Cryovac, Inc.

David Wayne Grams

Stephen Floyd Compton

Gregory E McDonald

George Dean Wofford

Jeffrey Linyard Walker

Andrew W VanPutte

Julian L Pruitt

Jay B Wilson

Robert D All

Howard D Connor

Shawn D Harris

F Ted Oakhill

William Z Snow

Kyle B Bullock

A heat shrinkable film package and a method for packaging food and non-food products is disclosed which includes a valve through which the package is evacuated during the heat shrinking step of the packaging process. Employing the valve of the present invention precludes the need for puncturing the film prior to heat shrinking. Thus, a wide variety of food products may be packaged in a manner more typically reserved for non-food products.

Method and apparatus for evacuating shrink film packages

In the packaging of a wide variety of products in flexible film bags, problems with edge tear and incomplete bag cut-off have been encountered. The edge tear and incomplete cut-off are worse for films containing low melting polymers, such as metallocene-catalyzed ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymers. These problems can be solved using a clamp-cut-seal process, as opposed to a clamp-seal-cut process. By cutting before sealing, the film is still cool, and the strain on the film due to the cutting does not pull on the seal area enough to cause edge tearing (i.e., tearing at the seal). The higher resistance to elongation of the cool, clamped film also serves to reduce or prevent incomplete bag tail cutoff. Also, by providing a means for sealing which clamps the film before it is cut, defective seals from bag &ldquo;pull back&rdquo; can be avoided.

Method of cutting and sealing film

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Greer, SC, United States of America

David Wayne Grams