Abstract: A bale opener includes a housing moved along a travelling path, and an opening roll which is mounted in the housing for removing fiber tufts from faces of fiber bales arranged in a series along the travelling path and which has a longitudinal axis lying in a plane oriented perpendicularly to the travelling path. There is further provided a suction device that generates a suction stream within the housing for removing, from a zone of the opening roll, fiber tufts detached by the opening roll from the fiber bales. A pressurized air stream generating device blows air in an upwardly inclined direction into the housing for essentially preventing fiber material from dropping off the fiber bales over upper edges thereof.

Abstract: An apparatus for opening flatly folded tubes of synthetic resin or the like material and fitting same on containers or the like objects. Operation of fitting opened tubes on the objects can be performed without requiring any complicated movement of the objects. Each opened tube and each object are transported in same direction and, in the course of this transport, either the tube or the object is moved gradually toward the other so that the one is fitted on or inserted into the other.

Abstract: A material supply device in a stowing and packaging machine wherein a supplied film or sheet (S) is continuously introduced around a vertically placed guide tube (1) and sealed along the length thereof by a sealer (14), and the contents are stowed between upper and lower seals while the film or sheet is sealed across the width thereof at spaced positions by a sealing device (17) to form a packaging member (S'). The contents consists of a liquid material and powder or granular solid material with hygroscopicity and solubility in the liquid body. A liquid supply tube (3) supplying the liquid into the packaging member (S"), and a solid material supply tube (2) supplying the solid material are disposed in the guide tube (1), and have lower ends (18, 19) located below the lowermost end of the guide tube (1), and above the packaging section. A blast pipe (4) supplies a dry gaseous material to prevent the solid body material from getting wet and is disposed internally of the solid body supply tube (2,20).

Abstract: An apparatus for forming packaging material into a tubular form includes angularly disposed forming rollers for causing the longitudinal edges of the packaging material to overlap one another so that they can be sealed together. To prevent the packaging material tube from being trapped between adjacent rollers, each of the forming rollers can be provided with one straight roller edge and one chamfered roller edge. The rollers are positioned such that the chamfered roller edge of one forming roller cooperates with the straight roller edge of the adjacent roller, thereby defining a nip directed generally tangentially to an adjacent portion of the packaging material tube. Alternatively, to achieve the same objective, two different types of forming rollers can be employed, one type in which both roller edges are straight and another type in which both roller edges are chamfered. In this latter case, the two types of rollers are alternated with one another.

Abstract: A container closing machine which includes bottle capping devices 2 that are raised and lowered, a starwheel 12 that revolves together with the capping devices and centers the containers, there is a stationary air flushing device 1 which is supplied with non-oxidizing gas and is arranged on the outside of the orbital path followed by bottles as they are held in the pockets of the starwheel. The flushing device 1 has a lateral jet opening 3 opposite of the orbital path of the bottles and at a small clearance with respect to the starwheel in which the open mouths of the bottles extend. Flow chambers conduct the gas emitted from the discharge jet of the flushing device directly past a plurality of the bottle mouths and then radially inwardly to the atmosphere.

Abstract: A thermal reaction apparatus for sealing liquid within cavities includes a tray having cavities for storing therein liquid. The cavities have openings arranged at varying levels in thickness direction of the tray. A planar sealing member is disposed on the tray to cover the openings and is comprised of a pair of flexible sheets and viscous fluid filled between the flexible sheets. A pressure plate is disposed on the planar sealing member for applying thereto pressure effective to locally flow the viscous fluid to enable the sealing member to seal the varying levels of the cavity openings to thereby prevent evaporation of the liquid stored in the cavities.

Abstract: A vacuum chamber packaging machine for packing goods in bags, comprises a chamber having a lower chamber part and an upper chamber part which is movable relative to the lower chamber part. The bag is hermetically closed by generating a seal joint. Cutting means are provided for severing the bag collar projecting beyond the seal joint. Means for supplying blow air into the chamber and an opening for blowing the severed bag collar out of the chamber are provided for removing the severed bag collar from the chamber.

Abstract: An apparatus for successively opening the mouths of bags which are fed one by one to a table and putting such bag over a guide hopper for charging the bag with an article to be packaged. The mouth of the bag is sucked by a pair of vacuum suction members from the opposite sides. The vacuum suction members are gradually separated from each other while transferring a bag from a table to the hopper, thereby gradually opening the mouth of the bag. This prevents failures in opening bags and also prevents the bag from separating from the vacuum suction members.

Abstract: Packaging apparatus for production of display packages in which an item is packaged on a card sealed under a transparent film, the cards each having a window being carried through the apparatus on jigs which are indexed around in an endless path travelling from a card-applying station to a film-applying station, a packing station, a heat-sealing station, a package ejection station and back to the card-applying station, with automatic application of a card to each jig at the card-applying station.

Abstract: Apparatus for supplying valved sacks or bags to filling nozzles is disclosed, including a first conveyor for transporting a sack to a waiting position spaced from the filling nozzle a distance at least equal to the width of the sack, and a second conveyor for transporting the sack in a suspended valve-open condition to the filling nozzle. A releasable gripping device associated with the second conveyor engages the sack adjacent the bottom of the valve means, thereby to open the same, which gripping device includes a pair of spaced opposed sheet metal plates.

