Patent ID: 7886502

Claim:
An apparatus for packaging products, comprising: a pair of opposed rollers forming a nip therebetween for receiving a pair of opposing upper and lower webs of flexible packaging material along with a product to be packaged disposed between the webs, facing surfaces of the webs having sealing material for sealing the webs together; an infeed bed located upstream of the nip, the lower web being supported by the infeed bed such that a product to be packaged can be placed onto the lower web on the infeed bed; a web drive system operable to advance the upper and lower webs through the apparatus such that the upper and lower webs, along with a product placed on the lower web, are advanced through the nip; an infeed gate disposed between the infeed bed and the nip, the infeed gate being movable between a blocking position adjacent the lower web such that the infeed gate blocks passage of a product into the nip, and an unblocking position spaced from the lower web such that the infeed gate allows passage of a product into the nip; an actuator operable to move the infeed gate between the blocking and unblocking positions; and a controller connected to the web drive system and to the actuator, the controller being programmed to coordinate the advancing of the webs with the movement of the infeed gate such that the actuator is caused to move the infeed gate to the blocking position when the webs are stopped and is caused to move the infeed gate to the unblocking position before the webs are advanced.