Package making – With contents treating – Vacuum or inert atmosphere
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-21
2002-10-29
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3721)
Package making
With contents treating
Vacuum or inert atmosphere
C053S568000, C053S373400, C053S374800
Reexamination Certificate
active
06470652
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a packaging device, particularly for foodstuffs or technical materials.
Vacuum-forming machines with a bell-shaped chamber are currently known which comprise a vacuum pump connected to a chamber, also known as vacuum chamber, and inside which a preformed pouch, open on three sides, is usually placed; a foodstuff is placed inside the pouch.
Therefore, in these conventional machines the preformed pouch already contains the foodstuff when it is inserted in the vacuum chamber, then vacuum is formed inside the chamber and thermal bonding is carried out at the free side of the preformed pouch.
This conventional technology entails the need to use preformed pouches, whose size is therefore comparable to the size of the product; considerable manual labor is also required.
Accordingly, there are operating steps which extend the time required to achieve vacuum packaging of the product; moreover, if packaging occurs in a controlled atmosphere, most of the gas is wasted, since it is diffused not only in the pouch but mostly inside the vacuum chamber.
EP-603.704 is also known in which foodstuffs are packaged by using a plastic film which is guided through a folding station in order to obtain a double layer and is then thermally bonded so as to form pockets.
The pockets are provided with the intended size or capacity before being filled and sealed.
Thermal bonding and formation are followed by filling, closure and cutting of the resulting pockets or pouches: this solution, however, is complicated, in that it entails a plurality of separate stations for performing the individual operations to which the plastic film must be subjected sequentially.
Hot or cold formation of the plastic film is furthermore provided for, in addition to filling, by means of a nozzle, with liquid products, flours or finely granulated products, and therefore it is not possible to use the solution described for solid products having preset volumes, such as sliced ham and the like, meat, cheeses divided into portions, trays containing foodstuffs and non-food products.
Moreover, in the conventional described solution, in order to close the pocket or pouch it is necessary to make it pass through various operating steps, with the consequent need for optimum centering of the pouch at each station so as to allow the optimum intended treatment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The aim of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, by eliminating the drawbacks of the cited prior art and thus by providing a device which allows the vacuum or compensated-vacuum packaging of technical products or foodstuffs such as sliced ham or the like, meat, cheeses divided into portions, and trays containing food and non-food products.
Within the scope of this aim, an important object of the present invention is to provide a device which allows to package said products quickly and with limited personnel intervention.
Another important object of the present invention is to provide a product packaging device which has a reduced operating cycle with short execution times.
Another important object of the present invention is to provide a device in which said packaging can occur at a very low cost for each individual package.
Another important object of the present invention is to provide a device which also allows to use shrink-wrap films, optionally with the possibility to use a reduced amount of gas which is sufficient only for the package that contains the product.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device which is also reliable and safe in use.
This aim, these objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are achieved by a packaging device, particularly for foodstuffs or technical materials, which comprises a bell-shaped vacuum chamber, characterized in that at least one single-folded film can be placed in said bell-shaped vacuum chamber, said product or material being insertable from an open longitudinal side of said film, said bell-shaped vacuum chamber containing a first transverse thermal bonding bar, which is laterally adjacent to a cutting blade, and a second thermal bonding bar, said first and second bars being L-shaped, at least one nozzle for vacuum and/or for introducing gas or mixtures being provided so as to face one of said longitudinal open sides.
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Gerrity Stephen F.
Josif Albert
Modiano Guido
O'Byrne Daniel
Scolaro Mauro
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