METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING AND FILLING POUCHES

• US 3,821,873 A
• Filed: 11/14/1972
• Issued: 07/02/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Charles E. Cloud, Harold Thomas Jr. Benner
• Original Assignee: Charles E. Cloud, Harold Thomas Jr. Benner
• Inventors: Cloud, Charles E., Benner, Harold Thomas Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): McGehee, Travis S.
• Application Number:
  US05/306,283
• Time in Patent Office: 595 Days
• Field of Search: 53/24,29,126,183
• US Class Current: 53/437
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 9/087 the web advancing continuously

Abstract

A machine for forming and filling pouches from a continuous supply of web material has a station forming said web into a continuous train of poucnes, each pouch having an upwardly opening side, a station for filling the pouches as they are carried around the periphery of a carrier wheel, and a station for sealing the open side of each pouch and separating the pouches into individual packets. The carrier wheel has a rocker assembly for rocking each pouch after it is filled, settling the material therein and forming a more compact package. A filling wheel is located above the carrier wheel and rotates therewith to automatically insert filling tubes into the pouches, deposit a charge of material to be packaged into each pouch, and withdraw the filling tubes from the pouches as the carrier wheel rotates. The pouches are opened to receive the filling tubes through the cooperation of vacuum nozzles which grip one side of each pouch, air jets directed into the pouches, and the rocker assembly which supports the pouches as they are rotated by the carrier wheel.

Claims

1. A method of forming and filling pouches, comprising the steps of:

forming a continuous train of pouches from a strip of web material, each of said pouches having an upwardly open side adjacent an upper edge of said web, filling each of said pouches with a predetermined quantity of a product, placing the upper edge of said web under tension and relieving the lower edge of said web from tension to settle said product within each of said pouches, and sealing the open side of each said pouch to form a filled and sealed package.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said settling step comprises causing said web to traverse an arc with the path of said upper edge having a larger radius of curvature than said lower edge.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said settling step comprises the steps of alternately and repeatedly placing said upper edge and said lower edge under tension.

4. The method according to claim 1 where said upper edge is gradually tensioned to gradually close the open side of each of said pouches.

5. In a packaging machine for forming and filling pouches including:

means for forming a continuous train of pouches from a supply of web material, said pouches each having an upwardly opening side adjacent the upper edge of said web, means for opening the upper side of each said pouch, means for filling each said pouch with a predetermined quantity of product, and means for sealing the upper edge of said web to produce filled and sealed packages, the improvement comprising;

means for placing the upper edge of said web under tnesion and relieving the lower edge of said tension after filling, thereby modifying the shApe of said pouches after filling to settle the product therein.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, including means for alternately and repeatedly placing said upper edge and said lower edge under tension.

7. In a packaging machine for forming and filling pouches including:

means for forming a continuous train of pouches from a supply of web material, said pouches each having an upwardly opening side adjacent the upper edge of said web, means for opening the upper side of each said pouch, means for filling each said pouch with a predetermined quantity of product, and means for sealing the upper edge of said web to produce filled and sealed packages, the improvement comprising;

said filling means including a carrier wheel having a plurality of land members projecting radially from said carrier wheel and adapted to engage areas of said web between adjacent pouches during the filling of each said pouch, means for rotating said carrier wheel, and means for varying the attitude of said land members as said carrier wheel is rotated to modify the shape of said pouches after filling to settle the product therein.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, including cam means mounted in fixed relation to the axis of said carrier wheel, cam follower means connected to each of said land members and means for mounting said land members on said carrier wheel whereby the attitude of said land members is controlled by said cam means as said carrier wheel is rotated.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said cam means has a cam surface engaged by said cam follower, said surface being shaped to gradually change the attitude of said land members to gradually increase the tension on the upper edge of said web to gradually close said upper side of said pouch.

10. In apparatus for filling pouches formed as a continuous train from a strip of web material, said apparatus including a carrier wheel about which said strip passes during filling, the improvement comprising:

a plurality of generally vertical lands movably mounted in spaced relation around said wheel, said lands being engageable by said strip with said pouches located between adjacent lands, and means for shifting the attitude of said lands between a first upwardly radially inwardly-inclined position and a second upwardly radially outwardly-inclined position.

11. Apparatus as in claim 10 further comprising:

means pivotally mounting each land to said wheel, a cam disposed adjacent said wheel, and a cam follower interconnecting each land and said cam to rock each said land between said positions.

12. Apparatus as in claim 10 further comprising:

means for filling said pouches with a product when said lands are in said first position, said lands thereafter moving to said second position to reduce the tension on the bottom of each pouch, thereby causing said product to shift to the bottom of said pouch.

13. A method of forming and filling pouches, comprising the steps of:

forming a continuous train of pouches from a strip of web material, each of said pouches being defined by spaced transverse seals and having an upwardly open side adjacent an upper edge of said web, reducing the distance between the upper ends of adjacent transverse seals to open said pouches, filling each of said pouches with a predetermined quantity of a product, thereafter increasing the distance between upper ends of adjacent transverse seals while reducing the distance between lower ends of adjacent transverse seals to settle said product within each of said pouches, and sealing the open side of each said pouch to form a filled and sealed package.