Flat-bottom stand-up bag, vertical form, fill, and seal system and methodology for utilizing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10239644-B2
Application number	US-201615066801-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2016
Priority date	Mar 18, 2015
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

A vertical form fill and seal system supports a sheet of material having material segments and a tube sized for drawing edges of the elongated sheet of material together in an overlapping configuration to form the sheet into a substantially tube shape. The VFFS also includes a sealer that seals the edges of the material to one another and a gusseting mechanism sized for forming a gusseted tuck in each of a left panel portion of the material and a right panel portion of the material. A cutting mechanism removes a first portion and a second portion of a first segment of the material segments in order to form a first cut and a second cut in the first segment and a sealing mechanism folds and seals the first segment at the first cut and at the second cut to provide an end wall with a substantially flat, rectangular-shaped footprint.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vertical form fill and seal system comprising:
a support rod that rotatably supports an elongated sheet of material defined by a plurality of material segments;
a forming tube sized for drawing a left edge and a right edge of said elongated sheet of material together in an overlapping configuration to form said elongated sheet of material into a tube shape;
a sealer sized for sealing said left edge and said right edge of said elongated sheet of material to one another to form the tube shape;
a gusseting mechanism sized for forming a gusseted tuck in each of a left sidewall panel portion and a right sidewall panel portion of said-tube shape to form a gusseted tube shape;
a cutting mechanism that forms a first cut and a second cut in said first segment of the gusseted tube shape, wherein the first cut removes a first portion of the elongated sheet of material from only half of the gusseted tuck in the left sidewall panel portion and the second cut removes a second portion of the elongated sheet of material from only half of the gusseted tuck in the right sidewall panel portion within a first segment of said plurality of material segments; and
a sealing and folding mechanism that folds and seals said first segment at said first cut and at said second cut to provide an end wall of said first segment with a rectangular-shaped footprint.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a cutter operable to sever said first segment from a second segment located downstream of said first segment.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein said cutting mechanism is disposed downstream from said forming tube.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein said first portion and said second portion include a triangular shape.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein said cutter and said sealing and folding mechanism form an integrated mechanism.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein said cutter and said sealing and folding mechanism cooperate to provide a sealed edge at said end wall comprising a pair of legs extending from a cross member that joins said pair of legs, wherein said legs extend from said cross member at an obtuse angle and away from one another.

Assignees

• Kellog Co

Inventors

• Michels John Joseph

Classifications

• B29C65/7441 Primary

  for making welds and cuts of other than simple rectilinear form · CPC title

• B65B41/16

  by rollers · CPC title

• B29C66/71

  characterised by the composition of the plastics material of the parts to be joined (welding bar compositions B29C65/125) · CPC title

• B65B9/2042

  Means for altering the cross-section of the tube filling opening prior to transversal sealing, e.g. tube spreading devices (subdividing filled tubes to form two or more packages by sealing involving displacement of contents B65B9/12) · CPC title

• B29C65/02

  by heating, with or without pressure · CPC title