Abstract: Process and means for preforming containers from a tube which is formed of a material which can be automatically welded by pressure and which contains a liquid. The means comprises half-moulds for preforming containers mounted in series on two endless chains on opposite sides of the tube and displaced towards one another for gripping and temporarily holding the tube therebetween, a pair of welding jaws acting above the half-moulds for gripping therebetween the walls of the tube and welding said walls to one another at the point of separation of the container and a means for separating the preformed containers. The means includes a second pair of welding jaws, disposed beneath the first pair and controlled in synchronism with the first pair, the second pair of jaws acting on a section of the tube welded at the top and bottom by the first pair of jaws, so as to provide an intermediate weld.

Abstract: A method for the production of a pack in an enclosure containing a sterile liquid comprises a sterilization step and a pack forming and filling step. The sterilization step comprises sterilizing the enclosure by means of hot water under pressure, replacing the hot water by sterile cold water to cool the enclosure to ambient temperature, discharging the sterile water from the enclosure, drying the enclosure by continuously blowing warm compressed sterile air into the enclosure, and the pack forming and filling step comprises feeding a web of pack-forming material through the enclosure, forming the web into a longitudinally open tube as it is fed through the enclosure, sealing the open tube longitudinally and transversely and filling the sealed tube with the sterile liquid.

Abstract: Apparatus for conditioning sterile liquid products in a continuous tubular pack comprises an enclosure containing means for sterilizing a web of material intended to form the pack, means in the enclosure for forming the web into a tube and means for filling the tube with a sterile liquid product. The enclosure is capable of resisting an internal pressure of hot water at 120.degree. C of at least 3 kg/cm.sup.2 and is provided with means for temporarily sealing an inlet slot through which the web can be fed into the enclosure, and an outlet slot through which the tube can leave the enclosure.