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A compact form-fill-seal machine capable of the high speed production, collation and loading into cartons of a variety of small dispensing packages with instant opening features including fault lines in the lower containment formation. It can make a variety of formations in the upper cover member as

A compact form-fill-seal machine capable of the high speed production, collation and loading into cartons of a variety of small dispensing packages with instant opening features including fault lines in the lower containment formation. It can make a variety of formations in the upper cover member as well as fault lines. It also produces simple cups and tubs. The machine operates at extremely high efficiency with practically every known thermoformable plastic film.

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1. A machine capable of automatic high speed thermoforming and production of formed-filled-sealed pliable packages each having a very thin membrane-like cover and a thin plastic film lower product containment pocket formation having a scored stress concentrating formation in a portion of its side wa

1. A machine capable of automatic high speed thermoforming and production of formed-filled-sealed pliable packages each having a very thin membrane-like cover and a thin plastic film lower product containment pocket formation having a scored stress concentrating formation in a portion of its side wall comprising:drive means to intermittently advance a pair of parallel transport chains having means to secure and pull bottom web material from an intermittently braked roll of web of thermoformable plastic to advance said web of thermoformable plastic, said transport chains advancing bottom web material past a series of stations, said series comprising: a hot scoring station, comprising a vertically reciprocating device, where said web is accurately scored in a series of independent diagonal scores to depths within 0.0002 inches accuracy; a platen heating station comprising heated upper and lower platens which reciprocate vertically together and apart adjacent to said hot scoring station where said web is controllably heated to thermoforming temperatures; a forming station where said heated web is formed, said forming station including forming die means for forming a series of spaced product containment pocket formations each embodying a stress concentrating system with a fault line encompassed by a flat unformed rim portion; a filler station, said filler station including means for filling each said pocket formation with an equal amount of a product supplied to said filler station; and driven roller means intermittently advancing a top web material in timed relationship with the intermittent advance of said bottom web material with each pocket formation, said driven roller means transporting said top web in substantially parallel, closely adjacent proximity to and above said bottom webs filled pocket formations to a sealing station where top web is sealed to bottom web about each filled product formation to create a series of rectangular rim seals about each pocket, said transport chains next advancing said sealed bottom web and top web to a further series of stations comprising: a punch station, which punches shaped apertures in said rectangular rim seals which rim said pocket formations with a punched hole at each end of the rims of the pocket formations and between each pocket formation; a vertically reciprocating longitudinal cutting station to shear the films by means of diagonal blades in a cut which travels between said punched holes to create longitudinal rims with punch formed corners along now sealed package members without distorting their shape and alignment; and a transverse cutting station which transversely slits the rims between said pocket formations to separate said sealed packages into completely individual generally rectangular finished packages with sealed rims and punched corners; wherein said sealed packages with sealed rims are collated by collation means comprising: a lightly adhesive collation paper intermittently advanced about an idler roller; and a pressure pad mounted on a vertically reciprocating transverse cutting means which on its downward stroke compresses a row of individual finished packages onto an adhesive side of the collation paper which row is then indexed forward for the next cycle by indexing means comprised of a high friction indexing belt conveyor under the collation paper with an adjustable floating pressure plate lightly pressing downward on said individual finished packages to aid the friction belt in drawing the collation paper forward as well as to further insure said packages adhesion to the collation paper to create a continuous sheet of collated packages, said continuous sheet of collated packages having been advanced onto a flying carrier plate member with vacuum means to maintain the sheet in place on said carrier plate member which is attached to a high speed pneumatic transport platform, a flying blade attached to another high speed transverse transport platform on signal instantly slits the collation Raper between said packages alongside the trailing edge of said flying blade into an individual sheet resting on said flying carrier plate member; upon completion of the advance of each slit sheet onto said carrier plate member, said plate member, immediately transports said sheet of packages to a point directly over a waiting shipping carton, and said pneumatic transport platform carrying said flying plate member on reaching said point, instantly reverses with sharp acceleration and simultaneous with a vacuum release moves sharply out from under the sheet whereupon said sheet, due to its inertia, is left in mid air to drop, into the carton. 