The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 22, 1977
Filed:
Dec. 17, 1974
Thomas Charles Harris, Monroe, LA (US);
Doyle Rayford Hudson, West Monroe, LA (US);
Olinkraft, Inc., West Monroe, LA (US);
Abstract
An improved in-feed method for, for example, the final closing stage of a bag filling machine of the type wherein a plurality of open bags with pre-formed gusseted tops are filled with a load of loose material and the gusseted tops reformed in a rapid sequence, and the bags are subsequently sealed closed. In the inventive method one bag pushes off the preceding bag in face-to-face engagement therewith along their front and rear sides, respectively, whereby the following or pushing bag being fed in is constrained on all four sides before it begins its infeeding movement. The four-sided constraint is provided by a multiple-finger pusher in the rear, opposing guides on the sides, and the presence of the preceding bag in front in face-to-face engagement therewith. Such frontal engagement prevents the load in the intermediate, following bag from shifting forwardly under the forward force of the pusher and opening the reformed gusseted bag top. The novel in-feed method takes place at the entrance to the bag closing station and is used in combination with an in-feed mechanism having a pivoted, movable inlet portion which initially presents open, tapered contact surfaces (FIG. 3) to the entering bag and subsequently, after a bag enters the device, presents closed, parallel contact surfaces (FIG. 4), the contact surfaces continuously moving in a longitudinal direction along the machine. The longitudinally moving contact surfaces, formed by moving belts, position, hold and guide the top of the bag (whose gussets have previously been reformed after the bag has been filled) preliminarily to its being closed by heat sealing or, alternatively, by sewing.