Insulated shipping container, and method of making

A method of providing an improved insulating and cushioning shipping container, said method comprising steps of:

• providing an exterior box defining a floor wall and plural side walls cooperatively defining a cavity there within, and an opening to said cavity, and means for closing said opening;
• providing a plurality of insulating and cushioning pillow members;
• providing said plurality of pillow members each with an air permeable flexible casing having a length and width cooperatively defining a facial size for each pillow member, and a thickness, and within each of said plurality of pillow members providing a respective mass of insulating material of pellet/granular form;
• providing a wall structure including respective pairs of cooperating walls, each pair of cooperating walls receiving a respective one of said plurality of pillow members therebetween in facial contact, and utilizing said pairs of cooperating walls to applying a selected facial compressive stress and strain to said insulating material within said plurality of pillow members;
• and
• employing said selected compressive stress and strain to mutually interlock the mass of insulating material of pellet/granular form within said plurality of pillow members so as to inhibited migration of said insulating material during transit of said shipping container.

An improved insulating and cushioning shipping container, said container comprising:

• an exterior box defining a floor wall and plural side walls cooperatively defining a cavity there within, and an opening to said cavity, and means for closing said opening;
• a plurality of insulating and cushioning pillow members received into said cavity adjacent ones of said floor wall, said plural side walls, and adjacent to said means for closing said opening, said plural insulating and cushioning pillow members cooperatively defining a product sub-cavity within said cavity;
• each of said plurality of insulating and cushioning pillow members including an air permeable flexible casing having a length and width cooperatively defining a facial size for each respective pillow member, and a thickness, and
• within said cavity and about said product sub-cavity, a wall structure including respective pairs of cooperating walls, each pair of cooperating walls receiving a respective one of said plurality of pillow members therebetween in facial contact, and means for urging said pairs of walls toward one another sandwiching and capturing the respective one of said plural pillow members therebetween in facial compressive stress applied to said insulating material of pellet/granular form within said pillow members, whereby said insulating material is interlocked against movement, and
• each of said plurality of pillow members being configured to exceed by a selected amount at least one of the length and width dimensions of said pair of cooperating wall members receiving and sandwiching said respective pillow member therebetween;
• whereby adjacent ones of said plurality of pillow members forcefully engaged resiliently with one another in order to inhibit respiration of air into and out of said product cavity.