# US 10,766,690 B2 · Shipping and dispensing box for slit sheet material > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,766,690 B2 - Document ID: US10766690B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/159,186 - Filed: 2018-10-12 - Published: 2019-04-18 - Granted: 2020-09-08 - Earliest claimed: 2017-10-12 - Applicants: David Paul Goodrich - Inventors: David Paul Goodrich - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10766690B2 ## CPC - B65D 85/672: on cores - B31B 50/26: Folding sheets, blanks or webs - B31D 5/0065: {including slitting and expanding flat material} - B65D 5/42: Details of containers or of foldable or erectable container blanks - B65D 83/0805: {through an aperture in a wall} - B65D 83/0835: {the articles being pulled out of the container} - B65H 23/06: by retarding devices, e.g. acting on web-roll spindle - B31D 2205/007: Delivering - B65D: CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES - B31B: MAKING CONTAINERS OF PAPER, CARDBOARD OR MATERIAL WORKED IN A MANNER ANALOGOUS TO PAPER (making wound articles, e.g. wound tubes, B31C; combined making and filling B65B) - B31D: MAKING ARTICLES OF PAPER, CARDBOARD OR MATERIAL WORKED IN A MANNER ANALOGOUS TO PAPER, NOT PROVIDED FOR IN SUBCLASSES B31B OR B31C (manufacture by dry processes of articles made from particles or fibres consisting of wood or other lignocellulosic or like organic material B27N; making layered products not composed wholly of paper or cardboard B32B; making articles from cellulosic fibrous suspensions, e.g. wood pulp, D21J) - B65H: HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES ## Abstract Exemplary embodiments pertain to a combined shipping and expansion device for shipping a roll of unexpanded slit sheet material and for expanding the slit sheet material. In some examples, the device includes: a container made with recyclable paper or board; a roll of slit sheet material wound around a core member and positioned within the container; the roll of slit sheet material having a slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion; the core member being made with recyclable paper or board and having a length greater than a width of the roll of slit sheet wound around the core member and having protrusions that extend beyond each side of the roll of slit sheet material; a plurality of yoke members within the container, including at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a first of the protrusions and at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a second of the protrusions; and the container having a dispensing opening through which the slit sheet material wound around the core member can be extended and pulled, causing the core member to rotate relative to the yoke members via rotation of the roll of slit sheet material. The combined shipping and expansion device is made from substantially entirely recyclable paper or board materials, whereby after complete dispensing of the slit sheet material from the shipping and expansion device, the combined shipping and expansion device can be recycled in a paper recycling facility. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A combined shipping and expansion device for shipping a roll of unexpanded slit sheet material and for expanding the slit sheet material, comprising: a) a container having: a first pair of side wall members; a second pair of side wall members; b) a roll of slit sheet material wound around a core member and positioned within said container; c) said roll of slit sheet material having a slit pattern that forms open cells upon expansion; d) said core member having a length greater than a width of said roll of slit sheet wound around the core member and having protrusions that extend beyond each side of said roll of slit sheet material; e) a plurality of yoke members within said container, including at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a first of said protrusions and at least one yoke member that rotatably receives a second of said protrusions; and f) a friction member arranged to apply frictional pressure against at least one of said protrusions for regulating force required to rotate said roll with respect to said yoke members during unwinding of said roll of slit sheet material from said core member. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 1, wherein said core member is a hollow paper tube and said container is formed from corrugated board. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 1, wherein said yoke members each have an arcuate opening with a radius of curvature that is substantially equal to a radius of the core member. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 1, wherein said at least one yoke member that rotatably receives the first of the protrusions and said at least one yoke member that rotatably receives the second of the protrusions each include two adjacent yoke members for increased support of each of said protrusions. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 4, wherein said adjacent yoke members are separate yoke panels that are placed adjacent one another with a first of said adjacent yoke panels folded downward over a second of said adjacent yoke panels. