Patent Publication Number: US-2005119101-A1

Title: Method and apparatus for manufacturing handles for bags

Description:
The present invention relates to a machine for forming and applying paper bag handles to bags.  
      Many forms of bags are used for packaging purposes or to carry shopping. These bags are easier to carry when provided with a pair of handles. Bags can be made of paper, foil material, plastic, fabric or the like, but it is particularly, though not necessarily exclusively, paper bags to which the present invention is directed and the means of forming and applying paper handles to these bags.  
      Paper bags can be first manufactured by a bag making machine without handles by cutting blanks of any predetermined size from paper webs followed by folding and bonding the blanks. The bags leave the machine, flat and are usually collected and stored in a hopper for supply to a handle forming and application machine which attaches handles to the outside of preformed bags. This provides bags with external handles.  
      Alternatively, bags with internal handles can be made (unless produced by hand) by first forming the handles with the bag forming and application machine and then attaching them to the sides of a bag making stock which is subsequently made by the bag making machine into individual bags having handles on the inside faces.  
      Examples of handle forming and application machines are described in, e.g.: DE 1152 602, U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,007, U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,556, U.S. Pat. No. 2,625,862 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,506.  
      The following is a description of an example handle forming and application machine, known as the Windmöller &amp; Hölscher T1441 Handler, that is well known and in use at the time of the present invention. The Windmöller &amp; Hölscher T1441 Handler is an example of a handle application machine for forming bags with external handles.  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic side view of the above named machine. Conventionally, two reels  10  of 45 mm wide paper strip  9  are used to supply the paper stock from which the handles are produced. The paper from each reel  10  is fed to separate, but substantially identical former drums  11 , which form the handles and apply them to preformed bags  26  (see  FIG. 9 ) such that two handles are produced simultaneously for attachment to opposite sides of the preformed bags  26 .  
      A paper strip  9  from one of the reels is fed first to a paper strip creaser  1 , which imparts two parallel longitudinal creases along the length of the paper strip  9 , as shown in  FIG. 4 . The two creases, shown by the dashed lines, divide the strip of paper into three sections, two outer portions  12 ,  13  and a central portion  14 . Glue is coated onto the two outer portions  12 ,  13  of the creased paper strip  9  by a glue applicator  2  before they are folded inwardly towards the centre portion  14  by a paper strip folder  3 . A freshly creased, folded and glued paper strip  9 ′ is then rolled to ensure flatness, resulting in a three ply paper strip  9 ′ that is 18 mm in width and has a basis weight of e.g. 375 grams per square metre (gsm).  
      The layered strip of paper  9 ′, once cured, is then cut, across its width, and separated by an elliptical gear  4  into smaller individual handle lengths  15  (see  FIG. 5 ). The separated handle lengths  15  are transferred to a rotating former drum  11  which is rotating in a plane perpendicular to the direction of movement of the incoming paper strip  9 ′.  
       FIG. 2  shows a front view of this machine. A mechanical transfer gripper  5  individually transfers the handle lengths  15  to a vacuum mechanical gripper  16  (see  FIG. 3 ) for gripping the handle lengths  15  to the former drum  11  and across its width. The former drum  11  does not actually look like a drum and is simply a double gripper  16  station running the diameter of the rotating part and rotating at the middle.  
      The handles  17  formed are of general U-shape with the legs of the U  18  being attached to the preformed bag and the bight of the U  19  for holding the bag when in use. The vacuum mechanical gripper  16  of the prior art is effectively a station either side of the former drum  11  and consists of two parts: the mechanical gripper part  20  and the vacuum gripper part  21 . The mechanical gripper part  20  holds each handle length  15  to the former drum  11  at two places, as shown, both of which are inside the bight portion  19  of the substantially U-shaped handle. The vacuum gripper part  21  maintains the legs  18  of the handle  17  in position once they have been folded over as described below.  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , to form the U shape from the incoming handle lengths  15 , the handle lengths  15  are creased, by a creaser  22 , outside of the mechanical gripper  20  holding them to the former drum.  FIG. 5  shows that the creases, again shown by dotted lines, are equally spaced either side of the centre of the handle length  15  with the distance between the creases being determined by the desired dimensions of the handle  17 .  