2. The machine of claim 1, where the means to secure and pull bottom web material by the pair of web transport chains comprises a series of upstanding pin members mounted on said chains and impaler means to impale said web material on said pins along each to its lateral edges.3. The machine of claim 2, where said scoring station comprises vertically reciprocating micrometer adjustable anvils and controllably heated scoring blades where said web is scored by said anvils compressing said web against said heated scoring blades to a controllably accurate depth during the rest period of the intermittent cycling.4. The machine of claim 3, where said heating station comprises upper and lower vertically reciprocating contact platens which compress said web between said platens to controllably heat said web to necessary temperatures for thermoforming.5. The machine of claim 4, where said controllably heated web is formed by forming means including at least one of the following vacuum means, air pressure means, forming die means, plug assist means capable of including integral male die means to mate with female die means in the lower forming die, capable of at least one of the following, vacuum forming, air pressure forming, plug and die forming, and forming a series of pocket formations having integral stress concentrator means.6. The machine of claim 5, where said top web can be made to register print with each pocket formation on signal picked up from said web.7. The machine of claim 6, where said sealing station comprises vertically reciprocating upper and lower heat sealing dies controllably heated and chill dies to quickly cool and set seals.8. The machine of claim 7, where said punch station comprises a series of male and female punch die sets that punch the sealed upper and lower web to create corners.9. The machine of claim 8, where said longitudinal cutting station comprises a vertically reciprocating longitudinal chop member containing a series of angled blades which on traveling vertically downward enter the row of the punched holes during the rest cycle of the intermittent index of the formed, filled connected packages and to longitudinally shear the films in a cut which travels between the punched holes.10. The machine of claim 9, where said transverse cutting means comprise a slotted transverse anvil and a transverse blade holder with angled blades mounted on it, both reciprocating vertically toward and away from each other to allow said fully made and filled packages to index between them when they are apart, said angled blades so aligned that said blades enter said slot on their downward stroke after passing through the unformed web portions between packages to be cut through, stripper means to prevent the packages from lifting up when the blades are withdrawn.11. A machine capable of automatic high speed thermoforming and production of formed-filled-sealed pliable packages each having a cover member and a thermoformable plastic film lower product containment pocket formation having a scored stress concentrating formation in a portion of its side wall comprising:drive means to intermittently advance a pair of parallel transport chains having means to secure and pull bottom web material from an intermittently braked roll of web of thermoformable plastic to advance said web of thermoformable plastic, said transport chains advancing bottom web material past a series of stations, said series comprising: a hot scoring station, comprising a vertically reciprocating device, where said web is accurately scored in a series of independent diagonal scores to depths within 0.0002 inches accuracy; a platen heating station comprising heated upper and lower platens which reciprocate vertically together and apart adjacent to said hot scoring station where said web is controllably heated to thermoforming temperatures; a forming station where said heated web is formed, said forming station including forming die means for forming a series of spaced product containment pocket formations each embodying a stress concentrating system with a fault line encompassed by a flat unformed rim portion; a filler station, said filler station including means for filling each said pocket formation with an equal amount of a product supplied to said filler station; and driven roller means intermittently advancing a top web material in timed relationship with the intermittent advance of said bottom web material with each pocket formation, said driven roller means transporting said top web in substantially parallel, closely adjacent proximity to and above said bottom webs filled pocket formations to a sealing station where top web is sealed to bottom web about each filled product formation to create a series of rectangular rim seals about each pocket said transport chains next advancing said bottom web and top web to a further series of stations comprising: a punch station, which punches shaped apertures in said rectangular rim seals which rim said pocket formations with a punched hole at each end of the rims of the