IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,691,374
Granted Patent B2
US 11,691,374 · App. 16/749,875 · Granted Jul 4, 2023

Expansion system for improved handling and avoidance of damage and/or crushing of expandable slit sheet paper

Inventor: David Paul Goodrich (Sedona, AZ)
B31D1/0031B31D5/0065B31D2205/0017
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,691,374
App. No.
16/749,875
Granted
Jul 4, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

In some illustrative embodiments of the present invention, a novel expandable slit paper expansion device design is provided that, among other things, avoid complications of prior systems and eliminates the crushing effect of the rollers. Among other things, the preferred embodiments provide a unique structure that provides a novel “S” shape path of the expandable slit sheet paper, such that the expandable slit sheet paper is tortuously weaved between at least two expansion rollers without being compressed there-between, in a manner that the expandable slit sheet paper follows along surfaces of the expansion rollers without pinching or compression that occurs in the background art.

Claims (51)

1. A system having an expander for expanding and feeding an expandable slit sheet material with reduced damage to the expandable slit sheet material, comprising:

a) at least one first roller for feeding the expandable slit sheet material, said at least one first roller being adapted to rotate to move said expandable slit sheet material downstream at a first reduced rate;

b) at least two expansion rollers located downstream from the at least one first roller which receive the expandable slit sheet material from the at least one first roller, said at least two expansion rollers being adapted to rotate to move said expandable slit sheet material further downstream at a second rate that is faster than said first reduced rate, such as to cause said expandable slit sheet material to expand due to the second rate being faster than said first reduced rate;

c) said at least two expansion rollers including two adjacent expansion rollers arranged to adjacent one another, at least one of said two adjacent expansion rollers including a plurality of hooks distributed around a periphery thereof which are configured to engage slits of the expandable slit sheet material;

d) said two adjacent expansion rollers being separated from one another by a distance greater than a thickness of said expandable slit sheet material in an expanded state, such that the said two adjacent expansion rollers do not concurrently press against opposite sides of the expanded slit sheet material at a same longitudinal position of the expanded slit sheet material so that said two adjacent expansion rollers avoid damaging the expanded slit sheet material;

wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged, wherein a portion of the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around said two adjacent expansion rollers is S-shape, with the path curving in a first direction around a periphery of one of said two adjacent expansion rollers and then in a second direction that is away from said first direction around a periphery of the other of said two adjacent rollers;

wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged, wherein the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around each of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting each of said two adjacent expansion rollers around respective arcs of at least 40 degrees around each of said adjacent expansion rollers.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said system is an envelope manufacturing system.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein said system is configured to manufacture an envelope having the expanded slit sheet material in a peripheral wall of the envelope for protection of an item within the envelope.

4. A method of using the system of claim 3 , comprising:

manufacturing a plurality of envelopes each having expanded slit sheet material in a peripheral wall of the envelope for protection of items within the envelope.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein said system is configured to provide wrapping of an item within the expanded slit sheet material for protection of the item.

6. A method of using the system of claim 5 , comprising:

wrapping an item with the expanded slit sheet material for protection of the item.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein said system is a wrapping system.

8. The system of claim 1 , further including a controller for controlling the rotation of the at least two expansion rollers.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 140% of said thickness.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 160% of said thickness.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 180% of said thickness.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 200% of said thickness.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 240% of said thickness.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 260% of said thickness.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 300% of said thickness.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around each of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting each of said two adjacent expansion rollers around respective arcs of at least 60 degrees around each of said adjacent expansion rollers.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around each of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting each of said two adjacent expansion rollers around respective arcs of at least 90 degrees around each of said adjacent expansion rollers.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing said one of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting said one of said two adjacent expansion rollers around an arc of between 180 degrees and 270 degrees.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing said other of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting said other of said two adjacent expansion rollers around an arc of between 180 degrees and 270 degrees.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around each of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting a most upstream one of said two adjacent expansion rollers around an arc of at least 40 degrees therearound.

21. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around each of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting a most upstream one of said two adjacent expansion rollers around an arc of at least 60 degrees therearound.

22. The system of claim 1 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around each of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting a most upstream one of said two adjacent expansion rollers around an arc of at least 90 degrees therearound.

23. The system of claim 1 , further including a controller configured to rotate said at least one first roller at said first reduced rate and to rotate said at least two expansion rollers at said second rate that is faster than said first reduced rate, causing said expandable slit sheet material to expand due to the second rate being faster than said first reduced rate.

24. The system of claim 1 , wherein said distance is greater than ½ inch.

25. The system of claim 1 , wherein said distance is greater than 4 inches.

26. The system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one of said two adjacent expansion rollers including a plurality of hooks distributed around a periphery thereof includes an upstream-most one of said two adjacent expansion rollers.

27. The system of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of hooks distributed around the periphery of the at least one of said two adjacent expansion rollers are configured to extend across an entire width of the expandable slit sheet material.

28. A system having an expander for expanding and feeding an expandable slit sheet material with reduced damage to the expandable slit sheet material, comprising:

a) at least one first roller for feeding the expandable slit sheet material, said at least one first roller being adapted to rotate to move said expandable slit sheet material downstream at a first reduced rate;

b) at least two expansion rollers located downstream from the at least one first roller which receive the expandable slit sheet material from the at least one first roller, said at least two expansion rollers being adapted to rotate to move said expandable slit sheet material further downstream at a second rate that is faster than said first reduced rate, to cause said expandable slit sheet material to expand due to the second rate being faster than said first reduced rate;

c) said at least two expansion rollers including two adjacent expansion rollers arranged to adjacent one another, at least one of said two adjacent expansion rollers including a plurality of hooks distributed around a periphery thereof which are configured to engage slits of the expandable slit sheet material;

d) said two adjacent expansion rollers being separated from one another by a distance greater than a thickness of said expandable slit sheet material in an expanded state, such that the said two adjacent expansion rollers do not concurrently press against opposite sides of the expanded slit sheet material at a same longitudinal position of the expanded slit sheet material, wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers avoid damaging the expanded slit sheet material;

wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that a portion of the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around said two adjacent expansion rollers is S-shape, with the path curving in a first direction around a periphery of one of said two adjacent expansion rollers and then in a second direction that is away from said first direction around a periphery of the other of said two adjacent rollers.

29. The system of claim 28 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around each of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting a most upstream one of said two adjacent expansion rollers around an arc of at least 40 degrees therearound.

30. The system of claim 28 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around each of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting a most upstream one of said two adjacent expansion rollers around an arc of at least 60 degrees therearound.

31. The system of claim 28 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material passing around each of said two adjacent expansion rollers includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting a most upstream one of said two adjacent expansion rollers around an arc of at least 90 degrees therearound.

32. The system of claim 28 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 140% of said thickness.

33. The system of claim 28 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 200% of said thickness.

34. The system of claim 28 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are separated from one another by a distance greater than said thickness of said expandable slit sheet material and up to 300% of said thickness.

35. The system of claim 28 , wherein said plurality of hooks distributed around the periphery of the at least one of said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged to extend across an entire width of the expandable slit sheet material.

36. The system of claim 35 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting the at least one of said two adjacent expansion rollers that includes said plurality of hooks around an arc of at least 40 degrees therearound.

37. The system of claim 35 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting the at least one of said two adjacent expansion rollers that includes said plurality of hooks around an arc of at least 60 degrees therearound.

38. The system of claim 35 , wherein said two adjacent expansion rollers are arranged such that the path of the expanded slit sheet material includes the expanded slit sheet material contacting the at least one of said two adjacent expansion rollers that includes said plurality of hooks around an arc of at least 90 degrees therearound.