Abstract: A bag closure for polyethylene bags of the "pony-tail" variety is disclosed. The closure is reusable, easy to manufacture and use, prevents the bag from inadvertently opening, and is amenable to printing thereon. It comprises a base portion and a tongue portion formed thereform and integrally connected thereto. Adjacent the connection between the base and tongue portions the tongue has a pair of opposed neck areas and the minimum width of the opening in the base portion created by formation of the tongue portion is substantially equal to the minimum distance between the neck areas. In use the bunched bag sides are trapped between the tongue and base portions, the base portion is bent around the bunched bag sides and the tongue portion is drawn or pulled through the opening until the adjacent edges or the opening lockingly engage the neck areas of the tongue when the bag is fully encompassed. The closure can be released to permit opening of the bag and can be re-locked to again fully close the bag.

Abstract: Apparatus and method is disclosed for loading a plurality of bales or containers containing pouches filled with a liquid such as milk into a rectangular open-top case. An empty case is located on the apparatus and a rotatable divider is positioned on the case to create suitable bale-receiving compartments. The bales are fed to a diverter which moves each bale to a position overlying an empty compartment so that the bale falls into the compartment. The divider then rotates to rotate the case to bring another empty compartment into registry with the diverter. This repeats until the case is full, at which time the divider is withdrawn vertically from the case and the full case is fed to an outlet conveyor. An empty case is brought to a position below the raised divider, the divider is lowered into the empty case and the filling process is repeated. The case has been filled symmetrically and is easy to handle thereafter.