US3192683A

US3192683A - Bag making machine

Info

Publication number: US3192683A
Application number: US185673A
Authority: US
Inventors: Grafingholt Alfred; Branstner Rudolf
Original assignee: FR Hesser Maschinenfabrik AG
Current assignee: FR Hesser Maschinenfabrik AG
Priority date: 1961-04-12
Filing date: 1962-04-06
Publication date: 1965-07-06
Anticipated expiration: 1982-07-06
Also published as: DE1199681B; GB935580A; CH391559A

Description

y 1965 A. GRKFINGHOLT ETAL 3,192,683

BAG MAKING MACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 6, 1962 aw WM mm E mo R BN9 N at July 6, 1965 A. GRAFINGHO'LT ETAL 3,192,583

BAG MAKING MACHINE Filed April 6, 1962 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 6, 1965 BAG MAKING MACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 6. 1962 FIG. 6

A. GRAFINGHOLT ETAL July 6, 1965 BAG MAKING MACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 6, 1962 awe-mp9s arms-a emf-mama nuoau em/vsmm J ly 6, 1965 A. GRAFINGHOLT ETAL 3,

BAG MAKING MACHINE Filed April 6, 1962 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 B E 8 8 .8 Rm 0 O a [.l AA 3 on ma. 8 I, aw mm 8\ 8 5 8 m 5 9 6E WW I, 42' Hy W y ,1965 A. GRAFINGHOLT ETAL 3,192,683

BAG MAKING MACHINE Filed Apfil a, 1962 8 Sheets-Sheet s July 6, 1965 A. GRAFINGHOLT ETAL BAG MAKING MACHINE a Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed April 6, 1962' llwewrqgrs ALFRED GRAFl/VGHOLT 90001.. ERANSTNEI? 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 FIG. 13

A. 5 g Q #Mm BAG MAKING MACHINE A GRAFINGHQLT ETAL f LLMAM;

July 6, 1965 Filed Apri l 6, 1962 United States Patent ()fifice 3,192,683 Patented July 6, 1965 3,192,683 BAG MAKING MAE Alfred Griifingholt, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, and Rudolf Branstner, Fellsbach, Wurtternherg, Germany, assignors to Fr. Hesser Maschinenfabrik-Aktiengesellschaft, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Apr. 6, 1962, Ser. No. 185,673 Claims priority, appiication Germany, Apr. 12, 1961, H 42,276 17 Ciaims. (El. 53-134) This invention relates to a machine for manufacturing bags, for example infusion bags, with a folded bottom, from a web of material such as paper or the like, and also for filling these bags on a filling wheel which rotates intermittently.

An object of the present invention is a machine of this kind in which bags with different kinds of folding can be made without substantial modification of the machine, for example bags with simple bottom fold, bags with a pleated or gussetted bottom, and double-compartment bags.

In known machines for manufacturing bottom-folded bags, a web of parent material is generally introduced in V- or iv-formation and a length representing the width of the bag to be produced is cut oif, transverse sealing seams having previously been applied along the lines of ultimate separation. Bags made in this way have to be transferred to a conveyor wheel equipped with retaining grippers, or to a conveyor chain, for filling purposes and must also be passed to a filling and closing device.

In contrast to this, one embodiment of a machine according to the present invention comprises a feed wheel which is rotatable about a horizontal axis and has a plurality of gripper devices arranged around the periphery thereof, means for feeding a continuous web of parent stock, for example paper, from a supply to said feed wheel, an oscillating folder associated with said feed wheel, means for intermittently rotating said feed wheel to bring the gripper device thereof in turn into a position for cooperation with said folder, means for separating successive blanks from said web to release them in turn for engagement between the folder and the cooperating gripper forfolding each blank transversely between its r end and providing it with a V- or W-section bottom folding, a filling wheel rotatable about a vertical axis and havingradial bag compartments, means for transferring the bottom-folded blanks in turn from said feed wheel into said compartments mouth uppermost, and means for filling the bags in the compartments.

