Loose fill packing material and apparatus for manufacturing same

Abstract

This invention forms a loose fill packing material comprising clean, elongated strips of paper formed from corrugated cardboard having internal fluting formatted to expand in height, improving the ability of the strips to lattice. A vertical slitter divides cardboard into blanks of a predetermined width generally with the grain of corrugation. The blanks are fed into a shredding device that cuts the blanks with a scissor motion across the width of the blank. The strips pass onto a cleated perforated conveyor and into an enclosed suction housing. Inside the suction housing is a vortex box enhancing air flow for cleaning the strips. Strips are centered on the conveyor. The strips move from the conveyor to an angled, vibrating sifter plate into a collector. Strips are sprayed with a liquid material having microbicidal, sanitizing, insect repellant, disinfectant and/or deodorizing properties.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.