Systems for sequentially feeding individual open bags of a granular product such as seed or animal feed to the head of a sewing machine after placing a tag at the mouth or opening of the bag to both close the mouth of the bag and attach the tag to the mouth of the bag through a single stitching action are known in the packaging industry. Examples of two such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,716 of Cerioni and U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,757 of Ogawa. These two prior art systems are each arranged to deliver a single tag or label for each bag being conveyed to the sewing machine. The Fischbein 3920 dual tag placer is capable of feeding or conveying two tags or labels onto each bag for simultaneous connection thereto in the same bag-closing stitching action. However, the tags are placed side by side on the bag and therefore may occupy a significant fraction of the surface area of the face or side of the bag on which they are placed. It some cases, it is desirable to leave an area open for receipt of other labeling or marking directly on the bag, for example by ink printing onto the bag itself.
Applicant is unaware of any prior developments in this field facilitating automated feeding of more than two tags for attachment to a single bagged product or facilitating feeding of two tags in a more space-efficient configuration than the machine identified above.