ES2659225T3 - Reinforced bags - Google Patents

Abstract

A bag (200) including: two outer faces (206), an open mouth end (202) defined by the outer faces (216), a sealed lower end (204) joining the outer faces (216), at least one bellows (216) extending between the mouth end (202) and the sealed lower end (204) and defining an inner bellows point (216 '), at least one tongue (250) attached to the bag (200) in the position where an inner bellows point (216 ') intersects the lower seal (204), characterized in that the tongue (250) is formed from bag material by cutting three sides of the tongue of the bag material tube and folding the tongue around its uncut side to overlap it on the bag at the point where an inner bellows point (216 ') will be attached to a lower seal (204).

Description

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DESCRIPTION

Reinforced Bags Background

Many commercial establishments, such as retail stores, as well as consumers use bags to transport items such as food products and other items. The present invention relates to reinforced bags for transporting items.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention relates to reinforced bags as set forth more fully herein. In general, the invention relates to a bag having two outer faces, an open mouth end defined by the outer faces, a sealed bottom end joining the outer faces, at least one bellows extending between the mouth end and the sealed bottom end and defining an inner bellows point, and at least one tongue fixed to the bag in the position where an inner bellows point intersects the lower seal, where the tongue is formed from bag material. The bag may have handles and a cut region of the handle and the tongue may be formed from a handle-mouth portion removed from a bag.

In addition, the invention relates to a method for reinforcing a reinforced bag, the process including the steps of cutting a tongue of bag material, and fixing at least one tongue to the bag with bellows in a position where a bellows point inside of the bag intersects with a bottom seal of the bag

Another method of manufacturing a reinforced bellows bag consists of the steps of forming a plastic tube, folding the plastic tube to form at least a first bellows, cutting a portion of the tube to form a tongue, where the tongue is cut of the tube on three sides, fold the tongue around its uncut side to overlap the bag at the point where an inner bellows of the first bellows will intersect with a thermal seal, and form a thermal seal on the plastic tube to form one end sealed bottom of a bag.

DE 8807896 U describes a bag that has a separate and perforated rectangular tongue that is connected to the bag by a weld seam. GB 1,088,385 describes a process for manufacturing bags with bellows by folding, where the bags have a folded end. US 5,562,580 describes piles of polyethylene bags and methods for their manufacture, where the bags have a self-opening element.

The present invention can be better understood by reference to the description and the following figures. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the specific details set forth in the description and the following figures. The invention is susceptible to other embodiments and to be practiced or carried out in various ways.

Brief description of the drawings

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention are better understood by reading the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

Figure 1A is a front view of a shirt-shaped bag that has bellows.

Figure 1B is an end view of the bag shown in Figure 1A.

Figure 2A is a perspective view of an embodiment of a reinforced bag of the present invention.

Figure 2B is a perspective view of the bag of Figure 2A.

Figure 2C is an end view of the bag of Figure 2A.

Figure 3A is a perspective view of an embodiment of a reinforced bag of the present invention.

Figure 3B is a perspective view of the bag of Figure 3A.

Figure 3C is an end view of the bag of Figure 3A.

Figure 4 is a view of two joined bags illustrating the formation of an embodiment of the formation of a reinforced bag of the present invention.

And Figure 5 is a view of an embodiment of a reinforced bag of the present invention and an exemplary embodiment of a method of its manufacture.

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Detailed description of exemplary embodiments

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the invention, of which one or more examples are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Each example is offered by way of explanation, not limitation, of the invention. For example, the elements illustrated or described as part of an embodiment can be used in another embodiment to obtain a further embodiment. Thus, it is understood that the present invention covers modifications and variations that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

The use of reference characters with the two identical final digits as other reference characters to indicate a structure in the present specification and the drawings, without a specific explanation of such structure, is intended to indicate the same or analogous structure in different realizations

With reference to Figures 1A and 1B, the bag 100 is shown, which is illustrated as a shirt of the type of shirt. As illustrated, the bag 100 has an open mouth end 102 and a sealed lower end 104 at opposite longitudinal ends. In some embodiments, the sealed bottom end 104 may be formed by thermal sealing. Bag 100 also includes faces 106 (with a front face shown and a rear face, not shown, on the back side of the bag). The bag 100 also has handle portions 108 that extend upwardly spaced at the sides. Such handles can be formed by removing a portion of material from a crushed plastic tube that otherwise has a "pillowcase" shape to form a "U-shaped" portion that results in the handles and the mouth end 102 of the bag 100. Each handle portion 108 may include a hole portion 110 for mounting a bag or a stack of bags in a dispensing rack system. In addition, the bag 100 may include a central tab 112 having a slit or hole 114 for mounting the bag in a dispensing rack system. In some embodiments, the central tongue 112 may be integral to the bag 100 while in other embodiments the central tongue 112 may be detachably connected to the bag 100, for example, by means of a perforated line or a hole that separates the center tab 112 of the bag 100 when torn. As shown in Figure 1, the bag 100 also includes bellows 116, which have an inner bellows point 116 '. The bag 100 is shown in a closed configuration in which the bag is not open, that is, the front and rear faces 106 are juxtaposed and the bellows are not open.

