Packaging machine

• US 20010047641A1
• Filed: 05/14/2001
• Published: 12/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shikoku Kakoki Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Shikoku Kakoki Company Limited
• Inventors: Arao, Takashi, Kume, Satoshi, Ueda, Michio
• Granted Patent: US 6,438,929 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 53/493
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 37/00 Supplying or feeding fluent-solid, plastic, or liquid material, or loose masses of small articles, to be packaged methods of, or means for, filling individual containers with such materials or articles B65B1/04, B65B3/04
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 51/303 reciprocating along only one axis
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 9/213 the web having intermittent motion B65B9/22 takes precedence

Abstract

A packaging machine comprises a filling device 13 for filling a tube T of packaging material having an open upper end and a closed lower end with contents in a predetermined amount at a time, and a device 14 for forming containers C by sealing and cutting the filled tube T transversely thereof into a length corresponding to one container at a time. The amount of contents to be filled into the container and the capacity of the container are so determined that the capacity is greater than the amount of contents to be filled.

Claims

1. A packaging machine comprising a filling device for filling a tube of packaging material having an open upper end and a closed lower end with contents in a predetermined amount at a time, and a device for forming containers by sealing and cutting the filled tube transversely thereof into a length corresponding to one container at a time, the amount of contents to be filled into the container and the capacity of the container being so determined that the capacity is greater than the amount of contents to be filled.

2. A packaging machine according to

claim 1

wherein the filling device comprises a filling pipe having the tube fitted therearound, a metering cylinder connected to the filling pipe, and an upstream check valve and a downstream check valve disposed upstream and downstream from the metering cylinder respectively.

3. A packaging machine according to

claim 2

wherein the filling pipe is provided at a lower end thereof with a discharge opening positioned in the vicinity of the lower end of the tube, and the discharge opening can be opened and closed by the downstream check valve.

4. A packaging machine according to any one of

claims 1

to

3

wherein the tube has the open upper end positioned within a chamber, and the chamber is held at a positive internal pressure.

5. A packaging machine according to

claim 4

wherein the chamber has a blower connected thereto and is provided with a pressure relief valve.

6. A packaging machine according to

claim 1

wherein the filling device comprises a metering cylinder having a piston therein, and the piston is connected by a rod to an eccentric wheel mounted on an output shaft of a motor, the amount of contents to be filled into the container being variable by altering the radius of gyration of the eccentric wheel.

7. A packaging machine according to

claim 1

wherein the forming device has sealing jaws openable and closable and movable upward and downward with the tube positioned therebetween, and the capacity of the container is variable by altering the stroke of the sealing jaws.