BigPatents India

Conventional mode of filling and transportation of bitumen is by using round steel drums. Apart from cost of empty drums, packing cost is also considerable and there is loss of cargo space due to circular shape of the drums. Bitumen—filled drums often develop leakages on storing due to rusting and corrosion from acidic components. Storage of bitumen—filled drums in the open is susceptible to action of rainwater and taking out the contents from the drums necessitates heating, but some amount of bitumen is lost. Handling of molten bitumen from steel drums is also hazardous. The present invention overcomes the above difficulties by using polymer bags for filling bitumen, which can be conveniently stacked, like cement bags. This invention provides an automatic machine for filling bitumen in polymeric bags and sealing the same, which comprises — (a) means for feeding (3) collapsed polymeric tubular body (2) with an arrangement for shearing (5) and sealing (7), thereby forming a bag; (b) means for heating bitumen (9) and leading the molten bitumen through a pipeline meant therefore (11); (c) means for opening the mouth of the bag (15) allowing a predetermined amount of molten bitumen to be poured inside and automatically sealing the mouth of the bitumen—filled bag (14) and (d) sensors and controllers (21, 22, 23 and 24) for sensing and synchronizing the sequential operations of shearing, sealing the bottom, filling the bag with bitumen, sealing the upper lip of the bag and releasing the bitumen—filled bag onto a conveyor, chute,pallet or a suitable receptacle to be led into a cooling tank. (FIG.1, 2, 3 )