Methods and apparatus are provided for the continuous and rapid production of a plurality of flexible packages containing a non-solid substance such as an ointment, by continuously forming and vacuum sealing the packages from two webs of material in the nip of cooperating roller surfaces. The packages each contain a precise quantity of medication which may be, for example, the kind of medication which is self-administered by the user by transdermal application. The method and apparatus herein joins together two specially prepared webs of material continuously drawn from supply rolls while at the same time incorporating and vacuum sealing a desired quantity of the medication therebetween.

A method and apparatus for modified atmosphere packaging uses a rotary conveyor to transport a plurality of trays to be packaged between a plurality of stations in a circular arrangement. The trays may be loaded onto a receiving platform by depositing them over movable beds which can reciprocate downwardly in order to permit the trays to be removably held inside slots in a removable platform. Since the platform is removable from the conveyor, it may be centered in any particular station by lifting the platform from the conveyor and guiding it into a precise alignment at a particular station. The package may then be filled, its atmosphere replaced with one lower in oxygen content, and then the desired atmosphere sealed within the package. This can be done in the continuous fashion so that the film is severed from a continuous web. Advantageously, the cutting blades reciprocate with respect to a heat sealing apparatus inside an enclosed environment wherein the cutting blades have internal cooling means to prevent distortions caused by overheating. The various connections for gas and vacuum supply may be quickly disconnected, and an entire station may be changed through the use of quick disconnect connections of the apparatus of the station to a support. The unloading proceeds generally as the reverse of the loading process wherein the trays are pushed upwardly from the platforms and then slid outwardly onto a conveyor.

Methods are provided for producing flexible packages and particularly transdermal medication patches. The method includes the continuous and rapid production of a plurality of such packages while continuously treating one portion of the laminate forming the package by corona discharge in order to modify the surface adhesion properties thereof to provide, simultaneously, a proper seal of a transdermal membrane in the laminate forming the package, while maintaining the desired medication dispensing properties thereof.

A method and apparatus for modified atmosphere packaging uses a rotary conveyor to transport a plurality of trays to be packaged between a plurality of stations in a circular arrangement. The trays may be loaded onto a receiving platform by depositing them over movable beds which can reciprocate downwardly in order to permit the trays to be removably held inside slots in a removable platform. Since the platform is removable from the conveyor, it may be centered in any particular station by lifting the platform from the conveyor and guiding it into a precise alignment at a particular station. The package may then be filled, its atmosphere replaced with one lower in oxygen content, and then the desired atmosphere sealed within the package. This can be done in the continuous fashion so that the film is severed from a continuous web. Advantageously, the cutting blades reciprocate with respect to a heat sealing apparatus inside an enclosed environment wherein the cutting blades have internal cooling means to prevent distortions caused by overheating. The various connections for gas and vacuum supply may be quickly disconnected, and an entire station may be changed through the use of quick disconnect connections of the apparatus of the station to a support. The unloading proceeds generally as the reverse or the loading process wherein the trays are pushed upwardly from the platforms and then slid outwardly onto a conveyor.

Apparatus and method for making sealed packages for spreadable products includes means for transporting a relatively stiff base member carrying a spreadable product in the approximate center thereof, means for feeding a relatively thin flexible sheet material and for cutting such flexible material into predetermined lengths and for feeding such cut lengths to a rotatable vacuum drum having a plurality of die stations. There is a first tamper which cooperates with the die at the die station as the stations rotate past the tamper to shape each cut length of flexible material into a predetermined three-dimensional form. The three-dimensional form is transported by the vacuum drum to a position over the stiff base and the spreadable product thereon where the formed flexible sheet is released by the vacuum drum and cohesively joined along its outwardly extended edges to the base member to enclose the spreadable product positioned thereon. The longitudinally extending edges of the flexible sheet and base member are further pressed into cohesive engagement by a roller assembly which contains resiliently mounted blades which further compresses the leading and trailing edges into cohesive engagement. A final tamper then tamps the pleats shut. The spreadable product being packaged may also be shaped and sized by the tamper. The top sheet is attached to the base member so that it can be peeled by the package user from the base member by pulling a peel tab to expose the product.