As will be explained below it is possible, using a maminor modifications, alternatively to produce bags with V-, or W-form bottom folding, with. or without longitudinal folds, or double compartment bags if tubular stock is fed in.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is explained below in reference to the accompanying diagrammatic chine according to the present invention and with only 7 FIGURE 7 is a frontal view of an installation for the formation of small bags as per FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 8 is a side view of a holding clamp in enlarged scale;

FIGURE 9 is a cross sectional view in the plane lXlX of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 10 is a cross sectional view in the plane XX of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 11 is a hot sealing device cross sectional View in the plane XIXI of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 12 is a plan view of a filling installation with cross sections in various plane; and

FIGURE 13 is a partial cross sectional view of a filling station.

A brief description is first given of the whole machine with reference to FIGURE 1, after which the complete machine is described in detail.

In the machine illustratedin FIGURE 1, the material from which the bags are to be fabricated is continuously withdrawn as a web 1 from a supply reel 2 over diverting or

guide rollers

3, 4, by means of a pair of draw rolls 5, 6. After passing the latter, the web is intermittently forwarded, one bag blank length at a time, by means of an intermittently rotated pair of format rollers '7, 8 and the slack is taken up by a swinging or pendulum roller 9. The pair of format rollers 7, 8 conveys the end of the web vertically downwards to a star-form feed wheel 10 which has a retaining gripper 12 on each of its radial arms and is mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis, being intermittently operated.

the retaining gripper 12- that stands ready, and a bag blank is at this time severed from the leading end of web 1 by means of a cutter device 13, 14. Immediately after the severing out is made, a pivoted slide 15 pushes the opposed part of the bag blank into the mouth of the retaining gripper 12 of the wheel 10 which is standing ready for it, the blank thereby being transversely folded midway between its ends. This folding, which subsequently represents the bottom of the bag, may be in V- or a W-shape depending on the construction of the slide 15 and the mouth of gripper 12.

As the feed wheel It? is then turned again in a counterclockwise direction the free, trailing leaves of the blank held in this way are turned over in the longitudinal direction of the mouth of the grippers, i.e. tangentially to the periphery of the feed wheel 10, and thereafter the folded blank is further manipulated in any suitable fashion to make it into a bag, for example the lateral margins are welded together by means of pairs of

heat sealing jaws

23, 24 which are provided at successive individual stations.

At a further station, following the feed wheel 10 in a horizontal plane, a transfer wheel 26 equipped with a number of grippers 25 takes over the finished, but still open, bag at the bottom of the latter, and transfers it by suitable means to a filling wheel 3t! so that this bag is held in upright position on this Wheel 30. The aforesaid transfer wheel 26 is not necessary in every case because the bag produced on the feed wheel 10 could be transferred directly from the latter to the filling wheel 30, where these are appropriately mutually associated.

The filling wheel 35 turns intermittently about a vertical axis, the bags being held by means of grippers 31 at the lateral margins thereof, and being fed successivelly to a filling device to introduce the filling material into the bags via one of the funnels which can be raised and lowered by appropriate operating means.

The filled bags are then transferred in suitable fashion to a cell-provided wheel 3r: associated with which is a awaees ample of the label, ticket or tag type, via suspension threads to the bags.

Associated with the cell wheel 36, for collecting in groups of specified numbers of bags, is a stacking wheel 41 which is rotatable about a vertical axis, and this wheel 1 is indexed on each time a pro-set number of bags has been accommodated in one of the radial compartments with which it is provided. The bags stacked in this way are pushed out of the compartments of the wheel 41 in suitable fashion at a further station.

In accordance with the form of construction shown in FIGURE 1, the machine is suitable for the manufacture of small flat bags with a bottom fold, with or without the front and rear sides having two longitudinal folds each as shown for the bag B of FIGURE 4.

