Composite air and foam protective packaging

1. A composite air and foam protective packaging product comprising:

a string of interconnected packaging cushions,

each said packaging cushion comprising:

in cross-section, four plies of plastic film,

foam between a first ply and a second ply of said four plies of plastic film,

air between said second ply and a third ply of said four plies of plastic film,

foam between said third ply and a fourth ply of said four plies of plastic film,

said first, second, third, and fourth plies being sealed to one another substantially contemporaneously during manufacture of said packaging cushion so as to contain said foam between said first and second plies and between said third and fourth plies while containing said air between said second and third plies, thereby defining an air cushion having an air chamber laminated with a foam cushion on each side of said air cushion, and

each said packaging cushion has a longitudinally extending heat seal along a lateral side edge thereof and a pair of transversely extending heat seals thereacross defining opposite end edges thereof.

2. The protective packaging product of claim 1 ,

said first and fourth plies of plastic film are formed by folding a first sheet of plastic film in half along a longitudinal fold line,

said second and third plies of plastic film are formed by folding a second sheet of plastic film in half along a longitudinal fold line.

3. The protective packaging product of claim 2 ,

each of said first and second sheets of plastic film has a pair of free edges,

said longitudinally extending heat seal sealing said pairs of free edges together.

4. A method of forming a composite air and foam protective packaging product comprising a string of interconnected packaging cushions, the method comprising:

providing four plies of plastic film,

injecting foam between a first ply and a second ply of the four plies of plastic film,

injecting air between the second ply and a third ply of the four plies of plastic film,

injecting foam between the third ply and a fourth ply of the four plies of film, and

sealing the first, second, third, and fourth plies to one another substantially contemporaneously so as to contain the foam between the first and second plies and between the third and fourth plies while containing the air between the second and third plies, thereby defining an air cushion having an air chamber laminated with a foam cushion on each side of the air cushion,

wherein the step of sealing the first, second, third, and fourth plies to one another comprises forming a longitudinally extending heat seal along a lateral side edge of the packaging cushion and forming a pair of transversely extending heat seals across the packaging cushion defining opposite end edges thereof.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of:

forming the first and fourth plies of plastic film by folding a first sheet of plastic film in half along a longitudinal fold line, and

forming the second and third plies of plastic film by folding a second sheet of plastic film in half along a longitudinal fold line.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein each of the first and second sheets of plastic film has a pair of free edges, the method further comprising the steps of:

forming the longitudinally extending heat seal along the lateral side edge of the packaging cushion opposite the fold lines thereby sealing the pairs of free edges together.