US Patent 7654391 Readily configurable plastic foam packaging

An efficient means for providing packaging materials comprises foam sheets which have been at least partially cut into regular segments which may be configured by hand into nearly any shape to fit a void space which may surround an article to be packaged in a container. The sheets may be stacked into a cube for ease of transport and storage. The foam sheets may be easily separated into segments by hand by snapping (rigid) or tearing (flexible) the foam into a custom shape which best fits the void space. In one particular embodiment, the segments may comprise a thermoplastic foam which may be configured into corner pads for supporting an article within an outer container.