Abstract: In the preferred embodiments, a paper cushioning product is provided that includes: a sheet of slit paper having a slit pattern, the slit pattern upon expansion forming cells that include land regions that are inclined with respect to a plane of an unexpanded sheet; the sheet of slit paper being configured such that expanding the sheet of slit paper with said slits produces land regions that have angles of inclination from the plane of the unexpanded sheet, with said land regions alternating on a row by row basis in forward and backward directions such that the slit pattern upon expansion includes an alternating cell opening pattern wherein each row opens in an opposite direction from an adjacent row.

Abstract: An extensible slit sheet paper product is produced having an expandable slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion of the paper product. The paper product is an extensible paper having an extensibility in the range from 1-9% in the machine direction and 1-5% in the cross direction. The expansion produces an array of hexagonal cells. The expanded extensible paper can be used to wrap an object for shipping by wrapping and cushioning the object in the expanded slit sheet material. The extensible, expandable slit sheet paper can be wrapped around itself to produce a void fill product.

Abstract: An extensible slit sheet paper product is produced having an expandable slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion of the paper product. The paper product is an extensible paper having an extensibility in the range from 1-9% in the machine direction and 1-5% in the cross direction. The expansion produces an array of hexagonal cells. The expanded extensible paper can be used to wrap an object for shipping by wrapping and cushioning the object in the expanded slit sheet material. The extensible, expandable slit sheet paper can be wrapped around itself to produce a void fill product.

Abstract: An extensible slit sheet paper product is produced having an expandable slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion of the paper product. The paper product is an extensible paper having an extensibility in the range from 1-9% in the machine direction and 1-5% in the cross direction. The expansion produces an array of hexagonal cells. The expanded extensible paper can be used to wrap an object for shipping by wrapping and cushioning the object in the expanded slit sheet material. The extensible, expandable slit sheet paper can be wrapped around itself to produce a void fill product.

Abstract: An extensible slit sheet paper product is produced having an expandable slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion of the paper product. The paper product is an extensible paper having an extensibility in the range from 1-9% in the machine direction and 1-5% in the cross direction. The expansion produces an array of hexagonal cells. The expanded extensible paper can be used to wrap an object for shipping by wrapping and cushioning the object in the expanded slit sheet material. The extensible, expandable slit sheet paper can be wrapped around itself to produce a void fill product.

Abstract: In the preferred embodiments, a paper cushioning product is provided that includes: a sheet of slit paper having a slit pattern, the slit pattern upon expansion forming cells that include land regions that are inclined with respect to a plane of an unexpanded sheet; the sheet of slit paper being configured such that expanding the sheet of slit paper with said slits produces land regions that have angles of inclination from the plane of the unexpanded sheet, with said land regions alternating on a row by row basis in forward and backward directions such that the slit pattern upon expansion includes an alternating cell opening pattern wherein each row opens in an opposite direction from an adjacent row.

Abstract: An extensible slit sheet paper product is produced having an expandable slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion of the paper product. The paper product is an extensible paper having an extensibility in the range from 1-9% in the machine direction and 1-5% in the cross direction. The expansion produces an array of hexagonal cells. The expanded extensible paper can be used to wrap an object for shipping by wrapping and cushioning the object in the expanded slit sheet material. The extensible, expandable slit sheet paper can be wrapped around itself to produce a void fill product.

Abstract: In accordance with a broad embodiment of the invention, a novel paper product is comprised of two or more slit sheet packing material layers, each layer having its own slit pattern design to create interlocking layers of expansion sheet packaging materials. Each layer expands to create a three dimensional open netting of cells of hexagons, and the like, and is designed to have limited nesting with its opposing layer, thereby maximizing the thickness of the combined layers as compared to nested layers. Adjacent layers have differing slit patterns and can be expanded through expander type machinery such that the expansion rates of the differing slit pattern layers can be varied to deliver the same width of exiting expanded material from each layer. Preferably the differing slit patterns produce when expanded, inclined land area that have the same number of rows per inch, but different angles of inclination of the land areas, such that adjacent layers can interlock, that is, have a restricted amount of nesting.

