Systems for encasing articles such as forage or crop bales in a protective wrap are disclosed. In some embodiments, the system includes a packing conveyor that at least partially extends through a wrapping device for stretching a tube of wrapping material as articles pass through the wrapping device and into the protective wrap.

Disclosed is a bagging clip tool that couples to a shopping bag bagging station. The bagging clip tool helps to keep shopping bags hung from a bag holder hook in place as one of the shopping bags is opened, filled and removed. The bagging clip tool includes a handle, a clip coupled to a first end of the handle, and a T bar with a pair of wheels coupled to a second end of the handle. The clip keeps shopping bags hung from the bag holder hook in place as individual shopping bags are filled and removed from the bag holder hook. The pair of wheels easily grab and separate the two sides of the shopping bag so a user can open the shopping bag without fumbling.

A system is configured to produce a series of printed clips. The system includes a source of web material, a cutting station, a drive assembly and a printing station. The web material is configured to pass through the system in a machine direction. The cutting station is configured to cut a first portion of the web material into at least a first clip, index the first portion after cutting, and sequentially cut a second portion of the web material into at least a second clip. Cut portions of the web material exit the cutting station in a free loop. A drive assembly is configured to feed web material of the free loop through the printing station at a web speed. The printing station is configured to print indicia on a first surface of the cut portions of the web material.

An automated bag closure machine includes a mechanical bag closure advancement assembly and a mechanical bag closure breakoff assembly, wherein operation and timing of the mechanical bag closure breakoff assembly is governed by a cam and/or a manual pull-knob. The machine may include optical sensors configured to monitor the passage of bags through the machine and a fiber optic system to monitor the passage of bag closures through the machine. The machine may be mounted to other systems in a manner that allows fully fluid movement or adjustment of its position and orientation. The machine may have remote communications functionality.

Methods, devices and computer program products automatically package an object, such as, for example, whole muscle meat pieces, in a covering material, such as, for example, netting. The devices include a loading chute having a ceiling or door having at least a portion configured to open and close and a floor underlying and in cooperating alignment with the ceiling. The ceiling and floor are configured to cooperate to encase a product chamber with an axially extending open channel therebetween. At least one of the floor and ceiling reciprocates in a substantially vertical direction between a first loading position corresponding to when the ceiling is open and a second operative position corresponding to when the ceiling is closed.

An automated bag closure machine includes a mechanical bag closure advancement assembly and a mechanical bag closure breakoff assembly, wherein operation and timing of the mechanical bag closure breakoff assembly is governed by a cam and/or a manual pull-knob. The machine may include optical sensors configured to monitor the passage of bags through the machine and a fiber optic system to monitor the passage of bag closures through the machine. The machine may be mounted to other systems in a manner that allows fully fluid movement or adjustment of its position and orientation. The machine may have remote communications functionality.

A closure strip guide is provided having a front plate, a back plate and a plate keeper. The back plate is carried proximate and spaced from the front plate to provide a gap thickness configured to guide a strip of clips. The plate keeper is configured to retain together the front plate and the back plate to retain the gap thickness to slidably receive and guide the strip of clips. The plate keeper also expands the gap thickness between the front plate and the back plate responsive to a stack-up jam to accommodate multiple layers of clips in the event the strip of clips dislodges and/or jams. A bag closing apparatus and a method are also provided.

A bag closing apparatus is provided having a frame, a closure strip guide, a clip separator, and a bag feed conveyor. The frame is configured to carry a strip of closures. The closure strip guide is configured to guide a strip of closures. The clip separator is configured to sever a terminal closure on a strip of closures exiting the strip guide. The bag feed conveyor has a pair of laterally spaced-apart drive wheels and a complementary pair of laterally spaced-apart follower wheels urged into engagement for coaction with the drive wheels to deliver a bag neck into the terminal closure. The drive wheels and the follower wheels each comprise a circumferential outer periphery having a friction-reducing surface having a static dry coefficient of friction of at most 0.2. A method is also provided.

A method for closing a mesh bag including applying an ancillary closing element around a transversely collected portion of the bag, tightly girdling the same, thereby determining on a first side of the closing element a storage portion of the bag and on a second side of the closing element, adjacent thereto, a mesh bundle. The method further including the operation of bonding yarns of the mesh bundle together to form at least one bulge that acts as a retainer as it prevents, by abutment with the ancillary closing element, the mesh bundle from passing from the second side to the first side of the ancillary closing element.