Patent ID: 7617655

Claim:
A method of tying off a neck of a bulk bag, comprising: suspending a bulk bag from a bulk bag filler; inserting a fill tube into the of the bulk bag; inserting an end of a tie wrap located around the open neck into a slot leading to a longitudinally extending tie wrap end receiving path in a bag tie-off assembly so that the tie wrap end is engaged by a toothed drive wheel thereof; operating a motor of the tie-off assembly to turn the toothed drive wheel, tightening the tie wrap about the neck of the bulk bag to close the neck of the bulk bag; and cutting off the end of the tie wrap after it is tightened using at least one longitudinally movable wall mounted adjacent to the slot that moves from a first, rest position to a second, engaged position, the at least one movable wall contacting and moving a pivoting blade to a cutting position as the movable wall being slidably mounted on the housing adjacent the slot for longitudinal movement due to contact with a locking portion of the tie wrap as the tie wrap is tightened in a direction of the longitudinally extending tie wrap end receiving path.