Patent ID: 7607357

Claim:
An automated or semi-automated packaging material testing system, comprising: at least one cooperating pair of side-insertion peel clamps for operator loading of film specimens, wherein the side-insertion peel clamps of a respective cooperating pair of side-insertion peel clamps reside vertically aligned, one above another, whereby an operator is able to slidably insert test film from a left or right hand side into both of the side-insertion peel clamps concurrently while the test film is oriented vertically, and wherein the side-insertion peel clamps then automatically grip the test film; and at least one peel grip assembly, one for each cooperating pair of side-insertion peel clamps, each respective peel grip assembly including a calibration platform located at an upper portion of the system above and aligned with a corresponding pair of cooperating side-insertion peel clamps, wherein each peel grip assembly also includes a peel force transducer residing below and closely spaced to the calibration platform, and wherein each calibration platform is adapted to releasably hold a calibrated dead weight for periodic calibration of the respective peel force transducer while the respective peel force transducer remains in position in the system.