Bag filling apparatus and method
AssigneesAlberta Sunflower Seeds, Ltd., Systematic Design Services Ltd
InventorsThomas W. Droog, Stephen A. Withington, Douglas Greening
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Automated apparatus for filling of a bag with a loose commodity comprises a bag filling station for dispensing commodity into a bag; a wicket for feeding a stacked and interconnected array of empty bags; and a conveyor for removing filled bags from the filling station. Reciprocating clamps grip the open mouths of the filled bags, and transfer the filled bags away from the filling station, with a subsequent bag being drawn into appropriate position for filling by means of the connection formed between the contacting bags.
Claims15
Apparatus for filling bags with a loose commodity and transferring filled bags to a processing means, comprising:
- a bag filling station comprising a source of loose commodity and an outlet for depositing a predetermined amount of said commodity into said bags;
- a wicket for receiving empty bags arranged in interconnected array and positioning said bags sequentially beneath said filling station;
- bag transfer means comprising reciprocating clamp members for releasably engaging an open mouth of a filled bag, said clamp-members being mounted to a frame and associated with drive means for reciprocal lateral movement of said clamp members, whereby upon lateral movement of said gripping member and said bag laterally away from said hopper the subsequent of said bags is drawn along said wicket and is advanced to a filling position at said filling station.
A method for filling a bag with a loose commodity and transferring the filled bags to a processing means, comprising the steps of:
- providing a bag-filling apparatus featuring a bag filling station, a wicket, and bag transfer means;
- providing empty bags on said wicket in a stacked and interconnected array to form a continuous web;
- opening the mouth of a first bag on said wicket;
- filling a first empty bag with said loose commodity at said filling station;
- transferring said filled bag away from said filling station along a generally horizontal plane towards said processing means, thereby drawing a second connected bag into said filling station and detaching said first bag from said second bag;
- and transferring the filled bag to the processing means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.