Method and apparatus for retaining asepsis of a sterile web of bags

Abstract

A method and apparatus for retaining asepsis of a sterile web of bags as the web is fed onto the filling pipe of a packaging machine. The filling pipe is covered by a special sterilizing boot and sterilized by directing steam or another sterilizing agent into the boot. The leading end of a sealed web of bags, the interior of which is sterile, is then attached to the boot adjacent the upstream end of the filling pipe with a sterilizing medium, such as hydrogen peroxide, interposed between opposed surfaces of the adjacent walls of the boot and web. The filling pipe has a barbed cone attached to its upstream end with which the adjacent walls of the boot and web are pierced so that the sterilized pipe is then positioned within the sterile web of bags without destroying the sterile condition of the pipe or the web. When the end of a web of bags is reached, the new web of bags is fed onto the filling pipe in a similar manner, except that the leading end of the new web of bags may be attached to the trailing end of the old web of bags in the same manner that the old web was attached to the boot.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.