NZ205128A - Multiple bag units removably affixed to carrier in imbricated fashion - Google Patents

Description

1 2 8 o Priority Date(s): Cf-t (p: ? 2 Complete Specification Filed: ass: ci 2 0 FEB 1987 Publication Date: .... P.O. Journal, No: Li NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT, 1953 No: Date: i *>3 AUG 1983 ji COMPLETE SPECIFICATION TAPED MULTIBAGS we W. R. GRACE & CO., a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Connecticut, United States of America, of 1114 Avenue of the Americas, New York, 10036, United States of America hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statements- o -x- 205128 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates generally to a series of packaging bags on a carrier which, in use, are sequentially advanced to a loading station. More particularly, the invention relates to a series of taped, imbricated bags which is fed to a taped bag loader.

In the field of packaging articles such as food products, it is known to load the products into plastic bags, and then to seal the bag openings. It is also known to carry out the sealing operation in a vacuum chamber where the residual atmosphere within the bag can be withdrawn and the package sealed under vacuum conditions in order to avoid deterioration of the food product in the sealed bag.

It is known to load product articles into packaging bags, made of flexible heat shrinkable film material, by supplying bags to a bag loader, in the form of a continuous chain of discrete bags carried releasably on adhesively-coated support tapes. Articles to be packaged are situated at a loading station typically by feeding on a conveyor belt into a guide from which the article is loaded into the leading bag of the chain, after opening of the bag for example by an inflation air jet. The bag loader accepts the bags in shingled or imbricated configuration, and it is then left up to either the operator or some article-advancing means, to remove the top loaded bag from the imbricated bag chain before the next successive bag can be" inflated and loaded. Supplying the bags in imbricated configuration in a taped chain offers considerable advantages over supplying the bags one at a time to the loading equipment.

The present invention aims to provide a packaging system which is capable of more rapid and economic operation for loading articles into bags which are fed to a loading station io the form of a sequence of bags. Such system is intended to enable the packaging operation to be speeded up in the vacuumizing and sealing steps as well.

/V °"Vv. fr V !* 10JUL1984 Y]6LI2/sb \ * U.S. Patents 3,161,347 and 3,331,182 disclose t^nx?} ^ loading processes and apparatus and illustrate the use of a_chain of bags in imbricated form supported on a continuous support member so that the imbricated bags arrive at a loading station where the uppermost bag is pneumatically inflated and has a product article placed therein, after which the bag is removed from its elongate support member and delivered ready for subsequent advance to a bag closing station.

Of general interest is the disclosure of U.K. Patent Application 2,078,654A for "Loading Plastic Bags For Packaging Purposes" published January 13, 1982, directed to a packaging process that utilizes a chain of side-sealed packaging bags with the mouths of the bags facing laterally of the chain of bags. Several of the bags are loaded in a batch, and the bags are subsequently closed in batch-wise fashion.

Of general interest are the disclosures of U.S. Patents 3,587,843; 3,587,844; and 3,587,845 for "Package Of Bags" issued June 28, 1971 to Wing, directed to a chain of imbricated bags connected together and in one embodiment being supported by two longitudinal strands of tape.

Of general interest is the disclosure of U.S. Patent 3,507,090 issued April 21, 1970 to D'Angelo, directed to apparatus for filling a series of long open-ended bags affixed to a shingle strip with each bag over-lying the open end of the next bag.

Of general interest is the disclosure of U.S. Patent 2,653,752 issued September 29, 1953 to Vogt, directed to appartus for feeding bags in succession in an upright position to and from a filling mechanism, the bags being connected together in a chain by two or more tapes serving as j the means for advancing the bags. /,v , Yl6LI3/sb V1' 20SS12S SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to multibags on a carrier which may be handled essentially as a single bag upon sequential presentation to a bag is also realized in subsequent vacuumizing and sealing operations, further enhancing productivity.

Accordingly, there is provided a series of packaging bags, comprising a plurality of multiple-bag units, each unit including a separable chain of side-sealed bags which open transverse to the longitudinal direction of the chain of bags wherein adjacent component bags in the chain are separable by lines of perforation between respective side-seals of the adjacent component bags, said plurality of units being sequentially arranged on and removably affixed to a carrier in imbricated fashion.

Preferably, said multi-bag units are imbricated longitudinally on carrier tape and said bags are separable by lines of perforation.

