Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~ 3 1 427~
IMPROVED FILLIN& SYSTEM
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for deliver-
ing a predetermined quantity of li~uid and solid material to
a container in which the liquid and solid material are pack-
aged and to the method and apparatus for maintaining the
liguid/solid ratio at the desired level in a container as it
is filled. Particularly, the invention relates to an improve-
ment in a vertical form-fill-seal process in which soups and
similar food products are packaged in pouches or bags of
thermoplastic film.
Back~ound
The form-fill-seal (FFS) systems have become an efficient and
convenient way of packaging many products, particularly,
products which are fluid. Since the basic container is a
pouch formed of thermoplastic film, the weight and expense of
metal cans is eliminated. The machines and methods basically
are either horizontal form-fill-seal lHFFS) systems or verti-
cal form-fill-seal (VFFS) systems.
Machines and processes for the forming, filling, and sealing
of packages made from a continuous web or film of material
are well known in the art. These machines comprise a supply
of packaging film, a ~ormer and edge sealer for the forming
of the film into a continuous hollow tube with a overlap edge
seal, and reciprocating sealing and cutting jaws for sealing
1/890210.3/SPECFLDR
02/10/89
`` 1314270
and cutting the tube into a consecutive series of sealed
packages. The popularity of such machine is important due to
their simplicity and speed of operations. A wide variety of
articles can be packaged ranging from potato chips to tomato
paste. A typical prior art VFFS machine for packaging arti-
cles such as potato chips is disclosed in USP 4,563,862 which
issued on January 14, 19~36 to H. T. McElvy.
As mentioned above, the basic idea in a VFFS machine is to
form a continuous tube by folding a continuous sheet of film
around a vertically mounted former or mandrel, sealing the
overlapped seam against the mandrel to form a tube, and then
transversely flattening and sealing the tube at intervals as
it is filled from above through the mandrel or former. Readi-
ly flowable materials such as tomato paste, liquid deter-
gents, syrups, and liquids in general will flow reliably, and
~ill the package or container. However, when a solid/liquid
mixture is delivered to a funnel or receiving chute above the
tubular forming mandrel there will be a tendency for sticky
materials such as the pasta phase of a soup to stick to the
chute or to the delivery receptacle. Accordingly, it is a
general object of the present invention to provide a delivery
or filling system for a solid/liquid mixture wherein the
solids are sticky and maintain the critical liquid~product
ratio.
In one prior art system, a bucket conveyor is employed to
deliver the entire charge for a container to a delivery chute
and while the bucket is tilted and upturned over the delivery
chute, it is re-tilted and banged against the limit stop in
order to shake loose any additional solid product. However,
the very sticky pasta pieces such as noodles do not, with any
degree of reliability, dislodge by the banging and shaking.
In addition, such banging and shaking places undue wear and
stress on the equipment and is to be avoided. Accordingly,
it is another object of the present invention to achieve a
reliable and satisfactory method of removing sticky solids
1/890210.3~SPECFLDR
02/10/~9
~31427~
64536-676
from a dellvery vessel without resorting to banging or shaking of
the delivery vessel.
In USP 4,606,174 which issued on August 19, 1986, a VFFS process
ls disclosed for making packages con*aining a liquid product with
a certain proportion of solid particles such as soup with pieces
of frult. In order to maintain the desired proportions of liquid
and solid in a fast working machine, the solid and liquid parts
are fed separately by means of two filling pipes and the feeding
of the liquid contents ends only after the feeding of the solid
particles has ended. However, in this method, the solid particle
mix has to be pumped through a double walled pipe which extends
down into the forming mandrel thus presenting a complicated
arrangement and the associated problems of pumping a liquid with a
high proportion of solids. Accordingly, it is another object of
the present invention to present a method of filling which avoids
the necessity of pumping a mixture containing a high proportion of
solids.
Other form-fill-seal devices of interest include USP 4,407,108
which issued to S.R. Craig on October 4, 1983; USP 4,617,785 which
issued on October 21, 1986 to H. Chikatani et al; and USP
4,768,411 which issued on September 6, 1988 to Philip Su.
The objects mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs are achieved by
the invention which is described below.
