Food packaging with vertical to horizontal transfer loading
AssigneeGeneral Mills, Inc.
InventorsJames W. Finkowski, Craig E. Gustafson, Mark E. Arlinghaus, Ralph Stenvik, Dennis B. Usgaard
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Abstract
A method and system for packaging products provides for initially, vertically stacking a plurality of products during production in a transfer canister, simultaneously removing a stack of the products from the transfer canister, reorienting the stack and horizontally loading the stack into a final product package cavity. The invention has applicability to a wide range of products, particularly food products, such as refrigerated dough products. In one embodiment of the invention, the product package cavity is thermoformed as part as an overall horizontal form, fill and seal system.
Claims11
A packaging system comprising:
- a transfer canister for supporting a plurality of individual products a vertical stack;
- a mechanism for opening the canister to expose the stack of products;
- a pick-off unit for removing the products, as a stack, from the canister, re-orienting the stack and depositing the stack of products horizontally into a container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.