      Referring back to  FIG. 2 , the creased handle lengths  15  are then shaped against a forming plate  23  by folding over the parts  18  (see  FIG. 5 ) of the handle lengths  15  outside the creases  18 , which will form the legs  18  of the substantially U-shaped handles  17 .  
      The handle length  15 , having been dragged through a creaser  22  and the handle shaping former plate  23 , is now of substantially U-shaped form. The mechanical gripper part  20  of the vacuum mechanical gripper  16  continues to grasp the bight of the U  19 , while the legs of the U  18  are maintained in their now folded over position by the vacuum gripper part  21 , which pulls the legs  18  of the U-shaped handle  17  towards the former drum  11 .  
      The U-shaped handle  17  is transferred onto a paste application drum  24 , which utilizes the same type of vacuum mechanical gripper  16  as the former drum  11 . The paste application drum  24  applies cold adhesive, such as glue, to the peripheral attachment portions  25  (see  FIG. 3 ) of the handle legs  18  that will form the attachment bond with the preformed paper bags. The glue is fed from paste pots  45  to the paste application drum  24  via rollers. As the paste application drum  24  rotates, the gripped handle  17  is pulled through a paste applicator  30  and is brought into contact with the outside of the top edge  27  of a preformed bag  26 , thereby attaching the handle  17  to the preformed bag  26 , as shown in  FIG. 9 . A bond is formed joining the attachment portions  25  of the legs of the handle to the preformed bag  26 , with the handle  17  extending away from the top edge  27  of the preformed bag  26 . The attachment portions  25  can overlap the preformed bag  26  by 75 mm. The actual size of the attachment portions  25  is not critical and is dependent upon the requirements of the final desired dimensions of the preformed bag  26 .  
      Simultaneously, paper from the other reel  29  is processed in the same way along a parallel path comprising an identical former drum  11  and paste application drum  24 . Thus, at the attachment stage a substantially U-shaped handle  17  is being applied simultaneously to the opposite outside face of the preformed bag  26 .  
      Referring back to  FIG. 2 , typically, the preformed bags  26 , which are fed from a hopper  28 , are fed onto the paste application drum  24  such that the handles  17  and the preformed bags  26  are coincident. In the machine described, the preformed bags  26  fed from the hopper  28  fall onto a mechanical gripper drum  29 , which grips a preformed bag  26  from the hopper  28  and rotates towards a chain driven pusher where the preformed bags  26  are deposited. The preformed bags  26  are then pushed towards the paste application drum  24  by belt-driven conveyors  31 . The machine of the prior art uses side walls on the conveyors  31  to guide the preformed bags as they are transported towards the area of the machine where the handles  17  are applied.  
      The preformed bags  26  are conveyed between a nip formed by upper and lower paste application drums  30 , where U-shaped handles  17  are bonded to opposite outside faces of the preformed bag  26  by the above described processes.  
      The preformed bags  26  with handles  17 , can then be transferred out of the machine into a collection tray.  
      The above described Prior Art paper bag handle forming and application machine suffers from many drawbacks, some of which the present invention aims to resolve.  
      One difficulty encountered in running handle attaching machines of the prior art is that the speed of the former drum and paste application drum are limited by the efficiency of the vacuum of the vacuum mechanical grippers. The speed may also suffer as a consequence of the multiple handle transfers. The machines of the prior art are rated at 150 bags per minute, with the normal operating figure being just 120 bags per minute. However, the prior art bag making machine is capable of supplying bags at 200 to 300 bags per minute meaning that the paper bag handle attaching machine is not running at its full potential. Hence, for optimum machine operation, the handle forming and application machine could be run at a faster speed, closer to the maximum speed of the bag feeder or the bag making stock feeder. The vacuum has a further drawback of having a large energy consumption.  
      The present invention provides an apparatus for attaching paper handles to bags or bag making material, comprising: a paper source for supplying paper; a first transverse cutting means for cutting the paper across its width into paper segments; a first handle forming and attachment unit for forming the paper segments from the first transverse cutting means into substantially U-shaped handles and attaching the substantially U-shaped handles to a first surface of bags or bag making material; paper segment gripping means for holding a paper segment to the handle forming and attachment unit; and a mechanical guide means extending over at least a portion of the first handle forming and attachment unit for maintaining the substantial U-shape of the handles.  
      A corresponding method for manufacturing paper handles is also provided.  
