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Packaging apparatus

  • US 6,050,059 A
  • Filed: 04/21/1998
  • Issued: 04/18/2000
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/23/1997
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A packaging apparatus for the production of bags for products for infusion, each of the bags including a mouth and being formed from a piece of woven fabric, in which a dose of said product is deposited;

  • a tying thread being wound around the mouth of the bag;

    a label being attached to the thread, the label adapted for supporting and handling the bag while making an infusion, the apparatus comprising sequentially along a feed line;

    a first station which feeds a continuous strip of said fabric in a flat configuration towardsa second station equipped with a transverse cutting unit adapted for cutting the strip into a series of flat pieces of fabric;

    a third station, having means for transforming the pieces of fabric from the flat configuration to a bag configuration, the bag being generally tubular in shape and having an open top which forms the mouth;

    the third station also comprising means for feeding a dose of the product into the bag;

    a fourth station, having first means for picking up the tubular bag by a portion of the bag below the mouth, this fourth station also adapted for transferring the tubular bag toa fifth station, having first means for cutting a predetermined portion of the open top of the tubular bag which is not held by the means for picking up the bag;

    a sixth station adapted to wind and tie off the tying thread around the bag mouth forming a closed bag containing a single dose of the product, the tying thread having first and second projecting portions continuously connecting a previous and a subsequent bag;

    a seventh station for feeding a label to the first projecting portion of the tying thread;

    an eighth station adapted for attachment of the label at a predetermined point on the continuous thread;

    the eighth station having second means for cutting the second portion of thread which extends beyond the predetermined point at which the label is attached;

    wherein, the sixth station comprises a first driven tubular shaft rotatable about a vertical axis, an upper end of the shaft including a thread locating boss being vertical and parallel with said vertical axis;

    the continuous thread extending from a thread feed unit and through the boss;

    a second shaft opposite the first shaft having a vertical axis and supported by a first horizontal arm, movable between a thread ring formation position, in which the second shaft is coaxial with the first shaft and the boss is positioned to rotate about the second shaft to preform a portion of the thread into a ring shape, and a ring set-down position, in which the second shaft is positioned over the mouth of a bag positioned in the fourth station, so as to downwardly position and deposit the ring around the mouth of the bag.

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