~ummary of the Invention
In one aspect the present invention is in a filling process for
containers of mixtures of liquids and sticky solids such as soup
or the like where the containers are filled from a funnel disposed
vertically above the container and the mixtures are delivered to
the funnel by a bucket conveyor, the improvement comprising the
steps of: a) cooking the soup and separating the solids from the
liquids while the soup is hot immediately after cooking; b)
~3~270
64536-676
filling the bucket with the hot solid phase of the 50Up mixture;
c) inverting the bucket over the funnel; d) directing a jet of
compressed air over the interior of the inverted bucket to remove
any solids which may have stuck to the bucket; e) flushing the
funnel with the liquid phase of the soup mixture thereby filling
the container with the proper proportions of liquids and solids.
In another aspect the present invention is in a vertical form-
fill-seal machine for packaging a product containing both liquids
and solids, an improved filling system having means for
controlling the liquid/solid r~tio in the packaged product
comprising: a~ a receiving chute for vertically funnelling the
product into the package as it is formed; b) a bucket conveyor for
delivering a plurality of buckets containing a portion of the
product which is to fill each package to the receivlng chute; c)
means for turning each bucket substantially upside down over the
receiving chute; and d) rinse means for directing a predetermined
rinse of the filling liquid to be packaged into the upturned
bucket to rinse out solids clinging to the bucket whereby the
desired quantity of liquids and solids are packaged in each
package.
In still another aspect, the present invention is an improved
filling system having a bu~ket conveyor for delivering a
predetermined quantity of a mixture of liquid and solid material
to a receiving chute or funnel or guide from a bucket filling
station comprising a conveyor frame; chain mounting and driving
means mounted within the frame; a plurality of buckets mounted on
said chain, said buckets being pivotally mounted to remain upright
on their run from the filling sta~ion to the delivery chute and to
turn upside down over the filling chute; rinse means to deliver a
metered quantity of ~luid to the interior of the bucket as it is
upside down over the receiving chute to remove solids which may
cling to the bucket whereby any solid material which has a
tendency to stick or cling to the bucket is removed.
1314270
64536-676
In yet another aspect, the invention is an improved filling
process for delivering a predetermined quantity of a mixture of
solid and liquid material having a pre-selected solid/liquid ratio
to a receiving chute from which contalners are filled comprising
the steps of filling a bucket with all the solid material desired
for one container and with part of the liquid desired for said
container; conveying said bucket to a position above the receiving
chute; tiltlng said bucket so that its contents can fall into said
receiving chute; and, rinsing said bucket while tilted with the
remaining part of the liquid which is to fill said container
whereby the liq-
5a
1 3 1 4270
uid/solid ratio in the filled container is the pre-selected
ratio. The method may include a step wherein only a portion
of the remaining part of the liquid is used to rinse the
bucket and include the further step of rinsing the receiving
chute with the remaining portion of the liquid. In addition
to rinsing the bucket with a portion of the filling fluid, an
air stream may also be used following the rinse by the fill-
ing fluid to dislodge any additional particles which have not
been removed. Further, the method may include the steps of
continuously moving the bucket while upside down over the
funnel and directing the spray or stream of liquid to the
interior surface of the leading edge of the bucket so that as
the upturned bucket passes over the liquid stream or spray it
is rinsed of solids.
In a further aspect, the invention includes the method where-
in a food product is packaged and the food product is a soup
having pasta such as noodles.
Description of the Drawings
In the drawings which are appended hereto and made a part of
this disclosure:
FI~URE 1 is a side elevation view showing a preferred embodi-
ment of an apparatus according to the present invention and
representing, in a schematic form, a preferred method accord-
ing to the present invention;
FIGURE 2 is a view looking from the right hand side of Figure
1; and,
FIGURE 3 is an enlarged portion of Figure 1 showing in great-
er detail a section through the receiving chute, rinse noz-
zles, and bucket con~eyor of the preferred embodiment.
Detailed Description
1/890210.3/SPECFLDR
02/10/89
I ~ 1 4270
64536-676
The present invention is especially useful for loading a vertical-
form-fill-seal (VFFS~ machine such as the VFFS machine 1
schematically represented in the left hand side of Figure 1. The
machine 1 is carried by support frame 9 and forms a flat,
continuous roll 6 of packaging material 2 into tube 2', seals the
bottom with transverse seal bars 7 thereby forming bag or pouch to
2'', dispenses product (not shown~ through the tubular former and
filler 4 around which the tuhe 2 has been formed, and when the
product is fed into the bag or pouch to 2'' the top of the bag is
sealed to make resulting filled bag or pouch 8.