Abstract: In accordance with a broad embodiment of the invention, a novel paper product is comprised of two or more slit sheet packing material layers, each layer having its own slit pattern design to create interlocking layers of expansion sheet packaging materials. Each layer expands to create a three dimensional open netting of cells of hexagons, and the like, and is designed to have limited nesting with its opposing layer, thereby maximizing the thickness of the combined layers as compared to nested layers. Adjacent layers have differing slit patterns and can be expanded through expander type machinery such that the expansion rates of the differing slit pattern layers can be varied to deliver the same width of exiting expanded material from each layer. Preferably the differing slit patterns produce when expanded, inclined land area that have the same number of rows per inch, but different angles of inclination of the land areas, such that adjacent layers can interlock, that is, have a restricted amount of nesting.

Abstract: The present invention provides a bulk bin having a greater column strength by being resistant to wall bulging. The bulk bin is formed mainly of multiple wall corrugated board with the corrugations in a first wall oriented vertically and the corrugations in a second wall oriented horizontally. The orthogonal orientation of the corrugations results in a greater wall stiffness and less wall bulging, maintaining the wall in linear vertical orientation and retaining maximum column strength.

Abstract: A foot for a corrugated shipping container, comprising a spiral of corrugated board legs having a fastener retaining plank inner core. An inner layer of an impact absorbing foam can be used within the spiral. The inner core can also be a corrugated inner layer sandwiched between a pair of plywood planks. A plurality of legs is secured to a base member, corrugated or wood, by a plurality of fasteners, with each leg having a plurality of feet. The fasteners, such as nails, extend through the corrugated layers to the plank layer. A plywood plank can be placed between the base member and each of the legs. The feet can also be manufactured from a composite having a plurality of layers, including one or more planks, corrugated blank and an impact absorbing foam inner core. The base can be used to retain a corrugated shipping container.

Abstract: The present invention provides a cargo shipping crate having a base, four sides and a top cap, a first panel and a second panel. The first panel and the second panel form four sides of the crate. Each panel has a first, a second and a third subpanel. The first subpanel of the first panel is positioned to overlap the third subpanel of the second panel, and the second subpanel of the first and the second panel have substantially identical dimensions. The first subpanel of the first and the second panel have substantially identical dimensions, and the third subpanel of the first and the second panel have substantially identical dimensions. The top cap has four flaps, each of the four flaps are rotatable to a position superjacent a subpanel.

Abstract: A novel packaging wrap is used in cushioning a product for shipment and is formed from the combination of a layer of pleated sheet material, the pleated material being creased at the apices of each pleat, and a planar layer of sheet material which is adhered to, and preferably, adhesively bonded, to a pleated sheet of kraft paper. The pleated sheet material has a weight in the range from about 30 to 50 pounds and the planar sheet material is preferably tissue paper having a weight of less than about 20 pounds. The pleated sheet material preferably, has a pleat angle in the range from above 45 degrees to below 85 degrees, and most preferably the pleats have an angle of about 50 to 65 degrees. Preferably, the pleats have a height in the range from about 3 sixteenths of an inch to about one half inch, in terms of distance between top planar sheet and bottom planar sheet.

Abstract: The present invention provides a cargo shipping crate having a base, four sides and a top cap, a first panel and a second panel. The first panel and the second panel form four sides of the crate. Each panel has a first, a second and a third subpanel. The first subpanel of the first panel is positioned to overlap the third subpanel of the second panel, and the second subpanel of the first and the second panel have substantially identical dimensions. The first subpanel of the first and the second panel have substantially identical dimensions, and the third subpanel of the first and the second panel have substantially identical dimensions. The top cap has four flaps, each of the four flaps are rotatable to a position superjacent a subpanel.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for pleating paper. The apparatus includes a pair of pleating rollers, means to rotate one of said pleating rollers, a first pair of support rollers in supporting contact with a first of said pair of pleating rollers and a second pair of support rollers in supporting contact with a second of said pair of pleating rollers. Each of said pleating rollers has a plurality of radially reduced sections. An elongated pleating finger member is positioned in at least a plurality of radially reduced sections, and means are provided to movably support each of said elongated pleating finger members.

