The invention relates to a device for providing cushioning material for packaging purposes, comprising a converting unit for turning over at least one lateral edge of a web-type starting material in the direction of a center of the starting material, creating an intermediate product, and a crumpling mechanism for crumpling the intermediate product into the cushioning material. According to the invention, the housing has a first coupling portion, which is complementary to a corresponding second coupling portion of the converting unit, and the converting unit is one of a set of at least two converting units, wherein the converting units of a set all have the same second coupling portion, and wherein the converting units of a set are designed to convert different starting materials.

A packing material including a plurality of discrete cushioning elements and methods for making the same. The discrete cushioning elements may be cellulosic cushioning elements. A flexible linkage may connect the plurality of discrete cushioning elements in the packing material. The packing material may also include a bottom cellulosic sheet connected to a top cellulosic sheet with the plurality of cellulosic cushioning elements positioned between the top cellulosic sheet and the bottom cellulosic sheet. The packing material may also be a molded packing material that includes bonds comprising adhesive and cellulosic fibers. The adhesive and cellulosic fibers of the bonds may be dispersed between the folds of each of the cellulosic cushioning elements.

An image forming apparatus is an apparatus that forms an image on paper and provided with a sensor section, a determination section, and an estimation section. The sensor section outputs a signal indicating a state of the paper. The determination section determines whether or not each of a plurality of error conditions relating to a paper error is satisfied based on the signal output by the sensor section. The estimation section estimates an occurrence factor of the paper error based on a satisfaction pattern of the plurality of error conditions.

An apparatus for the manual/automatic production of a tube-like packaging material can include a guiding chute with an opening for ejecting the packaging material from a roll arranged in the ejection position, wherein the guiding chute has an inner contour narrowing towards an opening in an ejection direction, a primary seating for at least partly circumferentially gripping the first roll and for holding the first roll in the ejection position, and at least one secondary seating for receiving of at least a second roll for reloading the apparatus, wherein the secondary seating is movable with a second roll between a passive position in which the second roll is outside an ejection position and an active position in which the second roll is arranged in the ejection position or is displaceable from the secondary seating into the primary seating under (e.g. exclusively under) the impact of gravity.

A dunnage product has a length dimension with a first end and a second end opposite the first end. A plurality of segments are distributed along the length dimension between the first end and the second end, including an uncrumpled segment of uncrumpled sheet stock material. The uncrumpled segment is positioned between at least one randomly-crumpled segment of randomly-crumpled sheet stock material on each side of the uncrumpled segment. The uncrumpled segment facilitates easier insertion of the dunnage product into a container and allows for layering a crossing dunnage product without increasing the thickness of the products in the area of overlap.

A packing material including a plurality of discrete cushioning elements and methods for making the same. The discrete cushioning elements may be cellulosic cushioning elements. A flexible linkage may connect the plurality of discrete cushioning elements in the packing material. The packing material may also include a bottom cellulosic sheet connected to a top cellulosic sheet with the plurality of cellulosic cushioning elements positioned between the top cellulosic sheet and the bottom cellulosic sheet. The packing material may also be a molded packing material that includes bonds comprising adhesive and cellulosic fibers. The adhesive and cellulosic fibers of the bonds may be dispersed between the folds of each of the cellulosic cushioning elements.

An arrangement for producing embossed cushioning material from an initially flat material comprises an embossing device for providing a plurality of embossed protrusions to the material, an undulating device comprising undulated forming spaces which creates undulations in the initially flat material prior to the undulated material being provided to the embossing device, and a conveying means for conveying the initially flat material along a transport path in a continuous process through the undulated forming spaces. It is that suggested that the undulating device, seen in the direction of the transport path, comprises at least two stages each comprising an undulated forming space, the undulated forming space of a downstream stage differing in number and/or height of undulations from the undulated forming space of an upstream stage.

A chainable dunnage supply material, such as a roll of paper, for creating an extended or continuous supply of material, by chaining multiple units together. The dunnage supply arrangement comprises a first supply unit of an elongated web of material in a high-density arrangement, where the material may be converted into a low-density dunnage. The material has first and second longitudinal ends, and a connecting member is disposed adjacent to the first longitudinal end. The connecting member may include an adhesive surface for adhering to a longitudinal second end of a second supply unit of material with sufficient adhesion for pulling the material of the second supply unit into the dunnage mechanism (e.g. daisy chaining the two supply units together). The arrangement may include a release layer on the adhesive surface of the connecting member and releasable therefrom for allowing the connecting member to adhere to a second supply unit.

A dunnage conversion machine is provided for converting a sheet stock material into a relatively lower density dunnage product as it moves downstream through the conversion machine. The conversion machine includes a forming assembly configured to inwardly gather sheet stock material, and a feeding assembly downstream of the forming assembly. The forming assembly includes a converging chute with an inlet and a relatively smaller outlet downstream of the inlet, the converging chute being aligned along a converging axis. The feeding assembly has a pair of rotatable members rotatable about respective parallel axes of rotation. The rotatable members are arranged to feed sheet stock material from the forming assembly downstream of the feeding assembly, the rotating members defining a feed axis perpendicular to a line connecting and perpendicular to the axes of rotation. The conversion machine is characterized by the converging axis being transverse rather than aligned with the feed axis.

A method of making a dunnage product includes the following steps: (a) converting a sheet stock material into a lower density strip of dunnage having a width and a height that is less than the width; and (b) cutting the strip of dunnage to form a discrete dunnage product of a desired length by cutting across less than the width of the strip of dunnage to maintain a connection between the strip of dunnage and the discrete dunnage product. The connection between respective dunnage products in a string of connected dunnage products keeps the dunnage products together, in the order in which they were produced, and helps to ensure that the dunnage products do not shingle and can assist in feeding the dunnage products to a packing station.