Method of making oral pouch product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9820507-B2
Application number	US-201514799933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2015
Priority date	Apr 12, 2010
Publication date	Nov 21, 2017
Grant date	Nov 21, 2017

Abstract

An oral tobacco pouch product includes a pouch wrapper formed of a web having a longitudinal integrated fin and lap seal. The pouch wrapper contains a filling material including tobacco material and optional additives. The longitudinal integrated fin and lap seal is formed on a forming collar.

First claim

I claim:

1. A method of making an oral pouch product comprising:
folding web into a tubular form with opposite longitudinal edge portions in an opposing relation along said tubular form using a vertical fill and seal machine;
forming a fin seam along said opposing edges of the tubular form;
folding the fin seam into a superposed relation to an outer surface of said tubular form;
sealing the fin seam to said outer surface of the tubular form to form an integrated fin and lap seal;
forming a lower transverse seam across the tubular formation;
placing a portion of a loose botanical filling material into the tubular formation above the transverse seam; and
forming an upper transverse seam across the tubular formation to enclose the filling material in a pillow-shaped oral pouch product.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sealing the fin seam to form a fin seal prior to forming the integrated fin and lap seal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the web includes an inner liner, the fin seam established between inner surfaces of opposing edge portions of the web, the opposing edge portions sealed with an adjacent portion of the oral pouch product, wherein the inner liner is not included in the fin seal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the web includes at least one coating.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filling material includes non-tobacco botanical material selected from the group consisting of vegetable fibers, tea, herbs, spices, coffee, fruits and combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the non-tobacco botanical material is included in an amount of about 5% to about 45% by weight based on the weight of the inner filling material.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filling material includes tobacco material.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the tobacco material includes moist smokeless tobacco.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filling material has a moisture content in the range of about 5% to about 50%.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the filling material has a moisture content in the range of about 12% to about 25%.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the web comprises paper.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the oral pouch product is about 10 mm to about 20 mm in width, about 20 mm to about 40 mm in length, and about 5 mm to about 20 mm thick.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the web has a thickness of about 0.07mm to about 0.08 mm or about 0.1 mm to about 0.125 mm.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vertical fill and seal machine includes a forming collar comprising a forming section adapted to fold the web into the tubular formation, a fin seam forming section adapted to form the fin seam along said tubular formation and a fin seam folding section adapted to fold said fin seam against an adjacent portion of said tubular formation, the forming collar further including a through hole adapted to receive the tubular formation, said fin seam forming section including a slot adjacent said through hole and said fin seam folding section including a plough.

15. A method of forming an integrated fin and lap seal along a body of an oral pouch product comprising the steps of:
forming a fin along a tubular formation using a vertical fill and seal machine;
sealing the formed fin to form a fin seal;
folding the fin seal into a superposed relation with an outer surface of the tubular formation;
sealing the fin seal to the outer surface of the tubular formation to form an integrated fin and lap seal; and
placing a portion of a loose botanical filling in an interior of the tubular formation and forming transverse seams to enclose the filling in a pillow-shaped oral pouch product.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the oral pouch product comprises a pouch wrapper comprising a web folded into a pouched form; a filling material contained by said pouched form; and an integrated fin and lap seal along the pouched form, said integrated fin and lap seal including a fin seam portion established between opposing edge portions of the web, said fin seam portion folded into a superposed relation to an adjacent portion of said pouched form and lap sealed to the adjacent portion of said pouched form along pouched form, wherein at least portions of said opposing edge portions are mutually sealed and sealed with said adjacent portion of said pouched form and the integrated fin and lap seal includes no loose, unsealed edges.

Assignees

• Altria Client Services Inc
• Altria Client Services Llc

Inventors

• Williams Dwight D

Classifications

• B65B29/00

  Packaging of materials presenting special problems · CPC title

• B65B9/2028

  Rollers or belts · CPC title

• A24F23/00 Primary

  Cases for tobacco, snuff, or chewing tobacco · CPC title

• B65B9/20

  the webs being formed into tubes in situ around the filling nozzles · CPC title

• B65B2220/08

  Creating fin seals as the longitudinal seal on horizontal or vertical form fill seal [FFS] machines · CPC title