Compact form-fill-seal machine for automatic production of sealed packages

A machine for automatically simultaneously producing a predetermined number of filled and sealed finished packages, including:

• pneumatically driven adjustable indexing drive means driving a main shaft member;
• sprocket means mounted to said main shaft engaging and adapted to intermittently advance and rest a pair of web transporting roller chains in response to movement of said main shaft;
• said web transporting roller chains including a series of upstanding pin members;
• rotary impaler cylinder means driven by said roller chains;
• roller means transporting a bottom thermoformable web material from a supply roll to said impaler cylinder,
• said impaler cylinder impaling each of the opposed lateral edges of said bottom web onto said roller chain pin members;
• means intermittently indexing said bottom web material to a heating station where said web is heated to thermoformability;
• means intermittently indexing said heated web to a forming station, said forming station including
• retractable forming die means forming a series of cup-like pockets in said bottom web;
• means intermittently indexing the formed bottom web to a filler station, said filler station including means filling each of said cup-like pockets with an equal amount of a product supplied to said filler station;
• driven roller means simultaneously advancing a thermoformable top web material in timed sequence with the intermittent advance, forming and filling of said bottom web member;
• said top web driven roller means transporting said top web into substantially parallel closely adjacent proximity to said bottom web after the cup-like pockets formed therein are filled;
• means intermittently indexing both said bottom web and said top web together to a sealing station, said sealing station including
• retractable heat sealing die and clamping means heat sealing the top and bottom webs together;
• means intermittently indexing said sealed top and bottom web members to a punch station, said station including a series of punch dies which punch rounded openings in the sealed web members at the location of the corners of the individual packages to be formed;
• means intermittently indexing and pulling said sealed top and bottom web members to a longitudinal cutting station wherein knife means slit said top and bottom web members along first opposed sides of said cup-like pockets and adjacent the pin engaging edge portions of said bottom web;
• transverse cutting means slitting said top and bottom web members along second opposed sides of said cup-like pockets to thereby separate the individual finished packages from one another;
• means transporting said finished packages away from said machine;
• and
• take up roller means removing the bottom web trim from said roller chain pins.