      The method and apparatus of this aspect of the invention provides a means of gripping the handle segments to the handle forming and attachment unit without the use of vacuum.  
      This will allow the machine to operate at speeds not limited by the efficiency of any vacuum and improve the energy efficiency of the machine.  
      In prior art handles, each handle is transferred four times: to the transfer gripper; to the vacuum mechanical gripper at the former drum; to the paste application drum and finally to the preformed bag. Each transfer increases the risk and incidence of a transfer failure, which will reduce the handle application efficiency of the machine and would result in paper jams which take time to fix.  
      In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides an apparatus for attaching paper handles to bags or bag making material, wherein feeding means for feeding the paper segments to the handle forming and attachment unit impart sufficient momentum to the paper segment to transfer the paper segment to the first handle forming and attachment unit by means of the momentum imparted to it. Also in a preferred embodiment, the paper segment is held by the gripping means in use during forming into a substantially U-shaped handle and wherein said gripping means releases the handle for attachment to the bag or bag making material.  
      This preferred embodiment of the invention reduces the number of transfers in transferring the paper to the handle forming and attachment unit and during the handle forming and attachment process as compared to the Prior Art. Less transfers means a lower risk of transfer failure.  
      The ply of the paper is therefore maintained from paper supply to the handle forming and attachment units.  
      A paper strip having a basis weight of 375 grams per square metre (gsm), as is conventionally used for making handles in the machine described above, is far greater than what is usually needed to hold the bag for normal applications. The paper layering or folding (as described above in relation to  FIG. 4 ) is standard in prior art machines, but introduces additional steps and complications to the paper bag handle forming process and apparatus. Furthermore, the creaser, needed to allow folding of the single-ply strip into a three-ply strip, turns a full revolution for each handle, the impact doing sufficient damage to the paper to require a minimum paper thickness of no less than 330 gsm. This increased wear of the handles due to effects of the extreme creasing operation has resulted in the use of heavier paper than would normally be needed for a bag handle in use. Also, the paste pots which provide the glue used to fix the paper strip into its layered configuration, needs to be constantly topped up for proper function, thus adding expense to the handle forming operation.  
      Another preferred embodiment of the invention provides an apparatus for attaching paper handles to bags or bag making material, wherein the paper from the paper source is greater than 250 gsm.  
      The paper for making the handles is not creased and folded in the longitudinal direction and glued in place to form thicker paper. A lower basis weight paper can, therefore, be used, which is more suitable for its eventual use and more cost effective. Glue is obviously no longer needed to hold the folds of the layered strip of paper into position, so production costs are reduced.  
      The use of two reels of paper strip in the Prior Art, as the starting stock for forming the handles, requires two reel changes when the need arises. This can prove both time consuming and troublesome.  
      According to a further preferred embodiment, there is provided an apparatus for attaching paper handles to bags or bag making material, including a longitudinal cutting means for cutting the paper along its length into a plurality of paper strips; a second transverse cutting means for cutting a paper strip across its width into paper segments; and a second handle forming and attachment unit for forming paper segments from the second transverse cutting means into a substantially U-shaped handle and attaching the substantially U-shaped handle to a second surface of the bag or bag making material; and feeding means for feeding the paper strips from the longitudinal cutting means either to the first transverse cutting means or to the second transverse cutting means.  
      This embodiment of the invention provides a machine with only a single source of paper, meaning less paper is required to produce a pair of handles than in the Prior Art and less time is required for the changeover of the paper source.  
      In the prior art, the gripper drum, when removing bags from the hopper, sometimes has a tendency to take more than one bag at a time. Any extra bags will serve to jam up the former drum. Also, an operator is required on either end of the machine, feeding the bags in and taking them off, with the operator feeding the bags also monitoring for double bag feed. When bags jam in the handle forming and application machine, they usually knock out the timing of the conveyor belts feeding the bags to the former drums. Also, every time a bag jams in the machine it may knock out the alignment of some or all of the parts of the former drum such as the creaser, the shaping of the handles against the former plate, or even the vacuum mechanical grippers. These bag jams can take an excessive time to fix. The problem of multiple simultaneous bag feed not only involves the extra labour costs of having the bag feeder monitored, but also involves machine downtime and the need for maintenance when a jam occurs. Furthermore, when the size of the preformed bags are changed, the grippers and the conveyor side walls require changing. Hence, both the hopper and the conveyors need adjusting to fit the bag being used.  
