Patent ID: 6619018
Filing Date: 2003-09-16
Classification: B65B

Abstract:
A bagging and packaging machine which comprises:a bag former including a sailor member and a tube member connected with the sailor member and operable to form a strip of packaging material into a tubular form with opposite longitudinal side edges thereof overlapping with each other; a vertical sealing means for sealing the overlapping longitudinal side edges of the strip of packaging material, which has been formed into the tubular form by the bag former, to provide a longitudinally sealed tubular packaging material; a substitute gas supply passage provided inside the tube member for introducing a substitute gas into the bag-shaped longitudinally sealed tubular packaging material for replacement of air inside the bag-shaped longitudinally sealed tubular packaging material, said substitute gas supply passage having a cross-sectional area that is greater at a downstream side thereof than at an upstream side thereof with respect to a direction of flow of the substitute gas; and a transverse sealing means for sealing the longitudinally sealed tubular packaging material in a direction generally perpendicular to a longitudinal sense of the longitudinally sealed tubular packaging material to render the latter in a bag form, with articles introduced into the bag-shaped longitudinally sealed tubular packaging material through the tube member; wherein the substitute gas has a composition other than that of air; and wherein a longitudinal portion of the tube member, which is opposite a wall having a surface where the opposite longitudinal side edges of the strip of packaging material are overlapped, is left open.