Appeal No. 2002-1803 Application 09/288,775 upstream of the nip, and a program controller 20 for regulating the operation of the apparatus. The program controller operates to cause (1) the drive roll means to periodically advance the webs from the supply rolls through the nip while the first heat sealing means seals together the longitudinal edges of the webs, (2) the nozzle to periodically introduce a foamable composition between the webs upstream of the nip, and (3) the second heat sealing means to periodically seal the top edge of a formed bag and the bottom edge of the next bag while severing the formed bag from the next bag. Sperry’s bag forming apparatus and method are specifically designed for use in a packaging production line (see column 2, lines 14 through 18; and column 6, line 8 et seq.). In general, a severed cushion is dropped from the apparatus into a shipping container, the articles being packaged are disposed on top of the cushion, and an additional severed cushion is dropped onto the articles. Both cushions are severed and dropped into the container before the composition therein has completely foamed. This allows the cushions to deform into a surrounding and conforming relationship with the articles when the container is closed and sealed, and to further expand about the articles and 4Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007