Patent ID: 6185908
Filing Date: 2001-02-13
Classification: B65B,Y10T

Abstract:
In an automatic form, fill and seal machine comprising:a web source adapted to allow a continuous web material to dispense as a continuous longitudinal sheet;a forming mandril that receives the continuous web from the web source and forms a tube of web material, the forming mandril having a spout that inputs items to be packaged and outputs the items into the tube of web material;a tube heat sealing mechanism that seals together portions of the continuous web along longitudinal edge portions of the web material to secure the web material as a tube; anda cross sealing and cutting mechanism located downstream of the forming mandril that cuts the sealed tube transversely and heat seals along the transverse cut to sequentially form and seal a plurality of sealed packages, each sealed package containing items output from the forming mandril into the tube of web material before the respective package is fully sealed;a method of packaging items in a mesh bag comprising the steps of:providing a continuous web of thermal sealable plastic mesh material from the source with sequentially spaced thermal sealable filler strips attached to a first side of the web, said filler strips spaced apart longitudinally along the web at a distance defined by the length of the sealed packages;dispensing the thermal sealable mesh web from the web source and feeding the thermal sealable mesh web over the forming mandril to form a mesh tube;using the tube heat sealing mechanism to seal together portions of the thermal sealable mesh web along the longitudinal edge portions to secure the mesh tube;cross cutting and sealing the heat sealed mesh tube sequentially at the locations of the filler strips to provide fully sealed mesh packages with the filler strips incorporated into the transverse heat seals downstream of the forming mandril; andplacing items to be packaged through the mandril and into the heat sealed mesh tube before the respective mesh package is fully cross sealed.