Patent ID: 7389623

Claim:
A sealing apparatus for sealing packaging material comprising a heat seal jaw; a heat seal bar provided at a front edge of the heat seal jaw, with two spaced apart heaters arranged in parallel and mounted in the heat seal bar, the heat seal bar having a working surface that contacts the packaging material during sealing of the packaging material; a counter jaw disposed oppositely to the heat seal jaw; a counter rail provided on said counter jaw and having a working surface that contacts the packaging material during sealing of the packaging material; drive means for advancing/retracting the heat seal jaw and counter jaw relatively; heating means for actuating the heaters while clamping the packaging material between the working surface of the heat seal bar and the working surface of the counter rail to form two spaced apart transverse sealed portions in the packaging material; a cutter section comprising a cutter disposed at a position between the two heaters and a resilient counter cutter; the resilient counter cutter being held by a holding section of the heat seal bar, the holding section being defined by a recess in the heat seal bar in which is positioned the resilient counter cutter, the resilient counter cutter possessing a front surface which contacts the packaging material when the packaging material is clamped between the working surface of the heat seal bar and the working surface of the counter rail; the cutter being mounted on the counter rail to cut the packaging material clamped by the working surfaces of the heat seal bar and the counter rail, the cutter being positioned in opposing relation to the resilient counter so that during cutting of the packaging material clamped by the working surfaces of the heat seal bar and the counter rail the cutter contacts a portion of the front surface of the resilient counter cutter; and the front surface of the resilient counter cutter, including the portion of the front surface of the resilient counter cutter contacted by the cutter during the cutting of the packaging material, projecting beyond the working surface of the heat seal bar in a direction towards the counter rail, the working surface of the heat seal bar beyond which the front surface of the resilient counter cutter projects towards the counter rail including a portion of the working surface of the heat seal bar immediately adjoining the recess in the heat seal bar.