Method and apparatus for stacking and feeding fillable flexible containers (stand-up bags)

A method for providing a cartridge for providing sequential access to a plurality of substantially flattened bags, said method including the steps of;

• providing a plurality of flattened, selectively sealable bags configured to lie substantially flat but for a seal location at the substantially same location along each flattened bag thickness, said seal location presenting a bulge being thicker than the nominal thickness of said bag;
• providing a dispensing box defining a cavity for accepting said plurality of bags in a stack of flattened bags lying substantially flat one atop the other, said cavity having a depth to accept said stack and a rectangular cross section taken having a predetermined length and width, said cavity width generally corresponding to the width of said flattened bags, but said cavity length being greater than the length of said flattened bags a predetermined off-set distance;
• and
• loading said bags in a stack within said box cavity to provide said cartridge, such that said bags lie substantially flat one atop another along a stack axis substantially perpendicular to the general plane of the substantially flat bags, said loading being conducted such that said bags are stacked in a predetermined off-set configuration in the such that the bulge of at least one bag does not align with the bulge of at least one other bag as the bags are stacked within the cavity, thus reducing the potential compounding of the bulges within the stack.

A method for providing a cartridge at a first location for providing sequential access to a plurality of substantially flattened bags at a second location, said method including the steps of;

• providing a plurality of flattened, selectively sealable bags configured to lie substantially flat but for a seal location at the substantially same location along each flattened bag thickness, said seal location presenting a bulge being thicker than the nominal thickness of said bag;
• providing a dispensing box defining a cavity for accepting said plurality of bags in a stack of flattened bags lying substantially flat one atop the other, said cavity having a depth to accept said stack and a rectangular cross section taken having a predetermined length and width, said cavity width generally corresponding to the width of said flattened bags, but said cavity length being greater than the length of said flattened bags a predetermined off-set distance;
• loading said bags in a stack within said box cavity to provide said cartridge, such that said bags lie substantially flat one atop another along a stack axis substantially perpendicular to the general plane of the substantially flat bags, said loading being conducted such that said bags are stacked in a predetermined off-set configuration in the such that the bulge of at least one bag does not align with the bulge of at least one other bag as the bags are stacked within the cavity, thus reducing the potential compounding of the bulges within the stack;
• transferring said cartridge from said first to said second location;
• and
• dispensing said bag from said stack in a sequential manner at said second location.

A method for providing a plurality of cartridges at a first location for providing sequential access to a plurality of substantially flattened bags at a second location, said method including the steps of;

• providing a plurality of flattened, selectively sealable bags configured to lie substantially flat but for a seal location at the substantially same location along each flattened bag thickness, said seal location presenting a bulge being thicker than the nominal thickness of said bag;
• providing a dispensing box defining a cavity for accepting said plurality of bags in a stack of flattened bags lying substantially flat one atop the other, said cavity having a depth to accept said stack and a rectangular cross section taken having a predetermined length and width, said cavity width generally corresponding to the width of said flattened bags, but said cavity length being greater than the length of said flattened bags a predetermined off-set distance;
• loading said bags in a stack within said box cavity to provide said cartridge, such that said bags lie substantially flat one atop another along a stack axis substantially perpendicular to the general plane of the substantially flat bags, said loading being conducted such that said bags are stacked in a predetermined off-set configuration in the such that the bulge of at least one bag does not align with the bulge of at least one other bag as the bags are stacked within the cavity, thus reducing the potential compounding of the bulges within the stack;
• providing a plurality of cartridges per the steps above;
• transferring said cartridges from said first to said second location;
• and
• dispensing bags from said cartridges at said second location by emptying one cartridge at a time by dispensing said bags from said stack in a sequential manner for each cartridge.