      Another preferred embodiment of the invention provides an apparatus for attaching paper handles to bags or bag making material, including a transport means for feeding bags or bag making material from a bag or bag making material supply unit, said supply unit for supplying bags or bag making material to the first handle forming and attachment unit, wherein the apparatus further comprises a bag gripping means for removing the bags or bag making material from the bag supply unit and an air under pressure supply for pushing the bags or bag making material to the transport meansthe bags are pushed from the bag supply unit to the transport means using air under pressure.  
      This preferred embodiment of the invention can be used in combination with a handle application machine of the prior art, but is preferably used with the apparatus provided by the present invention.  
      This embodiment provides a more reliable bag supply, with the incidence of multiple simultaneous bag feed being reduced compared to that of the Prior Art.  
      Maintenance of the handle application machines of the Prior Art can take up to two hours because of the present structure of the machines. The frequency of breakdowns due to multiple simultaneous bag feeds and the length of each maintenance time reduce the productive output of the machine.  
      Another preferred embodiment of the invention provides an apparatus for attaching paper handles to bags or bag making material, including side access means for accessing the internal components of the apparatus from at least one side of the machine.  
      This embodiment of the invention provides a side access means, which should considerably reduce maintenance time, especially when fixing bag jams.  
      In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a method and apparatus is provided wherein the paper is cut along its width into paper segments which are transferred to the handle forming and attachment unit and decelerated and appropriately positioned to allow gripping by the gripping means, with this decelerating and positioning preferably occurring by means of a brush.  
      Another preferred method and apparatus of the invention provides cutting means for cutting the paper along its width into paper segments and a gripping means for gripping the paper segments to the handle forming and attachment unit during handle forming, application of handle attaching means to the substantially U-shaped handle and releasing of the paper segment by the gripping means for attachment to a bag or bag making material of the substantially U-shaped handle.  
      In a further preferred method and apparatus of the invention there is provided a bag supply unit for the supply of bags and a transport means for feeding the bags from the bag supply unit to the handle forming and attachment unit, wherein the bag supply unit comprises a bag container and a bag gripping means and wherein a bag is removed from the bag container in a direction not in the direction of movement of the transport means and wherein air under pressure pushes the removed bag to the transport means. Preferably, the bag passes through a brush during transferring from the bag supply unit to the transport means.  
      In another preferred method and apparatus of the invention there is provided a removable bag supply unit.  
      The present invention provides a handle forming and application machine which solves the above mentioned problems. 
    
    
      Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the drawings.  
       FIG. 1  shows a side view of a prior art handle forming and application machine, as previously described.  
       FIG. 2  shows a front view of the machine of  FIG. 1 .  
       FIG. 3  shows a vacuum mechanical gripper holding a handle against a former drum of the prior art, as described above.  
       FIG. 4  shows a paper strip after being creased along the length of the paper by the machine of the Prior Art.  
       FIG. 5  shows an individual handle length with creases for allowing it to be folded into a U shaped handle.  
       FIG. 6  shows a side view of the paper handle forming and application machine of the present invention.  
       FIG. 7  shows a front view of the machine of  FIG. 6 .  
       FIG. 8  shows a mechanical gripper and raised rail guide holding a handle against the former drum according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 9  shows a preformed paper bag before and after handle application. 
    
    
      As shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the handle forming and application machine of the present invention consists of three major components: a single paper source  32 , two parallel former drums  33  (which, in parallel, provide handles  17  for each side of the preformed bags  26 ) and a bag supply  34 . The paper source  32  is a reel of paper strip  35 . The paper strip  35  is cut down the middle into two halves, one half being fed to each of the former drums  33 , as a starting stock for forming the handles  17 . The paper strip  35  is cut into appropriately sized handle lengths  15  before being accepted by the former drum  33 . The former drum  33  creases and folds the handle lengths  15  into individual substantially U-shaped handles  17 . This handle making process is carried out essentially simultaneously on each former drum  33  so as to provide pairs of handles for application to the outside of opposite sides of preformed bags  26  being fed to the former drum  33 . The bag supply  34  controls the feeding of one preformed bag  26  at a time, without handles, to the former drum  33 .  
