A packaging device for forming a package having upper and lower sheets closed by the upper sheet being weldably secured to the lower sheet. The lower sheet is formed into a container for holding various types of material. The packaging device has an evacuating chamber having two chamber halves relatively movable with respect to each other. A nozzle bar is mounted on one of the chamber halves and is movable therewith toward and away from the other chamber half. A passageway is provided between the nozzle bar and the corresponding chamber half on which it is mounted and is adapted to receive the upper sheet therethrough. The lower sheet formed into a container is moved through a passageway between the two chamber halves when the chamber halves have been moved apart. A seal is provided around the nozzle bar and between the chamber halves to permit an evacuation of the evacuating chamber when the chamber halves are in mating engagement with each other.

A vacuum packaging machine for producing sealed vacuum packages is disclosed which includes an improved sealing station. The sealing station has a heatable sealing member and a backing member for co-operation therewith, and deflector means are associated with the scaling member to deflect the air and moisture sucked off from the evacuating chamber of the evacuating and sealing station in operation in order to direct said air and moisture away from the sealing member to avoid contact therebetween, so that the air and moisture contained therein will substantially not be heated by the sealing member which is heated in operation. As a result, the moisture contained in the air sucked off from the evacuating chamber will not expand under the action of heat from the sealing member, and a substantially better vacuum will be achieved with the same capacity of the evacuating system.

In a vacuum packaging machine having a forming station and an evacuation and sealing station, wherein each station has a chamber made of an upper and a lower part, and each part comprises a base portion (top cover or floor, as the case may be) and four upstanding walls, one or both of said chamber parts is made from material having an appropriate cross-sectional shape, preferably U-shaped, forming the base portion and opposite side walls, the front and rear walls being secured thereto in the form of covers. The cross-sectional shape may be double U-shaped, providing accommodation for connections for chamber supply requirements (vacuum, air, power). Also the cooling plate for the lower part is secured on the under-side of the floor of said part and mounts it on the means for imparting chamber opening and closing movement to the lower part, while the cooling plate for the upper part is inside the chamber, on the under-side of the top cover.

Different products are hermetically sealed in separate but integrally adjoining packages to form package pairs or what might be called "dual" packages. All of the packages are made from two continuous sheets of plastic packaging material, and the separate packages of each pair are differentially-conditioned by differential evacuation and/or gassing to different pressure levels. A continuous series of filled side-by-side containers formed from one sheet of packaging material is conveyed in two parallel rows into a sealing region where a cover sheet is laid over the containers to form packages. A group of the packages is stopped in the sealing region, and are clamped and partially sealed around the peripheries of the individual packages. The individual side-by-side units of the package pairs are differentially conditioned as to vacuum pressure or gas pressure or composition through aligned openings between adjacent containers in each of the parallel rows. The aligned openings and the remainder of the peripheries around the package then are sealed, and the completed package pairs are removed from the sealing region. The differential conditioning of the package pairs may be by way of differential evacuation, or evacuation followed by back-filling the packages with different pressures of gas, or other combinations.

Different products are hermetically sealed in separate but integrally adjoining packages to form package pairs or what might be called "dual" packages. All of the packages are made from two continuous sheets of plastic packaging material, and the separate packages of each pair are differentially-conditioned by differential evacuation and/or gassing to different pressure levels. A continuous series of filled side-by-side containers formed from one sheet of packaging material is conveyed in two parallel rows into a sealing region where a cover sheet is laid over the containers to form packages. A group of the packages is stopped in the sealing region, and are clamped and partially sealed around the peripheries of the individual packages. The individual side-by-side units of the package pairs are differentially conditioned as to vacuum pressure or gas pressure or composition through aligned openings between adjacent containers in each of the parallel rows. The aligned openings and the remainder of the peripheries around the package then are sealed, and the completed package pairs are removed from the sealing region. The differential conditioning of the package pairs may be by way of differential evacuation, or evacuation followed by back-filling the packages with different pressures of gas, or other combinations.