Patent ID: 6729112
Filing Date: 2004-05-04
Classification: B65B

Abstract:
A tubular bagging machine for forming a bag, comprising:a flat foil web having two laterally spaced edges carried on a storage roller; at least one guide roller for feeding the flat foil web to an asymmetrical forming shoulder, the asymmetrical forming shoulder including collar parts which have different length and are positioned to form the flat foil web into a foil tube wherein the two laterally spaced edges become mutually adjacent and overlapping; a fill pipe positioned along a transport path and downstream of the forming shoulder, the fill pipe having plural corners, the mutually adjacent and overlapping edges of the foil web being oriented by the asymmetrical forming shoulder at one corner of the fill pipe to define a fin at the one corner that projects one of (a) away from the corner and a theoretical plane containing a central longitudinal axis of the fill pipe and intersecting a sidewall of the fill pipe intermediate the one corner and a next adjacent corner and (b) away from the corner toward the theoretical plane to overlay the sidewall; a foil removing means configured to transport the foil tube along the transport path, said transport path having a longitudinal axis coextensive with the central longitudinal axis of the fill pipe; a longitudinal welding device provided downstream of the forming shoulder and aligned with the mutually adjacent and overlapping edges for forming a first longitudinal seam thereat; plural expanding elements positioned downstream of said first longitudinal welding device, each of the expanding elements being configured to deflect the foil tube away from the central longitudinal axis and into an overlapping relation to form an edge at a plurality of corners of the fill pipe; plural edge welding devices positioned along the transport path downstream of the expanding elements and corresponding in number to the number of plural expanding elements, each of the plural welding devices being configured to be directed against the corresponding deflected edge of the foil tube to form a second longitudinal welding seam at each of the plural edges, one of the plural edge welding devices being offset out of alignment with the longitudinal welding device so that one of the second longitudinal welding seams produced by the one of the plural edge welding devices is oriented offset from and along side of the first longitudinal seam; and a transverse welding device positioned along the transport path downstream of the plural edge welding devices and including first and second jaws configured to create a cross seam in the foil tube, wherein a separating device is included in at least one of the first and second jaws and is configured to separate the foil tube along the cross seam.