion;
d) said core member being made with recyclable paper or board;
e) said container having a dispensing opening through which the slit sheet material wound around said core member can be extended and pulled, causing said core member to rotate via rotation of the roll of slit sheet material;
further including a friction member arranged to apply frictional pressure against said core member for regulating force required to rotate said roll during unwinding of said roll of slit sheet material from said core member, wherein said core member and said friction member are both comprised of paper or corrugated board; and
wherein said friction member is configured to frictionally contact an outer cylindrical peripheral surface of said core member.

2. A method of using the combined shipping and expansion device of claim 1 , including:
a) shipping the combined shipping and expansion device to a location of a user;
b) at the location of the user, manually pulling the slit sheet material outward through said dispensing opening and expanding the slit sheet material.

3. The method of claim 2 , further including after fully dispensing the slit sheet material from the container delivering the combined shipping and expansion device to a paper recycling facility.

4. The method of claim 2 , further including after fully dispensing the slit sheet material from the container disposing of the combined shipping and expansion device, whereby said combined shipping and expansion device is used as a single-use shipping and expansion device.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said disposing of the combined shipping and expansion device includes delivering the combined shipping and expansion device to a paper recycling facility for recycling.

6. The method of claim 2 , further including providing said container with an elongated tear-away region that covers said dispensing opening during said shipping, and further including removing said tear-away region prior to said manually pulling and expanding.

7. The method of claim 2 , further including applying pressure on said core member during said manually pulling and expanding with a friction member frictionally contacting said core member.

8. The method of claim 7 , further including adjustably increasing pressure upon said core member via the friction member by adjustably positioning of an adjustable panel of said container.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said adjustable panel of said container is a cover of the container and adjustably positioning said cover using a releasable affixing means.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said releasable affixing means is a releasable adhesive.

11. The method claim 9 , wherein said releasable affixing means is hook and loop fasteners.

12. The method of claim 2 , further including stabilizing the roll of slit material during said shipping with respect to the core member with at least one spacer located proximate opposite ends of said roll of slit material, and removing said at least one spacer prior to said manually pulling and expanding.

13. The method of claim 2 , including providing said slit sheet material as a slit sheet paper that is an extensible paper.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said extensible paper has an extensible range from 3-9% in the machine direction.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein said extensible paper is extensible in the machine direction and in the cross direction.

16. The method of claim 13 , further including providing said slit sheet paper as expandable by applying an expansion force in a range from 0.15 to 0.22 pounds per inch to form at least one expanded sheet having an array of hexagonal cells.

17. The method of claim 13 , further including providing the slit sheet paper with a paper having a weight in a range from about 30 to 40 pounds per 3,000 square feet.

18. The method of claim 2 , further including, after said manually pulling and expanding, a step of wrapping the expanded sheet material around an object.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the step of wrapping includes wrapping multiple layers of expanded slit sheet material around the object.

20. The method of claim 19 , further including placing the wrapped object in a separate shipping container.

21. A combined shipping and expansion device for shipping a roll of unexpanded slit sheet material and for expanding the slit sheet material, comprising:
a) a container made with recyclable paper or board;
b) a roll of slit sheet material wound around a core member and positioned within said container;
c) said roll of slit sheet material having a slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion;
d) said core member being made with recyclable paper or board;
e) said container having a dispensing opening through which the slit sheet material wound around said core member can be extended and pulled, causing said core member to rotate via rotation of the roll of slit sheet material; and
further including a friction member arranged to apply frictional pressure against an outer cylindrical peripheral side surface of said core member for regulating force required to rotate said roll during unwinding of said roll of slit sheet material from said core member.

22. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 21 , wherein said core member is a hollow paper tube.

23. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 1 , wherein said container is formed from corrugated board.

24. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 21 , further including a movable member of the container configured to be moved to apply frictional pressure against said core member for regulating rotation of said core member.

25. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 24 , further including at least one releasable attachment mechanism configured to releasably affix said movable member with respect to said core member to regulate a force required to rotate said roll.

26. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 25 , wherein said at least one releasable attachment mechanism includes two releasable attachment mechanisms located proximate opposite sides of said container.

27. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 24 , wherein said movable member is configured to apply frictional pressure against said core member via said friction member.

28. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 25 , wherein said at least one releasable attachment mechanism includes at least one fastener.

29. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 25 , wherein said at least one releasable attachment mechanism includes hook and loop fasteners.

30. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 24 , wherein said movable member includes a panel of said container.

31. The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 24 , wherein said movable member includes a pivotal panel of said container.

3

Assignees

• Goodrich David Paul

Inventors

• Goodrich David Paul

Classifications

• B65D5/42

  Details of containers or of foldable or erectable container blanks · CPC title

• B31D5/0065

  including slitting and expanding flat material · CPC title

• B31B50/26

  Folding sheets, blanks or webs · CPC title

• B31D2205/007

  Delivering · CPC title

• B65D85/672 Primary

  on cores · CPC title