Shipping package system for fragile panels
A product vulnerable to damage during shipping, such as an automobile windshield glass, for example, is mounted on a support pad and fixed onto the pad by wrapping a stretch wrapping film around the combination of the pad and glass. The borders of the pad extend beyond the borders of the glass so the package containing the glass can be stood on edge, but the edge of the glass is spaced away from the surface on which the package is stood. Thus the glass, secured to the pad, is suspended away from that surface. Multiple packages can be packed into a shipping container and the loaded container can be lifted and transported by a lift truck with lifting forks received in passageways formed in the container by notches in the bottom edges of the support pads. The pads and containers are made of die-cut. corrugated fiberboard material although other material might also be used in the practice of the invention.
The present invention relates generally to packaging for shipment of products whose configurations have length and width that are large relative to depth, and more particularly to packaging such products which are made of materials or have construction features which are easy to break or otherwise damage in shipping operations.
Current bulk packaging of windshields for the automotive after-market trade is predominantly configured to hold twenty-five or more windshields. Such packaging involves construction of wooden frame with corrugated fiberboard attached around the framing, along with several other packaging components to protect various fragile contact points of the individual windshields. A considerable amount of labor is required to configure the packaging for use by the manufacturer of the glass. The containers are required to be “pre-erected” and they present difficulties in the shipping and storage of empty containers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONOne aspect of the invention provides means and method for protection of products individually during storage and shipment.
Another aspect is facilitating the standing of individual product containing packages on edge on a floor, a table, a “bulk pack” container bottom, or other supporting surface, but suspending the product spaced away from the supporting surface.
Another aspect of the invention provides a support pad shaped to facilitate placement of the product to be shipped, within the perimeter of the pad, and stretch wraps the product onto the pad with commercially available stretch film using the stretch and holding properties of the film and thereby secures the product in place on the pad within the perimeter of the pad.
Another aspect of the invention is that a single wrapped-product package can be placed in a container and shipped to a customer.
Another aspect is packaging a product so that a number of packages of individual products can be “collated” into a shipping container.
Another aspect of the invention is that shipping containers filled with a number of packages of individual products can be provided, using cohesive properties of stretch wrap film to add stability to such “bulk packs” without separators between the individual packages.
Another aspect of the invention is that a support pad and shipping container can be made of materials “Knocked down flat”, and stored flat until the product to be shipped is manufactured and ready to pack out. At that time the pad and container materials can be erected for packaging the product.
Another aspect of the invention is provision of holes in shipping containers for entry of forks of lift trucks enabling the lifting, transportation and storage of loaded containers without separate pallets.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
Referring now to
A curved windshield 18 is mounted to the pad 11 and is secured to the pad by film stretch wrapped around the pad and the windshield as at 19. the wrapping material can be wrapped by machine or by hand, and the pattern can be random as long as there is control of location of the windshield on the pad so that the entire perimeter 21 of the windshield is well within the bottom and top edges 13 and 17 of the pad and the side edges 22 and 23 of the pad. The film wrapping through the notches and around the edge of the windshield at the top and around the tabs at the bottom is important. It is preferable that the wrapping from top to bottom is performed across the majority of the width of the windshield. While the wrapping from top to bottom notches can be parallel on either the front as shown in
Referring now to
Referring now to
When the windshield has been positioned such that it matches the pattern of lines, the stretch wrap film 44 is stretch wrapped around the pad and the windshield, with the film being wrapped through notches 28 at the top and around and covering the tabs 33 and 34 at the bottom, securely locating the windshield on the pad. Stretch wrap is continued as needed or desired around the front of the windshield and the back of the pad. When the amount of stretch wrapping ahs been completed to provide the degree of attachment and protection desired, the wrap film can be cut, and the end portion of the film adhered to the portion already wrapped, using the benefit of the cohesive nature of the wrapping film. If desired, the amount of warp shown on the front of the windshield at
Referring now to
Prior to closing the shipper, it is filled with window packages such as described above with reference to
Bottom notches 14 were mentioned with reference to the embodiment of
Packaging according to the present invention may be done by performing the stretch wrapping by hand. But various stretch wrapping machines are known. Examples are referenced in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,564,532 and 6,550,222, and the references cited therein. Another is the “Yellow Jacket 110” which is a horizontal stretch wrapping machine by Wiley Metal, of Marion Ind., U.S.A. So the product and pad can be stretch wrapped by machine, if desired.
The packaging of automotive window products individually and “collating” a number of the packages into a shipping container can have real advantages over conventional practices. It allows safer and easier handling of individual glass components, as the stretch wrapping can be extensive enough, if desired, to cover the entire perimeter of the glass and thereby preclude encounter of any edge of glass by a worker while loading the packages into a shipping container. Additionally, the cohesive properties of the stretch wrap film, as one package nests against another, can lend stability to the bulk packs of multiple packages, by virtually eliminating the tendency of windshields to “shingle”, i.e. slide out of the bottom of current conventional packaging. It can also reduce the incidence of damage in transit.
