An apparatus for packaging articles, comprising:
- a feed line, comprising at least one chosen from a feed belt and a feed conveyor, for feeding a tubular wrapping of thermosealable sheet material inside which the articles to be packaged are prearranged, regularly spaced;
- a grip device including at least one gripper, the grip device, suitable to grasp in succession a next one of the articles fed inside the tubular wrapping, at a cut station;
- the cut station including a cutting device including at least one blade suitable to perform in step relationship a transverse cut of the tubular wrapping in a section upstream of the next one of the articles grasped by the grip device, according to a feed direction, to obtain a prepackaged article in a portion of the tubular wrapping containing a single one of the articles and having open opposite ends;
- a transfer device including a rotatable transfer wheel suitable to receive the prepackaged article;
- a rotatable closure head for closing the prepackaged article, rotatable through a plurality of operative stations and suitable to receive the prepackaged article from the transfer device;
- a bellows forming device including a folder member, the bellows forming device suitable to perform a bellows folding of the open opposite ends for closing the prepackaged article in a first operative station of the plurality of operative stations;
- a sealing device including a thermosealing sealer member suitable to perform a thermosealing sealing of the bellows folded opposite ends to obtain an airtight closure of the prepackaged article;
- wherein the first operative station includes a controlled atmosphere device suitable to produce a controlled atmosphere inside the tubular wrapping of the prepackaged article, the controlled atmosphere device including at least one hollow member for operatively engaging one of the open opposite ends to insert a gas inside the tubular wrapping of the prepackaged article, the gas suitable to produce the controlled atmosphere inside the tubular wrapping of the prepackaged article;
- wherein the controlled atmosphere device, bellows forming device and the sealing device are arranged in sequence with one another such that the inserting the gas inside the tubular wrapping at the one of the open opposite ends, bellows folding the opposite ends and sealing the bellows folded opposite ends are carried out in sequence and the bellows folding the opposite ends and sealing the bellows folded opposite ends occur after the inserting the gas inside the tubular wrapping at the one of the open opposite ends;
- wherein the sealing device is positioned and controlled to perform the sealing of the bellows folded opposite ends by thermosealing;
- wherein the at least one hollow member includes a first hollow member and a second hollow member mobile axially, upon control of alternated motion members, for being inserted respectively at the open opposite ends of the prepackaged article, retained by grasp members acting on the sides of the prepackaged article, with one of the first hollow member and the second hollow member connected to an extraction device suitable to perform the extraction of the air at one end of the prepackaged article and the other of the first hollow member and the second hollow member connected to a supply of the gas for producing the controlled atmosphere.