Method and apparatus for transporting flexible packages, particularly

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for transporting flexible foil packages, particularly flat bags (6, 8, 13) filled with unstabilized material to a package container (1). The flat bags (6, 8, 13) deposited flat and with uniformly distributed contents by a filling and closing machine upon a transport belt are first of all imbricated and maintained clamped on both sides during further transport into the package container, so that the uniform distribution of the contents is maintained into the container. A close filling of the container (1) without excessive pressure is ensured by this means. Because the flat bags are conveyed from the conveying path directly into the container without an intermediate magazine, containers of different size can be filled consecutively virtually without interrupting the conveyance. It is therefore possible, in the case of parallel operation of a plurality of similar lines, to operate filling machines of different capacity each at maximum capacity, in order to assembly containers which are filled with the flat bags delivered by the different filling machines into larger assorted units, without the different capacity leading to an excess supply of containers at the collecting station, where the containers are assembled to form the units. The surplus capacity of one or the other machine is in fact compensated by locking in other package containers into the one line and subsequently withdrawing the filled containers.