Applicant(s) – Tata Elxsi Limited  ITPB Road  Whitefield  Bangalore – 560048 India

Inventor(s) –
(a) Shyam Sunder Balakrishna Karekar  a citizen of India  c/o Tata Elxsi Limited  ITPB Road  Whitefield  Bangalore – 560048 India
(b) Prasad Vijay Nimbalkar  a citizen of India  c/o Tata Elxsi Limited  ITPB Road  Whitefield  Bangalore – 560048 India
(c) Jijo Varghese  a citizen of India  c/o Tata Elxsi Limited  ITPB Road  Whitefield  Bangalore – 560048 India

Title of the Invention Self-standing Quad Seal Gusseted Pouch

Background:
One of the most significant impacts of the retail boom can be seen in the area of packaged foods - driven by the changing tastes and preferences of Indian consumers. Today the category boasts of a wide range of Indian and international brands of snacks and foods available in various forms of foil / pouches.
According to recent studies  the size of the packaged food market in India is estimated to be US$ 10 million and is expected to reach US$ 20 million by the year 2014. Packaged food  which is now 4% of the overall Food and Grocery (F&G) market  is expected to reach 5% of F&G market by 2014.
As more and more Indian and international brands are added to retail shelves  the consumer is facing a challenge - of choice - with a host of Indian and international brands vying for their attention. Brands play an important role today and have to find unique new ways of reaching out to consumers  attracting their attention and keeping loyalties intact. The key challenge for brands here is to be able to stand out among the clutter of brands.
Branding and packaging design have over the years helped food and snack brands create a unique identity for themselves and vie for the consumers’ attention. Packaging methods like Gusseted pouches have been constantly evolving to create better “shelf-throw” and “shelf-life”.
Often these pouches and the crimp seals make it difficult for the packs to be self-standing on retail shelves without the help of suitable display systems like gondolas; missing out on the opportunity to leverage the brand and its packaging.
Attempts to address this problem have been limited by the need to retain the current packaging assembly lines  machinery and configurations  especially in the extremely cost-sensitive foods and snack market.

Objective
The opportunity is to create a simple and cost effective “additional crimping” on the bottom sides of a typical Quad Seal Gusseted Pouch such that it would allow the pack to “self-stand”  while retaining the existing packaging assembly lines  machinery and configurations.
The result – Self-Standing Quad Seal Gusseted Pouch – would help leverage the brand’s visibility on retail shelves exponentially.

Summary of Invention
The invention includes a simple additional crimping on the bottom ends of a typical Quad Seal Gusseted Pouch  that is made using a customized “crimp-sealing” attachment to the current vertical form  fill and seal (VFFS) packaging machine  allows the pack to self-stand on shelf  thus enhancing shelf space utilization and brand visibility.

Brief Description
The invention of additional crimping on the bottom ends of the pillow pack can be illustrated with the following drawings:

Fig 2.1

Detailed Description
Referring to the drawings  a simple additional crimping attachment will be added to the existing Vertical Form  Fill and Seal (VFFS) packaging machinery.

1.) The attachment will be in the form of a pneumatic rounded head (A as in Fig 1.1  1.2 & 1.3) placed on the front & back sides of the quad sealed foil parallel to the main heat-crimping head (B as in Fig 1.1). The pneumatic rounded head has a heat-crimper (C as in Fig 1.1) along its length.

2.) As per fig 3.3 the foil has already been quad sealed  & held tightly

3.) As per fig 3.4  the pneumatic rounded head (A) clasps the foil

4.) As per fig 3.5  the horizontal sealer moves up slightly  buckling the foil between the sealer & the
pneumatic rounded head

5.) As per fig 3.6 the rounded head proceeds to move downward & sealing the buckled foil  still clamping the sheets  creating two horizontal crimps

6.) As per fig 3.7  the rounded head has created the horizontal crimp on the front & back sides of the foil; then they retreat from the foil of the foil

7.) As per fig 3.7  the process continues by filling the product in the pouch

The additional horizontal crimps on the bottom (the invention) will allow the individual pouch to self-stand (as in fig 3.10). This is facilitated as the additional crimps on the bottom sides of the pouch (the invention) creates an optimal base along with the horizontal bottom crimp seal  thus enabling the pouch to “rest” on its own.

Claims
The following claims are made with respect to the above defined invention (the additional crimps on the bottom sides of the Quad seal Gusseted pouch) –

1. The invention does not require the use of a new VFFS packaging machinery or change in the current configurations of existing and / or typically used VFFS packaging machinery  except for the addition of the additional pneumatic rounded head that creates the additional crimping on the bottom sides of the pouch.

2. The invention adds the ability for the individual pouches to self-stand easily (on the bottom crimp with the help of the additional crimps on the bottom sides) when placed on the retail shelf  thus optimizing shelf-space utility

3. The invention creates enhanced visibility for the branding  pack design and pack graphics  thus enhancing visibility on the retail shelf and providing better shelf-throw and brand recall value.

Abstract
A “self-standing” Quad Seal gusseted pouch  that has the additional crimps (the invention) on the two bottom ends of the pack  thus allowing the pack to self-stand when placed individually. The crimps are created by adding a simple additional crimping attachment (two pneumatic rounded head with a crimping corner) to the existing VFFS packaging machinery. The attachment adds the additional crimps (the invention) before the pack is filled with the contents  and crimp-sealed  thus not requiring a change in the existing packaging system / machinery.