pocket formations and between each pocket formation; a vertically reciprocating longitudinal cutting station to shear the films by means of diagonal blades in a cut which travels between said punched holes to create longitudinal rims with punch formed corners along now sealed package members without distorting their shape and alignment; and a transverse cutting station which transversely slits the rims between said pocket formations to separate said sealed packages into completely individual generally rectangular finished packages with sealed rims and punched corners; wherein said sealed packages with sealed rims are collated by collation means comprising: a lightly adhesive collation paper intermittently advanced about an idler roller; and a pressure pad mounted on a vertically reciprocating transverse cutting means which on its downward stroke compresses a row of individual finished packages onto an adhesive side of the collation paper which row is then indexed forward for the next cycle by indexing means comprised of a high function indexing belt conveyor under the collation paper with an adjustable floating pressure plate lightly pressing downward on said individual finished packages to aid the friction belt in drawing the collation paper forward as well as to further insure said packages adhesion to the collation paper to create a continuous sheet of collated packages, said continuous sheet of collated packages having been advanced onto a flying carrier plate member with vacuum means to maintain the sheet in place on said carrier plate member which is attached to a high speed pneumatic transport platform, a flying blade attached to another high speed transverse transport platform on signal instantly slits the collation paper between said packages alongside the trailing edge of said flying blade into an individual sheet resting on said flying carrier plate member; upon completion of the advance of each slit sheet onto said carrier plate member, said plate member, immediately transports said sheet of packages to a point directly over a waiting shipping carton, and said pneumatic transport platform carrying said flying plate member on reaching said point, instantly reverses with sharp acceleration and simultaneous with a vacuum release moves sharply out from under the sheet whereupon said sheet, due to its inertia is left in mid air to drop into the carton; and wherein the machine further comprises a forming station so mounted as to heat and form the top web. 12. The machine of claim 11, where said forming stations comprises,a pair of opposing members with at least one member reciprocating; a preheating platen system with reciprocal members of the platen system mounted on each opposing member; and forming die system with reciprocal members mounted on each opposing member. 13. The machine of claim 12, where said opposing members contain hot scoring capabilities comprising:a series of heating scoring blades mounted in blade holders driven against micrometer adjustable anvils so as to score the web indexing between the opposing members when the web is at rest and the opposing members are reciprocating. 14. A machine capable of automatic high speed thermoforming and production of formed-filled-sealed packages comprising:drive means to advance a pair of parallel transport chains having means to secure and pull bottom web material from a roll of web of thermoformable plastic to advance the web of thermoformable plastic, said transport chains advancing bottom web material past a series of stations, said series comprising: a hot scoring station, comprising a vertically reciprocating device, where said bottom web material is accurately scored; a heating station where said web is controllably heated to thermoforming temperatures; a forming station where said heated web is formed, said forming station including forming die means which can form a series of spaced product containment pocket formations encompassed by a flat unformed rim portion; a filler station, said filler station including means for filling each said pocket formation with an amount of a product supplied to said filler station; and driven roller means advancing a top web material in timed relationship with the advance of said bottom web material, said driven roller means transporting said top web in substantially parallel, closely adjacent proximity to and above said bottom webs filled pocket formations to a sealing station where top web is sealed to bottom web about each filled product formation to create a series of rectangular rim seals about each pocket, said transport chains next advancing said bottom web and top web to at least one station where the rectangular rim seals between said pocket formations are cut to completely separate sealed packages; wherein said sealed packages with sealed rims are collated by collation means comprising: a lightly adhesive collation paper intermittently advanced about an idler roller; and a pressure pad mounted on a vertically reciprocating transverse cutting means which on its downward stroke compresses a row of individual finished packages onto an adhesive side of the collation paper which row is then indexed forward for the next cycle by indexing means comprised of a high friction indexing belt conveyor under the collation paper with an adjustable floating pressure plate lightly pressing downward on said individual finished packages to aid the friction belt in drawing