Patent ID: 6862866

Claim:
An apparatus for filling a reclosable bag with objects, the bag having a rear track, and a mating front track selectably engagable with the rear track, wherein a bag mouth is defined between the front track and the rear track above a bag interior, and wherein a slider is operable to open and close the bag mouth, the apparatus comprising: a frame; a first rail mounted to the frame and extending in a front to back direction; a second rail mounted to the frame opposed to the first rail, wherein a plurality of reclosable bags are supportable between the first rail and the second rail to define a supply of reclosable bags; a right indexer assembly mounted to the frame and positioned to engage a first end of a selected reclosable bag from the supply of reclosable bags; a left indexer assembly mounted to the frame and positioned to engage a second end of said selected reclosable bag opposite the first end, with the bag mouth extending between the first end and the second end; a spreader assembly mounted to the frame and having a wedge with a narrow dimension and a wide dimension of greater dimension than the narrow dimension, the wedge being movable between a first position spaced from the selected reclosable bag mouth, and a second position in which the wedge is inserted into the bag mouth and interposed between the rear track and the front track of said selected reclosable bag, the wedge being mounted for rotation about a vertical axis to permit the wedge to be rotated between an inserted orientation in which the narrow dimension separates the rear track from the front track a first amount, and a filling orientation, in which the wide dimension separates the rear track from the front track a second, greater amount to define a filling opening; an object dispensing chute mounted to the frame, and in communication with a source of objects, the chute being adjustable to communicate with said filling opening to permit the insertion of objects from the source of objects into the selected bag; and a controller operable to insert the wedge into the selected bag and to cause the object dispensing chute to thereafter communicate with the source of objects to introduce objects into the selected bag.