Zipper equipped bags and method of and means for manually filling and separating them

A method of filling and separating top fillable serially conected bags which are closed along their bottom and sides and have reclosable zippers along their upper end portions with front and rear pull flanges extending above the zippers, the bags being partially separated from one another along their adjacent sides by separations, which extend upwardly past said zippers and to the tops of the pull flanges and between the ends of the pull flanges, there being respective continuous integral strips connecting said tops of said front and rear pull flanges and thereby connecting the bags to one another in series, the upper portions of the connecting strips having cohtinuous protruding guide ribs therealong for supporting the connected bags, the method comprising:

• slidably engaging said ribs in supporting and separating jaw means at a filling station;
• relatively sliding said ribs in said jaw means and thereby moving and aligning said bags seriatim into said filling station;
• as each bag is in the filling station effecting separation of said pull flanges by means of said jaw means and thereby opening the top of the bag by pulling said zipper of the bag open;
• filling contents into the bags in the filling station;
• advancing the connected bags and thereby moving the filled bag away from the filling station and advancing a succeeding bag into the filling station for opening and filling;
• closing the zipper of the filled bag;
• and separating the connecting strips from the tops of the pull flanges of the filled bag at a level at or below the top of said separations to sepatate the filled bag from the remaining connected bags.

Apparatus for filling and separating serially connected top fillable bags which are closed along their bottom and sides and have reclosable zippers along their upper end portions with front and rear pull flanges extending above the zippers, the bags being separated from one another along their adjacent sides by separations which extend upwardly past the zippers and to the tops of the pull flanges and between the ends of the pull flanges, there being respective continuous integral strips connecting said front and rear pull flanges and thereby connecting said tops of the bags to one another, the upper portions of the connecting strips having continuous protruding guide ribs therealong for supporting the connected bags, the apparatus comprising:

• means providing a bag filling station including supporting and separating jaws for slidably engaging said ribs for movement of said bags along said jaws and aligning said bags seriatim in said filling station;
• said jaws including means for separating said pull flanges and thereby said zipper of each bag in the filling station to open the top of the bag for receiving contents into the bag;
• means moving the filled bag from the filling station and advancing a succeeding bag into the filling station for opening and filling of the succeeding bag;
• means for closing the zipper of the filled bag;
• and
• means for separating the connecting strips from the tops of the pull flanges of the filled bag at a level at or below the top of said separations to separate the filled bag from the remaining connected bags.