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A packaging machine for penny carton box packing machine, such as bagels, bread, donuts, in pre-made plastic bags includes an endless chain carrying a plurality of regularly spaced bag grippers, the chain being entrained about sprocket wheels to define first and second flights. The bag grippers pick up a topmost bag from a stack while traversing the first flight and carry it to a bag filling station aligned with the second flight. An infeed conveyor has a plurality of transversely extending product trays containing the articles to be packaged which are transported with intermittent motion to the bag filling station in synchronism with the bag grippers. While the tray is stationary, movement of the bag gripper along the second flight draws the bag over the product-filled tray present at the bag filling station. A product pusher, synchronized with movement of the bag grippers and with the infeed conveyor, pushes the bagged products off the infeed conveyor onto a take-away conveyor.

This invention relates generally to high-speed packaging equipment, and more particularly to a machine for bagging a stack of articles oriented in side-by-side relation into pre-made bags.

II. Discussion of the Prior Art

Certain articles or products are of a size and shape that may make it difficult to package on a high-speed basis. For example, bagels or donuts, because of their size and shape, make them somewhat difficult to mechanically manipulate so that they can be placed in polyethylene bags in a stacked relationship. This is referred to in the industry as "penny packing" because of the similarity to the way in which coins are loaded into paper coin wrappers. While loaves of sliced bread have been successfully wrapped by machines such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,807 and manufactured by Foremost Packaging Machine Company of Woodinville, Wash., efforts to mechanize the penny paper box packing machines, donuts, and the like, at high speeds have proven to be a challenge because of their more irregular shape.

While the present invention has been devised to penny pack food items, like bagels and donuts, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the machine to be described hereinbelow can also be used for packaging other food items, e.g., bread, as well as non-food items, by merely making minor modifications to the shape and size of various machine parts.

OBJECTS

It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for inserting products in stacked relation within pre-formed plastic or paper bags.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved packaging machine for placing articles, such as bagels, in plastic or paper bags on a continuous basis with very low machine down-time for cleaning, adjustment, maintenance and repair.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a high-speed packaging machine for face masks multiple pieces plastic bags packing machine in pre-made bags that is simple in construction and which can be manufactured at a relatively low cost.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved packaging machine operating with a cycle time capable of producing bagged articles of a predetermined number of items per bag at a rate exceeding one per second.