Abstract: A web is folded upon itself and transversely sealed. The web is cut into individual pouches which are fed into gripper units, on an endless conveyor, each having a fixed leading jaw and a movable trailing jaw which grip the leading and trailing edges of the pouches. To open a pouch, the trailing jaw is moved toward the fixed jaw by a cam and held in position by friction. Each opened pouch is carried around a filler unit where it is filled. Thereafter, a cam causes said jaws to spread apart, stretching the mouth of the pouch, where it is sealed in a heat sealer.

Abstract: Continuous motion apparatus for forming, filling and sealing pouches in which a web of material is folded longitudinally upon itself, transversely sealed at spaced locations, cut into individual pouches and carried by vacuum carriers through opening, filling, sealing and depositing into product buckets of a cartoner. The opening of the pouches is performed by vacuum carriers on opposite sides of a pouch, the vacuum carriers being mounted on conveyors which diverge slightly to effect the opening of the pouches.