Fluid filled unit formation machine and process

A fluid filled unit forming machine comprising;

• a) a rotatable wheel having a pair of closely spaced, relatively narrow, cylindrical, web engaging surfaces, the surfaces being axially spaced;
• b) coacting belts for pressing work pieces against the surfaces;
• c) heating and cooling shoes each having a spaced pair of arcuate, belt engaging surfaces, each of the shoe surfaces being in closely spaced concentric relationship with an associated belt and an associated wheel surface along a web feed path for effecting seals in multi-layered webs transported by the belts and the wheel while in engagement with each of the surfaces;
• d) an elongate inflation nozzle operably connected to the wheel and disposed between the surfaces and generally along an imaginary tangent to the surfaces at a location which is upstream from the shoes along the web feed path when the machine is in use;
• e) the nozzle having a cylindrical section and a generally conical tip, the section including opposed sets of axially spaced exit apertures for directing fluid under pressure into opposed and spaced pairs of pouches;
• and,
• f) the nozzle being sized for close insertion into a surrounding web.

A machine for the manufacture of fluid filled plastic units comprising;

• a) a frame;
• b) a shaft rotatably mounted on the frame;
• c) a drive operably connected to the shaft for causing the shaft to rotate about its axis;
• d) a drum mounted on the shaft for rotation with the shaft, the drum being in the form of a pair of spaced discs having perimetral, cylindrically contoured sealing surfaces for support and transport of a web being formed into dunnage units;
• e) a set of heat shoes having spaced arcuate surfaces complementally positioned adjacent associated ones of the disc surfaces;
• f) a set of cooling shoes having spaced arcuate surfaces complementally positioned adjacent associated ones of the disc surface at locations downstream from the heat shoes in the direction of dunnage formation rotation;
• g) a nozzle mounted generally tangentially of the drum with an elongate body intersected by an imaginary plane normal to said axis at a location midway between the discs;
• and,
• h) at least one of the cooling shoes including an air expansion chamber communicating through a shoe inlet when in use with a supply of air under pressure.