A method and apparatus is provided for forming a skin package particularly for food products, hardware and the like in which a single film web is arranged around the product and by pressure differential is formed around the product. A pair of U-shaped chamber members is disposed to slidably engage the open ends of each other to form a sealed chamber with the film retained against or nearly against three sides of the chamber. After the film has been brought to a heated heat-sealable condition, atmosphere or low pressure air is used to push the film tightly around the product and into sealing condition with facing portions of the same film.
The invention disclosed is directed to a packaging assembly including a body having an open channel for supporting a trough-shaped web having a product disposed therein; a cover cooperable with the body and the web to form a substantially air-tight chamber about the product, at least one of the body and the cover having a hole for aid in vacuumizing the chamber; means for moving the body and cover into and out of chamber-forming relation; and means operable within the chamber for sealing the web to form a sealed web package containing the product. A process for packaging is also disclosed.
The invention concerns the packaging of commodities into vacuum-sealed packs formed from sheet plastics packaging material. In accordance with this invention, the packaging material is formed from a two-layer laminate the inside layer of which has a much lower softening point than the outside layer. The commodity is sandwiched between two sheets of the packaging material and is passed to a vacuum chamber in which it is sealed between the two sheets under reduced pressure. Simultaneously the material is heated to a temperature at which the inner laminate softens, and when the chamber is aerated, the heated material collapses around the commodity and the inner layers fuse together around the margins to form a highly effective hermetic seal around the commodity.
