Patent ID: 8124915

Claim:
A sealer device for use in fusing film material, comprising: a heater element; a substrate which supports said heater element, said substrate defining a recess receiving said heater element, and said substrate including a heater element support surface which is of a ceramic material; a housing which supports said substrate, and said heater element having a sealing surface that is a flat sealer presentment surface facing the film material that is essentially flush with a film presentment surface of the substrate or the housing relative to the film material being fused, and which substrate or housing film presentment surface borders the recess, and wherein said recess and heater element are dimensioned as to have a common configuration contact surface arrangement which avoids any side-to-side gap formation therebetween, wherein said substrate is a ceramic substrate having an exposed surface and which recess is defined by a reception groove in said substrate that is dimensioned to receive said heater element; and said ceramic substrate is comprised of a plurality of stacked ceramic insert plates sized for forming said reception groove and wherein said plates include an intermediate plate and two exterior plates each having an interior side wall in contact with the intermediate plate, and with an upper edging of said intermediate plate being spaced farther from the film material when the sealer is in use than upper edging of the exterior plates such that respective portions of the interior side walls of said exterior plates define a sandwich arrangement relative to said heater element positioned between the respective portions of the interior side walls and supported on the upper edging of said intermediate plate.