Abstract: Filled and top-sealed cartons are fed in a line to a chamber supplied with dehumidified warm air and short rows, each of two or three cartons, are pushed consecutively and laterally at a grouping station by a vertical plate onto a carrier, which advances the rows in turn through a side-taping station. At the grouping station, a tape-gripping device draws off consecutively from a roll of non-adhesive tape predetermined lengths of the tape, which are gripped at their middle sections in turn and are cut off from the roll, the cut-off end zones falling down to respective opposite sides of the row. The cut-off lengths are advanced with the respective rows through the side-taping station, which has a pair of adhesive-tape-applying rolls at those respective opposite sides and at which respective side tapes are applied to adhere together the cartons of the row and the handle of the row.

Abstract: A gable-topped carton blank is cut from paperboard coated on both faces with thermoplastics. In the top closure, a loop of sub-panels provides a sealing fin. Each of two opposite sub-panels is folded inwardly upon itself and one is opened-out in forming a pouring spout. To reduce the tendency for the internal surface middle zone of this sub-panel to adhere to the internal surfaces of two other upper sub-panels during heat-sealing, these latter surfaces are formed in the blank with embossed recesses corresponding somewhat in position with recesses in sealing jaws.