These VFFS machines have particular advantages when used with
dusty, flowable, toxlc, or other hard to handle products because
the portion of the machine which dispenses the product is enclosed
by the packaging material when the bag or pouch is formed. A
principal drawback to the VFFS is the difficulty of proportioning
sticky, hard-to-handle materials into the bag with both accuracy
and speed. While many improvemsnts ln materials and techniques
have matured over the years, the basic concept of a VFFS machine
has remained relatively unchanged for some period of time.
Generally, a roll of packaging material is formed into a tube, the
edges of the packaging material are fastened as by roller ealer
represented by sealer 5 in Figure 1, the bottom of the tube of
packaging material is closed as by transverse sealer 7 to form a
bag, particularly where liquid material is injected into the bag,
conveniently by a Eunnel or raceiving chute 20, until the desired
quantity is dispensed, the top of the bag is sealed, again as by
sealer 7, and cut Erom the tube of following packaging material,
the filled bag 8 is ~emoved from the apparatus and the process
continues with the next bag. Further descriptlons of such
machines are available from USP 4,407,108 (S.R. Craig, October 4,
1983); USP 4,563,862 (H.T. McElvy, January 14, 1986); and, USP
4,606,174 (R. Berg, August 19, 1986).
....
1314270
The present invention is particularly useful in solving the
problem of rapidly handling sticky products, particularly,
products having both a liquid and solid phase such as soups,
paste, dressings and the like. The present invention finds a
particularly advantageous application where freshly cooked,
hot soups are packaged quickly in plastic pouches and rapidly
cooled to preserve their fresh cooked flavor. In this appli-
cation, the soup is kettle cooked and the noodles are removed
in a drain basket and portioned into the buckets 11 at load-
ing station 12. The remaining liquid phase is pumped through
pipe 25 to nozzle 27 where it rejoins the noodles in the
correct proportions as it is packed.
Applicants have surprisingly discovered a solution to the
problem of maintaining desired liquid/solid proportions and
to further understand the solution attention is first direct-
ed to the right hand side of Figure 1 where bucket conveyor
10 is shown. Bucket conveyor 10 comprises conveyor frame 21
on are mounted turn rollers 14, 15, 15, 17, 18 and 19. Buck-
ets 11 which are pivotally mounted on conveyor between the
pair of chains 13 so that they will remain upright on their
run from filling station 12 to receiving chute or funnel 20.
The conveyor comprises essentially a pair of parallel chains
13 carried by the turn rollers so that as the buckets 13
negotiate their turn around turn rollers 14 and 15 they re-
main upright and do not spill their contents, that is, a
"ferriswheel`' type of mounting is employed. The conveyor is
driven and controlled by the controlled drive means 24 incor-
porated with turn roller 18 which also functions as a drive
roller.
The buckets 11 are preferably constructed of a material hav-
ing a very smooth surface such as polished stainless steel or
a plastic material. An interior surface coating of a "non-
stick" material such as Teflon is desirable to reduce any
tendency of the solids to stick to the bucket. Such coatings
on the funnels or chutes may also be desirable.
1/890210.3~SPECFLDR
02/10/89
1314270
ln a preferred embodiment of the invention, at filling sta-
tion 12 each bucket 11 will be filled with all the desired
charge of solid material such as pasta or noodles without the
addition of liquids. In an alternate embodiment along with
the solid phase is included a part of the li~uid charge. All
the liquid charge or the remaining liquid charge will be
added later. When part of the liquid is added at station 12,
preferably the amount added is sufficient to suspend the
solids therein and make the solid particles flowable. Wheth-
er it is an optimum dispensing condition to add part of all
of the li~uid at filling station 12 and part of the liquid
later can readily be determined for each particular product
which is to be packaged by varying the ratio at the beginning
of each run of different products. Thus, the pre-selected
part to include in the bucket, if any, and part to use as
described below is easily chosen.
After leaving sta~ion 12 and moving upwardly and across turn
roller 15, turn roller 16 is encountered and at this point
reference is made to Figure 3 which is an enlarged representa-
tion of a partial section through the funnel 20 to show noz-
zle 23 and supply line 22 which in a preferred embodiment
will discharge a jet or blast of compressed air. A reservoir
of liquid such as a cooking kettle or holding tank and a
cylinder and piston pump where each stroke delivers the pre-
selected quantity of liquid feed pipe 25 and the reservoir
and pump are not shown as these can be readily arranged by
the ordinarily skilled technician. As the buckets 11 enter
and are contacted by turn roller 16, a lock mechanism on the
pivot supports is actuated to prevent pivotal motion of the
buckets 11 so that they will tilt as represented by bucket
11' and turn upside down as bucket 11" is represented. Such
lock mechanisms are well known in the art and may consist of
a snap latch which is pushed down as the bucket engages roll-
er 16 and is released as it completes the run at roller 19.
