Abstract:
A method and apparatus for loading and subsequently dispensing a plurality of flexible baglike containers. In one embodiment the baglike containers are configured in an unloaded, empty, mode to be in a substantially flat configuration. These flat items are stacked flat into a batching container and (such as a cardboard box) dispensed “off the bottom” of the stack by a container loading apparatus. The container loading apparatus grasps the flat items, pulls them from the bottom of the stack, and then loads them through a feed hole as known in the art. 
     One of the inventions herein is the particular manner in which the flexible baglike containers are loaded into a stack within the batching container. Under this particular inventive manner, the bags are stacked in offset sub-batches. This provides improved stacking but still provides suitable dispensing characteristics. 
     Another disclosed concept is the use of multiple boxes and an automated feed system for said boxes to reduce associated infeed labor.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the full benefit and priority of pending provisional patent application No. 60/863,219 filed Oct. 27, 2006, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Stacking and Feeding Fillable Flexible Containers.” The entire contents of said application are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to the handling and packaging of items, and particularly relates to a method for providing, stacking, and feeding flexible containers having an uneven cross section such as that provided by a seal. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The present invention is configured to be used in the container environment mentioned above. 
         [0004]    The present invention further provides an improved method and apparatus for loading food containers. 
         [0005]    The present invention further provides an improved method and apparatus for loading food containers, including an improved method and apparatus for reducing the manual labor needed in the infeed of empty containers just prior to loading. 
         [0006]    The present invention further provides an improved method and apparatus for providing boxes of unfilled food containers, said boxes being configured to be readily positioned for automated infeed to the food loading apparatus, with a significant reduction in oversight and of the empty bag infeed process and associated labor. 
         [0007]    Other features are provided and described in the claims as filed, hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  is a pictorial view of a stand-up package  10 , which includes a mouth  11  at one end (proximate the upper right of the drawing), at the other end a base  16  including two base gussets  17 , two opposing side edges  12 , and a seal  20  approximately as shown in dotted line. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a side cross-sectional illustrative view of the bag  10  shown in  FIG. 2 . This bag includes a mouth  11  (towards the right of the drawing), side panels  14 , a base  16  including base gussets  17 , and two seal portions  20 A,  20 B, respectively, which can be pressed together to make up an overall seal element  20 . 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is an illustrative view of the bag of  FIG. 2 , except that it includes contents  5  therein, and is shown standing on its “base.” Dotted lines illustrate the two positions which the side panels  14  may take, with dotted lines showing the “open” position. The mouth of the bag is proximate the top of the drawing. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is an illustrative side view of the bag  10  of  FIG. 2  illustrating generally a closed bag thickness profile having a length “L”. As may be seen, the bag  10  is substantially flat along the majority of its surface, but for the seal  20  (at bump section “B”), which provides a “bump” in the profile of the bag thickness. Not shown is a slight increase in the thickness of one end of the bag due to the existence of folded gussets. The mouth of the bag is proximate the right of the drawing. This seal can be present to various seal configurations, including but not limited to zippers. 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  shows an “offset stacking” concept contemplated by the present invention. As may be seen, sub-batches A, B, and C of stacked items  10  within the overall batch contained within the box container  100 , are positioned as shown by loading from the top. Sub-batch “A,” is offset laterally relative to sub-batch B, which is itself offset relative to sub-batch C. 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  illustrates an empty box  100 , which includes a feed hole  110  having a width “H”. The box  100  also defines a stack width S. For clarity there are no bags within this box (a.k.a. container)  100 . Side support shelves  105  having a width SS are also shown. 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  (Previously  8 ) is an illustrative view illustrating the box-like container  100  including a plurality of stacked bags  10  therein. The lowermost (empty) bag  10 L is shown being pulled off the bottom of the stack downwardly by one of two conventional suction cups  50 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is an illustrative view illustrating the box-like container  100  as viewed from a location beneath the plane of the floor of the container. This view shows one manner in which the floor includes a feed hole  110  which extends in one embodiment the entire length of the floor. The side support shelves  105  comprising the remainder of the floor each have a width SS, which in one embodiment is 15 to 20 percent of the width of the pouches. 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is an illustrative view showing offset stacking and the relative positions of two suction cups  50 . As may be understood the two suction cups come up in tandem, grip the lowermost bag, pull a bag  10  downwardly through a hole in the bottom of the box  100 , and then move the bag away from the box. Typically this movement will be proximate the axis and direction of arrow “A”. 
           [0018]    The offset stacking distance in one embodiment is at a minimum the length of the lip on the pouches (the lip being defined as the amount extending upwardly from the seal location). It may be understood that tear-out panel  107  is in place during the original charge of the empty bags  10  in the box  100 ; this panel (in one embodiment the length of the box) is removed prior to the box being placed into the position of  FIG. 9 . Other boxes  200  and  300  are also shown as examples of how other boxes could be stacked above, beside, or behind the box being discharged, these boxes being available to replace the box  100  once emptied and ejected. 
