Reclosable bag material, method and apparatus

The method of making bags in a form fill process comprising the steps:

• supplying a continuous film of plastic bag material and moving said film forward in a bag forming direction parallel to the formation axis of a bag to be formed from the film;
• moving a fastener laterally across the film with the fastener having first and second interlocked fastener profile strips;
• securing one of said strips to the film surface at a location corresponding to the top of the bag to be formed from the film;
• drawing the film forwardly bringing the longitudinal edges together and sealing the edges to form the bag;
• securing the other fastener profile strip to the inner surface of the bag wall;
• cross-seaming the walls of the material to each other above the fastener strip to form the bottom end of a succeeding bag;
• and
• cutting the film between the seam and strip to remove a completed bag from the film.

A mechanism for making reclosable bags comprising in combination:

• means for supplying a continuous film of plastic bag material;
• means positioning a fastener having first and second interlocked fastener profile strips on the surface of the film leaving a portion of the film to be laid over the fastener;
• means securing the first of the strips to the film surface;
• means forming the film into a bag with the strips on the inner surface of the one of the bag walls;
• and
• means securing the second strip to the inner surface of the opposing bag wall.