Reduced footprint dunnage conversion system and method
View Patent ↗A method of converting a supply of sheet stock into a relatively less dense dunnage product, including the following steps of (i) providing a stack of fan-folded sheet material having fold lines parallel to a width dimension; and (ii) drawing sheet stock material from the stack in a direction parallel to the width dimension.
1. An apparatus for converting a supply of sheet stock material into a relatively less dense dunnage product, the supply including a stack of fan-folded sheet stock material having a width dimension, and the sheet stock material having fold lines arranged parallel to the width dimension; the apparatus comprising:
a housing enclosing a feed mechanism configured to draw fan-folded sheet stock material in a downstream direction parallel to the width dimension, and
a support located upstream of the housing, the support having a first side and a second side extending upright from a bottom surface of the support, and a third side perpendicular to the bottom surface, wherein the first, second, and third sides define a rectangular prism volume sized and configured to receive and support the stack with the width dimension aligned parallel with the downstream direction;
wherein the bottom surface of the support includes three adjacent portions extending in the downstream direction, the three adjacent portions including laterally-spaced portions configured to support lateral edges of the stack, and an elevated center portion between the laterally-spaced portions, the elevated center portion being configured to support a central portion of the stack at an elevation above the laterally-spaced portions.
2. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , where the feed mechanism includes a pair of rotating members to draw sheet stock material from the support and advance the sheet stock material in the downstream direction.
3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , where the feed mechanism includes an upstream pair of rotating members to draw sheet stock material from the support and advance the sheet stock material in a downstream direction to a downstream pair of rotating members that interlock overlapping layers of sheet stock material as the sheet stock material passes between the downstream rotating members.
4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3 , where the upstream rotating members feed sheet material at a faster rate than the downstream rotating members feed sheet stock material to cause sheet stock material to crumple between the upstream and downstream rotating members.
5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , where the feed mechanism includes a tunnel that defines a path for the sheet stock material through the housing, the tunnel bounding at least two sides of the path.
6. An apparatus as set forth in claim 5 , where the tunnel has a rectangular cross-section.
7. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , where the elevated center portion is formed by a plurality of rollers whose upper extents extend progressively further above a plane including the laterally-spaced portions the nearer the roller is to a downstream end of the support.
8. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , where the bottom surface of the support is inclined at an angle relative to a horizontal plane, each laterally-spaced portion having a downstream end opposite an upstream end, the downstream ends of the laterally-spaced portions and the elevated central portion of the support being higher than the upstream ends of the laterally-spaced portions.
9. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , where the bottom surface of the support is movable and upwardly biased to maintain an upper surface of the stack at a relatively constant elevation.
10. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , comprising fold-forming control features integrated into the support, the fold-forming control features controlling movement in the sheet stock material being drawn from the support.
11. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 , comprising a vertically-adjustable member between the support and the feed mechanism that defines an edge of a passage from the support to the feed mechanism.
12. A method of converting a supply of sheet stock into a relatively less dense dunnage product, comprising the following steps:
(i) providing a stack of fan-folded sheet stock material having fold lines parallel to a width dimension; and
(ii) drawing sheet stock material from the stack in a direction parallel to the width dimension.
13. A method as set forth in claim 12 , where the drawing step is accomplished by one or more rotating members in a conversion machine.
14. A method as set forth in claim 13 , where the drawing step includes adjusting a position of one or more pinch rollers adjacent the stack of sheet stock material to vary an amount of sheet stock material passed from the stack to the rotating members.
15. A method as set forth in claim 12 , where the drawing step includes drawing sheet stock material from a bottom of the stack.
16. A method as set forth in claim 12 , further comprising a step of connecting overlapping layers of sheet stock material.
17. A method as set forth in claim 12 , where the providing step includes supporting laterally-spaced portions of the sheet stock material in a plane below an adjacent central portion of the sheet stock material between the laterally-spaced portions.
18. A method as set forth in claim 17 , where the supporting step includes progressively supporting the central portion of the sheet stock material at positions further above the plane of the laterally-spaced portions at positions closer to a downstream end of the support.
19. A method as set forth in claim 17 , where the supporting step includes supporting the sheet stock material at an angle inclined relative to a horizontal plane, with a downstream end of the stack being higher than an upstream end opposite the downstream end.
20. A method as set forth in claim 12 , where the drawing step includes drawing sheet stock material from a top of the stack.