      An alternative to the above described machine is to use bag making stock instead of preformed bags  26 . The handles  17  will be manufactured first, in accordance with the methods and apparatus of the present invention, and attached to the bag making material. The bag manufacturing machine will then form the bag making material into individual bags. The present invention can, therefore, produce bags with internal or external handles  17 .  
      In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the source of the paper strip  35  is a single reel  32  of 38 mm wide paper held on a turret stand  37 . The turret stand  37  will allow quick changeover when the need occurs. The paper is pulled from the reel  32  and fed, by conventional means such as rollers, to a cutter  36  for dividing the paper strip  35  roughly down the middle in a longitudinal direction. This provides a paper strip  35  for each former drum  33 , while only a single reel source  32  is used. Each paper strip  35  is then fed to a respective former drum  33  for handle forming and application to different sides of the preformed paper bags  26  or bag making stock.  
      The paper strips  35  are provided to the former drums  33  without any creasing, folding or layering and without gluing the outer portions  12 ,  13 , (see  FIG. 4 ) as required in the Prior Art machines described above. Conventionally, the ply of the paper is increased by the creasing and folding steps, but this is preferably not performed by the process of the present invention where the ply of the paper strip  35  is maintained from the reel  32  to the former drum  33 .  
      The layering of the paper is not required because the handle lengths  15  are not treated as roughly in the later stages of the handle forming and application process of the invention as they are in the prior art. This overall reduction in processing steps and wear of the paper means a lower basis weight paper of preferably between about 250 to about 280 gsm may be provided at the former drum  33 . However, the exact basis weights used can obviously be altered to the specific requirements of the handle  17  ultimately produced. The paper strip  35  can be thinner in width than is conventional, as although it is being cut into two paper strips  35 , it is not being folded into three layers, as in the Prior Art. In its preferred forms, the present invention, therefore, uses less paper than is conventional.  
      One example of the dimensions of the paper strip  35  used is 38 mm in width at its source, before being cut into two paper strips  35  of 19 mm in width each. Again, any specific width paper strip  35  may be used to suit the needs of the handles  17  eventually produced.  
      The paper strip  35  requires fewer processing steps before being fed to the former drum  33  compared to the prior art, requiring a less complicated processing apparatus. Furthermore, there is no need for a constant supply of glue to the paper strip  35 . Another advantage is that the paper strip  35  provided to the former drum  33  has not been damaged by any creasing step and as it is, in its preferred form, only single-ply, it will be more easily manipulated when folding into substantially U-shaped handles  17 .  
      The paper strip  35  is, as is conventional, cut across its width and separated into separate handle lengths  15  (shown in  FIG. 5 ) appropriately sized as required for the eventual handle  17 , before being fed to the former drum  33 . Any means known in the art can be used to cut and separate these handle sections or lengths from the paper strip  35 .  
      The handle lengths  15  are transferred to the surface of the former drum  33 . The cylindrically shaped former drum  33  accepts the incoming handle lengths  15  across its width. The former drum  33  is rotating in a plane perpendicular to the direction of movement of the incoming handle lengths  15 , such that if viewed in the line of the direction of movement of the incoming handle lengths  15 , the handle lengths  15 , once positioned on the rotating former drum  33 , would be travelling either left or right depending on whether the drum was rotating clockwise or anticlockwise respectively. Each handle length  15 , once positioned on the former drum  33  is grasped by a spring-loaded gripper  38  (shown in  FIG. 6 ). The handle lengths  15  are transferred from the former drum  33  and forced onto the spring-loaded gripper  38  only by means of the machine speed. The momentum imparted to the handle length  15  as it is fed to the former drum  33  is, preferably, all that is used in transferring the handle length  15  to the former drum  33 . Preferably, no additional transferring means are used to perform the handle length  15  transfer. A brush, acting as a brake, is used to decelerate the handle lengths  15  and properly position them on the former drum  33 .  
      As shown in  FIG. 5 , the spring-loaded gripper  38  catches the leading edge of the handle length  15 , relative to the rotation direction of the former drum  33 . The handle length  15  is grasped, preferably, in a single centrally located position by the spring-loaded gripper  38 .  
