Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B43/00—Forming, feeding, opening or setting-up containers or receptacles in association with packaging
  • B65B43/12—Feeding flexible bags or carton blanks in flat or collapsed state; Feeding flat bags connected to form a series or chain
  • B65B43/123—Feeding flat bags connected to form a series or chain
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B31/00—Packaging articles or materials under special atmospheric or gaseous conditions; Adding propellants to aerosol containers
  • B65B31/02—Filling, closing, or filling and closing, containers or wrappers in chambers maintained under vacuum or superatmospheric pressure or containing a special atmosphere, e.g. of inert gas
  • B65B31/021—Filling, closing, or filling and closing, containers or wrappers in chambers maintained under vacuum or superatmospheric pressure or containing a special atmosphere, e.g. of inert gas the containers or wrappers being interconnected

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for fully-automatically carrying out the filling and vacuum sealing of pairs of opposite envelope-type or bag-type containers fed in the form of a continuous web to filling stations.
• envelopes of flexible plastic material that are directly heat-sealable or envelopes of aluminium foil made heat-sealable by the presence of a thin coating of plastic material.
• the intended object is achieved by modifying a simple and relatively convenient automatic apparatus of a type already available on the market, in which a device is inserted apt to receive within a chamber that can be hermetically closed, a limited number of containers previously filled with the products whereafter the vacuum is created in said chamber and the container opening heat-sealed in the chamber itself.
• the webs of paired containers facing each other that can be used in the filling and vacuum-sealing method according to the present invention can consist of any known type of paired containers, i.e. bags or simple envelopes, envelopes with bellows-like bottom, envelopes with two side bellows, or envelopes with side bellows and simplified bottom bellows to allow vertical self-support of the container.
• Envelopes with side bellows are preferred because they allow a greater automatic opening out of the flaps of the upper container opening on filling.
• the containers are supplied by firms specialised in manufacturing bags in the form of a continuous web of paired containers having upper openings facing each other and wound up in the form of a bobbin or concertina-folded in packaging boxes.
• This feature makes the production by the user customer easier because the latter must only attend to carrying out the final hermetic seal for closing the container after having filled the same.
• the final controls are reduced in favour of a more practical operation. From the point of view of surface contamination too, the closed bag is more reliable than the material on a reel .
• FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective top view of the apparatus for feeding, filling and vacuum sealing containers embodying the method according to the invention
• FIG. 2 is a perspective side view, by way of example only, of a pair of bags of the type with side bellows, joined to each other by an intermediate connecting strip, which are part of a continuous web of bags to be fed to the apparatus schematically shown in Fig. 1 in which, for illustrative purposes, the right bag has a filling opening which is only partly raised whereas in the left bag the opening is completely open;
• - Fig. 3 is a plan view, by way of example, of a length of the bag web of the type shown in Fig. 2, yet in which the bags are sealed at the bottom in such a manner that a bellow is formed which is apt to keep the filled and sealed bag in a vertical position on the display shelves;
• Figs. 4 and 5 show, in a plan and perspective view and still by way of example, a length of web of a further type of bags also provided with side bellows and a bottom bellows apt to keep the filled and sealed bag in a vertical position on the display shelves.
• Fig. 1 the apparatus altogether identified by A, is in its general features of known type.
• the apparatus is fed with a web 2 of paired containers 3, 3' of flexible material joined to each other by an intermediate strip 20 and concertina-folded inside a packaging box 5, as supplied from the manufacturer of the containers.
• the apparatus is provided with a rod-shaped support 6 descending gradually until close to the packaging box 5 where is centred the strip 20 that keeps in a connected relationship the web of paired containers 3, 3' folded up in the box itself (see also Figs. 2 and 3) .
• the containers 3, 3' moved by a drive or transport unit 10 are arranged on either side of support 6 which, downstream, at position 8, progressively widens out until it becomes, at the transport unit 10, a track of practically the same transverse width as strip 20.
• the transport unit 10 is preferably made up of an upper roller 11 provided with linear jutting out elements opposite which are the corresponding cavities of an underlying nip-roller so as to pluck the material of the union strip 20 as shown under reference 14 in Figs 2 and 3, thereby achieving a positive and regular forward movement of the containers 3-3'.
• the containers reach the filling stations 25 with the flaps of their respective openings that already having been widened out upstream through the action of opening-out members 24 of a known type.
• the insertion of an additional work station is provided, which station, identified by 30 in Fig. 1, usefully completes the task of the existent apparatus in accordance with the intended obj ect .
• the additional station 30 shown only schematically, consists of a chamber 32 which can be opened and re-closed with a hermetic-seal lid 34 and in which a vacuum condition can be created.
• Chamber 30 is provided with a relatively limited capacity, i.e. 1 to 4 pairs of containers at the most, depending on their transverse size, so as to limit the creation of the vacuum condition within conveniently reduced periods of time, and it is internally provided with one or more pairs of thermoelectric jaws to operate the hermetic sealing of the filled pairs of containers inside which, as desired, the products remain protected under the condition of a very limited presence of air.
• the lid 34 is removed and a pliers device draws the sealed envelopes out of the chamber and introduces therein other just filled envelopes.
• the pairs of already sealed envelopes reach the end station 40 where the union strip 20 can be recovered and the individual or paired envelopes fall into the respective packaging boxes for despatch.
• the containers for use in this apparatus can be of various types, among which there are those provided with side bellows as shown in Fig.
• the side ends of the web can be pressed by heatable jaws in order to perform, at the bottom of each container, the conjunction of all heat-sealable facing surfaces, thereby forming two inclined sealing connections 23, 23' that, starting from the sealing closure 22 of the bottom of the final bag, connect with the side sealing closures 21, 21' of same so as to form a bellows in replacement of known bellows of curved conformatio .
• the four sides of the bottom have a sealing closure 22 involving the whole perimeter of the bottom itself and the lower edge of the four sealing closures 21 of the upright walls so that the bottom rest surface essentially corresponds to the whole surface of the bottom itself.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Dispersion Chemistry (AREA)
• Vacuum Packaging (AREA)
• Containers And Plastic Fillers For Packaging (AREA)
• Package Closures (AREA)
• Supplying Of Containers To The Packaging Station (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

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ID=11447182

Family Applications (1)

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Family Cites Families (2)

• 2001
  • 2001-03-08 IT IT2001MI000488A patent/ITMI20010488A1/it unknown
• 2002
  • 2002-02-21 AT AT02705040T patent/ATE292577T1/de active
  • 2002-02-21 ES ES02705040T patent/ES2240701T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-02-21 PT PT02705040T patent/PT1368237E/pt unknown
  • 2002-02-21 RU RU2003129813/12A patent/RU2257314C2/ru not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2002-02-21 CN CNB028094883A patent/CN1284702C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2002-02-21 EP EP02705040A patent/EP1368237B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-02-21 WO PCT/IT2002/000106 patent/WO2002070349A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2002-02-21 DE DE60203604T patent/DE60203604T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-03-04 PE PE2002000172A patent/PE20020862A1/es active IP Right Grant
• 2003
  • 2003-10-07 ZA ZA200307824A patent/ZA200307824B/en unknown
  • 2003-10-08 MA MA27344A patent/MA26361A1/fr unknown
• 2004
  • 2004-10-18 HK HK04108037A patent/HK1065293A1/xx not_active IP Right Cessation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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