Package making – Methods – Forming a cover adjunct or application of a cover adjunct to...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-06
2004-02-10
Sipos, John (Department: 3721)
Package making
Methods
Forming a cover adjunct or application of a cover adjunct to...
C053S415000, C053S450000, C053S463000, C053S464000, C053S133300, C053S134100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06688078
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a peelable film pouch or packaging to be used for storage of food products at large, advantageously cheese, said pouch or packaging having such a conformation that once opened, it can be closed more than once for the preservation of freshness and flavour of the food therein contained.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to a process for the production of a peelable film pouch or packaging of the type mentioned above.
Yet, the present invention relates to a machine suitable for carrying out said process.
The present invention finds a particularly suitable employment in the field of food industry and in that of food packaging.
STATE OF THE ART
Packagings for storage of foodstuffs in general are known in the art, said packagings being made of a suitable plastic film and obtained by sealing, according to well-known techniques in the field.
Examples of such packagings may be found in documents EP-A-696991, EP-A-516393, EP-A-608123.
A typical packaging process is accomplished by an automatic machine called “flow-pack”, wherein, once placed in a horizontal position, a certain produce is made to move forward along a suitable conveyor whilst a plastic film is unwrapped from a suitable support spool and suitably shaped in such a way to wrap the produce itself.
In the “flow-pack” machine, a suitable bag forming means is present, and this is generally made of a tubular plate, which is suitable for folding the packaging plastic film so as to allow the packed product to be introduced into said tubular plate and wrapped in the plastic film after that.
During the advancement of the product within the forming tube, the plastic film is initially made to undergo a first sealing operation which is longitudinal with respect to the forward direction followed by the product itself.
Said first sealing operation is generally carried out by using a plurality of coupled rollers which are positioned opposite to each other and on both sides of the product so as to act on both sides of the plastic packaging film.
In particular, said rollers normally comprise a first couple of rollers that accomplish their function of leading the sliding of the film, a second couple of rollers that carry out the longitudinal sealing operation of the film, along the advancement direction of the product, a third couple of rollers equipped with a cutting blade in order to eliminate the portions of film that are found beyond the sealed edges, and a fourth couple of rollers generally made of rubber for dragging the film itself.
According to other forms of embodiment, said first sealing operation can be carried out by means different from those described above, that is by sealing blocks.
Once the first longitudinal sealing operation has been terminated, a second sealing is carried out transversely with respect to the forward motion of the product, so as to obtain a first short side of a given packaging; this second sealing is carried out by means of a couple of sealing plates which are placed downstream from said rollers.
In case of an advancement of the product on a continuous basis, said sealing plates are fixed onto a moving mechanism that goes forward in parallel with the product in such a way that the plates remain in contact with the film to be sealed for a predetermined length of time; in case the product advances intermittently, the sealing plates are uniquely capable of a back and forth movement towards each other.
Once said second sealing operation has been terminated, the plates are opened and, in case of intermittent advancement of the product, this is made to move forward stepwise, so that said sealing plates can be closed again downstream from the product in order to be capable of carrying out a third sealing operation which is transversal to the forward motion, in so doing obtaining the short side of the packaging.
In case of a continuous advancement of the product, the mechanism on which the sealing plates are fixed causes their withdrawal and their closing exactly in correspondence with the second side to seal.
During the third sealing operation the plastic film cutting operation is carried out and so the product results to have been adequately packed and it is ready for the following packaging and storage phases.
The above mentioned operations are suitable for a product motioned in a horizontal direction, whereby the product is placed and made to advance headways on the conveyor which is suitable for making it move forward.
The packing of a certain horizontally positioned product on an advancement conveyor shows a considerable disadvantage due to the positioning of the longitudinal side of the packaging achieved by the first sealing operation, on the flat surface of the product and at the back of the packaging.
In such a way there does not result to be allowed the reading of what printed on the back of the packaging which is relative to the product therein contained, its ingredients, its origin, and so on; information to which customers are particularly attentive and sensitive, but which result to be hard to be accessed to because of the folded and sealed side.
In case of a packaging of the horizontal type, the motioning of the product lying on one of its small sides, that is moving sideways, would be an adequate solution to solve that problem, since the longitudinal sealing line could be placed along one of said small sides of the product, but a device suitable for unwrapping the film and for carrying out its sealing and cutting between one unit of product and the other would require additional devices which were made of several pieces whose constructive features were excessively complicated and whose production costs were too high in order to be paid in a convenient way for the producer.
Attention is drawn to the potential encumbrance and to the ensuing constructive difficulty associated to it, of a device that is suitable for carrying out a transversal sealing that must motion a sealing plate of a remarkable size along a route that is basically oval or elliptically shaped in order for the product to be followed as long as it advances on the conveyor during the sealing of the front limbs and afterwards and for the sealing plate to move back to the starting position to carry out a further sealing of the upper edges.
Such a solution which is easily viable for products that are placed with the flat on the conveyor itself, is found to be remarkably difficult in case the products were positioned so as to lie on one of their small faces.
It is further known in the praxis to carry out the above mentioned packing steps in a modified atmosphere, in order to control the chemical, enzymatic or microbiological reactions that take place on the product, and completely minimise or eliminate the main causes of degradation of the product itself.
A controlled atmosphere is generally obtained employing a gas or a mixture of gases among which there are nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen, said gases being used as they hinder the oxidation phenomena involving pigments, flavours and fats of the product, as well as to delay the growth and reduce the proliferation rate of molds and aerobic bacteria.
The gas or the mixture of gases employed are suitably blown in during the packaging process, down an injection tube positioned downstream from the first longitudinal sealing operation and immediately upstream from the sealing plates that accomplish the transversal sealing, to obtain a perfectly airtight packaging.
In the state of the art there are also found to be known packagings of the above described type which are equipped with a re-closable zip closing system which is either placed below or above said longitudinal type sealing (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,145, EP-A-513550, U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,241, U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,309, U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,683.
A first important drawback of certain solutions known in the art is constituted by the packaging being formed by coupling two plastic films which are simultaneously unwrapped from two separate reels.
This kind of soluti
Fioravanti Paolo
Mauclair Fréderic
Berman, Esq. Charles
Greenberg & Traurig, LLP
Huynh Louis
P.F.M. S.p.A.
Sipos John
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