Adjustable pouch forming, filling and sealing apparatus and methods

An adjustable pouch sealing and filling machine comprising:

• a vertical sealer for forming transverse seals between two plies of a pouch web and including a vertical sealer wheel;
• a filler wheel comprising one of a plurality of filler wheels for selectively operably coupling to said sealing and filling machine, said plurality of filler wheels having vacuum lands mountable thereon at effectively different radial positions than vacuum lands on others of said plurality of filler wheels to accommodate pouches in a wide range of widths dependent on the filler wheel operably coupled to said sealing and filling machine.

An adjustable pouch filler wheel for a pouch machine including an annulus, a set of vacuum lands on said filler wheel for engaging seals between pouches in a pouch web entrained on said annulus, and the radial position of said vacuum lands on said filler wheel being adjustable to accommodate a wide range of pouch widths.

An adjustable pouch filler including a filler wheel and a plurality of vacuum lands movable on said filler wheel to varied radial positions on said wheel.

20-53. (canceled)

A method of filling pouches comprising the steps of:

• feeding separate pouches toward a generally horizontal filler wheel, engaging leading and trailing edges of said pouches with respective leading and trailing jaws carried on said horizontal filler wheel;
• and selectively pivoting said trailing jaw on an axis generally perpendicular to said horizontal filler wheel to accommodate pouches of varied widths.

A method of filling transversely sealed pouches in a train of pouches including the steps of:

• engaging and supporting transverse seals in said train on vacuum lands carried on a first wheel;
• and
• selectively substituting for said first wheel a second wheel having vacuum lands at a different radial position on said second wheel than the radial position of vacuum lands on said first wheel.

A method of filling transversely sealed pouches in a train of pouches including the steps of:

• engaging and supporting transversely spaced seals between pouches on radially adjustable vacuum lands;
• and
• selectively radially adjusting said radially adjustable vacuum lands for other pouch trains where said transversely spaced seals are spaced at another distance apart than the distance between transversely spaced seals of one pouch train.

61-62. (canceled)

(canceled)