Vacuum skin package-making appts. - has thermoplastic sheets around product forming seal evacuated via aligned openings in conveyor belt and plate

The vacuum skin packaging appts. has a heated upper thermoplastic film, as held on the lower surface of a vacuum chamber is moved downwardly so as to drape the film around a product positioned on a lower thermoplastic film. This movement forms a hermetic seal between the vacuum chamber, the two films, a conveyor belt upon which the lower film rests, and a fixed vacuum plate over which the belt is moved. Enclosed within this seal are opposed sets of apertures in the belt, which apertures are aligned with the opposed openings in the plate for evacuating. The space above the upper film and also around the product. The upper film is then pushed by pressure differential into skin-tight conformity with the product and into heat-sealing contact with the lower film to form a vacuum skin-package.