Also, there is provided a method of packaging, comprising: (a) providing a series of bags comprising: a plurality of multiple-bag units, each unit including a separable chain of side-sealed bags, which open transverse to the longitudinal direction of the chain of bags, wherein adjacent component bags in the chain are separable by lines of perforation between respective side-seals of the adjacent component bags, said plurality of units being sequentially arranged on and removably affixed to a carrier in imbricated fashion; (b) feeding said series of multiple-bag units to a loading station; and, as each unit is presented at the loading station, repeatedly (c) inflating the bags of said presented unit at the loading station; (d) loading the bags of said presented unit with product; and (e) advancing said unit to a bag closing station.

Further details are given below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings wherein; FIG. 1 shows a conventional perforated series of side-sealed bags; FIGS. 2A, B show representative multibag units having two and three component bags, respectively; loader thereby multiplying output from the loader. This handling advantage BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS vv~' I ? / -5 205)22 FIG. 3A shows partially a series of multiple-bag units serially arranged on longitudinal strands of carrier tape; FIG. 3B shows partially a series of multiple-bag units imbricated longitudinally on carrier tape; FIG. 4A shows partially a series of multiple-bag units serially arranged on transverse carrier tape; and FIG. 4B shows partially a series of multiple-bag units imbricated transversely on carrier tape.

O DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring specifically to the drawings, in FIG. 1 a conventional series 10 of perforated side-sealed plastic bags is shown, for example being of indefinite length and made of polyethylene. Bags within the series, such as bags 11 and 12, are separated by a line of perforation 17, with side-seals 14 and 15 on either side of perforation 17. Bag 11, for example, is defined by side-seals 13 and 14, fold line 18 and extended lip opening 16. Such a series of bags may be made by conventional techniques, for example, first extruding a plastic tube, then collapsing said tube to a lay-flat configuration possibly following orientation, cutting along one fold line to form an extended lip opening, and repeatedly forming transverse seals, such as by impulse welding, and lines of perforation at regular intervals along the collapsed tube to create a series of side-sealed bags which open laterally and which are separated by lines of perforation. Such a series of side-sealed bags is the starting material for utilization of the present invention.

In general, it is contemplated that component bags within the #11 feed series are separable, i.e. a bag may be readily separated from V an adjacent bag by pulling along a predetermined line of weakness. Most preferably, such lines of weakness are lines of perforation, as discussed above. Another mode, for example, includes scored lines, with or without one side of the series being scored completely through.

Yw^','7T- v '} -( .•''V .v ~b 205128 In FIGS. 2A and 2B, there are shown representative examples of multibag units, for definitional purposes. In FIG. 2A, there is shown a two bag multibag unit 25, having component bags 26 and 27 which have been jointly separated from a chain of perforated side-sealed bags at separated lines of perforation 34 and 35. Bag 26, for example, is as discussed above having extended lip opening 28, fold 29, and side-seals 30 and 33. At the junction between the two bags making up the multibag unit there are side-seals 30 and 31 juxtaposed about line of perforation 32. Line of perforation 32, however, is partially separated as indicated between points A and B. Preferably, partial separation between bags within a multibag unit is symmetrical with respect to the length of the bags as shown. Optionally, the partial separation may be asymmetric even to the extent that partial separation begins at an edge of the multibag unit. Thus, in the example shown, bags 26 and 27 are held together by perforation segments 36 and 37 to unify the multibag unit. In FIG. 2Bf there is shown a three bag multibag unit 45, having component bags 46, 47 and 48. Individual bags within unit 45 have been partially separated along their respective lines of perforation as indicated by segments AB as discussed in connection with FIG. 2A. Multibag units of any number of bags may be made.

The bags are used preferably by longitudinally imbricating on carrier tape so that a- series of such taped multibags may be fed to a conventional taped bag loader with the advantage that a multibag unit may be handled during loading, vacuumizing and sealing essentially as a single bag, thereby correspondingly multiplying output from the packaging > operation. Optionally, the sealing operation may include trimming off excess material beyond the outermost seals of each unit. Following jsealing of the loaded bags, the individual bags within a unit may be easily separated due to the pre-existing partial separation along the Is I" .; Yl6LI6/sb -7- 20SI2S lines of perforation delimiting the bags within a multibag unit. Com-. ponent bags may easily be separated from their respective multibags at any time after the packaging operation as desired, for example immediately after vacuumizing and sealing or during marketing by the retailer or later by the end user.

