GB640284A - Packaging - Google Patents

Abstract

640,284. Packaging frangible articles &c. WINGFOOT CORPORATION. Aug. 27, 1947, No. 23663. Convention date, Dec. 4, 1946. [Class 94(i)] A method of packaging fruit or other articles comprises enclosing a plurality of articles 9 between two sheets of wrapping material, uniting the surfaces of the sheets in the area surrounding each article, dividing the resulting sheet into smaller sheets each consisting of a plurality of the pocketed articles and then mounting these smaller sheets on frames 18 comprising separate compartments for each of the pocketed articles. The wrapping material is preferably sheets of thermostretchable and heat sealable material such as rubber hydrochloride and is fed from rolls 4, 5 and heated by means of heated rollers 6, 7 before being passed between cupped drums 1, 2. The wrapping material may be stretched into the mating cups 3 in the drums by the articles themselves or by means of plungers or a vacuum applied to the cups. By suitable valve means the vacuum is applied after the cups have been covered with the heated film and is advantageously cut off from the cups in drum 1 just before mating with those in drum 2. The vacuum applied to the cups in drum 2 may be released simultaneously or may be held until the cups reach the bottom of the drum. The drums are wide enough to accommodate three to twenty or more cups and the frames 18 have partitions 19 to accommodate each article in a separate compartment. A number of frames may be stacked on top of one another with a cover on top the whole being secured together by adhesive tape or other means. Specification 640,283 is referred to.