Abstract: An ice bagging assembly and related method with a horizontal ice bag cassette, a pair of opposing ice bag ply graspers configured to move an empty ice bag from the horizontal ice bag cassette to a vertical position to receive cubed ice before it is sealed shut and dropped to an ice bag merchandiser. The opposing graspers may be configured as rotating wheels and may have a grasping sensor. The ice bag cassette may be slidably and tiltably supported for easy replacement of horizontal bags. A load sensor, optical or mechanical, may be associated with the ice hopper to sense how much ice has been put in each bag. A pair of angled guides may guide a hopper into a support frame for the system.

Abstract: A handle system for carrying and installing a plurality of empty ice bags in an ice bagging assembly is disclosed herein. The handle may comprise any system for effectively transporting empty ice bags and loading the ice bags into an ice bagging assembly. Implementations of the handle system may comprise a post member and a cover member. The post member may include a handle and a plurality of posts protruding from one side of the post member. The cover member may include a cover support bar with a plurality of reentrant openings aligned with the plurality of posts when the cover member is mated with the post member. The plurality of reentrant openings that each extend through the cover member and are sized to receive a portion of one of the plurality of posts.

Abstract: Ice bagging assemblies comprising an ice bag merchandiser, an ice bag diverter positionable between first and second positions to drop ice bags into different first and second regions within the ice bag merchandiser. Methods of stacking ice bags in an ice bag merchandiser comprising receiving an ice bag in an ice bag diverter and dropping the ice bag to a first region of the ice bag merchandiser when the ice bag diverter is in a first position and dropping the ice bag to a second region of the ice bag merchandiser when the ice bag diverter is in a second position.