Method and Apparatus for Producing Perforated Strings of Separable Packages

A vertical form, fill and seal machine includes a pair of reciprocating jaws, located below the product delivery conduit of the machine. The jaws are spaced apart to permit the film tube coming off the product delivery conduit to pass between the jaws after the film tube separates from the product delivery conduit. One of the reciprocating jaws has a toothed blade with a leading edge of the toothed blade extending beyond a leading edge of the one jaw. When the pair of jaws closes, teeth of the blade cut a transversely extending series of perforations adjacent to a transverse seal. Accordingly, the machine outputs a continuous string of connected sealed packages having a transversely extending perforation between adjacent packages is formed.