Air extractor for bag making, filling and packaging machine

Claim 1

In an apparatus for forming, filling and closing a series of bags, said apparatus including a bag-making cylinder around which a film can be wrapped to form a tube as the film passes along the length of said bag-making cylinder in a downstream direction and through the interior of which the articles intended to be contained in each bag can flow, a sealing means sealingly located adjacent the downstream end of said bag-making cylinder for closing the open top of a downstream bag and closing the bottom of an adjacent upstream bag, and an air extractor for removing air from within a bag which contains articles prior to the closing of its open top, the improvement wherein said air extractor means comprises an exhaust pipe which extends along the interior of said bag-making cylinder to its downstream end, and two frames which are positioned downstream of said sealing means and are movable toward and away from each other between an open position wherein a bag in which articles have been deposited can be positioned therebetween and a closed position wherein they provide an internal chamber in which a bag containing articles can be located, said two frames being sealingly connected to said sealing means when in their closed position, said two frames having mating surfaces; wherein one of said two frames includes a rubber seal on its mating surface which abuts the mating surface of the other of said two frames when in their closed position, said rubber seal being discontinuous on a side of said one frame facing said sealing means to provide a vent passage which, when vacuum is applied to said exhaust pipe, allows air from within a bag positioned in said internal chamber to flow therethrough and into said exhaust pipe; wherein one of said two frames contains a flexible elastomer therein which includes groove-shaped air passages arranged in a grid and an inlet opening which communicates with said air passages to enable pressurized air to flow into said groove-shaped air passages, and wherein the other of said two frames contains a flexible elastomer which provides a recess therein which helps constitute said internal chamber.