Abstract: A manipulator for manipulating metal ingots comprises a wheeled carriage with a peel assembly supported on it so that the peel assembly can move relative to the carriage. The peel assembly is supported adjacent one end of the carriage by at least one piston-cylinder device and a plurality of elongate links are pivotally coupled to the peel assembly and to a rigid support means on the carriage away from the end.

Abstract: An apparatus for cutting bean curd into pieces of the fixed size and packing them. This apparatus does automatically transporting, cutting and packing of bean curd under water in a water tank. Therefore, this apparatus requires no manual operation, is sanitary, involves high production capacity and is free from production of bean curd of broken shape.

Abstract: A folder for use in a variety of applications, being especially well suited for folding a sheet of overwrap around a stack of paper pulp sheets, includes three stationary folder sections and an extensible folding plate which performs the back tucking function. The plate is arranged to fold the back edge inwardly as the bale is moved along a conveyor line. After the rear edge has been folded inwardly, the bale slides past three stationary folder devices which in turn fold the front, bottom and top flaps of the overwrap. The folded package is then secured by conventional strapping techniques.

Abstract: The present invention involves a method of packaging a product including drawing a thermoplastic thermoformable web into a thermoforming mold to form a cavity, inserting the product into the cavity, moving the web and product to a vacuum chamber, placing a tray, upside down, in the chamber on top of the web to define an unsealed package; sealing the tray to the web under vacuum; and shrinking the bottom web.

Abstract: A mechanism for enveloping a large round bale with a surface wrap material such as plastic sheet or net includes a housing for holding a supply roll of the wrap material. The mechanism and, hence, the housing is mounted on the rear of a bale discharge gate. The housing includes a front wall, defined by an upright secured across the rear of the gate, and a bottom wall sloped upwardly and rearwardly relative to the front wall. The bottom wall and front wall converge toward a wrap material passage defined between a forward edge of the bottom wall and the front wall.

Abstract: A resealable hermetically sealed package for food products has the product contained between two sheets of thermoplastic material which are sealed together by a permanent heat fused seal about the product except for one edge along which the sheets are adhesively glued together by an easily peeled resealable seal. The process for manufacturing the product forms the adhesive seal prior to the permanent seals in an area remote from that in which evacuation and the final seal occurs. Thus, the final sealing and evacuation of the package is performed in the absence of adhesive so that no adhesive can be drawn into evacuation slots so as to economically produce the product.

Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus for wrapping and closing a book package. On either side of the plane of a strapping frame (4) in an automatic strapping machine (1) are provided folding means (7) for a cardboard package blank (5) as well as vertically movable press members (10) for holding a book package (6) stationary during the folding of cardboard (5) and for pressing and holding the folded cardboard against the top surface of a book package at the same time as the strapping machine winds a strapping band around said package (5, 6).

Abstract: A mechanism for enveloping a large round bale with a surface wrap material such as plastic sheet or net includes a housing for holding a supply roll of the wrap material. The mechanism and, hence, the housing is mounted on the rear of a bale discharge gate. The housing includes a front wall, defined by an upright panel secured across the rear of the gate, and a bottom wall sloped upwardly and rearwardly relative to the front wall. The bottom wall and front wall converge toward a wrap material passage defined between a forward edge of the bottom wall and the front wall.

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: An article is wrapped in a shrink film having a longitudinal seal. The longitudinal seal is formed by swirling hot melt fibers onto a longitudinal edge of the film and bringing longitudinal edges together to form an initial pressure-sensitive seal. The shrink film and hot melt are then subjected to the elevated temperature of shrink oven to shrink the film and to form a more complete bond at the longitudinal seam.

Abstract: A high speed rotary cutter includes a toothed counterwheel which has plural radial slots extending in the axial directions. First cutting blades are slidably received in the radial slots, each of which has a first cutting edge on its outer end. The first cutting edge is inclined to the line which is perpendicular to the advancing direction of the continuous corrugated strip. The movement of the first cutting blade between a projected and restored position thereof is controlled by a fixed cam which is located inside of the toothed counterwheel. The rotary cutter also includes a second cutting blade which has a second cutting edge on its outer end and is aligned to the first cutting blade so that the continuous corrugated strip is sheared at the crossing point of the first and second cutting blades. The first and the second cutting blades are biased to be engaged with each other for cutting the fin.

Abstract: Products to be formed into multiple packs are advanced, evenly spaced, towards a wrapper-forming zone and the flow of products is stopped cyclically within the zone so as to cause the formation of groups of products which are substantially packed together for insertion in respective packages.

