Patent ID: 8015779

Claim:
A portioning and packaging method for filling material comprising the steps: conveying the filling material in a continuous volume flow through a mouth opening of a filling tube into a tubular packaging case which is closed at one end, defining a filling operation and which is pulled off with expulsion of the filling material from a supply of tubular packaging case on the filling tube, applying a friction force to the packaging case through the operation of a crank transmission, and constricting the filled packaging case during the filling operation downstream of the filling tube to provide a tube end plait portion and closing a closure element around the tube end plait portion with closure tools and constriction means which move in pairs in an opposite relationship, defining constriction and closure operations, effecting the constriction and closing operations at periodic intervals calculated on the basis of a selected portion size and the continuous volume flow, and reciprocating a braking ring on the filling tube in opposite relationship to the pull-off direction between a clearance position for clearing a packaging volume immediately prior to or during the constriction and closure operations and, after the closure operation, is advanced on the filling tube again in the pull-off direction, into a working position, stopping the braking ring in the clearance position by rotational check action of a pawl at least in time-overlapping relationship with said constriction means, wherein in the constriction and closure operations the filling material displaced during the constriction operation is displaced into the cleared packaging volume and after the closure operation is stripped off again into the pulled-off packaging case, wherein the step of conveying the filling material continues during the step of reciprocating the braking ring.