Patent ID: 6826892
Filing Date: 2004-12-07
Classification: B29C,B29L,B31B,B65B

Abstract:
A vertical pouch forming, filling and sealing machine for making pouches with a liquid content in the range of about 5 to 20 liters, said machine comprising support means for supporting one or more supply rolls of film material, a guide means to support and guide a film sheet from one of said supply rolls along a feed path, a film feed drive for displacing said film sheet along said feed path and through a pouch former where a section of said film sheet is folded and disposed about a drop tube having a liquid fill tube therein, vertical sealing means to form a vertical seal along said folded film sheet, horizontal sealing means to form a bottom seal for a pouch to be filled and a top seal for a filled pouch, severing means to detach said filled pouch from said pouch to be filled, pouch support means to support a bottom end of said pouch during the operation cycle of said horizontal sealing means to prevent the weight of said liquid in said filled pouch from tensioning said film in a hot horizontal seal zone of said horizontal sealing means to compensate for loss of surface tension of said film in said hot horizontal seal zone during a hot horizontal sealing cycle, said support means also restrains said pouch being filled to prevent it from being unstable by ballooning out during the filling cycle, said support means having a discharge gate section to discharge said filled pouch after said horizontal sealing cycle, said discharge gate section being a roller wall discharge gate to gravity discharge said filled pouch to a discharge conveyor.