Bagging machine with side bag gripping and transfer mechanism

摘要

A bagging machine comprising a product discharge device for discharging one or more products in an open bag held at a bag loading position. The open bag is a forwardmost one of a plurality of collapsed bags supported in juxtaposition adjacent the bag loading position. The bags have a flap, contiguous with a rear wall of the bag, which extends above a mouth opening of the bag. The flap is supported by one or more wicket pins. An air jet nozzle is disposed above the mouth opening to open the forwardmost bag by separating the front wall of the bag from the rear wall. A bag gripping device is disposed on opposed sides of the forwardmost bag and has clamps to clamp an upper edge portion of the bag on opposed sides thereof when the mouth opening is opened by the air jet. The bag gripping element is secured to a pivotal linkage to cause the engaged clamps to move toward one another, inwardly of the bag, and downward to detach the bag from the one or more wicket pins while retaining the bag with one or more products discharged therein. Means is provided to disengage the gripping elements to release the bag with the products therein.