Abstract: Method and blank for producing safety bags comprising foldable enclosures expandable by means of a gas-tight channel network arranged along the surface of the enclosure to cause the enclosure to fill with ambient air in the expansion process. The enclosure is formed of sections joined along their peripheries whose shapes serve to define the final expanded three-dimensional shape of the enclosure. The channels lie at or near the jointure between sections. Various methods of forming and assembling the channels, sections and shells are set forth.

Abstract: A safety bag formed of a flexible foldable material occupying a small volume when collapsed and expandable to form a hollow enclosure substantially completely surrounding an interior space by means of interconnected channels arranged along the surface of the shell and adapted to receive and retain a pressurized gas. The interior is filled with ambient air during the expansion process and its volume is preferably at least five times and, in some cases, of the order of forty times greater than the total interior volume of the inflatable channels. Means, including the shell itself, serve to limit the extent of inflation of the channels.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for applying a coating composition onto a web, in which the coating composition is subjected to a first general smoothing during the passage of the web between relatively stiff surfaces of a primary coating member and the final smoothing of the coating is effected in a nip formed between relatively flexible flat surfaces of a secondary coating member. Said coating members being spaced from each other in the running direction of the web. The web is both stabilised and pre-coated by the primary coating member, whereas the coating is finalised by the secondary coating member.