A poly bubble bag filling machine, seal head, bag magazine, and a carton are described. The filling machine includes the bag magazine which is configured to hold and advance a plurality of pre-formed poly bubble bags as they are retrieved for filling. The carton provides simple handling and replacement of bags in the magazine and enables operation of the magazine while the carton is in place. A bag-transfer carriage transfers bags from the magazine to the seal head. The seal head includes suction bars configured to enable application and retention of a sufficient suction force to sides of the bag to open and retain the bag during filling. Sealing bars are positioned near the suction bars and are operable to seal the bag closed via application of heat.

A poly bubble bag filling machine, seal head, bag magazine, and a carton are described. The filling machine includes the bag magazine which is configured to hold and advance a plurality of pre-formed poly bubble bags as they are retrieved for filling. The carton provides simple handling and replacement of bags in the magazine and enables operation of the magazine while the carton is in place. A bag-transfer carriage transfers bags from the magazine to the seal head. The seal head includes suction bars configured to enable application and retention of a sufficient suction force to sides of the bag to open and retain the bag during filling. Sealing bars are positioned near the suction bars and are operable to seal the bag closed via application of heat.

An ice bagging assembly and related method with a horizontal ice bag cassette, a pair of opposing ice bag ply graspers configured to move an empty ice bag from the horizontal ice bag cassette to a vertical position to receive cubed ice before it is sealed shut and dropped to an ice bag merchandiser. The opposing graspers may be configured as rotating wheels and may have a grasping sensor. The ice bag cassette may be slidably and tiltably supported for easy replacement of horizontal bags. A load sensor, optical or mechanical, may be associated with the ice hopper to sense how much ice has been put in each bag. A pair of angled guides may guide a hopper into a support frame for the system.

An ice bagging assembly and related method with a horizontal ice bag cassette, a pair of opposing ice bag ply graspers configured to move an empty ice bag from the horizontal ice bag cassette to a vertical position to receive cubed ice before it is sealed shut and dropped to an ice bag merchandiser. The opposing graspers may be configured as rotating wheels and may have a grasping sensor. The ice bag cassette may be slidably and tiltably supported for easy replacement of horizontal bags. A load sensor, optical or mechanical, may be associated with the ice hopper to sense how much ice has been put in each bag. A pair of angled guides may guide a hopper into a support frame for the system.

A horn and an anvil are moved toward and away from each other by axially reciprocating a driving rod and thereby reciprocatingly rotating a forked lever in a predetermined angle range. The horn and the anvil are moved toward and pressed against each other with a predetermined force with a bag mouth b held therebetween. A sensor detects the position of a second mounting block secured to the rear end of a sliding shaft of the anvil, thereby detecting the distance between respective pressing surfaces of the horn and the anvil, i.e. the thickness m of a portion of the bag mouth held between the pressing surfaces. When the thickness m is not less than a predetermined threshold value M, a vibrator is activated to perform sealing. When the thickness m is less than the threshold value M, no sealing is performed.

A horn and an anvil are moved toward and away from each other by axially reciprocating a driving rod and thereby reciprocatingly rotating a forked lever in a predetermined angle range. The horn and the anvil are moved toward and pressed against each other with a predetermined force with a bag mouth b held therebetween. A sensor detects the position of a second mounting block secured to the rear end of a sliding shaft of the anvil, thereby detecting the distance between respective pressing surfaces of the horn and the anvil, i.e. the thickness m of a portion of the bag mouth held between the pressing surfaces. When the thickness m is not less than a predetermined threshold value M, a vibrator is activated to perform sealing. When the thickness m is less than the threshold value M, no sealing is performed.

The present invention refers to an apparatus for the transfer of foil bags, the apparatus comprising a magazine system, a plurality of adjacently arranged bag receptacles for the simultaneous transportation of adjacently arranged foil bags, and comprising a plurality of clamps which are each configured for gripping a foil bag in a bag receptacle and for the suspended transportation of the foil bag, wherein the apparatus is configured such that during operation foil bags are transferred from the foil bag magazines to the bag receptacles and are gripped in the bag receptacles by the clamps and are transported in suspended fashion, and wherein the apparatus comprises height-adjustable bottom support elements which are configured and arranged such that they respectively support from below the bottom of a foil bag in a bag receptacle up to the position where the clamps grip the foil bag.

The present invention refers to an apparatus for the transfer of foil bags, the apparatus comprising a magazine system, a plurality of adjacently arranged bag receptacles for the simultaneous transportation of adjacently arranged foil bags, and comprising a plurality of clamps which are each configured for gripping a foil bag in a bag receptacle and for the suspended transportation of the foil bag, wherein the apparatus is configured such that during operation foil bags are transferred from the foil bag magazines to the bag receptacles and are gripped in the bag receptacles by the clamps and are transported in suspended fashion, and wherein the apparatus comprises height-adjustable bottom support elements which are configured and arranged such that they respectively support from below the bottom of a foil bag in a bag receptacle up to the position where the clamps grip the foil bag.

The present disclosure relates to a discharge apparatus for discharging a plurality of flexible spouted containers, the apparatus comprising: a container support comprising a support element with an elongated opening for carrying a row of spouts of a plurality of spouted containers from an inlet to an outlet, wherein the inlet of the support element is configured to receive successive batches of spouted containers in the elongated opening; a biasing unit configured to move at least a subset of the spouts received inside the elongated opening in the support element towards the outlet, wherein the biasing unit further is configured to continuously apply a biasing force to the subset of spouts to continuously discharge the containers from the outlet.

A cartoner includes an entrance section, a loading section, an exit section, a transport system and a controller. The entrance section is configured for picking carton blanks from a magazine and folding a first side of the carton. The loading section is configured for loading a product into the first-side-folded carton. The exit section is configured for closing the loaded carton. The transport system is configured for transporting the first-side-folded carton from the entrance section to the loading section and the loaded carton from the loading section to the exit section. The controller is arranged for controlling an operation following each carton through the cartoner. The controller is further arranged for adapting, for each carton, a distance between two consecutive carriers of the transport system in dependence to a size of the first-side-folded carton and driving the two consecutive carriers maintaining the distance.