Bagging machine and method
A product bagging assembly and method of manipulating a web material bag that is operable to create a bag opening that is greater than six inches and which is operable without substantially detracting from product throughput associated with use and operation of the product bagging assembly. In a preferred embodiment, the bag opening/dosing assembly includes a first actuator and a second actuator that are connected to one another such that a position of one of the actuators can be manipulated by operation of the other actuator. The product bagging assembly can be provided as a kit configured for plug and play operation with previously provided bag and product delivery systems.
1. A method for opening and closing a bag for packaging a product, comprising:
feeding a presented bag from a sequence of connected bags to a product-loading area of a bagging machine;
engaging a front-facing side of the presented bag with a bag-open assembly;
manipulating the position of a first actuator with respect to the product-loading area by operating a second actuator that is associated with the first actuator, the first actuator being associated with the bag-open assembly; and
by simultaneous actuation, operating the first and second actuators cooperatively to:
pull the front-facing side of the presented bag away from an opposite side of the presented bag with the engaged bag-open assembly to position the front-facing side of the presented bag in an open configuration spaced from the opposite side of the presented bag to define a bag-loading opening between the front facing and opposite sides of the presented bag and to permit loading the product into the presented bag through the bag-loading opening, and
move the front-facing side of the presented bag against the opposite side of the presented bag to close the bag-loading opening.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second actuators are operated such that:
extending the second actuator moves the first actuator away from the product-loading area; and
retracting the second actuator moves the first actuator towards the product-loading area.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein operating the first and second actuators cooperatively to pull the front-facing side away from the product-loading area includes simultaneously extending the second actuator and retracting the first actuator.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein operating the first and second actuators cooperatively to move the front-facing side against the opposite side includes simultaneously contracting the second actuator and extending the first actuator.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after closing the bag-loading opening, sealing the front-facing and opposite sides together.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein sealing the front-facing and opposite sides together includes heat-sealing the sides together.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein sealing the front-facing and opposite sides together includes operating the first and second actuators cooperatively to compress the front-facing and opposite sides against a sealing assembly.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the sealing assembly includes a sealing element, the method further comprising selectively exposing the sealing element to be proximate the front-facing and opposite sides prior to sealing the sides together.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the sealing element is extendable and retractable relative to the sealing assembly.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the sealing element includes a pressure bar and/or heating element.
11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising separating the presented bag with the sides sealed together from a subsequent bag in the sequence of connected bags with a cutting element disposed proximate the sealing assembly.
12. The method of claim 5 , further comprising separating the presented bag with the sides sealed together from a subsequent bag in the sequence of connected bags.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein separating the presented bag from the subsequent bag includes separating the presented bag from the subsequent bag at a selectively tearable perforation feature between the presented bag and the subsequent bag.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein separating the presented bag from the subsequent bag includes separating the presented bag from the subsequent bag with a cutting element.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein engaging the front-facing side of the presented bag includes engaging the front-facing side with a suction or vacuum-assist device.
16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising disposing the product in the presented bag prior to closing the bag-loading opening.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising after closing the bag-loading opening, separating the presented bag from a subsequent bag in the sequence of connected bags.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the bag-open assembly includes a plurality of bag opening devices that are spaced laterally from each other to define a width of the bag-loading opening; and
the engaging and pulling of the front-facing side of the presented bag is conducted using the plurality of bag opening devices.
19. A method for packaging a product, comprising:
feeding a presented bag from a sequence of connected bags to a product-loading area of a bagging machine;
simultaneously actuating a first actuator and a second actuator to pull a front-facing side of the presented bag away from an opposite side of the presented bag to position the front-facing side of the presented bag spaced from the opposite side of the presented bag to define a bag-loading opening between the front facing and opposite sides of the presented bag and to permit loading the product into the presented bag through the bag-loading opening;
moving the front-facing side of the presented bag against the opposite side of the presented bag to close the bag-loading opening;
after closing the bag-loading opening, sealing the front-facing and opposite sides together; and
after sealing the sides together, separating the presented bag from a subsequent bag in the sequence of connected bags.