A tetrahedral-shaped pouch can be opened by tearing from a cut in a first lateral sealing edge and along a longitudinal sealing substantially perpendicular to the first lateral sealing edge to conveniently access non-liquid food contents, such as seeds or nuts. A short longitudinal cut can be made into but not all the way through the first lateral sealing edge, adjacent where the longitudinal sealing is positioned on the first lateral sealing edge. When opening the pouch, by initiating a tear starting at the cut, the packaging material will tear along, but not cross the longitudinal sealing, since the longitudinal sealing is formed from an overlapped and doubly thick section of packaging material. The pouch will therefore open, on at least one side of the tetrahedron, along a predictable tear line following the longitudinal sealing, to form a bowl-shaped receptacle from which the contained food product can be conveniently accessed.

A set of sealing jaws incorporating an adjustable seal area to seal the vertical portion of a bottom gusseted style of package. An adjustable seal surface allows a packaging machine to run different film web widths without the need to change jaws. The sealing jaws to be converted to run bottom gusset packages to pillow packages without the requirement to change jaws.

Packaging systems with a rotatable table top held by a rotatable column, a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart clipper assemblies held at respective clipper stations provided by the rotatable table top, plurality of spaced apart pneumatic valves under the table top in fluid communication with the clipper assemblies, and at least one of: (a) a clipper reset cam assembly held under the rotatable table top with first and second reset cams cam that selectively automatically engage the pneumatic valves as the table rotates; and (b) a clipper trigger cam assembly held under the rotatable table top circumferentially spaced apart from the clipper reset cam assembly with first and second trigger cams that selectively automatically engage the pneumatic valves as the table rotates.

A tetrahedral-shaped pouch can be opened by tearing from a cut in a first lateral sealing edge and along a longitudinal sealing substantially perpendicular to the first lateral sealing edge to conveniently access non-liquid food contents, such as seeds or nuts. A short longitudinal cut can be made into but not all the way through the first lateral sealing edge, adjacent where the longitudinal sealing is positioned on the first lateral sealing edge. When opening the pouch, by initiating a tear starting at the cut, the packaging material will tear along, but not cross the longitudinal sealing, since the longitudinal sealing is formed from an overlapped and doubly thick section of packaging material. The pouch will therefore open, on at least one side of the tetrahedron, along a predictable tear line following the longitudinal sealing, to form a bowl-shaped receptacle from which the contained food product can be conveniently accessed.

A method and apparatus for making a structurally resilient package with a desired shape on a vertical form, fill, and seal machine. The method comprises sealing a film to form a back seal; forming a first end seal to form a partially formed first package; flattening a first side of the partially formed first package to form a flat first side; filling the partially formed first package with product; forming a second end seal on the partially formed first package to form a first package from the partially formed first package; flattening the second side of the first package to form a flat second side, wherein the flattening the first side and the flattening the second side occur on a first machine.

A vertical bag-making/filling machine (1) comprises: a film-feeding unit (8) which intermittently feeds a film (F) formed into a tubular shape downward; a nozzle (10) supplying contents (X) into the film; a sealing-off unit (17) arranged below a lower end of the nozzle and forming a bag body (Fg) by heat-sealing the film in a transverse direction; a lower shaping unit (30) regulating swelling of the film on the lower side of the sealing-off unit; an upper shaping unit (40) regulating the swelling of the film on the upper side of the sealing-off unit; and a separating unit (25) for separating the bag body (G) fully filled with the contents by cutting the transverse seal (Y1, Y2) formed by the sealing-off unit.

A sealing device for forming a transversal seal to a tetrahedral packaging container is provided. The sealing device comprises a sealing element and an imprint ruler arranged at a longitudinal distance from the sealing element. The sealing element is configured to provide a top transversal seal to a packaging container while the imprint ruler is configured to provide a transversal imprint to the same packaging container.

A package and method of creating a package for dispensing a product are disclosed. The package comprises a flexible pouch comprising an elongated spout and a flowable product disposed within the pouch. A spout retainer is disposed on an exterior surface of the pouch adjacent to the spout, with opposite ends of the spout retainer attached to the exterior surface of the pouch to form two bridges, each of the bridges having a bridge width that is wider than a spout width to allow the spout to pass underneath each of the two bridges. The package may be manufactured on a vertical form-fill-seal machine where the pouch and spout retainer are formed from different supplies of film material.

The present invention is directed to a method of forming a bottom-gusseted package, wherein each package includes an inwardly-extending, pleat-like gusset at the bottom of the package. To permit heat-sealing formation of each package, the sleeve from which each gusset is formed comprises a lamination of two differing polymeric materials, a sealant layer and a non-sealant layer, so that only an exterior surface of each sleeve, at which the sealant layer is positioned, exhibits the desired heat-sealing characteristics. To facilitate package formation, the sleeves from which the bottom gussets are formed are maintained in a closed or sealed configuration during package formation by providing a heat-sealed bond at the edge of each sleeve. In one embodiment, portions of the non-sealant layer are vaporized to provide sealable surface regions of the sealant layer. In an alternative embodiment, a lamination of the sealant and non-sealant layers is formed such that the sealant layer extends laterally beyond the non-sealant layer, to thereby provide sealable surface regions of the sealant layer.

A device for producing tubular bags sealed on multiple sides, the device including a forming shoulder for deforming a plane film web into an envelope web and a forming tube surrounded by the envelope web, the forming tube having, adjacent to a forming shoulder outlet, fins for forming film overlap areas, and a film guide having first and second film guide elements, each of which is associated with one of the fins.