Abstract: A novel packaging wrap is used in cushioning a product for shipment and is formed from the combination of a layer of pleated sheet material, the pleated material being creased at the apices of each pleat, and a planar layer of sheet material which is adhered to, and preferably, adhesively bonded, to a pleated sheet of kraft paper. The pleated sheet material has a weight in the range from about 30 to 50 pounds and the planar sheet material is preferably tissue paper having a weight of less than about 20 pounds. The pleated sheet material preferably, has a pleat angle in the range from above 45 degrees to below 85 degrees, and most preferably the pleats have an angle of about 50 to 65 degrees. Preferably, the pleats have a height in the range from about 3 sixteenths of an inch to about one half inch, in terms of distance between top planar sheet and bottom planar sheet.

Abstract: An expanded paper cylinder formed from a spiral is disclosed as a void fill. A delivery system is provided for manual and automatic delivery of the expanded paper from a continuous, unextended wound roll of an extendible sheet material. The cushioning material formed by the expander can be used as a expanded sheet around an article or as void fill, or can be formed into spiral cylinders for use as void fill. The manual dispensing system includes a support member supporting a rotatable feed roll. A restraining restraining device slows the free delivery of the wound feed roll of unextended sheet material, so that the sheet material expands while it is being drawn, under tension from the feed roll. An automatic system uses expander rollers to expand the slit paper and can be coordinated with apparatus which cuts and forms the spiral cylinders.

Abstract: The invention relates to a composite cushioning system for protecting articles, packaged within a box, from damage while being transported in the box. The composite structure includes an expansion sheet of expanded slit sheet, in combination with a separator sheet. The expanded sheet has a slit pattern which produces open cells, preferably of a hexagonal configuration. The separator sheet precludes the nesting of legs and lands of the slit sheet with other slit sheet of the same slit pattern. A variety of combinations of separator sheets and expansion sheets can be used, such as a pair of expansion sheets with a separator sheet between the pair of expansion sheets, or two such pairs of expansion sheets, with or without a separator sheet between the pairs. The separator sheet can be unslit, or tear-perforated or slit to accommodate expansion. Where the separator sheet is slit, the slits preferably produce the same amount of expansion as produced in the expansion sheets.

Abstract: A filling material for use in filling hollow spaces in packaging or the like comprising one or more pieces of flexible paper material. The paper material has a plurality of individual slits formed in parallel spaced rows extending transversely from one end of the paper material to the opposing end of the paper material. The slits in adjacent alternate rows are positioned adjacent the interval space between adjacent slits in the adjacent parallel row of slits. The flexible paper material is expandable by extending the opposing ends of the paper material which are parallel to the rows of slits whereby the slits form an array of openings, each opening being generally hexagonal in shape and of the same size. The length and width of the flexible filling paper material can be varied. The construction of the flexible paper filling material provides it to be easily stored in the non-expandable position and easily expanded for use in filling hollow spaces in packaging.

Abstract: An expanded cushioning material for packing or packaging is in the form of a filled cylinder. The cylinder is formed from a spiral of an essentially flexible, extended sheet material. The flexible material, in its unexpanded form, has a plurality of spaced parallel rows of individual slits extending transversely from one end of the sheet material to the opposing end of the sheet material. Each of the rows have interval spaces between consecutive slits. The slits in each row are positioned adjacent the interval space between consecutive slits in the adjacent parallel row of slits. The sheet is expanded by extending the sheet in the direction normal to the parallel to the rows of slits to form an array of openings, generally similar in shape and size. The cells include inclined land areas and legs. The land areas of adjacent spiral layers are nested and interlocked and fill the interior of the cylinder.