the collation paper forward as well as to further insure said packages adhesion to the collation paper to create a continuous sheet of collated packages, said continuous sheet of collated packages having been advanced onto a flving carrier plate member with vacuum means to maintain the sheet in place on said carrier plate member which is attached to a high speed pneumatic transport platform, a flying blade attached to another high speed transverse transport platform on signal instantly slits the collation paper between said packages alongside the trailing edge of said flying blade into an individual sheet resting on said flying carrier plate member; upon completion of the advance of each slit sheet onto said carrier plate member, said plate member immediately transports said sheet of packages to a point directly over a waiting shipping carton, an said pneumatic transport platform carrying said flying plate member on reaching said point instantly reverses with sharp acceleration and simultaneous with a vacuum release moves sharply out from under the sheet whereupon said sheet, due to its inertia, is left in mid air to drop into the carton. 15. A machine capable of automatic high speed thermoforming and production of formed-filled-sealed packages comprising:drive means to advance a pair of parallel transport chains having means to secure and pull bottom web material from a roll of web of thermoformable plastic to advance the web of thermoformable plastic, said transport chains advancing bottom web material past a series of stations, said series comprising: a heating station where said web is controllably heated to thermoforming temperatures; a forming station where said heated web is formed, said forming station including forming die means which can form a series of spaced product containment pocket formations encompassed by a flat unformed rim portion; a filler station, said filler station including means for filling each said pocket formation with an amount of a product supplied to said filler station; and driven roller means advancing a top web material in timed relationship with the advance of said bottom web material, said driven roller means transporting said top web in substantially parallel, closely adjacent proximity to and above said bottom webs filled pocket formations to a sealing station where top web is sealed to bottom web creating sealed areas between said pocket formations, said transport chains next advancing said sealed bottom web and top web combination to at least one station where the sealed areas between said pocket formations are cut to completely separate sealed packages; wherein said sealed packages with sealed rims are collated by collation means comprising: a lightly adhesive collation paper advanced about a roller to which the sealed packages are adhered; means for cutting said collation paper into discrete cut sheets; a flying carrier plate member with vacuum means to maintain the sheet in place on said carrier plate member, wherein upon completion of the advance of each cut sheet with adhered packages onto said carrier plate member, said carrier plate member transports said sheet of packages to a location over a container, and upon said carrier plate member reaching said location, said carrier plate member instantly reverses with sharp acceleration and simultaneous with a vacuum release moves out from under the sheet of packages, whereupon said sheet of packages drops into the container. 16. A collation apparatus for use with a form-fill-seal machine comprising:a lightly adhesive collation paper intermittently advanced about an idler roller; and a pressure pad mounted on a vertically reciprocating transverse cutting means which on its downward stroke compresses a row of individual finished packages onto an adhesive side of the collation paper which row is then indexed forward for the next cycle by indexing means comprised of a high friction indexing belt conveyor under the collation paper with an adjustable floating pressure plate with a smooth release coated surface lightly pressing downward on said individual finished packages to aid the friction belt in drawing the collation paper forward as well as to further insure said packages adhesion to the collation paper to create a continuous sheet of collated packages, said continuous sheet of collated packages having been advanced onto a flying carrier plate member with vacuum means to maintain the sheet in place on said carrier plate member which is attached to a high speed pneumatic transport platform, a flying blade attached to another high speed transverse transport platform on signal instantly slits the collation paper between said packages alongside the trailing edge of said flying blade into an individual sheet resting on said flying carrier plate member; upon completion of the advance of each slit sheet onto said carrier plate member, said plate members, immediately transports said sheet of packages to a point directly over a waiting shipping carton, ands said pneumatic transport platform carrying said flying plate member on reaching said point instantly reverses with sharp acceleration and simultaneous with a vacuum release moves sharply out from under the sheet whereupon said sheet, due to its inertia, is left in mid air to drop into the carton. 17. The collation apparatus of claim 16, which said flying carrier plate member is tilted with its leading edge lower than its trailing edge.