Patent ID: 6874300

Claim:
A method of manufacturing filled and sealed pouches using an apparatus comprising a conveyor support ( 1 , 2 , 17 ) and a conveyor ( 8 , 10 , 11 , 21 ) which travels over the support and which has an upper surface which comprises a longitudinal side margin ( 46 ) along each side and a plurality of moulds ( 23 ) between the side margins, means ( 1 , 14 and 24 ) for thermoforming a film into the mould to form pouches and means for filling and sealing the pouches, wherein the method comprises applying thermoformable film ( 29 ) on to the upper surface of the conveyor ( 8 , 10 , 11 , 21 ), forming the pouches by thermoforming the film ( 29 ) into the moulds ( 23 ) while holding each side edge ( 45 ) of the film ( 29 ) to a side margin ( 46 ) of the conveyor to resist inward movement of the side edges ( 45 ), and filling and sealing the pouches and then discharging the pouches from the conveyor, wherein the holding of the side edges ( 45 ) of the film to the side margins ( 46 ) of the conveyor is by under-pressure applied to the underside of the film ( 29 ) through a plurality of holding orifices ( 44 ) which extend up through the conveyor and into each side margin ( 46 ) wherein the outlet from each holding orifice ( 44 ) is surrounded by material having a coefficient of friction of at least 0.3 and wherein said holding orifices ( 44 ) create friction forces which are sufficiently large to resist inward movement of the side edges ( 45 ) of the film during the thermoforming.