Vacuum sealing appliance

Abstract

A vacuum sealing appliance 1 for sealing food product or other articles in a flexible container, the appliance comprises a housing containing a roll of container material 19, an electric motor and associated drive system for causing the container material to automatically advance out of the housing at a predetermined length, a heat element 89 for creating seals on the container material, a vacuum chamber 39 for creating vacuum pressure within a section of container material, and a cutting mechanism 26 for cutting off the container material to create a sealed container containing the food product.

1 . An electric appliance for forming a vacuum-sealed container from a roll of flexible material around an object, said appliance comprising
 a housing adapted to receive a roll of flexible, two-ply material that is formed from two layers that are joined at their longitudinal side edges to form a continuous roll of material having an opening at each end in a flattened, tube shape;   a driven roller for advancing said material from said roll by frictionally engaging part of said roll of material;   a control circuit for controlling operations of said appliance and for automatically controlling operation of said driven roller so that said material is advanced from said roll in a predetermined length;   a heating bar for applying heat to a section of said material perpendicular to its longitudinal side edges in order to seal together the two layers to form a first sealed edge;   a cutting mechanism for cutting said material along said first sealed edge so that a container section of material is separated from said roll; and   a vacuum pump for applying vacuum pressure to an opened edge of said container section of material.   
   
   
       2 . An appliance according to  claim 1 , further comprising
 at least one sensor arranged to detect the presence and location of an edge of container material inserted into said appliance and adapted to generate a signal and transmit it to said control circuit.   
   
   
       3 . A method of forming a vacuum-sealed container from a roll of flexible material around an object, said method comprising
 providing an appliance having a housing adapted to receive a roll of flexible, two-ply material that is formed from two layers that are joined at their longitudinal side edges to form a continuous roll of material having an opening at each end in a flattened, tube shape, said appliance having a control circuit for controlling operations of said appliance;   activating an electrical switch on said appliance causing a driven roller to automatically advance said material from said roll by frictionally engaging part of said roll of material to a predetermined length;   applying heat to a section of said material perpendicular to its longitudinal side edges in order to seal together the two layers to form a first sealed edge;   cutting said material along said first sealed edge so that a container section of material is separated from said roll;   removing said container section from said appliance;   placing an object into said container section through an opened edge of said container section;   inserting said opened edge of said container section into said appliance;   applying vacuum pressure to said opened edge of said container section of material;   applying heat to said container section at its opened edge in order to form a second sealed edge;   cutting said container section along its second sealed edge; and   removing said container section from said appliance.