Automatic bag filling method

Claim 1

In a method of producing filled receptacles, the steps comprising: incrementally advancing a flattened, generally vertically draped, flexible tube toward a filling area, while simultaneously controlling the position of the tube by tracking longitudinally extending zipper-like fastener members formed in the opposite walls of the tube, and which are mechanically occluded to join said walls together, the tube being regularly cross-sealed to define a series of bag elements releasably closed across their top end by said fastener members, and wherein said opposed walls extend above the fastener members, said tracking step assisting to generally precisely deliver the tube to a plowing element for plowing apart said walls at a height above said fastener members, cooperatively with said plowing step, individually gripping said walls to assist spreading the same sufficiently to release said fastener members to open said bag elements, filling said bag elements in the stop intervals accompanying the incremental advancement of the tube, and thereafter advancing the filled bag elements while pinching the fastener members to occlude the same, thereby closing the filled bag elements as they advance in a direction away from the filling area.