Package making – With contents treating – Vacuum or inert atmosphere
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-18
2004-03-09
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3721)
Package making
With contents treating
Vacuum or inert atmosphere
C053S133400, C053S561000, C053S329300, C156S066000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06701695
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a packaging machine for producing reclosable packages, and more particularly, to a sealing station and a welding station for installing resealable closures or zippers onto packages produced on a form-fill-and-seal (FFS) packaging machine. The invention further relates to retrofitting horizontal FFS packaging machines to incorporate the zipper installing function.
2. Background Information
The formation of packages on form-fill-and-seal machines takes many forms. There is a spectrum of form-fill-and-seal packaging machines which extends from horizontal and vertical bag-forming machines which form packages from a single web of packaging material to rollstock machines which form packages by sealing an upper web to a formable lower web. Such machines package an unending array of consumable goods, including food products, non-food products, and medical products.
While the sealing and channel-forming die assembly of this invention may be broadly applicable to packaging machines, the information herein is presented in the milieu of a horizontal, rollstock form-fill-and-seal machine, especially those which provide for packaging of products in a vacuum or a modified atmosphere. These machines make thermoformed packs which are most commonly used for foods, such as sliced meats and cheeses. A further consideration here is seal integrity and this becomes critical as such products most often require vacuum or modified atmosphere packing.
In recent years many thermoformed packages are popularly supplied with primary and secondary closures, one of which is resealable. The resealable closures, commonly known as sealable profiles or zippers, have been marketed under such trademarks as Fresh-Loc and Zip-Pac. While the resealable closure has wide consumer acceptance, the requisite machine adaptation to the rather bulky closure (as compared to film) has been problematic. Typically because of their geometry and other inherent problems, the incorporation of resealable closures into a package frequently creates wrinkles in one packaging film or the other resulting in incompletely sealed packages. These incompletely sealed packages or leakers, in which a loss of seal integrity is experienced, are frequently not detectable by the quality control of the packager, but become apparent later in the distribution channel. When packaged goods without seal integrity get to the marketplace or into the consumer's hands, such goods have a reduced shelf life or experience spoilage.
In the past, horizontal FFS machines installed zippers at a separate working station between the forming station and the evacuation and sealing station. The zipper installing work station had a dedicated lifting device associated therewith. The zippers provided in the form of spooled zipper blanks, when exposed to the high temperatures of the zipper installation stations, tended to twist out of alignment becoming difficult to manage and frequently causing the wrinkling of the packaging film described hereinabove.
The following patents are known to the inventors and are presented for the further discussion of the prior art:
Inventor (Assignee)
Issue Date
patent application
20020015537
Strand et al. (Sargento)
Feb. 7, 2002
Patent
6,185,907
Malin et al. (ITW)
Feb. 13, 2001
6,138,439
McMahon et al. (ITW)
Oct. 31, 2000
6,138,436
Malin et al. (ITW)
Oct. 31, 2000
6,044,621
Malin et al. (ITW)
Apr. 04, 2000
5,941,643
Linkiewicz (Triangle Pkg)
Aug. 24, 1999
5,930,877
Thorpe et al. (ITW)
Aug. 03, 1999
5,832,570
Thorpe et al. (ITW)
Nov. 10, 1998
5,747,126
Van Erden et al. (ITW)
May 05, 1998
5,551,208
Van Erden (ITW)
Sep. 03, 1996
5,425,216
Ausnit (ITW)
June 20, 1995
5,412,924
Ausnit (ITW)
May 09, 1995
5,198,055
Wirth et al. (Alcoa)
Mar. 30, 1993
5,118,203
Andronico (J.W. Kutter, Inc.
June 2, 1992
5,105,603
Natterer (Multivac)
Apr. 21, 1992
4,876,842
Ausnit (ITW)
Oct. 31, 1989
4,782,951
Griesbach et al. (Oscar Mayer)
Nov. 08, 1988
4,589,145
Van Erden et al. (ITW)
May 13, 1986
4,296,588
Vetter (Multivac)
Oct. 27, 1981
4,240,241
Sanborn (W.R. Grace & Co.)
Dec. 23, 1980
RE.28,969
Kakuji Naito
Sep. 21, 1976
3,038,225
S. Ausnit (ITW)
June 12, 1962
The development of technology in the consumer goods and food packaging area is driven by three distinct technologic/economic forces, namely, (1) manufacturers of goods/food producers requirements; (2) packaging film/zipper blank innovation; and, (3) packaging machine development. In the first category, the patent application assigned to Sargento Foods, Inc., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20020015537; and the patent assigned to Oscar Mayer Foods Corporation, U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,951 are primary examples. In the packaging film innovation area, the patents assigned to Reynolds Consumer Products, U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,055 and to W. R. Grace & Co., Cryovac Division, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,240,241 and 4,437,293 are discussed.
In the following, it is seen that the prior art packaging machine patents arise from two main streams of technological development, namely, the Illinois Tool Works, Inc., Glenview, Ill. products and the Multivac Sepp Haggenmuller KG, Wolfertschwenden, West Germany, (Multivac) products. The Illinois Tool Works line includes the Minigrip, Inc. technology, which corporation is now part of Illinois Tool Works, Inc. It is noted that the reclosable seal patents to Griesbach et al. of Oscar Mayer Foods Corporation and Wirth et al. of Reynolds Consumer Products, Inc., are related to the Multivac technology.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20020015537—Strand et al. (Sargento Foods, Inc.)—Feb. 7, 2002
This application describes a resealable bag for a food product which is manufactured by an HFFS packaging machine such as described in Sanborn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,241 (W. R. Grace & Co.) and also has a tamper-evident seal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,439—McMahon et al. (ITW)—Oct. 31, 2000
The patent describes an HFFS packaging machine which mounts a zipper to film extensions of an already sealed package at a zipper and slider insertion and attaching station dedicated. After installation of the zipper, a slider is separately inserted into the assemblage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,198.055—Wirth et al.—Mar. 30, 1993
Wirth et al. discloses a method of forming a reclosable package using special profile strips (zipper components), the strips and a resulting package. The profile strips have a flange element which includes, by being a thickened element or by adding a buffer strip thereto, a thermal barrier. The barrier is designed to prevent the flanges from fusing together during the installation step of flange-film sealing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,203—Andronico, D. (T. W. Kutter, Inc.)
The apparatus of this invention is an HVFFS Tiromat 3000 manufactured by Kramer & Grebe (Canada) Ltd., Waterloo, Ontario, which employs a zipper application assembly prior to the forming, filling and sealing functions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,603—Natterer, J. (Multivac)—Issued Apr. 21, 1992
The patent to Natterer describes a rollstock HVF-F-S packaging machine having a work station dedicated to applying the closure strip to the lower formable web prior to entering the sealing and evacuation where the package is mated with the lidstock, evacuated and sealed. The work station for applying the closure strip is not temperature controlled.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,951—Griesbach et al.—Nov. 8. 1988
The patent to Griesbach et al. discloses a resealable package having interlocking closure strips outside of a hermetic seal. The seal is of a peelaway type so as not to destroy the integrity of the package upon opening of the package.
Griesbach et al. discloses a reclosable package comprising interlocking closure strips positioned outside of a hermetic seal or seal area and the method for producing same. The hermetic seal is of the easy-open or peelaway type so as to not destroy the integrity of the package or closure strips upon opening of the package.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,588—Vetter (Multivac)
This patent discloses a sealing station for a HVFSS which provides a deflector to divert the air and
Gerrity Stephen F.
Siegmar Silber, Esq.
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