Method and apparatus for bagging product units.

摘要

A method and apparatus are disclosed for sealing pallets of fresh produce inside plastic bags and furnishing the interiors of the sealed bags with a modified gaseous atmosphere. Conventional pallets loaded with cooled fresh produce are moved by an input conveyor 12 automatically one at a time to an in-line squeeze station 16. The produce load of a pallet positioned at the squeeze station is squeezed between opposed vertical walls to suspend it above the pallet base as a downwardly movable floorplate descends to allow the base to be removed and replaced with a pallet having a plastic sheet lining attached thereto. The floorplate is raised to its former level to bear the weight of the loaded pallet as the pallet is unsqueezed and the loaded pallet is moved by conveyor to a bagging station. A plastic bag at a convenient height is initially draped over an arm 20 radiating from a novel bagger frame 22. A plurality of such arms extend from a rotatable hub so that bags can be moved into position above successive loaded pallets as they are needed. This apparatus permits the bagging of nearly twice as many pallets in a given time period. Following the bagging step the bagged pallet is moved to a turntable 26 and sealed by rotation against spring-loaded overlapping strips of tape. After being moved automatically to a gassing station 28, the sealed bag is first evacuated and then filled with a suitably modified gaseous atmosphere using a Tectrol Atmosphere Injection Unit 30. The gassed pallet is reoriented through 90<o> by a repositioning turntable 32 and sent down an inclined roller-surfaced table 36 to a pallet exit area. In addition to allowing the processing of more units in less time than is possible with present systems, the method and apparatus of the invention require fewer workers to effect the improved results.