Abstract: An apparatus and method is disclosed for filling successive pouches which are interconnected in a continuous web by a tubular top portion. Material is dispensed into the pouches by an elongated filling pipe and a mass flow meter monitors the amount of material dispensed through the filling pipe. The rate at which the web is conveyed along the filling pipe is controlled in response to the measured mass flow of the material whereby the amount of material dispensed into each pouch is accurately controlled.

Abstract: Successive bags of material which are interconnected in a continuous web along the tops thereof by an integral tubular portion of the web, and which are individually open to the tubular portion but sealed from each other by seams extending along the adjacent sides thereof, are filled by an elongated filling pipe along which a tubular portion of the web is drawn. The underside of the pipe is provided with two spaced ports through which material is delivered into the successive bags, and in order to prevent material from accumulating above the adjacent seam portions of contiguous bags, these ports are alternately opened and closed in such timed relation with the feeding movement of the bags that each port is open when only one bag is passing thereunder and is closed when one of the seams is thereunder.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for joining webs of aseptic pouches such that the internal asepsis of the pouches is preserved includes bringing the ends of the webs to be joined into overlapping relationship to form an overlapping area, applying a double-sided microbicidal adhesive tape between the overlapping ends so that the ends are held in overlapping relationship, applying heat to the overlapping area sufficient to form a peel seal between the opposing walls of the webs in the overlapping area, making a transverse fusion-like incision within the peel seal in the overlapping area, applying a microbicidal adhesive tape to outside surfaces of the webs in the overlapping area to microbicidally seal the fusion-like incision, and separating the walls of the webs thereby forming a continuous and sterile passageway between the pouches through the incision.

Abstract: A valve for controlling gravity flow of a fluent product such as milk from a flexible bag of the product through an opening in the bag formed by severing a corner off the bag. The valve includes a pair of spring loaded jaws which engage the bag on opposite sides just above the opening formed by the removal of the corner. Cooperating cam surfaces on the jaws and on movable frames cause the jaws to move toward and away from each other as the frames are moved with respect to each other. Movement of the jaws away from each other causes the edges of the bag at the opening to become taut and restrict flow through the opening, while movement of the jaws towards each other relaxes the bag material adjacent the opening to enhance flow through the opening. The frames also carry resilient sealing bars which engage opposite sides of the bag just above the opening and seal the opening when the jaws are moved away from each other.

Abstract: A package of book-like shape having three leaves is used for maintaining asepsis of a sterile web of bags during web transfer or start up. Each of the leaves contains an absorbant layer to which a sterilizing medium such as hydrogen peroxide can be applied. The two outer leaves also carry anvil plates and a curved knife blade is positioned on one of the anvil plates, either as part of the original package or just prior to use. Where a transfer is to be made from the expiring end of a web of bags to a new web of bags, the package is applied with the central leaf, carrying a sterilizing agent, interposed between opposing surfaces of the expiring and new webs of bags. One of the outer leaves is positioned on an outer surface of the new web of bags and the other outer leaf is positioned on the outer surface of the expiring web of bags. Thereafter pressure is applied to the entire assembly, causing the knife blade to pierce through all of the layers between the two anvil plates.

Abstract: The gas and light barrier properties of a web of thermoplastic bags designed for aseptic packaging are improved by laminating a material of high gas and light imperviousness, such as metal foil, to the thermoplastic bag material during a blown film extrusion process. In one embodiment a pair of foil laminates are applied to opposite sides of the inflated length of a blown tube between the extruder and a first pair of nip rolls, with the laminates being pressed into opposite sides of the inflated tube by rollers which flatten the tube at their points of contact to provide flat surfaces for the laminates being applied to the tube. The resulting laminated web has a pair of aligned, uncovered strips running the length of the web along which a slit-seal is made to provide a pair of webs each having a layer of foil or other material laminated to all but one longitudinal edge thereof.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for retaining asepsis of a sterile web of bags as the web is fed onto the filling pipe of a packaging machine. The filling pipe is covered by a special sterilizing boot and sterilized by directing steam or another sterilizing agent into the boot. The leading end of a sealed web of bags, the interior of which is sterile, is then attached to the boot adjacent the upstream end of the filling pipe with a sterilizing medium, such as hydrogen peroxide, interposed between opposed surfaces of the adjacent walls of the boot and web. The filling pipe has a barbed cone attached to its upstream end with which the adjacent walls of the boot and web are pierced so that the sterilized pipe is then positioned within the sterile web of bags without destroying the sterile condition of the pipe or the web.

Abstract: Aseptic packages are manufactured through a process which includes making an aseptic web of bags by first blow-extruding a continuous, closed thermoplastic tube using a noncontaminating gas, dividing the tube by means of partial, transverse heat seals into a series of interconnected bags intercommunicating with each other in a closed system by means of a continuous channel running across their open mouths and then, while maintaining the closed and hence, sterile condition of the web of bags, filling the bags with a sterile product and sealing the bags, to produce sealed, aseptic packages.

Abstract: A web of bag blanks, a method of making the web, and apparatus and method for filling and sealing the bags in the web. The web is formed as a continuous tube having spaced, transverse seal lines extending from a lower edge of the web to a point short of the upper edge. The bags are filled and sealed on a machine having an elongated filling pipe which is threaded into the tube between its upper edge and the upper ends of the transverse seal lines. After the bags are filled, a continuous, longitudinal, seal line is formed, intersecting the upper ends of the spaced seal lines to seal the filled bags. The tube is then severed intermediate its upper edge and the continuous longitudinal seal line to separate the filled, sealed bags from the filling pipe.