      With reference to  FIG. 7 , the handle length  15  continues to be held to the former drum  33  by the spring loaded gripper  38  as it is passed through a cylindrical creaser  39 , a former plate  40  and a hot melt applicator  41 . The cylindrical creaser  39  serves to crease the handle section  15  across its width, generally, in two positions, as shown by the dotted lines in  FIG. 5 , equally spaced from the centre  19  of the handle length. As shown in  FIG. 8 , these creases are where the corners  42  of the portion of the produced handle  17  to be held by the user will occur. As can be seen, the distance between these creases form the portion of the handle  17  to be held. Referring now to  FIG. 5 , the two portions  18  outside of these creases are folded over at the former plate  40 , preferably backwards relative to the rotation direction the former drum  33 , so away from the leading edge being gripped by the spring loaded gripper  38 , to form the legs  18  of the handle  17  as shown in  FIG. 8 .  
      This results in a substantially U-shaped handle  17 , with the parallel legs  18  of the U being the result of the fold over of the two outside parts  18  of the creased handle length  15 . The bight of the U  19  achieved from this process is the portion of the handle  17  to be held when in use.  
      Any creasing and folding means known in the art to produce such handles  17  may be used. Furthermore, the exact shape of the handles  17  is not essential as long as it performs the purpose of providing a handle  17  to be held when carrying a bag  26 .  
      The hot melt applicator  41  applies hot melt adhesive to the attachment portions  25  of the legs  18  of the U-shaped handles  17 , as shown in  FIG. 8 .  FIG. 9  shows how the attachment portions  25  serve to overlap with the outside of the top edge  27  of the sides of the preformed bags  26  so that the handles  17  are fixed to the preformed bags  26  thereby producing bags with external handles. Alternatively, the handles  17  are attached in the same way only to bag making stock before it is made into individual bags with internal handles  17 . The handles  17  are not transferred to a separate pasting drum as is conventional in the art for applying cold adhesive to the legs  18  of the handles  17 . Instead, the spring loaded gripper  38  continues to hold the U-shaped handle  17  as the hot melt adhesive is coated onto the attachment portions  25  of the legs  18  of the U-shaped handles  17 . Any other means for attaching the U-shaped handles  17  to the preformed bags  26  can, of course, be used.  
      The spring loaded gripper  38  is finally forced to release the handle  17  by a cam at the centre of the former drum when the handle is to be applied to the preformed bags  26  or the bag making stock.  
      Thus, in the preferred embodiment, there are only two transfers of each handle  17 : to the spring-loaded gripper  28  and to the preformed bags  26  or the bag making stock. This is an improvement over the prior art where four transfers are generally employed. This improvement reduces the risk of transfer failures.  
      Preferably, a raised rail guide  43  extends around a portion, or all, of the former drum  33  to maintain the U-shape of the handles  17  once the legs  18  have been folded into position. As the U-shaped handles  17  rotate on the former drum  33  for hot melt application and attachment, the foldover portions  18  of the handles  17  are maintained in this state by means of the raised guide rail  43  and without the need for vacuum suction pulling the legs  18  toward the drum. This, in combination with the spring-loaded gripper  38 , eliminates the need for any vacuum in the machine, as is desirable. The machine speed is therefore not limited by the efficiency of any vacuum. This along with other improvements in the operation of the handle forming and application machine, as describe above, makes the machine capable of running at a speed comparable to the rate of the bag manufacturing machine, e.g. 280 bags per minute, and is preferably geared to operate at that speed. The lack of vacuum should also reduce the energy consumption of this part of the machine, as compared to the prior art.  
      Although the present description describes an embodiment in which two handles are made at a time, it is possible that the invention could be incorporated into a machine which manufactures more than two handles in parallel. In such a machine, for example, more than two parallel paths of drums could be provided. Alternatively, a number of equally spaced spring loaded grippers  38  may be disposed over the circumference of the former drum  33  so that a plurality of preformed bags  26  can be processed during any one revolution of the former drum  33 . Preferably, as is shown in  FIG. 7 , there are four spring loaded grippers  38  spaced around the circumference of the former drum  33  such that four bags have handles  17  applied per revolution of the former drum  33 . The spring loaded grippers could be spaced along the width of the circumference of the former drum  33  or spaced length ways as shown. The former version will require parallel preformed bag or bag making stock feeds  26  and the paper strip  35  being longitudinally cut by cutter  36  into an appropriate number of paper strips  35 . The latter version will require preformed bags  26  or bag making stock to be fed at the same frequency as the handles  17  are being produced. These alternatives will require slightly different configurations of the machine, such as to the paper strip feeding means, the cutter  36 , possibly, though not preferably, the number of reels, the preformed bag  26  feeding rate and style, etc. Such modifications would be appreciated by one skilled in the art.  
