Pulp mould used to position and cushion irregular shaped objects and device for making mould

摘要

A pulp mould packaging element 30 for supporting an article 34 comprises a cushioning section 31 with a plurality of units with ridged surfaces 36 for engaging an external packaging material such as a carton, each pair of successive units being connected by an inner surface for engagement with the article, which may have irregular contours. The packaging element may receive the corner of a cuboid or the end of a cylindrical article and the cushioning section may comprise orthogonally disposed units 31,32,33. The ridged surfaces may be rectangular, triangular or semi-circular, and may taper towards a smaller outer end. A method of moulding such a packaging element comprises using a two part mould (see fig 8B), the lower mould members 87 being used to form the inner surface of the packaging element to match the irregular contours of the article, the upper mould members 86 being used to form the ridged surfaces. If the required contours are changed, then only the lower mould members need to be replaced. A further packaging element is shown in fig 2 which comprises a recess 20 with a cushioning section having spaced strips 22 for engaging an article 23 with a substantially circular cross-section.