Patent Abstract:
A machine and method for forming, filling and sealing closed individual pinch pouches includes a support for holding a continuous supply of material having a solid bleached sulfate board or paper board surface and a heat sealable plastic coating on one side. A folding apparatus folds the web material onto itself with the heat sealable surface facing itself with a gusset at the fold. Drive rollers pull the material from the source through the folding apparatus. Heating bars form a seal between selected portions of the material by sealing the heat sealable surfaces at intermittent portions. A cutter cuts the material through the seal and forms a blank having opposed sealed edges extending to the gusset and an open edge opposite the gusset. A hammer pushes the gusset of the blank inward to spread apart opposed surfaces of the blank. An injector forces a flowable substance into the blank through the open edge. A sealer engages the open edge opposite the gusset to force a selected area of the edge together to form a sealed closed pinch pouch.

Full Description:
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for forming, filling and sealing closed individual pinch pouches. A support holds a supply of web material in a roll which material has a heat sealable surface on one side and printed indicia on the other side. The web of material engages a plow for folding the material onto itself with one portion of the heat sealable surface facing another portion of the heat sealable surface with the indicia on the exterior of the folded material. A gusset is formed at the fold between the folded portions of the heat sealable surface. Drive rollers pull the material from the roll of material. A pair of preheating sealing bars engage the folded material to preheat a portion of the heat sealable surface, and a second pair of heat sealing bars engage the preheated portion to fuse the heat sealable material at a selected location to form a seal extending from the gusset across the direction of movement of the material. A blade is positioned between the margins of the material to provide an extended opening between sealed portions. The material is mounted in a transfer clamp. A cutter cuts the material through a seal to form a folded blank having opposed sealed edges extending to the gusset and an open margin opposite the gusset. A hammer pushes the gusset inward to spread apart opposed surfaces. A vacuum opener holds apart the open margins of the blank, and an injector forces a flowable substance including liquid into the blank through the open margins. Heat sealing bar engages the blank at the margins opposite the gusset to seal closed the open portion. A cooling bar engages the sealed margins, and a cutter cuts the sealed margins to form a nozzle in the blank and complete the pinch pouch. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of an apparatus for forming, filling and sealing closed individual pinch pouches embodying the herein disclosed invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary portion of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1 showing a hammer in engagement with a blank for pushing a portion of a gusset inward to open interiorly the blank; 
     FIG. 3 is an end view of the portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing a filling station of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is an end view of a portion of the filling station of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a completed pinch pouch made on the apparatus shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustrative view showing the effects of various steps of the subject method after the web material is folded by displaying the various forms which the material takes as it goes through the apparatus of FIG. 1 going from the folded web material to a blank to a completed pinch pouch; and 
     FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view through the completed pinch pouch of FIG. 6 taken on line 8--8 of FIG. 6. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring now to the drawings and especially to FIG. 1, an embodiment of the present invention, namely, an apparatus for forming, filling and sealing closed individual pinch pouches is shown therein and is generally indicated by numeral 10. Apparatus 10 generally includes a power assembly 12, a stock assembly 14, a sealing section 16, a cutting section 18, a forming section 20, a filling assembly 22, a carrier assembly 24, a closure section 26, and a final die cutting section 28. 
     A web material 29 is formed and cut to make individual pinch pouches 30. The web material is a continuous roll of board including solid bleached sulfate board or paper board material having on one side a heat sealable surface which is a layer of polyethylene 32. Printing indicia 33 is on the other side of the cardboard. The thickness of the web material is greater than 7 mils, and in this instance, is 13 mils which is more than twice as thick as the material which is used heretofore for similar pinch pouches. The advantages of the thicker material will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a consideration of the pinch pouch end product of the subject apparatus and method. The stock material is provided in a roll 34 which is mounted on a conventional power driven web feed device 35. The material comes off the roll and passes through a conventional plow 36 so that the web material is folded substantially in half along its length in its direction of movement. The polyethylene layer 32 has one portion facing another portion and forming a fold 37 at the bottom as viewed in FIG. 1. The top portion has opposed free margins 39 of the material adjacent to each other. The web of material is drawn from the roll and through the plow by a pair of conventional drive rollers 40. 
