Patent ID: 8151543

Claim:
A bag-puckering system comprising: a plurality of pairs of grippers engageable with upper corners of respective bags, the grippers of each pair being shiftable between a relatively close inner position in which the respective bag is puckered open and a more widely spaced outer position in which the respective bag is held flat, the pairs of grippers being aligned in a longitudinal row and being shiftable in a travel direction through a filling station; means at the filling station for pouring fluent material into a one of the bags therein; control means upstream of the filling station for measuring a length in the direction of the bags and for generating respective outputs corresponding thereto; a movable cam at the filling station operatively engageable with the grippers in the filling station for shifting the grippers between their inner and outer positions; and drive means connected to the control means and to the cam for shifting the grippers in accordance with the size of the respective bags.