Abstract: Sheets of laminated paper are stacked and made into air-tight flat bags with air inlets. After air is supplied into the bags, the air inlets are air-tightly closed to form shock absorbers 50 encapsulating the air. The laminated paper is made by stacking on a paper base a water-soluble polyvinyl alcoholic layer, having a saponification of 80 to 90 mol % and a degree of polymerization of 500 to 2500, to a total thickness of 90 .mu.m or less and a gas permeability of 800 thousand seconds per 100 ml or more. The air is introduced into flat bags 51 to 50 to 80% of maximum inflation to ensure their shock absorbing function. A package 100 is made by putting an appropriate number of discrete shock absorbers 50, or a continuous series of shock absorbers 50, in gaps between a casing 10 and the package content 70. The shock absorbers 50 need not be spread all over the entire surface of the package, so long as they are sufficient to provide the needed contact area to ensure a maximum static load of 0.07 kgf/cm.sup.

Abstract: Equipment which automatically manufactures cushioning material by filling air inside polyvinyl alcohol laminated paper and sealing the filled material into individual bags. The manufacturing equipment 1 is provided with a material roll 20 on which a sheet material of polyvinyl alcohol laminated paper is wound. The sheet material 10 is rolled out by a feeding roller 40 from the material roll 20, and the sheet material 10 in a known length, adjusted by a length adjusting device 50 having a roller 42 which goes up and down, is supplied intermittently to a bag forming device 100 located downstream thereof. The bag forming device 100 is provided with a pipe member 105 and a sailor 110, which is a guide plate to reverse the sheet material 10 and form it into a tubular shape, and the sheet material 10 is fed along the pipe member 105 after being formed into a tubular shape. Feed rollers 130 and auxiliary belt 120 are arranged at the periphery of the pipe member 105.