Abstract: Apparatus for forming, filling and sealing bags with a product wherein sheet material is formed into a tube on a hollow mandrel, feed belts are employed to move the tube downwardly on the mandrel and the product is delivered through the mandrel into the tube comprising a sensing device operable to control operation of the feed belts to on the one hand enable the drive for the feed belts when there is product at the discharge end of the mandrel and on the other hand to disable the drive for the feed belts when there is no product at the discharge end.

Abstract: Apparatus for forming, filling and depositing filled bags into cartons wherein the portions of the tube which are to become bags upon sealing and severing are suspended in a forming device above a conveyor for vibration to conform the cross section of the bags to the cross section of the forming device at a height such that the lower end of the forming device is above the upper end of the cartons resting on the conveyor and that filled cartons can be moved away from the lower end of the forming device and empty cartons moved into position below the forming device while a bag is being vibrated, wherein there is a conveyor for moving the cartons in timed relation to the release of the bags from the forming device and means for venting the cartons while the bags are being deposited therein.

Abstract: Apparatus for making a succession of bags from a web of sheet material which has been printed with a series of spaced parallel bands of heat activatable adhesive located at intervals corresponding to the lengths of the bags to be made wherein the web is formed about a mandrel into a tube and advanced therealong to sealing instrumentalities situated forwardly of the mandrel in the direction of movement, a pair of endless belts paralleling the mandrel for advancing the tube along the mandrel toward the sealing instrumentalities and a detector responsive to the presence of a band of adhesive on the web and located at a place in the path of movement of the web which corresponds to a whole number of bag lengths from the sealing instrumentalities which controls the feeding means so as to feed one bag length at a time relative to the sealing instrumentalities.

Abstract: A method of packaging particulate material in a carton within a flexible bag comprising forming a tube of flexible material, sealing a narrow length of the tube transversely to provide a bag length above the seal closed at the bottom and open at the top and a bag length below the seal closed at the bottom and top, and severing the tube at the seal to separate the bag below the seal from the bag above the seal and while sealing and severing the tube to form the bags, filling the bag length above the seal to a predetermined level. The bag length below the seal is gravitationally dropped into the open top of the carton and while dropping its side walls are confined so as to have a cross section corresponding to the inside cross section of the carton.