In FIGS. 3A through 4B, various modes of the invention are shown. In FIG. 3A, part of a series 50 of multibags on carrier tape is shown. Multibags 51A and 51B, being two bag units for example, are arranged sequentially on carrier tapes 52A,B in longitudinal fashion, i.e. the carrier tape extends lengthwise of the multibag units. In use, the series is fed to a conventional taped bag loader so that each multi-bag unit is presented for loading essentially as a prior art single bag, and then, after loading, removed from the carrier tape and passed to a closing station. Generally, any number of carrier tapes are contemplated, as may be needed for a given application; however, 2 to 5 carrier tapes are preferred, with 2 tapes being most preferred for usual applications. In FIG.-3B, part of a multibag series 60 is shown having representative multibags 6lA,B,C imbricated or shingled on longitudinal carrier tapes 62A,B with the leading multibag unit being the uppermost unit.

In FIG. 4A, part .of a series 70 of multibag units is shown "taped laterally, i.e. -representative multibag units 71A,B are sequentially and removably affixed to carrier tapes 72A,B which extend widthwise of the bags. Loading of the bags with product is conducted transverse of the forward feed direction of the carrier tape. In FIG. 4B, part of a series 80 of multibags imbricated on lateral carrier tape is shown. Representatively, multibags 81A,B are imbricated, on carrier tapes 82A,B with the leading multibag 81A being uppermost.

/%• Qjx Yl6LI7/sb f>\ -i- 2 0 51 2 8 Although the present invention has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be utilized without departing from the principles and scope of the invention, as those skilled in the art will readily understand. Accordingly, such modifications and variations may be practiced within the scope of the following claims: — 205128

Claims (16)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1.- A series of packaging bags, comprising a plurality of multiple-bag units, each unit including a separable chain of side-sealed bags which open transverse to the longitudinal direction of the chain of bags wherein adjacent component bags in the chain are separable by lines of perforation between respective side-seals of the adjacent component bags, said plurality of units being sequentially arranged on and removably affixed to a carrier in imbricated fashion.

2. A series of packaging bags as in claim 1, wherein said carrier is oriented longitudinally with respect to said bags.

3. A series of packaging bags as in claim 1, wherein said carrier is oriented laterally with respect to said bags.

4. A series of packaging bags as in claim 1, wherein in the imbricated arrangement of said units on said carrier, the leading unit is upper-most.

5. A series of packaging bags as in claim 1, wherein said carrier is tape .

6. A series of packaging bags as in claim 5, further provided that said perforations between adjacent* component bags of" each multibag'. " unit are partially separated. [;

7. A series of packaging bags as in claim 6, wherein the extent of partial separation of said perforations is interior of the width of said bags.;■

8. A" series of packaging bags as in claim 6, wherein the extent of partial separation of said perforations begins at an edge of said bags.;

9. A series of packaging bags as in claim 5, wherein the number of carrier tapes is in the range of 2 to 5.;

10. A series of packaging bags as in claim 9, wherein the number of carrier tapes is 2.;- 10 -;2G5J28;

11. A method of packaging, comprising:;(a) providing a series of bags comprising: a plurality of multiple-bag units, each unit including a separable chain of side-sealed bags, which open transverse to the longitudinal direction of the chain of bags, wherein adjacent component bags in the chain are separable by 1ines of perforation between respective side-seals of the adjacent component bags, said plurality of units being sequentially arranged on and removably affixed to a carrier in imbricated fashion;;(b) feeding said series of multiple-bag units to a loading station; and, as each unit is presented at the loading station, repeatedly;(c) inflating the bags of said presented unit at the loading station;;(d) loading the bags of said presented unit with product;;and unit.;• (e) advancing said unit to a bag closing station.

12. i A method of packaging as in claim 13, further comprising:;(f) unitarily vacuumizing and sealing each said loaded;

13. (A method of packaging as in claim 12, further comprising: (g) separating the bags of each loaded and sealed unit.;

14. A series of packaged bags as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of Figures 1, 2a, 2b, 3b or 4b.;

15. A method as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 13 when performed substantially as hereinbefore described with or without reference to any one of Figures 1, 2a, 2b, 3b or 4b. . ^;'ivi ol);-4 NOV 1986^;205125;- ii -;

16. Packages formed by a method as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 13 and 15.;DATED'TWS DAY OF A J iP&ftJC $ SON;AGENTS FOR THE APPUCANJS;E N 7>;■'''<* Q 'V o| ..4 MOV 1986 ^ w, . „.w'