           [0019]      FIG. 10  is an illustrative view illustrating a prior art method of stacking items such as  10 , and the stacking difficulties inherent therein. This drawing is not to scale and exaggerates the bump accumulation. 
           [0020]      FIG. 11  is an illustrative view illustrating a prior art method of “fanning” items such as  10  for downstream loading. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0021]    While the present invention has been described with reference to one or more particular embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that many changes may be made thereto, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Each of these embodiments and each variation thereof, is contemplated as falling within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention, which is set forth in the following claims. 
         [0022]    A. Stand Up Bags Generally 
         [0023]    Many varieties of bags for flowable products such as liquids, pastes, granulates, flakes, or powders are known. Some examples are “standup” bags, sachets, tubing bags, paper sacks, and even box-like bags such as milk cartons. The bags can be made from coated paper, plastic sheet, metal foil, or plastic-and-foil laminate. Generally, selection of the bag material is determined by the contents of the bag. Other factors which determine the choice of materials are appearance, ability to stand up when filled and/or partially filled, method in which the bags are shipped, strength requirements, need to recycle, and cost. Most known bags have not been able to sufficiently meet all these requirements. Flexible bags are advantageous because they can be folded extremely flat in their empty state so as to require very little space. The filling of such flexible bags with the product is generally performed in an automated operation. The bag is placed upright with its dispensing opening pointing upwardly to permit a filling nozzle to be inserted thereinto. After the bag has been filled, the dispensing opening is closed by welding, sealing, or a closure. 
         [0024]    Conventional standup bags are those with bottom “horizontal” panel gussets, more commonly known as bottom gussets. The gusset is heat-sealed to produce a flexible base on which the bag may stand without support. The base permits the two sidewalls or facewalls to spread at the bottom when the pouch is filled, wherein the bag is a three-panel bag that is self-standing when full or partially full of product heavy enough to bear down on the bottom pane. In most instances, the bottom panel is a separate sheet of flexible material, but some structures fold a single web sheet into a W-shape and heat-seal a base. 
         [0025]    Other standup bag structures known in the art employ sidewall folds or side gussets and overlapping flat sheet bases. These standup bags do not stand up as well because they do not have the bottom gusset and have been used more successfully for dry products than for liquids. 
         [0026]    Such standup bags are adaptable for packaging of liquids and dry products and are suitable replacement for other types of packaging such as plastic or glass bottles, cans, and boxes. One of the advantages standup bags is that they are environmentally sound, offering source reduction of solid waste ranging from 70% to 90% by both weight and volume. As a result, the use of standup bags reduces the need for recycling landfill, and/or incineration. Another advantage of standup bags is that they offer the use of four to six color graphs for improved shelf appeal and acceptance. Standup bags further offer cost savings due to reduced transportation costs. Unlike the shipping of traditional large plastic empty containers, there is no shipping of air. There is further savings with reduced inventory save space and storage costs for containers. Standup bags take up about 1/80 th  the volume compared to storing an equal quantity of rigid containers. 
         [0027]    In general, standup bags may be classified as one of two types: preformed bags and form-fill-seal bags. Preformed standup bags are made on a separate converting machine and delivered to a packager in ready-to-open, fill-and-close form, while the form-fill-seal bags are fabricated in-line by the packager from flexible roll stock materials on machines that fold the sidewalls and die-cut openings for heat sealing into the bottom section. 
         [0028]    B. General Bag Loading and Unloading 
         [0029]    Generally described, the bags such as  10  in  FIG. 1  are stacked flat within a box  100  such as is shown in  FIG. 7 . These bags are stacked in an “offset” fashion as shown in  FIGS. 5 and 9  such that the thick cross sectional portions provided by the seals at  20  are not compounded together in the final stack. 
         [0030]    The bags are pulled or otherwise moved from the bottom of the stack such as shown in  FIG. 7  through a feed hole (such as  110  in  FIG. 8 ) in the bottom of the stack. 
         [0031]    C. The Bag  10   
         [0032]    Reference is now made of  FIG. 1  showing a stand-up package  10  having a mouth  11 , side edges  12 , a base  16 , and one of two side panels  14  shown. Shown in dotted line is a seal  20 . 
         [0033]      FIG. 2  is a side cross-sectional illustrative view of the bag  10  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 1 . This figure illustrates the seal  20  separated as two sealed portions  20 A,  20 B, respectively, which make up the overall seal element  20 . 
         [0034]      FIG. 3  shows the bag of  FIG. 2 , except that it includes contents  5  therein, and is shown standing on its “base.” Dotted lines illustrate the two positions which the side panels  14  may take. 
         [0035]      FIG. 4  is an illustrative side view of the bag  10  of  FIG. 1  illustrating generally a bag thickness profile having a length “L”. As may be seen, the bag  10  is substantially flat along the majority of its surface, but for a particular seal  20  (at bump section “B”), which provides a “bump” in the profile of the bag thickness. Not shown is a slight increase in the thickness of one end of the bag due to the existence of folded gussets. 