Abstract: An alignment apparatus is disclosed for aligning weighed batches or elongated objects, such as French-Fried potato strips. The batch of objects is weighed in a scale and discharged onto a moving conveyor belt which separates the objects and projects such objects from the conveyor into a vibrated alignment container including a first container means having a curved deflector wall and a second container means with a gated discharge outlet. The objects impact a vertically-curved rear deflector wall of the first alignment container means in a direction substantially perpendicular thereto and may fall into contact with a straight front deflector wall so that they are aligned substantially parallel to such rear wall when they fall into the supply inlet of a second container means. The second container means if a rectangular tube having a gate at its discharge outlet which is normally closed.

Abstract: A device for introducing material into containers with a material-release mechanism and with a structure that supports a container below the material-release mechanism and that can advance the container past the material-release mechanism. The supporting structure has a rocker bearing on which the container rocks back and forth. The point at which it supports the container is displaced to the rear as the container travels forward such that the displacement in the center of gravity of the container as it fills up both occasions an advance in relation to the material-release mechanism and brakes it as the container advances.

Abstract: For applying a covering to glass fibre insulation batts, the batts are deposited in succession into a vertically elongate batt stacking space to form a stack of the batts, and upper and lower compression plates each having a concave compression surface the shape of which compression surfaces correspond at least substantially to the shapes of convex upper and lower surfaces of the package, are displaced vertically by an amount sufficient to compress the stack between the upper and lower compression surfaces with a compression ratio of 6:1 to 11:1. A covering of flexible sheet material is then provided around the compressed stack to maintain the stack in a compressed state. The concave compression surfaces make possible a higher compression of the batts than was possible with the flat compression plates used in the prior art, without damaging the batts and therefore while allowing satisfactory recovery of the batts when released from their compressed state.

Abstract: An extrusion pulling apparatus including an extrusion run-out table and an extrusion puller which is mounted for reciprocal movement along the run-out table. The extrusion puller has an upper jaw mounted for vertical reciprocal movement between clamping and release positions on a support frame and a lower jaw mounted for reciprocal lateral movement between clamping and release positions also on the support frame. The lower jaw is also mounted for vertical movement with respect to the support frame. A stripper finger is mounted on the puller adjacent the upper and lower jaws when the jaws are in the clamping position and is movable laterally to push extrusions toward a cooling table when the lower jaw moves in an opposite direction to strip the extrusions from the lower jaw and to push one end of the extrusions from the extrusion line.

Abstract: A method for making easily openable foil packages. The method comprises the step of forming a longitudinal seam and a transverse seam intersecting with each other, thereby providing grip surfaces which, when pulled apart, break the seal. The apparatus for forming the seam comprises bifurcated tool elements which come together in two orthogonal steps. The package so formed by the apparatus operating in accordance with the method is also novel.

Abstract: A method for the automatic control of the setting of spinning rolls in relation to a cylindrical, tubular workpiece in an opposed roll spinning lathe with four pairs of rolls. Each of the four pairs of rolls consists of one inner roll and one outer roll each, of which is arranged on a holder on a carrier so as to be radially adjustable in relation to the workpiece and so that the pairs of rolls are arranged at equal circumferential spacing about the workpiece so that the roll pair acting as the first rolling stage is placed diametrically opposite the second roll pair operating as the second rolling stage, the roll pair operating as the third rolling stage is offset by 90.degree. in relation to the first roll pair and is diametrically opposite the roll pair operating as the fourth rolling stage so that during the spinning rolling process the pairs of rolls and the workpiece perform a translatory and a rotary motion and furthermore the radial forces acting on the rolls are continuously measured.

Abstract: The continuously formed wrapping material tube traversing a horizontal wrapping machine, and containing articles to be wrapped therein, is sequentially passed between a first pair of opposed, counter-rotating heat sealing bar sets, and then between a second pair of opposed, counter-rotating combination heat sealing and cutting bar sets, to heat seal and cut spaced apart longitudinal sections of the tube, each positioned between an adjacent pair of articles, to form individual, article-containing packages. As each of these longitudinal tube sections passes through the first bar set, corrugated outer ends of two bars therein mesh to compress and heat seal the tube section along a corrugated heat seal area whose ridges and valleys extend transversely to the tube length.

Abstract: A tray for foodstuffs or the like having a continuous edge rim and a flexible cover placed over the top of the tray and sealed to the rim with an elongate continuous interlockable separate rib and groove profile on strips sealed to the surface of the cover wherein upstanding pull flanges above the rib and groove profiles may be pulled apart and the cover severed between the profiles for access to the contents so that the cover may be opened and closed.