If it is desired to put such longitudinal folds in the sides of the bags being made, folding bars 43 and 44 (FIG- URE 2) may be arranged between the guide roller 4 and the two pulling rollers 5, 6. The

folding bars

43 and 44 apply to the fiat web material 1, in its longitudinal direction, two Z-shaped folds by cooperating with a sheet metal folder 42,

The drive of the pair of pulling rollers 5, 6 and of the pair of rollers 7, 8 is derived from a vertical steering or drive shaft 50 (FIGURES 1 and 6) by way of a pair of bevel gears 51. 52. (For convenience of illustration, and as conventional, the elements in front of and behind casing 49 in FIGURE 1 are respectively shown in full and broken lines in both FIGURES l and 6.) Bevel gear 52 is firmly connected with a spur wheel 53, which continuously drives engaging cog wheels 54-57. Cog wheel 57 is secured to a cog wheel 58 for driving a cog wheel 59 which is firmly connected with the pulling roller 5. This results in a continuous conveying operation of the stretch of raw material 1.

A so-called knee-gear-drive is provided in FIGURE 6 for the intermittent drive of the pair of rollers 7, 8. This knee-drive-gear consists of cog wheels 619-63, of which the wheel 60 is fixed eccentrically on cog wheel 54, while

wheels

61, 62, and 63 are rotatably arranged on respective points of a triangular rocking arm 64, which pivots about the axis of wheel 63 and connects to the'eccentric point of the cog wheel 54 by way of a couple 65. The cog wheel 63 is firmly connected with a cog wheel 66, which continuously engages a cog wheel 67, the latter being firmly connected with the roller 7. While its eccentric point moves upward during clockwise rotation of wheel 54, wheel 62 tends to turn wheel 63 counterclockwise but 'does not since arm 64 is pivoting counterclockwise at a rate sufiicient to prevent wheel 63 from turning then. However, during the next half revolution of wheel 54, arm 65 is pulled downward so that the resultant downward movement of an arm 64 and simultaneous clockwise rotation of wheel 62 causes a step rotation of roller 7.

As previously indicated, in order to cut to length the blanks for thesmall bags off the stretch of raw material 1, a cutting device is provided below the pair of rollers 7, 8. This cutting device includes a knife block 13, which is firmly arranged on the machine case 49 and which has a slit through which passes the stretch of raw material 1; it also has a knife 14 which can be reciprocated. During every stoppage of the lower end of web 1, knife 14 is reciprocated so that one blank is separated from the length of raw material 1. T effect properly timed reciprocation, knife 14 is flexibly connected with a pivoted cam follower lever 71 (FIGURE 6) by means of a couple 70. Lever 71 is operated by a cam disk 72, which is firmly connected with a cog wheel 73 that engages the cog wheel 54.

The retaining grippers or holding clamps 12 radially ar ranged on the respective arms of feed wheel 10, in conjunction with an oscillating slide 15, serve to fold the bottom of the bags. Immediately after each cut, this oscillating slide drives the bag blank into the holding clamp 12 that stands ready below the cutting device 13, 14. The blank is thereby folded transversely, more or less at its longitudinal center. In order to obtain a W-shaped bottom fold, the oscillating slide 15 has two thin folding swords or blades 16, 17; furthermore there is provided a folding tongue 18 (FIGURE 8) in the mouth of each gripper or clamp 12. When folding the bag blank, this folding tongue 13 moves between the two thin folding swords 16, 17.

The oscillating motion of slide 15 is caused by a universal joint gear. Part of the latter includes a cog wheel 74 (FIGURE 6) which is driven by the cog Wheel 73. A driving rod '75 is eccentrically arranged on cog wheel '74, and the driving rod 75 can be rotated. Furthermore, driving rod 75 is made adjustable inside a block 76 which is located inside the machine case 49 and which can be rotated; the driving rod 75 is flexibly connected with a rocking arm 78, which can be oscillated; the connection is made by means of a couple 77. At the pivot point of arm 78, the latter is firmly connected with a lever 79, which rotatably carries oscillating slide 15. At its outer end, slide 15 is provided with a roller 80, which runs in a curved groove 81 for guiding the oscillating slide 15.