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 5, wherein said first of said adjacent yoke panels includes an extension tab that is received within a receiving slot formed in or proximate a bottom panel of the container, locking said first of said adjacent yoke panels folded downward over the second of said adjacent yoke panels. ### Claim 7 (depends on 3) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 3, including each of said yoke members being formed on respective contiguous panels connected to said first pair of panels, each of said contiguous panels including a respective one of said arcuate openings, and each of said contiguous panels being folded to a position overlying a respective panel of said first pair of panels such that its respective said arcuate opening is arranged to receive a respective one of said protrusions of the core member. ### Claim 8 (depends on 3) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 3, wherein said roll of slit sheet material is positioning within said combined shipping and expansion device and with each of said cylinder protrusions in contact with a respective one of said arcuate openings. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 1, wherein a first of said second pair of side wall members has an elongated tear-away region extending from a position proximate a first of said second pair of side wall members to a position proximate a second of said second pair of side wall members. ### Claim 10 (depends on 3) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 3, further including a top cover panel of the container being movably mounted above said roll of slit sheet material within said container and being movable to apply pressure to said friction member, and releasable affixing means for releasably affixing said top cover panel with respect to said friction member to regulate the force required to rotate said roll with respect to said yoke members during unwinding of said roll of slit sheet material from said core member. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 10, wherein said releasable affixing means includes a releasable attachment mechanism that includes at a portion substantially directly above the core. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 11, wherein said releasable affixing means includes two releasable attachment mechanisms located proximate opposite sides of said container. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 10, wherein said friction member is a tensioning panel having an arcuate surface configured to be pressed against an upper surface of said core. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 13, wherein said tensioning panel has a through-hole opening that receives one of said protrusions of said core, and wherein said through-hole opening completely surrounds a perimeter of said core such as to be retained by said core. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 13, wherein said tensioning panel has an elongated slot that extends through a side edge of said tensioning panel such that said tensioning panel is laterally slidable with respect to a protrusion of the core with the protrusion received within said elongated slot. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 10, wherein said releasable affixing means is a releasable adhesive. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 10, wherein said releasable affixing means is hook and loop fasteners. ### Claim 18 (depends on 10) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 10, wherein said friction member arranged to apply frictional pressure against at least one of said protrusions includes a tensioning member configured to slidingly move within said container, said tensioning member having an arcuate surface configured to be positioned against said at least one of said protrusions for applying pressure against said at least one of said protrusions. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 18, wherein said top cover panel is variably movable against a pressing surface of said tensioning member that is opposite to said arcuate surface, whereby said top cover can be moved to increase a force against said pressing surface and increase the pressure applied by said arcuate surface against said at least one of said protrusions. ### Claim 20 (depends on 9) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 9, wherein said container has a top cover panel that has at least one depending tab member positioned to contact said pressing surface of said tensioning member when said top cover panel is in a closed position. ### Claim 21 (depends on 19) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 19, further including said tensioning device having a height that is less than an interior height of said container such that said tensioning device applies pressure to said at least one of said protrusions without contacting a bottom panel of said container. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 1, further comprising at least one removable spacer, said at least one removable spacer being positioned between ends of said roll of slit material and said first pair of panels of said container to stabilize the roll of slit material during shipping of said combined shipping and expansion device. