Packaging

Abstract

A packaging made from an air cushioning material with excellent cushioning characteristics, which provides enough cushioning to prevent the leakage of toner and so forth even when dropped from a considerable height. The packaging is constituted by a pair of bag materials forming a side wall component that surrounds the perimeter of a process cartridge, which is an object to be packaged, in frame-like fashion, and a holding pouch fused to these bag materials. Each bag material consists of a total of three layers: the top side comprising one layer of bag top and the bottom side comprising two layers of bag middle and bag bottom. The bag middle and bottom that make up the two layers of the bottom side have a relief shape in which the bag bottom inclines outward. The edges along one of the short sides of the holding pouch form an opening, while the edges in the longitudinal direction are fused at the boundary between the bag top and the bag middle of the side walls.

1 . Packaging, comprising: 
 a side wall component that surrounds the perimeter of an object in frame-like fashion; and    a pouch for holding the object placed inside said side wall component,    wherein the side wall component comprises a linked pair of top and bottom sealed bags containing air or another gas, with the height of the bottom bag being greater than the height of the top bag.    
   
   
       2 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the outer peripheral plane location of the bottom bag is further to the outside, in relation to the frame constituted by the side wall component, than the outer peripheral plane location of the top bag.  
   
   
       3 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the bottom bag is constituted by at least two bags.  
   
   
       4 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the side wall component is such that a vertical split is made between two adjacent side walls so that one of said adjacent side walls can open and close, a pair of edges of the holding pouch are fixed horizontally or substantially horizontally between the other adjacent side wall split from the openable and closable side wall and the side wall opposite said other side wall, an opening for inserting the object faces the openable and closable side wall, and the fixing position is between the top bag and the upper of the pair of upper and lower bags.  
   
   
       5 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein, of the pair of upper and lower bags constituting the bottom bag, the upper bag is smaller in diameter than the lower bag.  
   
   
       6 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein the side wall component is such that a vertical split is made between two adjacent side walls so that one of said adjacent side walls can open and close, a pair of edges of the holding pouch are fixed horizontally or substantially horizontally between the other adjacent side wall split from the openable and closable side wall and the side wall opposite said other side wall, an opening for inserting the object faces the openable and closable side wall, and the fixing position is between the top bag and the upper of the pair of upper and lower bags.  
   
   
       7 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the upper and lower sides of the holding pouch sandwich the object from above and below.  
   
   
       8 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the object is a process cartridge for an image forming apparatus.  
   
   
       9 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein the process cartridge has a developing roller, a doctor roller, and biasing means such as a spring for biasing said doctor roller into contact with the developing roller, and also has an opening that allows powder contained therein to be taken outside, with said opening facing the lower side of the holding pouch so that the process cartridge can be inserted.  
   
   
       10 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein when the process cartridge has been inserted into the holding pouch, the lower side of the holding pouch is positioned higher than at least the bottom of the lower bag of the pair of upper and lower bags.  
   
   
       11 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein the process cartridge has a developing roller, a doctor roller, and biasing means such as a spring for biasing said doctor roller into contact with the developing roller, and the place where the doctor roller abuts the developing roller faces the lower side of the holding pouch so that the process cartridge can be inserted.  
   
   
       12 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein when the process cartridge has been inserted into the holding pouch, the lower side of the holding pouch is positioned higher than at least the bottom of the lower bag of the pair of upper and lower bags.  
   
   
       13 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 8 , comprising a member for avoiding direct contact between the holding pouch and the corners or protrusions of the process cartridge.  
   
   
       14 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 8 , having no removable seal for sealing toner contained in the process cartridge.  
   
   
       15 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein all of the bags are formed by partitioning a single sheet of sheeting material by heat sealing or the like.  
   
   
       16 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 1 , comprising an air injection opening that also allows air to be released from the bags.  
   
   
       17 . The packaging as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the sealed gas pressure in the bag is from 0.10 to 0.20 kg/cm 2 .