Foam plastic baffle for fluid containers

A method for filling a vehicle-type container, which is used for containing and storing a quantity of fluid within a vehicle, with a cellular plastic filler formed of a resilient, plastic material having interconnected cells, which also open to the exterior surfaces of the filler, and whose solid volume is a minor portio of the overall volume of the uncompressed material, that is, including the cells, and which plastic material is substantially inert to the fluid, comprising:

• tightly compressing pieces of said filler plastic material into an elongated, sausage-like strip and surrounding the compressed strip with a flexible, thin casing which holds the strip in compressed shape, and with the casing being formed of a thin sheet of a plastic material which is characterized by being substantially dissolvable by said fluid;
• inserting a predetermined length section of said strip into the container, with the length of the section corresponding to the desired volume of uncompressed filler needed for the particular container into which the strip is inserted;
• placing fluid in the container and substantially closing the container so that the fluid dissolves the casing sufficiently to free the compressed filler material so that it expands within and substantially fills the container.

A baffling filler for a container for holding liquids, comprising:

• said filler being formed of resilient, cellular plastic material which is characterized by being resiliently compressible and expandable, and having interconnected cells which also open to the exterior of the material, and with the volume of the solid plastic defining the cells being a minor portion of the overall volume of the material;
• said material being tightly compressed and being substantially encased within a thin casing formed of a sheet of material which is substantially soluble in said liquid;
• and said compressed casing-surrounded material being insertable in a container and being resiliently expandable, to substantially fill the container, when the casing is dissolved by the liquid to permit the compressed filler material to resiliently expand within the container.