US 4,047,363 AGranted

Packaging apparatus

AssigneeRichard Rath Packaging Machinery, Inc.

InventorAlfonso Vigneri

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Abstract

The open mouth of a container such as a bag or sack which is filled with produce or other goods is folded by means of a single oscillatory finger which forms a fold in the leading and trailing sides of the bag as it travels along a path, as by being carried on a conveyor. The finger is oscillated by means of a mechanism driven by the bag which causes the finger to execute a forward stroke of oscillation whereby to form the fold in the leading side of the bag and then to form the fold in the trailing side of the bag as the finger executes its return stroke. The mechanism provides, as by means of a cam which oscillates with the finger, the timing of the forward and return strokes in coordination with the movement of the bag such that the bag may move continuously during the form folding operation. The fold is maintained by applying lateral pressure on opposite sides of the fold, as by means of opposed belts which engage the bag as the bag leaves the vicinity of the finger. The closed bag may be fed to a sealing machine, such as a stitcher, for permanently sealing the bag.

Claims10

Dependent claims

For use in closing open ends of containers while they move along a path of travel with the trailing and leading sides of successive containers spaced from each other, apparatus which comprises

a finger disposed adjacent to said path of travel and rotatably mounted to oscillate along an arc between a first location between said trailing and leading sides of said successive containers and a second location spaced from an open end thereof, and
means responsive to the movement of each of said successive containers along said path of travel and actuated by said containers as said containers move along said path past the vicinity of said finger for causing said finger to oscillate from said first location to said second location and then from said second location to said first location so as to form inward folds in the leading and trailing sides of each of said containers at the open end thereof, said actuation by said containers being provided by a mechanism comprising a rotatable first bar having an end which successively pivots from a position into engagement with said containers to a position into the space between the trailing and leading sides of successive ones of said containers, a second bar rotatable with said first arm, a cam member disposed in engagement with said second bar, said cam member and said finger being rotatably mounted for conjoint movement, said second bar providing for displacement of said cam member, said cam member having a shape such that the displacement of said finger along said arc from said first position to said second position is a function of the displacement of said container along said path of travel and said container is disposed in a position with its trailing side intersecting the arc of said finger when said finger reaches said second position.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.