Patent ID: 9266630
Filing Date: 2016-02-23
CPC Classification: B65B,B65D

Claim Text:
1. A process comprising forming a pouch, said pouch having an evacuated headspace and containing a flowable material, said process comprising the steps of: (A) providing a continuous tube of flexible and sealable film; (B) supplying the continuous tube with a predetermined amount of flowable material; (C) evacuating the headspace above said predetermined amount of flowable material; wherein said evacuation is performed in two steps: (i) transversely compressing said continuous tube, at a point where said continuous tube comprises the top portion of said predetermined amount of flowable material, wherein said transverse compressing is accomplished by deflating jaws while said pouch is indexing; and (ii) further transversely compressing said continuous tube with deflating jaws near or at the end of said indexing of said pouch; and wherein said transvers compressing is accomplished without stopping said pouch for such transverse compressions and wherein an evacuating passage is provided for removing air from said headspace; (D) reducing headspace in the pouch by evacuation and allowing flowable material to remain in the pouch; (E) forming an optimized head space and a pouch having the predetermined amount of flowable material; (F) pinching said continuous tube above a sealing region so as to form a pinched portion of said continuous tube; and (G) sealing said continuous tube at said sealing region to form a top seal of said pouch containing flowable material and a bottom seal of a next-to-be filled pouch.