Patent ID: 7326308

Claim:
A method of reloading a machine that packages products with a plastic film, said machine comprising injection and cutting means, which is fed with film from a first spool, and means for storing a second spool, the method comprising: while the first spool is in the process of distribution, placing the second spool in the machine and keeping a free end of the film on the second spool ready at an entrance of the injection and cutting means; detecting an approach of an end of the film from the first spool; after having detected that the end of the film on the first spool has reached a predetermined position in the machine, stopping an advance of the film from the first spool into the injection and cutting means so as to leave a remaining part of the film from the first spool, wherein the remaining part of film from the first spool includes the end of the film from the first spool, and causing the free end of the film connected to the second spool to be drawn into said injection and cutting means, so that said second spool becomes a distributor, and such that the film from the first spool is not fastened to the film from the second spool; and while said second spool is in the process of distribution, replacing the first spool that was emptied with a new full spool and fusing a leading end of film from the new full spool to a trailing end of the remaining part of the film from the first spool and maintaining, at the entrance of the injection and cutting means, a free end of the remaining part of film connected to said new full spool, and utilizing film from the new full spool when the end of the film from the second spool, in the process of distribution, reaches a predetermined position in the machine.