A bag-making and packaging apparatus includes a bag-making and packaging unit, a film feeding unit, a splicing device, and a control unit. The control unit allows a bag-making operation to continue by utilizing an auto-feeding function that feeds to the bag-making and packaging unit a film F spliced by the splicing device to take the place of a film F currently being fed to the bag-making and packaging unit. When the control unit judges that at least one of the film feeding unit and the splicing device is malfunctioning in a case where the control unit is utilizing the auto-feeding function, the control unit stops the auto-feeding function and executes a non-auto-feeding mode. The non-auto-feeding mode allows the bag-making operation to be continued by the bag-making and packaging unit and a film roll holding unit that is operable among plural film roll holding units.

A packaging apparatus with an improved pinch roller apparatus, fluid supply apparatus, and/or a sealing apparatus. The pinch roller apparatus (e.g., comprising one or more guide and/or pinch rollers) is used to deliver film material to the fluid supply apparatus (e.g., nozzle and blower apparatus, or the like) that fills one or more chambers of the film material with fluid (e.g., air, gas, or other like fluid), and the film material is then sealed by a sealing apparatus (e.g., using one or more heating elements with an improved temperature sensor configuration) that seals the fluid within the one or more chambers in order to form the inflated article (e.g., inflated packaging material). In particular, the sealing apparatus provides improved sealing through the improved accuracy of the temperature reading in the heating zone, in part, by locating a sensor between a heating element and a protective member that covers the sensor.

Splicing method and unit for a packaging machine, whereby a first film is spliced to a second film which is a spare film. The splicing is performed by means of an adhesive element with two opposing adhesive surfaces, one for each film, and a longitudinal adhering element. First an adhesive surface is adhered to the adhering element and said adhering element moves so that the other adhesive surface comes into contact with the second film and adheres to it. Then the adhering element is separated from said second film, the adhesive element being adhered to said second film, and the first film is caused to come into contact with said adhesive element already adhered to the second film.

Splicing method and unit for a packaging machine, whereby a first film is spliced to a second film which is a spare film. The splicing is performed by means of an adhesive element with two opposing adhesive surfaces, one for each film, and a longitudinal adhering element. First an adhesive surface is adhered to the adhering element and said adhering element moves so that the other adhesive surface comes into contact with the second film and adheres to it. Then the adhering element is separated from said second film, the adhesive element being adhered to said second film, and the first film is caused to come into contact with said adhesive element already adhered to the second film.

An unwind station for a packaging machine may be configured to form wrappers having different sizes from a web of packaging material and supply the wrapper to a wrapping station. The unwind station may include a base configured to support the web of packaging material and a carriage configured to selectively slide in a longitudinal direction on the base. A rotating blade can be configured to periodically score the web to form a break line extending between lateral sides of the web. A first conveyor arm and a second conveyor arm may project longitudinally outward from the carriage. The first conveyor arm and the second conveyor arm can each include a low-speed conveyor configured to transport the web to a high-speed conveyor. The high-speed conveyor is configured to separate the wrapper from the web as the break line passes a shear point between the low-speed conveyors and the high-speed conveyors.

A pallet wrapping system with at least two guides sets configured to narrow the width of stretch film to form a banded edge on the stretch film. A plurality of rollers is positioned adjacent to the plurality of guides to facilitate passing the stretch film through the plurality of guides. A first roll of stretch film positioned to pass stretch film to the first set of guides, and a second roll of stretch film positioned to receive banded stretch film from the first set of guides, layer the banded stretch film onto unbanded stretch film to form an unbanded composite stretch film, and then pass the unbanded composite stretch film to the second set of guides to form a banded composite stretch film having a banded first ply with a width equal to the first width and a banded second ply with a width equal to the second width.

A shipping system for shipping planar substrates includes a plurality of planar substrates stacked to form a pack and a plurality of interleaving material including substantially spherical beads positioned between the substrates of the pack and configured to carry a load. Substantially all of the beads have a diameter within 25% of D.sub.max, where D.sub.max is a diameter corresponding to a size of an opening of an upper limit sieve used in the shipping system. Also disclosed are a spacer for use in a shipping system for shipping planar substrates, a wrapped system for shipping planar substrates, a method of wrapping a system for shipping planar substrates, and a powder applicator.

A shipping system for shipping planar substrates includes a plurality of planar substrates stacked to form a pack and a plurality of interleaving material including substantially spherical beads positioned between the substrates of the pack and configured to carry a load. Substantially all of the beads have a diameter within 25% of D.sub.max, where D.sub.max is a diameter corresponding to a size of an opening of an upper limit sieve used in the shipping system. Also disclosed are a spacer for use in a shipping system for shipping planar substrates, a wrapped system for shipping planar substrates, a method of wrapping a system for shipping planar substrates, and a powder applicator.

A shipping system for shipping planar substrates includes a plurality of planar substrates stacked to form a pack and a plurality of interleaving material including substantially spherical beads positioned between the substrates of the pack and configured to carry a load. Substantially all of the beads have a diameter within 25% of D.sub.max, where D.sub.max is a diameter corresponding to a size of an opening of an upper limit sieve used in the shipping system. Also disclosed are a spacer for use in a shipping system for shipping planar substrates, a wrapped system for shipping planar substrates, a method of wrapping a system for shipping planar substrates, and a powder applicator.

A shipping system for shipping planar substrates includes a plurality of planar substrates stacked to form a pack and a plurality of interleaving material including substantially spherical beads positioned between the substrates of the pack and configured to carry a load. Substantially all of the beads have a diameter within 25% of D.sub.max, where D.sub.max is a diameter corresponding to a size of an opening of an upper limit sieve used in the shipping system. Also disclosed are a spacer for use in a shipping system for shipping planar substrates, a wrapped system for shipping planar substrates, a method of wrapping a system for shipping planar substrates, and a powder applicator.