A vertical form fill and seal system supports a sheet of material having material segments and a tube sized for drawing edges of the elongated sheet of material together in an overlapping configuration to form the sheet into a substantially tube shape. The VFFS also includes a sealer that seals the edges of the material to one another and a gusseting mechanism sized for forming a gusseted tuck in each of a left panel portion of the material and a right panel portion of the material. A cutting mechanism removes a first portion and a second portion of a first segment of the material segments in order to form a first cut and a second cut in the first segment and a sealing mechanism folds and seals the first segment at the first cut and at the second cut to provide an end wall with a substantially flat, rectangular-shaped footprint.

An apparatus and process for packaging a product, such as a waste product, in a sealed tubular plastic container involves providing a source of a sheet of a plastic film and moving a portion of the film away from the source and about an open-ended, vertically-extending tubular pipe. The film is then moved toward an open top end of the pipe to form a second portion of the film into a tubular form around the pipe with the second widthwise end potions overlapping each other. The overlapping portions are sealed and the tubular form of the film is moved into an open top end of the pipe, so that the interior of the tube, formed by the film is open at the top of the pipe to receive the product. The product may then be transported downwardly through the tube, which is then sealed above and below the encapsulated product.

An apparatus and process for packaging a product, such as a waste product, in a sealed tubular plastic container involves providing a source of a sheet of a plastic film and moving a portion of the film away from the source and about an open-ended, vertically-extending tubular pipe. The film is then moved toward an open top end of the pipe to form a second portion of the film into a tubular form around the pipe with the second widthwise end potions overlapping each other. The overlapping portions are sealed and the tubular form of the film is moved into an open top end of the pipe, so that the interior of the tube, formed by the film is open at the top of the pipe to receive the product. The product may then be transported downwardly through the tube, which is then sealed above and below the encapsulated product.

A fill packaging machine includes a vertical sealing means for folding a packaging film at its central part and continuously forming a vertical sealed portion at its side edge part to shape into a cylinder, and a lateral sealing means for forming lateral sealed portions in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the packaging film. An easy separable sealed portion is continuously formed in the side edge part of the packaging film by the first vertical sealed portion forming section, and a vertical sealed portion having a partial non-sealed portion of a bottle mouth type is formed on the easy separable sealed portion by the second vertical sealed portion forming section. The first vertical sealed portion forming section is a pair of heat sealing rolls or heat sealing plates, a surface of at least one of which is made from an elastic material softer than a metal.

A fill packaging machine includes a vertical sealing means for folding a packaging film at its central part and continuously forming a vertical sealed portion at its side edge part to shape into a cylinder, and a lateral sealing means for forming lateral sealed portions in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the packaging film. An easy separable sealed portion is continuously formed in the side edge part of the packaging film by the first vertical sealed portion forming section, and a vertical sealed portion having a partial non-sealed portion of a bottle mouth type is formed on the easy separable sealed portion by the second vertical sealed portion forming section. The first vertical sealed portion forming section is a pair of heat sealing rolls or heat sealing plates, a surface of at least one of which is made from an elastic material softer than a metal.

A method is disclosed for forming a two-compartment bag. The method comprises draping a sheet of bag forming material around a primary fill pipe and one or more secondary fill pipes, forming multiple compartments by sealing the sheet material around the respective fill pipes, filling the various compartments with material, and sealing the bag. The method comprises forming transverse seals so that a transverse seal area of a secondary compartment at least partially overlaps with a transverse seal area of the first compartment, so that the secondary compartment is fixedly folded against the first compartment. The method permits the volume of the secondary compartments to be varied independent from the volume of the primary compartment. Each compartment may be opened without opening the other compartments. In a preferred embodiment the bag is made of a microwave-compatible material, and at least one of the compartments contains a food material intended for reheating or preparation in a microwave oven.

A method is disclosed for forming a two-compartment bag. The method comprises draping a sheet of bag forming material around a primary fill pipe and one or more secondary fill pipes, forming multiple compartments by sealing the sheet material around the respective fill pipes, filling the various compartments with material, and sealing the bag. The method comprises forming transverse seals so that a transverse seal area of a secondary compartment at least partially overlaps with a transverse seal area of the first compartment, so that the secondary compartment is fixedly folded against the first compartment. The method permits the volume of the secondary compartments to be varied independent from the volume of the primary compartment. Each compartment may be opened without opening the other compartments. In a preferred embodiment the bag is made of a microwave-compatible material, and at least one of the compartments contains a food material intended for reheating or preparation in a microwave oven.

A flexible, stackable, recloseable container for storing a quantity of products comprising a plurality of walls defined by a first sheet and a second sheet attached to at least a portion of the first sheet. The second sheet extends over at least three of the walls. The opposing container walls each have a sealed portion and one or more tucks, the tucks comprising a portion of the first sheet tucked toward the interior volume. A portion of the second sheet defines a recloseable feature located over an opening for reclosing the container. The second sheet includes a line of reduced strength at or adjacent at least a boundary adjacent the tucks and disposed between the opposing container walls each having the sealed portion and an adjacent container wall. The second sheet can include a hinge about which the recloseable feature pivots from closed position to open position.

A flexible, stackable, recloseable container for storing a quantity of products comprising a plurality of walls defined by a first sheet and a second sheet attached to at least a portion of the first sheet. The second sheet extends over at least three of the walls. The opposing container walls each have a sealed portion and one or more tucks, the tucks comprising a portion of the first sheet tucked toward the interior volume. A portion of the second sheet defines a recloseable feature located over an opening for reclosing the container. The second sheet includes a line of reduced strength at or adjacent at least a boundary adjacent the tucks and disposed between the opposing container walls each having the sealed portion and an adjacent container wall. The second sheet can include a hinge about which the recloseable feature pivots from closed position to open position.

A bag forming device and a bag machine are provided. The bag forming device comprises at least two bag forming units, wherein each bag forming unit comprises a deflection element and a folding element, and the forming tubes of the folding elements are arranged in a first direction in sequence. The packaging film is moved in a moving route when moving through the deflection element, and film moving positions are provided in the deflection element in the moving route for passing through of the packaging film to make deflection of the packaging film. The present invention reasonably adjusts the moving direction of the packaging films, and the direction of the longitudinal openings of the packaging films after longitudinal folding. When it is used in a multirow packaging machine, simultaneous bag pulling, longitudinal sealing, transversal sealing and cutting of the respective packaging film straps can be achieved, by reasonable cooperation of the bag pulling unit, the transversal sealing unit, the longitudinally sealing unit, and the cutting unit, without providing any synchronous control device, and thus solves the problem of complicated structure and high manufacturing cost in multirow packaging machine.