Abstract: A spreader device for the lower end of a forming and filling tube of a form, fill and seal machine has an operator located on the outside of the upper end of the tube. The operator may effect oscillations causing the finger to swing into and out of spreading position, or the operator may cause the finger to reciprocate into and out of spreading position.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for applying covers to seat cushions and the like includes means to maintain the cushioning material under compression within the cover as the cushioning material is moved into the cover.

Abstract: An apparatus for mechanically bagging relatively fragile, leafy vegetables including a bag distending assembly, a sleeve-like inserter, a barrier movably mounted inside the inserter, and a drive assembly coupled to displace the inserter into the bag. The drive assembly includes two pneumatic cylinders so that the barrier can be controlled independently of the inserter and maintained in position inside the bag while the inserter is withdrawn. The inserter carries the leaves inside the bag without substantially compresssing or crushing and bruising the leaves, and the barrier permits inserter withdrawal without leaf damage. A process for inserting fragile leafy vegetables into a bag also is disclosed.

Abstract: A packaging machine for forming a web of packaging material into a vertical tube, filling contents into the tube, dividing the tube into lengths each corresponding to one container and forming each length into a baglike container. The machine comprises a filling device for filling a liquid into the tube to a specified level with the lower end of the tube closed, and a cleaning device for cleaning a required portion of the filling device. The filling device has a vertical filling pipe to be covered with the tube. The cleaning device has a vertical tubular jacket having a top wall and covering the upper portion of the filling pipe, a bottomed tubular cleaner removably connectable to the jacket for covering the lower portion of the filling pipe, and a cleaning liquid collecting duct removably connectable to the jacket. A cleaning liquid is supplied to the filling pipe with the duct connected to the jacket to clean the pipe and is thereafter collected through the duct.

Abstract: Goods are packaged by first placing a thermoplastic lower foil atop a pallet with edges of the foil projecting laterally past the pallet and then stacking goods on the pallet atop the foil on the pallet within the edges of the foil. The lower edge of a downwardly open heat-shrinkable foil hood is held as the hood is fitted downward over the stack on the pallet until the lower edge is generally below the stack. This lower edge is then gripped below the stack and the foil hood is shrunk from top to bottom around the stack while continuing to grip the lower edge below the stack. Finally the foil hood is welded to the outer edge of the lower foil. Thus when the grippers are carried on the same vertically displaceable frame as the heater/blowers it is possible for the grippers to release and move upward before the top-to-bottom shrinking of the hood. During such shrinking the clamps will prevent the hood or sack from riding up too much.

Abstract: For attaching, to the neck portion of a bag-type package, a respective wrapper label held in an upright position, side-by-side extensions of the label are grasped from below, slightly twisted to spread them out, fitted over the neck portion and released such that, in springing back to their original side-by-side position, they will wrap around said neck portion.

Abstract: A bag filling and closing apparatus includes a filling station (10) in which the material to be filled in (22) is pushed into a prefabricated bag (24). A device (50, 52, 54, 56) is provided for pulling the bags onto the filling machine as is a device for spreading open and holding the bags. Next to the filling station (10), there is disposed at least one supply and/or intake station (12, 14) for bags, each station being equipped with a device (50, 52, 54, 56) for pulling the bags onto the apparatus. A carriage (30) is movable back and forth between the filling station (10) and the supply and intake station (12, 14) carries the spreading and holding device (28, 30, 44, 46) for the bags. The bags can therefore be picked up and spread open in the supply and intake station (12, 14) and can be transferred to the filling station (10) in that position. Preferably, two supply and intake stations are provided on opposite sides of the filling station (10 ).

Abstract: A device for filling outers with filled bags comprises a cassette (1) for the accommodation of a number of bags or rows of bags stacked on each other, feed apparatus (10, 11) for filling the cassette with bags from the top, and discharge apparatus (4, 5) for sliding the stack laterally out of the cassette into a tilted outer. For the purpose of simplification and for making the structure less susceptible to faults, the cassette has a fixed position, and a sliding cover plate or deposit plate (8) is placed at the top side of the cassette for supporting a row of bags. Structure (9) is present for sliding the cover plate (8) to and fro between a covering position in which the top side of the cassette is covered and a free position in which the bags can fall into the cassette.

Abstract: Two side-by-side columns of containers are fed between laterally spaced container conveyors that have lugs which move inwardly between the adjacent containers of each column. Some lugs are oversized to create a space between the foremost containers in one slug or array and the last containers in an adjacent array. These lugs also have bifurcated lower portions and the lug conveyors move these lugs downwardly to engage the adjacent end panels of two end-to-end packing cases so the containers can be lowered into these cases at a load station.

Abstract: An apparatus for shrinking a wrapping about goods carried on a pallet has a transport device defining a support surface for displacing the palletized goods in a transport direction and including an upstream conveyor, a station conveyor spaced downstream by an upstream gap from the upstream conveyor, and a downstream conveyor spaced downstream by a downstream gap from the station conveyor. A heat ring has upstream and downstream portions and side portions extending in the direction therebetween. This ring is displaceable between a lower position with the upstream and downstream portions in the gaps below the surface and the side portions flanking the station conveyor and an upper position above the surface. An actuator displaces the ring between its upper and lower positions.