Method of manufacturing packages incorporating easy-open strips
AssigneeIllinois Tool Works Inc.
InventorsEric Paul Plourde, Robert E. Hogan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of manufacture comprising the following steps: (a) guiding a web material in a machine direction through a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine with a portion of the web material being wrapped around a tube; (b) joining first and second portions of a closure tape to first and second fin portions of the web material that do not form part of the portion of the web material that is wrapped around the tube, the closure tape being rupturable and not reclosable; (c) cross sealing the web material at a location downstream from the tube; and (d) dropping product through the tube and onto the most recently formed cross seal.
Claims23
A method of manufacture comprising the following steps:
- (a) wrapping a portion of a web material around a vertical product fill tube;
- (b) joining first and second portions of a closure tape to first and second fin portions of said web material that do not form part of said portion of said web material that is wrapped around said tube, said closure tape being rupturable and not reclosable;
- (c) cross sealing said web material at a location downstream from said tube;
- and
- (d) dropping product through said tube and onto the most recently formed cross seal.
A method of automatically manufacturing closed bags, comprising the following steps:
- (a) intermittently advancing a web along a pathway that partly encircles a tube having an axis, whereby after each advancement, a portion of said web is wrapped around a portion of said tube, while first and second fin portions of said web extend generally radially outward from said tube;
- (b) during each dwell time, joining a respective section of a closure tape to said first and second fin portions of said web while said portion of said web is wrapped around said portion of said tube, thereby forming a closure-web assembly;
- (c) during each dwell time and after step (b) has been performed, cross sealing said web in a transverse region at an elevation below an outlet end of said tube;
- (d) during each dwell time, dropping product down said tube and onto the most recently cross-sealed portion of said web;
- and
- (e) during each dwell time, cutting said closureweb assembly along a transverse line that intersects a respective cross-sealed region, thereby severing a finished bag from said closure-web assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.