     Printing indicia 33 on the SBS board or paper board material includes a plurality of spaced identifying or advertising matter blocks 41 extending along the length of the web. A register mark 42 is printed along the upper margin of the web of stock material above and between each pair of adjacent identifying or advertising matter blocks 41. Register mark 42 provides a means or indicia for a conventional optical scanner or detector 43 to detect the mark and control movement of the web material and parts of the apparatus. 
     Optical scanner 43 controls the output of the power assembly 12 so that the web material moves intermittently through sealing section 16. Sealing section 16 includes a pair of conventional preheaters or preheating bars 44 which are engageable with the web material. Heating and sealing bars 46 are spaced from the preheating bars 44. The web material moves from preheating bars 44 to heating and sealing bars 46. The optical scanner interrupts the movement of the web so that a register mark 42 is aligned with each of the bars. When the web stops moving, preheater bars 44 move toward the web to heat the material in the spaced section between adjacent identifying or advertising matter blocks 41 and thereby heat the polyethylene at that section of the heat sealable surface between the spaced blocks. Heating and sealing bars 46 also engage the web at the same location where the preheating bars had previously engaged the web. Heating and sealing bars 46 further heat the web material and apply a force to the opposed portions of the heat sealable surface of the web material to cause the opposed portions to seal to each other to form a sealed portion 47 extending from the fold toward the free margins of the web material substantially perpendicular to and across the direction of movement of the web material. A blade 48 is positioned between the free margins 39 of the web material parallel to the direction of movement of the web material to prevent the free margins from being sealed to each other and thereby provide an opening to the space defined by the fold and two sealed portions 47. The movement of the web is controlled so that the sealing occurs between the identifying or advertising matter blocks 41. 
     The web material with a plurality of elongated sealed portions 47 extending across the direction of movement of the web is delivered to cutting station 18. The end of the web is placed into engagement with a blank carrier 50 of the carrier assembly which includes a plurality of blank carriers 50 mounted on a conventional driven chain 52. The movement of the web and the chain is interrupted when stock material is placed into engagement with the carrier. A conventional and well known knife (not shown herein) cuts the web material through the middle of a sealed portion 47 to form two separate sealed edges 56 and 58, thereby forming a blank 54 which has material folded on itself with the polyethylene surface on the interior of the fold. The blank has a rectangular configuration defined by opposed sealed edges 56 and 58 on the sides, the top being a free edge 60 formed by the free margins 39 and the bottom, and a gusset 62 which is formed by the fold and is opposite free edge 60. 
     Blank 54 is carried to the forming section 20. The blade 48 has an air port 66 which provides into the blank a supply of compressed air from a conventional compressed air source being means for blowing air through the blade. The blank ends at the forming section. A pair of upper retainers 70 and 71 hold the side walls 72 and 73, respectively, in place at the margins 39. A pair of lower retainers 74 and 76 holds the lower portion of the blank in position. A hammer 77 engages the bottom of the gusset to push the gusset inward thereby expand the side walls of the blank. 
     The chain moves the formed blank to filling station 22. A pair of opposed vacuum heads 78 engages the upper portion of the blank adjacent to the margins 39. The vacuum heads are moved apart to open the free end of the blank thereby providing an open end. A suitable flowable substance, such as a liquid, is injected into the open end of the blank through a conventional nozzle 80 which is connected to a conventional liquid filler (not shown herein). The blank continues its intermittent movement to a second position of the filling section where a second pair of vacuum heads 82 engages the upper portion of the blank adjacent to the margins 39. Vacuum heads 82 are moved apart to insure that the upper portion of the blank is open. An additional amount of flowable substance is injected into the open blank by a second liquid filler (not shown herein) through a second nozzle 84. 