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 22, said at least one removable spacer includes an elongated slot that extends from an open first end to an arcuate shaped end, thereby forming an elongated channel having an arcuate end, said arcuate end being positioned around said at least one of said protrusions. ### Claim 24 (depends on 22) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 22, wherein said at least one spacer includes a packing member having downwardly extending panels placed at each end of said roll. ### Claim 25 (depends on 22) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 22, wherein said at least one spacer includes two spacers, with a respective one of said spacers placed at each end of said roll. ### Claim 26 (depends on 1) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 1, further including said slit sheet material being a slit sheet paper that is extensible and having an extensible range from 1-9% in a machine direction and 1-5% in a cross direction. ### Claim 27 (depends on 26) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 26, wherein said extensible paper has an extensible range from 1-6% in the machine direction and 1-4% in the cross direction. ### Claim 28 (depends on 27) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 27, wherein said extensible paper has an extensible range from 1-4% in the machine direction and 1-3% in the cross direction. ### Claim 29 (depends on 26) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 26, wherein said slit sheet is expandable by applying an expansion force in a range from 0.15 to 0.22 pounds per inch, to form at least one expanded sheet having an array of hexagonal cells. ### Claim 30 (depends on 26) The combined shipping and expansion device of claim 26, wherein the slit sheet paper is a paper having a weight in a range from about 30 to 40 pounds per 3,000 square feet. ### Claim 31 (depends on 1) A method of using the combined shipping and expansion device of claim 1, including: a) shipping the combined shipping and expansion device to a location of a user; b) at the location of the user, manually pulling the slit sheet material outward through a dispensing opening and expanding the slit sheet material. ### Claim 32 (depends on 31) The method of claim 31, further including after fully dispensing the slit sheet material from the container delivering the combined shipping and expansion device to a paper recycling facility. ### Claim 33 (depends on 31) The method of claim 31, further including after fully dispensing the slit sheet material from the container disposing of the combined shipping and expansion device, whereby said combined shipping and expansion device is used as a single-use shipping and expansion device. ### Claim 34 (depends on 33) The method of claim 33, wherein said disposing of the combined shipping and expansion device Includes delivering the combined shipping and expansion device to a paper recycling facility for recycling. ### Claim 35 (depends on 33) The method of claim 33, further including providing said container with an elongated tear-away region that covers said dispensing opening during said shipping, and further including removing said tear-away region prior to said manually pulling and expanding. ### Claim 36 (depends on 31) The method of claim 31, further including applying pressure on said core member during said manually pulling and expanding with friction member frictionally contacting at least one of said protrusions of said core member. ### Claim 37 (depends on 36) The method of claim 36, further including adjustably increasing pressure upon said core member via the friction member by adjustably positioning of an adjustable panel of said container. ### Claim 38 (depends on 37) The method of claim 37, wherein said adjustable panel of said container is a cover of the container and adjustably positioning said cover using a releasable affixing means. ### Claim 39 (depends on 38) The method of claim 38, wherein said releasable affixing means is a releasable adhesive. ### Claim 40 (depends on 38) The method claim 38, wherein said releasable affixing means is hook and loop fasteners. ### Claim 41 (depends on 31) The method of claim 31, further including stabilizing the roll of slit material during said shipping with respect to the core member with at least one spacer located proximate opposite ends of said roll of slit material, and removing said at least one spacer prior to said manually pulling and expanding. ### Claim 42 (depends on 31) The method of claim 31, including providing said slit sheet material as a slit sheet paper that is an extensible paper having an extensible range from 1-9% in a machine direction and 1-5% in a cross direction. ### Claim 43 (depends on 42) The method of claim 42, wherein said extensible paper has an extensible range from 1-6% in the machine direction and 1-4% in the cross direction. ### Claim 44 (depends on 43) The method of claim 43, wherein said extensible paper has an extensible range from 1-4% in the machine direction and 1-3% in the cross direction. ### Claim 45 (depends on 42) The method of claim 42, further including providing said slit sheet paper as expandable by applying an expansion force in a range from 0.15 to 0.22 pounds per inch to form at least one expanded sheet having an array of hexagonal cells. ### Claim 46 (depends on 42) The method of claim 42, further including providing the slit sheet paper with a paper having a weight in a range from about 30 to 40 pounds per 3,000 square feet. ### Claim 47 (depends on 31) The method of claim 31, further including, after said manually pulling and expanding, a step of wrapping the expanded sheet material around an object. ### Claim 48 (depends on 47) The method of claim 47, wherein the step of wrapping includes wrapping multiple layers of expanded slit sheet material around the object. ### Claim 49 (depends on 48) The method of claim 48, further including placing the wrapped object in a separate shipping container.