The blank which has been driven into a holding clamp 12 and thereby folded on its bottom into a W-shape is then successively fed into two sets of sealing tools 23 and 24- (FIGURE-S 1 and 7). The retention of the folded blanks in clamps 12 while the oscillating slide 15 is swinging back and thereafter during their counterclockwise transport is effected by two shims 19 (FIGURE 8) which are pivoted on each holding clamp 12. These shims 19 have barb-like edges 35 facing the folding tongue 18. By means of pressure exerted by leaf springs 21) upon shims 19, these edges 85 press the blank against the metal folder 18, firmly attaching it there. In order to release a blank, shims 19 are rocked. For this purpose they are provided with noses 86 which run against a fixed buffer 87 (FIG- URE '7) when clamp 12 enters the delivery station. In this instance the shims 15 are pivoted in such a manner that their edges 85 lose contact with the bag.

The clamps 12, of which there are always two per station, are attached on slotted arms 90 (FIGURE 9) which in turn are attached with screws 91 to the conveying wheel 10. The conveyor wheel 10 itself is secured to a shaft 92, which is located in the machine case 49 and which can be rotated around a horizontal axis. In order to step the conveying wheel 10 in such a manner that the clamps 12 are fed into the various stations one after the other and step by step, several peripheral rollers 93, corresponding I in number to the number of clamps 12, are arranged on the shaft 92 in equal intervals. In part of their orbit, these rolls 93 are steered in and by the curved grooves of a continuously rotating cylinder 94 in such a manner that the conveying wheel 10 performs an intermittent rotation with proper timing.

Two

hot sealing installations

23 and 24 are arranged on r the orbit of the clamps 12 of the conveying wheel; the

their orbit.

folded blanks are fed to these hot sealing installations one after the other, in order to have their edges sealed together by heat. To guarantee perfect guidance of the folded blanks during their full transport, two pairs of S-shaped guiding wires 95, 96 (FIGURE 7) are arranged firmly in Each of the

hot sealing installations

23 and 24 shown in FIGURES 1, 7 and 11, includes two pairs of

curved cheeks

101, 102 and 103, 104, which can be heated; each cheek is attached to a respective one of shafts 105-108, which can be rocked. The shafts 105-108 are encased. in a support 109 which is firmly attached to the machine case 49. A cam disk 110 steers the cheeks 101-104 in such a manner that they are moved against the lateral edges of the blanks for hot sealing; thus the parts of the edges of the blank lying on top of each other and consisting of the raw material for the small bags, the latter being capable of being sealed by heat, are connected to each other by the effect of pressure and heat.

The steering motion of cam disk 110 is transferred to the heat sealing cheeks 101-404 via a cam following push rod 111 and a lever 112 secured to rotate shaft 108. The heat sealing cheek pairs 101, 102 and 103, 104 are shown in FIGURE 11 in their sealing positions. As cam disk 110 rotates so that the roller on rod 111 is in a valley between two lobes 117, lever 112 rotates shaft 108 clockwise.

Levers

113 and 114 are respectively fixed to shafts 1G8 and 197, and engage each other by means of a peg and slit. Clockwise rotation of shaft 193 rotates cheek 104 in the same direction, and lever 113 pushes up on the peg of lever 114 to rotate shaft 107 counterclockwise, moving cheek 103 leftward. The motion of the first pair of cheeks 103, 1114 is transferred to the other pair of

cheeks

101, 102 by means of two peg-to-slit

connected levers

115, 116 respectively fixed to rotate with

shafts

108 and 106.

Cam disk 119 has altogether four, equally spaced lobes 117 thus the two cam followers 111 respectively of the two

hot sealing installations

23 and 24, the latter being displaced in relation to each other by 90 degrees, are in contact with the cam disk 110, both being simultaneously displaced. The number of revolutions is therefore reduced in relation to the speed of rotation of the vertical steering shaft 59 of the machine in the ratio 4:1 by bevel gearing 119, 1213. One of the bevel gears 120 is firmly connected with the cam disk 110.

After sealing the rims of the small bags, they are fed by the conveying wheel 16 to an intermediate conveying or transfer wheel 26 (FIGURES 1 and 7) which is intermittently rotated. Its periphery is provided with a plurality of clamps 25. Conveying wheels and 26 are both in the same plane.