     The blank with its contents of the flowable substance is then carried by the chain to the closure section 26. Free margins 39 at the upper portion of the blank are heated by a pair of preheater bars 88. The chain moves the blank to a pair of upper edge heating and sealing bars 90 to seal off the open end. Clamps 90 further heat and squeeze the margins 39 to form a sealed portion 92 which is bounded by the generally arrow shaped dotted lines as is shown in FIG. 7. Sealed portion 92 extends into the two sealed edges 56 and 58. Sealed portion 92 includes a nonsealed portion 94 which communicates with the main portion of the interior of the blank. The blank moves to a cooler 96 where sealed portion 92 is cooled. 
     The blank with the contents sealed therein is carried into the die cutting assembly 28. A die 98 cuts off a trim portion 100. Removal of the trim portion from the blank completes pinch pouch 30. Pinch pouch 30 includes a nozzle 104 with a pair of notches 106 and 108 formed in opposite sides of the nozzle. Nonsealed portion 94 extends above notches 106 and 108 to allow the edge of the nozzle to be torn off at the notches and thereby provide an egress from the interior of the pinch pouch through the unsealed portion of the nozzle. Each completed pinch pouch is moved to a discharge assembly 110 where each pinch pouch is disengaged from its respective carrier and delivered to a conventional container which is not shown herein. 
     FIG. 7 is a condensed illustration of the transition of the web material from a folded web material to a completed pinch pouch 30 filled with flowable substance. Viewing the illustration from left to right, the first portion 111 shows a side view of the web material folded and with sealed portions 47. The next portion 112 illustrates the resulting formation of the blank by cutting through the middle of the sealed portion. The following part 113 shows the blank after the gusset has been forced inward. The succeeding part 114 depicts the blank ready to receive the flowable substance. The next part 115 is an example of the blank filled with the flowable substance and the sealed portion 92 closing the open end extending to the margin. The following portion of the illustration shows a completed pinch pouch and the trim portion 100 separated from the pinch pouch. The succeeding portion of the illustration shows a completed pinch pouch 30. 
     Power assembly 12 includes a conventional electric motor 116 which drives a pair of conventional shafts 118 and 120. The power to the shafts is delivered through conventional clutches. The optical scanner 43 controls the clutches so that the optical scanner can selectively interrupt the delivery of power to each of the shafts 118 and 120. The movement of the web material and the individual blanks is controlled by the optical scanner. When movement of the web and the blanks is interrupted, the various other parts of the apparatus are energized, that is, the heaters and the sealers squeeze the blanks as described above. The cutting operation is done at the same time. The blanks are also filled at the same time. Once the sealing, filling, forming operations are completed, the various elements disengage the blank in its various forms and the web of material and the blanks move to the next incremental station. The use of the two shafts allows the various operations to be effectively synchronized. 
     Pinch pouch 30 formed by the present apparatus and method is an improvement over those made heretofore from a continuous web of material. The instant pinch pouch is made of a stock having a thickness of 13 mils which is more than twice as thick as the material heretofore used in a continuous web of operation. The web material has a thickness of at least 7 mils. One of the advantages which flows from using the heavier web material is that when the pinch pouch is opened by tearing off the upper portion of nozzle 104 at the two notches 106 and 108 to expose the unsealed portion 94, material contained in the pinch pouch may be expelled by squeezing the pinch pouch. However, if all of the material is not used, or is not necessary, the mere release of pressure from the sidewalls of the pinch pouch allows the resilience of the material to close the opening. The natural resilience of the heavy material provides a resilient closure for the pinch pouch, thereby preventing unneeded and unnecessary dripping or oozing of the contents of the pinch pouch. 
     Although a specific embodiment of the herein disclosed invention has been shown in the accompanying drawings and described in detail above, it is readily apparent that those skilled in the art may make various modifications and changes in the herein disclosed apparatus and method without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It is to be expressly understood that the instant invention is limited only by the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1