Moisture barrier Q pack shipping box

Abstract

In order to ship items such as IC computer chips and the like type of electronic parts, a shipping container includes a pump which can pump air from the interior of the container into bladder-like air chambers which are disposed along the interior walls of the container and which can be pressurized to form insulating barriers about the container contents to protect them from external shock. Once the lid of the container is closed, the pump, which is formed into part of the container, can be operated to transfer the air from the interior of the container into the bladder-like air chambers which are fluidly interconnected. This reduces the pressure in the container to a sub-atmospheric level and raises the pressure in the air chambers to a level in excess of atmospheric. The internal sub-atmospheric pressure of course holds the lid closed which can be additionally sealed with a suitable adhesive tape/gasket materials. By flushing the interior of the container and/or the bladder-like air chambers, with clean dry air before closure of the container, it is possible to provide the container with its own on-board supply of clean dry air which can be used to relieve the sub-atmospheric pressure via the operation of a relief valve which is incorporated into the pump arrangement.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.