A conveyor belt comprising: a belt body (13), one rotatable portion (12) coupled to the belt body (13) and configured to turn relative to the belt body (13). The rotatable portion comprises a plurality of sub-elements (17), with each one of said sub-elements being rotatably connected to an adjacent sub-element and having first opposite side portions and second opposite side portions; each one of the sub-elements (17) further comprises: one or more first annular features (19) at each of the first opposite side portions, one or more second annular features (20) at each the second opposite side portions. The first annular features (19) of a sub-element mate with the first annular features (19) or with the second annular features (20) of an adjacent sub-element forming a coupling seat (21) located between the two adjacent sub-elements and extending along an axis of rotation; one pin (22) is inserted in said coupling seat (21) formed between the two adjacent sub-elements to rotatably connect the two adjacent sub-elements (17). It is also disclosed a packaging apparatus using the above conveyor belt.

Provided is packaging machine with a sealing station that includes a mold with an upper tool and a lower tool facing each other and suitable for cooperating with one another in an operative position of the mold, between which there is delimited an inner area of a perimeter contour. The lower tool includes a cavity facing the upper tool, and an injection opening adjacent to a first side of the cavity and communicated with the inner area. The upper tool includes a sealing tool and an actuator device facing a point of an actuation region of the lower tool defined between the first side and the perimeter contour and being closer to the lower tool than the sealing tool.

Container for the packaging and transport of horticultural products, the container being made up of a body comprising a bottom, a pair of larger walls and a pair of smaller walls also comprising on its upper edge a flange that protrudes to the outer faces of all the walls of the container forming a surface for the application of a sealing film. A method of applying a sealing film to said container is also proposed.

A heat sealing machine and method form blister packages. A backing material web extends between a nesting tray assembly and a seal and cut tooling assembly and a blister tray is resident within a blister nest of the nesting tray assembly. The backing material web is clamped between a clamping gasket support shoulder of the nesting tray assembly and a clamping shoulder of the seal and cut tooling assembly, and between a sealing gasket support shoulder of the nesting tray assembly and a heat seal shoulder of a heater assembly. A knife of the seal and cut tooling assembly extends between the clamping gasket support shoulder and the sealing gasket support shoulder to cut a backing sheet from the backing material web that is heat sealed to an attachment surface of the blister tray to form the blister package.

A packaging container for holding contents such as fresh food. The container comprises a tray having a flange, a pre-formed scaling ring and a flexible film for sealing in the contents of the tray. The sealing ring is made from fiber, filament or tape (“FFT”) that is shaped into a shape that matches the shape of the tray flange. The sealing ring is adhered to the tray flange by heat welding or other means and the flexible film is adhered to the sealing ring.

A suction device for retaining and/or transporting objects, comprising a main supporting body (2) and at least one operating plate (3) provided with suction holes (7) connected to and suction means, in which the operating plate (3) is removably associated with the main supporting body (2) and has a second connecting face (5) coupled to a first connecting face (4) of the main supporting body (2), and in which the device also comprises one or more magnets (13) and one or more ferromagnetic bodies (14), each ferromagnetic body (14) being magnetically coupled to one or more magnets (13) when the operating plate (3) is associated with the main supporting body (2) for keeping the operating plate (3) fastened to the main supporting body (2), each magnet (13) and the ferromagnetic body (14) magnetically coupled to it being constrained respectively one to the operating plate (3), the other to the main supporting body (2).

A tray for receiving sausages is provided. The tray includes cells which are adapted to substantially match the shape of sausages or other soft materials. The tray may be vacuum sealed to cause a relatively uniform top surface suitable for stacking. The tray may be sealed without pre-freezing the sausages and without causing significant deformation to said sausages upon thawing. The tray may be loaded in an automated manner without the use of robotic arms placing individual sausages into the tray.

A packaging method and packaging material are disclosed. In accordance with one aspect, a method for forming, filling, sealing and flash freezing a liquid extract or concentrate in a continuous ribbon format is described. The packaging material uses a continuous ribbon of a cold-formed foil base with multiple pockets arrayed in a pattern and a heat-sealed foil cover. Following sealing, the continuously formed strip of product is passed through a freezing medium, optionally perforated alongside the pockets to facilitate separation of individual pockets from a sheet, and then cut to size for convenient and space efficient final packaging, storage and transportation.

The invention relates to a packaging machine and a method for the production of individual packagings. Each package may include a planar product carrier and a top film which encloses a product disposed on the product carrier in a gas-tight manner. The packaging machine may include a sealing station with a tool upper part having an outer frame and at least one sealing tool movably mounted for a sealing operation, and a tool lower part that comprises a belt conveying module with at least one conveyor belt mounted thereon. The tool upper part and the tool lower part are moved toward each other to form a sealing chamber in a closed position of the sealing station. In the closed position, the sealing tool may be lowered within the sealing chamber from a resting position to a sealing position to seal the package.

The thermoforming assembly includes feeding devices for moving a continuous strip-shaped semi-finished product along a forwarding path, along which a forming mould is arranged defining a forming cavity delimited by a base wall, a first pair of respectively opposed side walls, and a second pair of respectively opposed side walls. Heating devices operate on the strip-shaped semi-finished product near the forming mould, and forming devices are operatively associated with the forming mould and configured to conform the strip-shaped semi-finished product against the base wall and the side walls defining the forming cavity. At least one of the side walls belonging to the second pair is a movable wall, positionable towards and away from the other side wall belonging to the second pair, to vary the dimension of the forming cavity.