Patent ID: 7086212

Claim:
An apparatus for vacuum packing a compressible product in a flexible enclosure therefor, the apparatus comprising: means for evacuating air from within an unsealed enclosure, the product being disposed within the unsealed enclosure; means, disposed externally of the unsealed enclosure containing the product disposed therein, for compressing the product within the enclosure prior to evacuation of the air from within the enclosure, whereby air trapped in the enclosure and the product is pushed out of the enclosure and/or the product prior to evacuation of air from the enclosure; means for sealing sealable meeting portions of the unsealed enclosure in an airtight manner after the said evacuation of air, wherein the means for compressing the product comprises a pressure plate mounted in a plane parallel to the plane of an opposed surface upon which the unsealed enclosure is disposed in use, which pressure plate bears against a portion of the enclosure to compress the product, disposed within the enclosure, against the opposed surface; and means, independent from the means for evacuating air, for restraining sealable meeting portions of the unsealed enclosure, during evacuation of air, said means for restraining being capable of positive reciprocal lateral movement.