         [0036]    D. Stacking of the Bag  10   
         [0037]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 10 , which illustrates a prior art method of stacking items such as  10  and the stacking difficulties inherent therein. As may be seen, the bulges B in the cross sections of the bags  10  cause a stacking difficulty, which as the bags accumulate, tends to accumulate a disadvantageous instability in the bag stack. As may be understood, this accumulated “bump” B is of particular concern with respect to stacking, in that these thicker areas can tend to accumulate quickly and cause difficulty in stacking the items. 
         [0038]    Furthermore, pressure on the seals can tend to cause them to close, which is also disadvantageous in that downstream loading techniques often rely on an at least partially opened seal. 
         [0039]      FIG. 11  shows a manner in which to avoid such stacking problems of  FIG. 10 , but which is disadvantageous in that typically labor is needed to provide such a stacking. 
         [0040]      FIG. 8  illustrates an empty box  100 , which includes a hole width “H”. The box  100  also includes a stack width “S”. It may be seen that there are no bags within this container  100 .  FIG. 7  (Previously  8 ) is an illustrative view illustrating the box-like container including a plurality of stacked stand-up packages  10  together of which make a “cartridge”. 
         [0041]      FIGS. 5 and 9  show details regarding the “offset stacking” concept contemplated by the present invention. As may be seen in  FIG. 5 , sub-batches (a.k.a., subgroups) A, B, and C of stacked items  10  within the overall batch (a.k.a. “group”) contained within the box container  100 , are positioned as shown. Sub-batch “A,” is offset relative to sub-batch B, which is itself offset relative to sub-batch C. 
         [0042]    It may be understood that the offsetting in  FIG. 5  includes two general stacking locations. As may be understood, the bags when being stacked would be offset every given number of bags stacked. For example, for every three bags, the offset stacker could offset its position, providing three bags in a “first” stacking position, three more bags in a “second” stacking position, and then repeating the process. 
         [0043]    However, it should be understood that more than two separate stacking positions (such as is the case in  FIG. 5 ) could be used in the offset manner, with three stacking locations being provided. It may also be understood that it is not necessary that a plurality of bags be included in each sub-batch—one bag could be used in each sub-batch. Subgroups of five, ten, twenty, and other numbers have been found suitable. 
         [0044]    Therefore, it may be seen that this “offstacking” or “offset stacking” provides an improved means for stacking multiple items. 
         [0045]    The Various Elements
         5  Contents of bag     50  Suction Cups (typ)     10  Stand Up Package (a.k.a. “Bag” or “Pouch”)     11  Mouth     12  Side Edges ( 2 )     14  Side Panels ( 2 )     16  Base     17  Base Gussets ( 2 )     18       20  Seal     20 A,  20 B Seal Portions     100  Box     101  Side Walls     102  End Walls     105  Side Support Shelves     107  Tear-Out Panel     110  Feed Hole (exposed upon tear-out of removable panel)     200  Next available box     300  Next available box       
 
         [0065]    E. The Boxes  100   
         [0066]    As noted above, the box-like containers  100  are configured to include a plurality of stacked stand-up packages  10 . 
         [0067]    Under one embodiment of the present invention, the containers do not include the feed hole  110  when the bags are first loaded into the containers  100 ; a removable panel (not shown) is in place, which may then be torn out (due to perforations or the like) or otherwise removed just prior to the container being introduced to the apparatus removing and loading the bags. The removable panel would provide support at the bottom of the container  100  during its loading and transporting stages, with the panel being torn out towards the end of its service life. 
         [0068]    Under this configuration, once an empty box is sensed, the empty box would be ejected, a new box would be introduced, and the loading process would be continued. 
         [0069]    F Feeding of Multiple Boxes  100 ,  200 ,  300   
         [0070]    Reference is now made to  FIG. 9 , which illustrates not only box  100  in solid line, but also portions of boxes  200  and  300  in phantom. One significant advantage of the invention is the provision for not only improved feeding of the bags  10 , but the feeding of the boxes. 
         [0071]    It may be understood that there is a high need for manual labor involved in known prior art configurations, especially at relatively high bagging rates. However, due to the improvements provided by the invention, once the bags have been boxed, the use of a automated box feed system is possible as part of the present invention. Multiple vertical stacks or infeed lines, or both, of boxes such as  200  and  300  respectively may be used under the present invention. This feeding could be done from any side of the box, from above the box, or even from below. 
         [0072]    This is a vast improvement over the prior art; essentially in order to provide a supply of bags to the bagging apparatus (not shown), all that needs to be done is for an operator to tear away strip  107  from the box the size of the feed hole  100  (perforations as known in the art may be provided), and then the box and other similarly prepared boxes may be loaded relative to the bagging apparatus such that once one box is empty, the box is automatically ejected and a new full box is available to feed the bagging apparatus. This is a significant improvement over the known prior art, as this allows for multiple boxes  100 ,  200 , and/or  300  to be loaded for eventual automatic feeding and emptying, with little oversight needed but to make sure the boxes are replenished as needed.