      With reference to  FIG. 7 , preformed bags  26  may be collected and stored in a hopper  34  for use as the supply of preformed bags  26  for application of handles  17  by the above described machine, as is well known in the art. Alternatively, the supply of the preformed bags  26  may be a conveyor feeding bags directly from a bag manufacturing machine. Preferably, the hopper  34  is removable, thereby allowing for both configurations. Preferably, upon removal of the hopper  34 , the motor for the paper bag carrying conveyor would be disconnected and the machine would be linked directly to the bag manufacturing machine.  
      In the case where no hopper is used and the bag making machine and the handle attaching machine are linked, either preformed bags are fed to the handle attaching machine or paper bag making stock is fed. Either way, the handle attaching machine is, preferably, run at the same speed as the top speed, or near the top speed, of the bag manufacturing machine, e. g. 200 to 300 bags per minute. When bag making stock is fed to the handle attaching machine, the basic design of the handle attaching machine will be the same as in the handle attaching machine being fed with preformed bags  26 . One minor adjustment that would need to be made is in the mechanism for transferring the handles  17  to the bag making stock. This can be any standard transfer unit for attaching handles  17  to bag making stock, preferably, in combination with the handle attaching apparatus already disclosed.  
      In the case where a hopper  34  is used, the preformed bags  26  are pulled down and backwards out of the hopper  34  by a gripper, relative to the direction of movement of the conveyor delivering the preformed paper bags  26  to the former drum  33 . A jet of air pushes a single preformed bag  26  forwards onto a pusher  44  on the chain feed. The preformed bags  26  are generally deployed onto the pusher  44  on the chain feed with the base of the preformed bag  26  leading. Another brush is used either to ensure that the gripper only removes one preformed bag  26  at a time from the hopper  34  or the jet of air only forces one preformed bag  26  onto the pusher  44  at a time. By pulling the preformed bags  26  out of the hopper  34  backwards, multiple simultaneous bag feed would not necessarily result in more than one preformed bag being fed onto the chain pusher  44 , as this is done in a separate step by the jet of air. These features, in combination with the use of a brush to ensure only a single preformed bag  26  feed, reduce the risk of multiple simultaneous bag feed as compared to the bag supply conventionally used to supply preformed bags  26  from a hopper  34 .  
      This design of bag supply allows the size of the paper bags to be changed without altering the conveyor walls as the preformed bag  26  is just being pushed along the conveyor. The removability of the hopper  34  has the further advantage that when bag size is changed, the hopper  34  is simply replaced. Thus, bag size changes can be implemented more quickly and more easily as compared with the prior art.  
      Fewer occurrences of multiple simultaneous paper bag feed will reduce the incidence of machine jam, especially at the former drums  33 . This will reduce the costs incurred during machine downtime as compared to the prior art machines.  
      Preformed bags  26  or bag making stock are fed from the bag supply to the nip between the two former drums  33  where handles  17  are applied to either side of the preformed bag  26 . The preformed bags or bag making stock are carried to the former drums  26  by conventional transport means, such as belt-driven conveyors. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the side of the machine may be removable or openable, and is preferably hinged to allow access to the internal components of the machine, such as the preformed bag or bag making stock feeding conveyors, the former drum  33  and the hopper  34 . This way, should a chain link of the chain drive of the preformed bag or bag making stock feeding conveyor break, or a jam of any other parts of the handle forming and application machine, such as the former drum  33  or the hopper  34 , occur, the source of the problem can be easily identified and accessed by maintenance crews. It is estimated that breakdown should take only 15 minutes to fix and less than 5 minutes for most breakdowns. Thus, not only is the frequency of machine breakdowns reduced by the present invention, so is the maintenance time required for such breakdowns.  
      The bags, with handles applied, are then collected in the usual manner.  
      The present disclosure provides numerous new features and advantages over conventional paper bag handle forming and application machines and methods of applying handles, as will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading the description and the claims.