Each of the clamps 25 includes a pivotable finger 252 which moves in a path between the arms of grippers 12 while open relative to a stationary finger 251, but then closes to rest on the front side of the stationary finger 251 because of the eifects of a spring 130 (FIGURE 10), thus grasping one bag at its bottom end. Finger 252 rotates with a bolt or shaft 131 disposed in a bearing 134 attached to the conveying wheel 26. At its other end, bolt 131 is rotatably controlled by a lever 132 to which is attached a roll or cam follower 133. To open the clamp by pivoting finger 252, the roll 133 runs up to the elevated part of a fixed curve ring or cam 138, which is secured to case 49.

As shown in FIGURE 10, and in a manner similar to the intermittent rotational mount for conveying wheel 10, the intermediate conveying wheel 26 too is attached to a respective shaft 135 which is rotatably located in the machine case 49. At its periphery, this shaft carries eight rollers 136 (FIGURE 7) which enter into the curved grooves of a cylinder 137 for causing an intermittent drive of wheel 26.

Spacedly attached on a horizontal steering shaft 118 are the

grooved cylinders

94 and 137 for the intermittent rotation respectively of the feed wheel 19 and intermediate conveying wheel 26. Steering shaft 11% rotates continuously, and is driven by a main shaft 140 (FIGURE 1) i of the machine by way of four cog wheels 141-144. The horizontal shaft 118 drives the vertical shaft 50 by way of a pair of

bevel gears

145, 146. Main shaft 14-0 is driven by an electric motor 147 by way of a belt transmission 148 and a pair of spur wheels .151.

The intermediate conveying wheel 26 conveys the finished bags B, their bottom ahead, in a semicircular arc to a filling wheel 34) (FIGURE 1) which rotates around a vertical axle; at this time, the mouth of the small bag faces upward. On its circumference, the filling wheel 30 has in equal intervals several pairs of opposing face clamps 31 (see also FIGURES 12 and 13), which receive bags B at station A adjacent the intermediate conveying wheel 26; they do this by seizing the bag in question at its lateral sealed edges (FIGURE 12). For this purpose, clamps 31 include clamp parts or

stationary thumbs

160, 161

carrying movably attached fingers or

grip parts

162, 163,

which, by means of a spring 164, are urged against the 6 The

grip parts

162, 163 are connected with a two-throw crank 169 by way of links 166, 167; the two-throw crank is secured to the top of a bolt or shaft 168 rotatably .rnounted in the filling wheel 30. For operating the twothrow crank 169 in order to open and close the clamps 31,

a lever 170, with a cam roller 171 attached to its outer end, is fixed to the bottom end of shaft 168. Roller 171 runs on the large diameter fixed curve ring or cam 172 when the filling wheel 39 is rotating.

As a set of clamps 31 enters the receiving station A, the roller 171 that is associated with that clamp set is running on the elevated surface of cam 172, thereby setting crank 169 to its furthermost counterclockwise position and pivoting the gripping fingers outwardly, whereby each of the clamps in the set is open. When the filling wheel 30 stops rotating, the open clamps at station A receive a bag from above from the transfer wheel 26. Until the proper clamping time, these clamps are hold open, not by cam 172 .now since its elevated surface recessed inwardly, but by cam173 since roller 171 of lever now rests on the elevated part of the continuously rotating cam disk 173. That elevated part of rotating disk 173 reduces at the proper time to cause roller 171 to drop onto the recessed surface of cam 172 so that the gripping

fingers

162, 163 of the clamps 31 are moved simultaneously toward the

respective thumbs

160, 161, thereby grasping the small bag B While the filling wheel 30 remains stopped.

The bags are received by the filling wheel 30 with their mouths generally or mostly closed. In order to open them, the clamps 31 are disposed on the filling wheel 30 so that they can be reciprocally spread by means of pivots 174. In the case where the bags B have been provided with longitudinal folds in their front and rear sides, they are opened by moving the corresponding pairs of clamps 31 awayfrom each other. This is done by twisting or rotating a double cam disk 175 by further rotation of shaft 168, to press apart the

corresponding clamp parts

160, 161 contrary to the eifect of springs 1'76. This further rotation of shaft 168 occurs during the stepping rotation of the filling wheel in the direction of arrow C, away from station A, and is due to the radially inward move-' ment of cam roller 171 on the decreasing diameter surface of earn 172. This pulls the bag open, substantially into a rectangle as shown, without opening either of the clamps 31 in the set concerned since their spread is compensated for by the further rotation of crank 169 with shaft 163.