In the foregoing description, the illustrated embodiments show forwardly and upwardly turned bottom tabs on the pad. The weight and application of the product to the pad can have a bearing on whether it is desirable or necessary to sue tabs at the bottom or at the top (at the location of the notches 28) or both bottom and top, or not at all. If the glass or other product to be suspended to a pad according to the invention is relatively flat, it may be desirable to have notches in the side edges of the pad as well as in the top and bottom, and stretch wrap film around the product, not only in and through the notches in the top and bottom edges, but also in and through notches in the side edges.
It should be understood that the invention can be employed using suspension pad materials other than 350 pound, double walled corrugated fiberboard. It depends on the nature and weight of the product to be suspended. Since the space requirement of the suspended product is usually significantly greater in length and width, than in thickness, it is usually suspended such that the package will be packed on edge in the shipper. Therefore the fiberboard will be oriented with the flutes running vertically to provide the needed vertical column strength. It is conceivable that a pad with only one facing secured to the corrugated media, might be sufficient in some applications.
It is also conceivable that the pad be made of material other than corrugated fiberboard. A plastic or metal might also be used. Desirability and height of stacking containers in warehouses or vehicles, weight and nature of the packaged product, and other considerations could dictate features of pads made of other materials, to provide the necessary column or top-to-bottom stacking strength of the pad. For example, if plastic were used, it might be necessary to have a corrugated component. Another consideration is the condition of the surface of the pad material, which is contacted by the product to be suspended. It cannot be abrasive, if abrasion of the product portion in contact would be detrimental to the needed appearance or performance of the product. Otherwise, it may be necessary to stretch wrap portions of the pad before placing the product on the pad, so that the stretch wrap film will protect the pad-engaging portions of the product from abrasion, and then wrap the product onto the pad. Alternatively, a non-abrasive coating can be provided on the front of the pad where the product will contact it.
The thickness of the wrap film used depends on what is necessary to get a snug covering of the product on the pad. Where the product will be machine-wrapped onto the pad, film selected will be dictated largely by optimum effectiveness of performance of the wrapping machine.
If, instead of bulk shipping of ten to thirty or more packages, only one package is to be shipped, a simple container can be employed. If the product is curved, as for a windshield or backlight (back window), the corners may appear to be more vulnerable than inboard portions of the window. Dunnage can be placed in the container if desired so that the corners of the pad remain properly situated in the corners of the container. the corners of the glass, being well inboard from the corners of the container, are well protected. If desired, instead of adding dunnage, pad extension panels or “wings” 26W (
In the description above, the packaged product has been made of glass. The invention is useful for the packaging and shipping of a variety of other products, where the product is three dimensional but the x-axis and y-axis dimensions are significantly greater than the z-axis dimension. Frequently, for various reasons such as, for example, convenience is removal of a certain package from a group, or to avoid warp, it is preferred to pack, store and ship the products oriented on an edge, like books in a bookcase. In the above examples, the side-to-side (x-axis) and top-to-bottom (y-axis) dimensions are significantly greater for the curved windshield than is the maximum dimension on the front-to-back (z-axis) i.e. the distance between imaginary parallel planes, one of which touches the most forward point of the glass and the other of which touches the most backward point of the glass.
Another product having such high and wide relative to front-to-rear dimensional relationship is shown in
The pad for the package of
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected. It should be understood that while the use of the word preferable, preferably or preferred in the description above indicates that the feature so described may be more desirable, if nonetheless may not be necessary and embodiments lacking the same may be contemplated as within the scope of the invention, that scope being defined by the claims that follow.
Claims
1. Product packaging apparatus comprising:
- a support having a front face and a rear face and having top and bottom edges and left and right side edges;
- the support having at least one recess in the bottom edge and at least one recess in the top edge;
- the support having forwardly projecting extensions at said side edges thereby providing forwardly projecting panels for resistance of said support to bending about axes parallel to a line containing said bottom edge; and
- wrapping film received in said recesses and stretched around said support between said recesses for enveloping a portion of the product to be packaged and a portion of the support and for securing the product to the support in a position of the product within the perimeter of the support.
2. A package comprising:
- a product to be protected and having a perimeter edge and a front surface and having some exterior corners, the product having dimensions in x-axis and y-axis and z-axis directions, and the maximum x-axis dimension and the maximum y-axis dimension each being greater than the maximum z-axis dimension;
- a support pad having a perimeter edge, top and bottom edges and left and right side edges and having sufficient vertical column strength from top to bottom to support the product without deforming, the bottom edge of the support pad having at least two points on a straight line for stable mounting of the bottom edge of the support on the bottom of a shipping container, the support pad having means for locating the product on the front face of the support pad, the entire perimeter edge of the product lying within said means for locating and within the perimeter edge of the support pad, the support pad having edge extension panels projecting forward from the pad a distance at least as great as the maximum z-axis dimension of the product; and
- a stretch wrapping film wrapped around the support and the product and securing the product to the support pad to prevent movement of the product relative to the support pad.
Type: Application
Filed: May 28, 2004
Publication Date: Aug 25, 2005
Inventors: D. Christensen (Peru, IN), Mark Nelson (Marion, IN), Arch Carroll (Marion, IN)
Application Number: 10/856,407