Packaging apparatus and techniques

The method of packaging comprising:

• forming a receptacle cup of flexible packaging material;
• placing a product in said receptacle cup and holding said receptacle with its opening facing upwards;
• positioning a semi-rigid container over said filled receptacle, with the peripheries in register to define a package assembly;
• elevating said receptacle cup and the product therein up towards said container to position the product within the spaces of said container and close to the remote surface thereof;
• and
• evacuating and sealing said package assembly, the evacuation being carried to such an extent that atmospheric pressure, acting through said flexible material, presses said product up against said remote surface of said container.

A method for making a package in which two plastic sheet portions are secured together along peripheral edges to define a sealed container for a product between said sheet portions, said method comprising:

• supporting and advancing a first continuous web of flexible packaging material along a generally horizontal path leading to a product-loading region;
• stretch-forming said first web of packaging material, while it is in a region preceding said product-loading region, in a downward direction to make upright cup-shaped receptacles the mouths of which are generally in the plane of the surrounding web of material;
• placing a product from above into the upright receptacles while in said product-loading region;
• advancing said web beyond said product-loading region to a subsequent package-forming region;
• supporting and advancing a second continuous web of packaging material, with a movement synchronized with the movement of said first web, down from a region above said first web to said package-forming region to be brought together with said first web so as to form complete packages containing said products;
• pressing the bottom of the upright receptacles up, while in said package-forming region, to elevate the product loaded therein up above the plane of the mouth of the receptacle, the upward movement serving to engage the top of the product tightly with the opposite portion of said second web of packaging material serving as the inner surface of the package top;
• and
• at some stage following the forming of the package in said package-forming region, evacuating the interior of the package and completely hermetically sealing each evacuated package, the top of the product in the final package being elevated above the mouth of the upright receptacle and into tight engagement with the top surface of the package as formed by said second web of plastic packaging material.

The method of forming an hermetically-sealed package comprising the steps of:

• placing in a stretched-formed cup of flexible packaging material, having horizontal flanges around the cup opening, a product the upper surfaces of which are initially at least not substantially above said flanges;
• securing a plastic top to said flanges to form a package;
• evacuating the interior of the package while providing reduced pressure in a first evacuating space above the package top and in a second evacuating space beneath the package cup;
• hermetically sealing the package;
• sequentially venting said first and second spaces in a selected order developing an upward force against said plastic top with at least a portion of the upper surfaces of said product and the corresponding plastic top portions in contact therewith being above said horizontal flanges.

In a process for producing vacuum packaging comprising upper and lower sheets of packaging material sealed together around peripheral flanges with a packaged product therebetween, the interior regions of both sheets being formed outwardly in opposite directions, away from the peripheral flanges such that an upper segment of said product is above the flanges and a lower segment is below said flanges;

• the improved method comprising the steps of:
• placing the product with the adjacent two sheets of packaging material in an evacuation-and-seal chamber having separate isolated spaces above and below the packaging material;
• evacuating said isolated spaces while evacuating the interior of the package;
• applying sealing heat to said package material after evacuation of the packages has been effected;
• and
• sequentially venting said spaces to atmosphere to develop an upwardly-directed force on the lower sheet of packaging material to push the product up against the upper sheet.