The filling of the small bags B is performed while they traverse the frontal semi-circle of the filling wheel 30. First, for this purpose, the filling funnels 189 (FIGURES 1, 12, 13) are lowered into the openings of the small bags B. By means of two

levers

131, 182, these funnels ing measuring holes 191 respectively lying over the filling funnels 181}. These holes are filled from a filling box 192 during the passage of the semicircle opposite the filling semicircle. At this time, a fixed arc-shaped piece of sheet metal 193 covers the lower openings of the holes 191. Plate 190 is attached to collar and circulates step by step with the filling funnels 130 and the filling wheel. Shaft 1S4, supported in a vertical bearing 195, is

rotated step by step by way of a roller drive including a curve-grooved cylinder 197 and a disk 198 which is provided with rollers 196 for riding in the curved grooves of cylinder 197 which is rotated by the main shaft 140.

As a filled bag approaches the delivery station D in 7 FIGURE 12, funnel 134 is pulled out of the mouth of the bag by cam action between

elements

136 and 187 at that point. Thereafter, clamps 31 are again reciprocally moved, and finally the filled bag is transferred in the delivery station D into a closing and finishing Wheel 36 (FIGURE 1) by opening the

grip parts

162 and 163. For this purpose, first of all, roller 171 on the cam following lever 170 runs to a slightly elevated part of the curve ring 172 and finally makes contact with a cam disk 1%, and while the filling wheel 30 is not in motion, the rotating cam disk 199 elevates the corresponding lever 179 further, so that clamps 31 open. Cam disk 199 has a shape similar to the clamp closing cam disk 173.

Main shaft 146 of the machine supplies the drive for the two continuously rotated

cam disks

173 and 199, which make one full rotation for each step of the filling wheel. For this purpose, each of the

cam disks

173 and 199, which are supported by a solid plate 25% are firmly connected with a cog wheel 291, 2 132. The two cog wheels 201, 262 engage a cog wheel 203, which is supported by vertical bearing 1E5. This cog wheel-2G3 is driven by a cog wheel 204 disposed at the top end of a vertical shaft 295, which is driven by the main shaft 140 via bevel gears 2%, 267.

Now, the filled small bags which have been conveyed to the bucket wheel 36 are closed and provided with tags and suspension thread. The tags are taken from a stack in magazine 37 by means of a conveying wheel 39 which rotates in a vertical plane and, in known fashion, they are attached with a thread unwound from spool 38. The thread is attached to the heads of the bags contained in the bucket or cell wheel 36 by means of known tools 4%); one piece of thread with one tag is attached to one bag.

In order to collect a certain number of bags, bucket wheel 35 is followed by a stacking wheel 41, which can be rotated around a vertical axis and which is indexed further after having collected in one of its radially arranged chambers a predetermined number of small bags. The bags which have been stacked in this manner are discharged in an additional station in a suitable manner from the chambers of the stacking wheel 41.

For the manufacture of bags on this machine, a web material can be processed which has on its inner side a layer capable of being hot sealed, or a material having a layer capable of being hot sealed on its rims only, or a material being free of glue; In the latter case, a device 59' (FIGURE 1) for applying the molten adhesive to the web edges, or other area where the seam is later to be made, is provided between the diverting

rolls

3 and 4.

Depending on the use of certain tools, this machine is capable of manufacturing in a simple manner single compartment bags or, according to FIGURE 5, also double compartment bags, either with V- or W-shaped bottom folds. For FIGURE '5 type bags, use is made of folding bars 45, 46 (FIGURE 3) for the formation of a tube and of tool 47 for the closing of the longitudinal seam of the tube. In this case, no rim-sealing of the bags would occur, and the intermediate conveying wheel 26 of .the machine may be omitted, the conveying wheel and filling Wheel 34) being so arranged that the former delivers folded bags directly into the latter.

