Process of inverting an article or air bag

Abstract

A method and apparatus for inverting and flattening an air bag including an inverter for inverting the air bag and an actuator for actuating the air bag to cause it to flatten. The inverter includes a plunger moveable in a vertical direction through an aperture in a conveyor table to cause a face panel of the air bag to pass through an aperture formed in a main panel of the air bag. The actuator includes a spin disk for causing an inertial force to be applied to the air bag whereby outer portions of the air bag are caused to move radially outwardly relative to a central gripped portion. After the air bag is flattened, it is dropped down onto belts running along the conveyor table and the belts are actuated to convey the bag out of the apparatus. In addition, a load table is provided for automatically moving air bags into alignment with the inverter in preparation for an inversion and flattening cycle.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.