VERFAHREN UND VORRICHTUNG ZUM FUELLEN VON ABGESTEPPTEN DECKEN, KISSEN, U. DGL.

摘要

A method of filling a compartment or compartments in a duvet or the like, the method including the steps of: (1) holding in a generally horizontal plane a compartmented case 16 for a duvet or the like; (2) placing a supply of particulate fill material in a drum 1; (3) placing in at least one of the compartments 21 an elongate hollow member 19 with its open end 37 near to a closed end 20 of the compartment 21; (4) connecting to each elongate hollow member 19 a separate outlet 8 from the drum 1; (5) fluidising the supply of fill material in the drum 1; (6) withdrawing from the drum 1 in a pulsed manner discrete amounts of the fill material; (7) forcing, under air pressure, the discrete amounts of fill material through the elongate member(s) 19 to the closed end(s) 20 of the compartment(s) 21 so that the compartment(s) 21 is (are) filled incrementally as the elongate member(s) 19 or the compartmented case 16 are moved relative to each other. The method can utilize an apparatus designed to effect the steps of the method and the apparatus can include any number of elongate members 19, typically up to ten, which extend horizontally at equal spacings from a support frame 18. The number of elongate members 19 is chosen so that in one or two operations of the apparatus duvets which have up to 20 compartments are filled. The drum can fluidise the fill material by rotating paddles, and the fill material can be drawn therefrom and directed along the elongate members pneumatically by pulsed jets of air which use a Venturi effect. <IMAGE>