When manufacturing bags with V-shaped bottom folds, the folding tongue 18 of each holding clamp 12 of the conveying wheel 16, as well as the folding blades 16 and 17 of the oscillating slide 15, are removed and replaced by a single foldingblade extending from slide 15.

Thus, it is apparent there has been disclosed a bag making machine accomplishing the objects of this invention and having all its advantages. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate after reading this disclosure that other objects and advantages may be accomplished by the invention and that the invention may be differently embodied than specifically disclosed herein without depart ing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the embodiments described are to be considered illustrative and 8 not limitative, with the invention being defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is: 1. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprising means for feeding a continuous web 'of material from which said bags are to be made, rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devices successively movable to a position adjacent the path of said web, means for severing said web at desired length each time the Web is adjacent a gripper device in said position, means cooperable with any said gripper device in Said position for folding the adjacent severed length of Web transversely between its ends into a predetermined bag bottorn fold, and means for closing the severed and folded W-shaped bag bottom fold.

3. A machine as in claim 1 wherein said shims have noses, there being buffer means for contacting SElId noses at a predetermined bag delivery point to pivot said shims and release the folded bag held thereby.

4. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprising means for feeding a continuous web of material from which said bags are to be made, rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devices successively movable to a position adjacent the path of said web, means for severing said web at desired length each time the web is adjacent a gripper device in said position, means cooperable with any said gripper device in said position for folding the adjacent severed length of web transversely between its ends into a predetermined bag bottom fold, and means for closing the severed and folded web longitudinally, whereby a folded bottom, open top bag may be produced, wherein said rotatable means is a 'feed wheel intermittently rotatable about a horizontal axis, said machine further including a filling wheel intermittently rotatable about a vertical axis and having a plurality of bag clamping devices, means for transferring bags in turn from said feed wheel gripper devices respectively to said clamping devices mouth-uppermost, and means for filling the bags while grasped by said filling wheel clamping device.

5. A machine as in claim 4 and further including a finishing wheel rotatable about a horizontal axis and disposed to receive filled bags from said filling wheel respectively in successive cells around the periphery of the finishing wheel, and means cooperating with the finishing Wheel to apply tags and suspension threads to the bags in ,the cells thereof respectively.

6..A machine as in claim 5 and further including a stacking wheel rotatable about a vertical axis adjacent the finishing wheel and positioned to receive finished bags delivered from the cells of the finishing wheel as a result of its rotation, said stacking wheel being intermittently rotatable in timed relation so as to carry off a predetermined stack of bags at each rotational step.

7. A machine as in claim 4 in which said transferring means includes a transfer Wheel having a plurality of holding devices and intermittently rotatable about a horizontal axis in substantially the same plane as said feed wheel, said transfer Wheel being disposed between the said feed and filling wheels to transfer the folded bags from the former to the latter.

8. A machine as in claim 4 including means operatively connected with each of said filling Wheel clamping devices to open the mouths of the bags held thereby be fore filling of the bags.

9. A machine as in claim 4 wherein said filling means includes at least one funnel and means for lowering and raising the funnel into and out of the mouth of a bag held by one of said clamping devices.

1%. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprising means for feeding a continuous Web of material from which said bags are to be made, rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devices successively movable to a position adjacent the path of said web, means for severing said web at desired length each time the web is adjacent a gripper device in said position, means cooperable with any said gripper device in said position for folding the adjacent severed length of web transversely between its ends into a predetermined bag bottom fold, and means for closing the severed and folded web longitudinally, whereby a folded bottom, open top bag may be produced, including means in the path of said web for folding the web longitudinally into two connected Z-shaped folds.

11. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprising means for feeding a continuous web of material from which said bags are to be made, rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devices successively movable to a position adjacent the path of said web, means for severing said web at desired length each time the Web is adjacent a gripper device in said position, means cooperable with any said gripper device in said position for folding the adjacent severed length of web transversely between its ends into a predetermined bag bottom fold, and means for closing the severed and folded web longitudinally, whereby a folded bottom, open top bag may be produced, wherein said feeding and rotatable means are each intermittently operated in timed relation to present said desired length of Web repeatedly to the severing means respectively adjacent said gripper devices successively, said folding means being timed with the feeding and rotatable and severing means to effect the said fold while the rotatable means is stopped.

