Tear open pouch

Abstract

A pouch for containing a flowable material manufactured in a vertical form, fill and seal process wherein a pouch is formed from a sheet of thermoplastic film and a transverse heat seal formed between pouches as they are filled serves as a top closure for a lower pouch and a bottom closure for an upper pouch, wherein the pouch is provided with an easy open feature just above or below a respective closure, which comprises a second seal formed between two layers of film in a portion of an edge of the pouch that is in close proximity to and extends inwardly from a corner of the pouch to provide a tear line to open the pouch, and process for manufacturing.

1 . A pouch for containing a flowable material manufactured in a vertical form, fill and seal process wherein a pouch is formed from a sheet of thermoplastic film and a transverse heat seal formed between pouches as they are filled serves as a top closure for a lower pouch and a bottom closure for an upper pouch, wherein the pouch is provided with an easy open feature just above or below a respective closure, which comprises a second seal formed between two layers of film in a portion of an edge of the pouch that is in close proximity to and extends inwardly from a corner of the pouch to provide a tear line to open the pouch.  
   
   
       2 . A heat sealing assembly for use in a vertical form, fill and seal apparatus for sealing at least two layers of thermoplastic film together, comprising a first jaw and a second jaw, a first and a second electrical impulse heat sealing element mounted on the first jaw, at least one of said jaws being capable of transverse motion and adapted to collapse a tubular film made from said thermoplastic film and to allow the film to pass between said jaws, the first electrical impulse heat sealing element being about the length of the width of the collapsed tubular film so that the flattened tube can be sealed and cut, and the second electrical impulse heat sealing element mounted on the first jaw being in close proximity to the first element and arranged so that the seal it creates extends from one edge of the collapsed tube for a short distance towards the interior of the tube so that a second seal can be made in the tube to provide a tear line for opening the pouch.  
   
   
       3 . A process for manufacturing a pouch for containing a flowable material which comprises forming a thermoplastic film into a film tube by forming a vertical fin seal or lap seal in the tube, drawing the tube through a heat sealing assembly of a vertical form, fill and seal apparatus, collapsing the tube, forming a first transverse seal in the tube, continuously filling the tube with a flowable material, allowing the filled tube to drop down a predetermined distance from the heat sealing assembly, collapsing the filled tube and heat sealing the tube again with the heat sealing assembly to provide a first seal across the tube and a simultaneous cut therethrough so that a pillow shaped pouch is formed, a second seal being provided simultaneously by the heat sealing assembly, which is in close proximity to the top seal of the pouch and extends inwardly from the adjacent side edge of the pouch, thereby providing a tear line for opening the pouch.  
   
   
       4 . A heat sealing assembly for use in a vertical form, fill and seal apparatus for making flowable material filled pouches, the assembly being adapted for sealing a thermoplastic film together to form a tube which is filled with the flowable material and sealed and cut into pouches containing such material, which assembly comprises a transversely oriented jaw and a vertically oriented jaw, the vertically oriented jaw being adapted to seal edges of the film with a fin seal or an overlap seal, the horizontal jaw being adapted for transverse motion and to collapse the tubular film and to allow the tubular film when filled with flowable material to pass between its members, which cut and seal the tubular film to form pouches, the vertically oriented jaw having an electrical impulse heat sealing element arranged vertically in a member thereof and being about the length of a pouch, the transversely oriented jaw having an electrical impulse heat sealing and cutting element and being about the width of a pouch, so as to cut and seal the collapsed and filled tubular film, whereby the seal formed provides a bottom closure for an upper pouch and a top closure for a bottom pouch, and providing at least one tear line for opening the pouch by providing at least one of the members of at least one of the jaws with a second electrical impulse sealing element arranged in the member so that at least one second seal is simultaneously formed that extends from one edge of the pouch and for a short distance towards the interior of the pouch to form the at least one tear line or an additional sealing jaw is provided which acts simultaneously with the transverse or vertical jaw to provide the at least one tear line.