Patent ID: 7448188

Claim:
A machine for forming a bag of a strip of weldable material, filling the bag with a fluent filling, and sealing the filled bag, the machine comprising: means for forming the strip into a longitudinally extending and laterally closed tube and continuously advancing the tube longitudinally downward through a welding/folding station; means for pouring the filling into the tube above the station; a cross-seam welder at the station and horizontally closable on opposite sides of the tube to form therein a bag-forming crosswise weld; a folder at the station below the welder and horizontally closable on the tube to fold it inward; a vertically shiftable lifter below the station engageable under a filled section of the tube below the station; and drive/control means connected to the welder, folder, and lifter for simultaneously closing the welder and folder on the tube to form a crosswise weld and to fold the tube horizontally inward while raising the filled section of the tube below the station relative to the welder and folder while displacing the welder and folder downward generally synchronously with the downwardly moving tube while the welder and folder are in contact with the tube and thereafter opening the welder and folder and shifting the welder and folder back upward and discharging the filled section from the lifter and displacing the lifter downward relative to the welder and folder.