12. A machine as in claim 11 for making a double compartment bag, wherein said closing means folds the Web over onto itself into tube shape.

13. A machine as in claim 11 wherein the said closing means seals the lateral margins of the severed folded web together to form side seams.

14. A machine as in claim 11 for use with a web which is initially in strip form and sealable in given areas to itself by heat and pressure, said closing means including means disposed adjacent said rotatable means for applying heat and pressure to said given areas to longitudinally seal a folded bag held by a said gripper device.

15. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprising means for feeding a continuous web of material from which said bags are to be made, rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devices successively movable to a position adjacent the path of said Web, means for severing said web at desired length each time the web is adjacent a gripper device in said position, means cooperable with any said gripper device in said position for folding the adjacent severed length of Web transversely between its ends into a predetermined bag bottom fold, and means for closing the severed and folded web longitudinally, whereby a folded bottom, open top bag may be produced, wherein said feeding means includes a first roller for drawing said Web at a substantially constant rate and a second roller downstream from said first roller for feeding said web to said severing means intermittently, the means for driving said second roller intermittently including a first gear movable at constant angular speed, a second gear fixed to said first gear eccentrically, third, fourth and fifth gears engaged with each other sequentiallywith the third gear being driven by said second gear and said fifth gear being coupled to drive said second roller, the axis of said fifth gear being fixed but the axes of said third and fourth gears being movable and connected with the axis of the fifth gear by a member fixing the third, fourth and fifth gears in a triangular relationship, the axis of said third gear being linked to the axis of said second gear, whereby constant rate rotation of the said first gear causes no rotation of said fifth gear during one-half its cycle but does during the other half of its cycle.

16. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprising rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devices successively movable to a predetermined position, means for feeding a continuous web of material from which said bags are to be made to said position radially of said rotatable means, means for severing said web at desired length each time the web is adjacent a gripper device in said position, means cooperable with any said gripper device in said position for folding the adjacent severed length of web transversely into a predetermined bottom fold between the resulting two sides of the bag, means for intermittently rotating said rotatable means to cause said gripper devices to transport their respective severed and folded bag longitudinally tangential of the rotatable means, and means adjacent the rotatable means for guiding the said bag sides close together while being transported as aforesaid. 17. A machine as in claim 16 wherein said gripper degiggs grasp and carry a folded bag only at its said bottom References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 20,881 10/38 Rambold 53-134 X 2,014,497 9/35 Haskell 9313 2,058,501 10/36 Potdevin 93--13 2,649,674 8/53 Bartelt 53-186 X FOREIGN PATENTS 593,248 2/60 Canada.

FRANK E. BAILEY, Primary Examiner.

TRAVIS S. MCGEHEE, Examiner.

Claims

1. A MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING BAGS WITH FOLDED BOTTOMS COMPRISING MEANS FOR FEEDING A CONTINUOUS WEB OF MATERIAL FROM WHICH SAID BAGS ARE TO BE MADE, ROTATABLE MEANS HAVING A PLURALITY OF GRIPPER DEVICES SUCCESSIVELY MOVABLE TO A POSITION ADJACENT THE PATH OF SAID WEB, MEANS FOR SEVERING SAID WEB AT DESIRED IN SAID POSITION, TIME THE WEB IS ADJACENT A GRIPPER DEVICE IN SAID POSITION, MEANS COOPERABLE WITH ANY SAID GRIPPER DEVICE IN SAID POSITION FOR FOLDING THE ADJACENT SEVERED LENGTH OF WEB TRANSVERSELY BETWEEN ITS ENDS INTO A PREDETERMINED BAG BOTTOM FOLD, AND MEANS FOR CLOSING THE SEVERED AND FOLDED WEB LONGITUDINALLY, WHEREBY A FOLDED BOTTOM, OPEN TOP BAG MAY BE PRODUCED, WHEREIN EACH OF SAID GRIPPER DE-