Such latches~ actuating mechanisms, and releases are well
known in the art and can be readily supplied by the ordinari-
ly skilled mechanic.
1/830210.3/SPECFLDR
02/10/89
1 3 1 4270
ln a preferred embodiment where the buckets 11 contain only
the solid phase comprising sticky solids only, as the bucket
11` is inverted to bucket position 11'' all the solids fall
into funnel 20 and tend to collect at neck 28. At this
point, valve controlled flush nozzle 27 is actuated by means
of pneumatic line 26 and the full charge of the liquid pha~e
is released and will tend to initially float and lift the
solid and then as all the charge is released the weight of
the fluid will drive the solids downwardly into former chute
4 and further downwardly to the bag 2''. At the same time
compressed air is released through line 22 and nozzle 23
which directs a jet of air against inverted bucXet 11'' to
remove any solids remaining in bucket 11''.
In an alternate embodiment where the bucket 11 is loaded with
a mix of solids and liquids at loading station 12, as the
bucket 11'' is turned upside down above the funnel 20 its
contents are emptied. At this point, the remaining part of
the liquid phase of the charge which bucket 11'' delivers is
released through supply line 22, which is now a liquid supply
line, and directed by nozzle 23 against the interior of the
bucket 1~''. The leading edge of the bucket 11'' receives on
its interior surface the first part of the spray or rinse of
the product fluid and as the upturned bucket 11'' continues
to move towards the right its entire surface is sprayed or
rinsed clean by the fluid phase thus cleansing the bucket.
In some instances for unduly sticky products, a pneumatic or
air nozzle can be positioned immediately to the right of
nozzle 23 so that a stream of compressed air follows the
liquid stream to further aid in dislodging all particles. In
the view shown in Figure 3 only one nozzle 23 is visible;
however, a number of nozzles can be used or a single nozzle
with one spray head to spread the spray of fluid evenly
across the width of the bucket can be employed. All of these
variations on the preferred embodiment fall within the scope
of the invention. The bucket can be completely turned over
or tilted at an angle as desired and the angle of the nozzle
23 can be accordingly adjusted. Generally, the bucket will
1/890210.3/SPECFLDR
02/10/89
lQ
~314270
64536-676
have to be tllted thoroughly at least a 90 turn, a 180 turn
representing an upside down bucket. Furthermore, in this alternate
embodimen~ a portion of the liquid charge can be delivered through
pipe 25 and nozzle 27.
An additional final rinse means and method not shown but readily
understood from the following description is that a nozzle similar
to nozzle 27 can be placed in the funnel with a circular spray head
to spray a circular spray downwardly to use a portion of the liquid
phase to finally clear the funnel 20 of any particles which may have
been left stuck to the interior funnel wall. In addition, a
circular air blast also may be employed downwardly into the funnel.
Furthermore, in some pac~ages for some mixes it may be desirable
that one phase not be added until immediately ~efore the package is
sealed and thus the present invention contemplates the use of more
than one liquid which can be employed as a rinse. For example, in
the instance where pouches of salad dressing containing vinegar,
oil, and herb and spice particles is being packaged both oil and
vinegar can be sprayed with the vinegar perhaps following to make a
final rinse. Many combinations are possible and the description
hereinabove of the preferred embodiment is given by way of
illustration since numerous changes and modifications well within
the spirit and scope of the invention could become apparent to those
already skilled in the art in view of the description given. The
invention is only limited by the scope of the claims appended
hereto.
After the receiving chute or funnel 20 has received its final rinse
or air blast the complete product falls through the former tube 4
and into the pouch or bag 2''. The proceeding pouch or bag 8 is
removed and the bag 2'' moves downwardly to be sealed and severed by
seal bars 7. One sealing and severing device which is particularly
appropriate here is that disclosed in USP 4,768,411 (Philip Su,
September 6, 1988).
~.
1314270
Having thus described our invention,
1/~90210.3/SPECFLDR
02/10/89
12
