Patent ID: 7328545

Claim:
A packaging line for continuously packaging discrete products, comprising: a product assembling path, said product assembling path including a first conveyor and a number of feeders arranged along the conveyor; a packaging module, said packaging module including: a folding device that forms a packaging tube from a continuous packaging web; a second conveyor that continuously advances the packaging tube being formed in the folding device; and a cross separating device that separates, in a cross direction, packages filled with products from the packaging tube, the cross separating device including two separating elements, a first separating element being arranged above the packaging tube and a second separating element being arranged below the packaging tube, the two separating elements traversing both a reciprocating vertical movement with a vertical stroke length and a reciprocating horizontal movement with a horizontal stroke length, and at least the horizontal stroke length is settable for processing both short and long products; a single sealing device that provides cross seals in the packaging tube to form individually packaged products; and a control that controls the discharge of the products from the feeders, a transport speed of the conveyors and a speed of the cross separating device, wherein the control is arranged to drive the sealing device and the cross separating device such that at least three cross seals are formed per product to be packaged during movement of the web, a first and a second cross seal being situated at a small distance from end edges of the product and a third cross seal being situated at some distance from the second cross seal to form a flap on the package.