As is evident from Figures 1A and 1B, the bellows bag portions 100 include a four-fold film (or layers) when the bag is viewed from one side or end and the region between the bellows portions includes two folds. As a result, a heat seal or other lower end of seal formation 104 must seal different amounts of layers through the bottom of the bag. In addition, due to the efforts exerted during the use of the bag, it is known that the positions where non-uniform layers of a bag are sealed at the bottom of a bag, as indicated by points A in Figure 1A, can be weak and be subject to torn. Such tearing can result in lower bag performance and even bag failure. The embodiments of the present invention provide reinforced bags.

According to the present invention, bag material is used to reinforce a bag. In the sense that it is used here, "bag material" refers to material that has the same composition as the bag. In some embodiments, not covered by the appended claims, the bag material may be waste or scrap from the manufacture of a particular bag, where the waste includes portions of bags that have been discarded during the bag manufacturing processes. For example, in one embodiment, material can be removed from a bag in the manufacturing process to form the "U-shaped" cutting zone, which forms the handles and the mouth of a bag. For reference here, such material removed in said region is called the "handle-mouth portion removed", and such portions may be used as the bag material for reinforcement.

In some embodiments, the tabs can be prepared from bag materials, such as the U-shaped cut explained above, and one or more tabs can be attached to a bag, such as at a weak point, to reinforce the bag. Such tabs may be of any suitable form, such as, without limitation, circular, semicircular, square, rectangular or triangular. In addition, such tabs can be of any size suitable for any given application.

By way of example, Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a reinforced bag of the present invention. As shown in Figure 2A, the bag 200 illustrated in Figure 1 has tabs 250 fixed at each point A, which is known to be a weak point during use due to the variable layers sealed together at the bottom of the bag . As also shown in Figures 2B and 2C, the tabs 250 may have a generally circular shape and be wound around the sealed lower end 104 of the bag 100 to provide a semicircular portion on each side of the bag. The illustrated tabs can be cut from the removed handle-mouth portion that was removed from the bag during its manufacture.

Figures 3A-3C illustrate an alternative embodiment of the present invention. As shown in said figures, the bag 300 includes tabs 350, each of which has a generally semicircular shape (shown in the enlarged view) as opposed to a full circle. In addition, this exemplary embodiment

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represents a tongue attached to the bag 100 on each side of point A so that the tabs 350 do not overlap the bottom of the bag 100.

Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the above embodiments are exemplary and that their variations fall within the scope of the present invention. For example, and without limitation, tabs of alternative shapes and dimensions can be used in other embodiments. For example, tabs of square shape, rectangular shape, triangular shape, and various lengths are among the exemplary shapes that can be used. In addition, some embodiments may include additional tabs. In some embodiments, a tongue can be fixed and placed in a bag to reinforce more than one weak point in the bag. In other embodiments, multiple tabs can be applied to a single weak point.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a bag may have a portion of material that extends below the sealed bottom of the bag. In such embodiments, a tongue can be attached to such a portion of the bag. In addition, in some embodiments, a tongue can be wound around such a portion in the manner described above.

With reference to Figure 4, the present invention also includes an additional method for reinforcing the bag. In bag manufacturing processes, the bags can be formed from a plastic tube, such as by folding the plastic tube, thermally sealing the tube to form a bottom of the bag, and removing the handle portion mouth removed to form the handles and the mouth of the bag. In addition, the bags can be cut or perforated from adjacent portions of the plastic tube that is used to form bags in the same way.

As shown in Figure 4, a partial front view of the bag 500 and the bag 600 is shown, where the bag 500 and the bag 600 are adjacent and connected, as can happen during the manufacture of plastic bags from A plastic film tube. With reference to Figure 4, the bag 500 shown has a sealed bottom end 504, bellows 516 and inner bellows points 516 '. Likewise, the bag 600 shown has bellows 616, inner bellows points 616 ', open mouth end 602, handle portions 608, a top seal 603, and the removed handle-mouth portion 609 (in which the handle portion - mouth removed 609 has not yet been removed from the tube from which the bag 609 will be formed). The tear line 511 separates the bag 500 and the bag 600, and the tear line 609 may be a cut line or a perforated line (and in some embodiments the tear line 511 may not form until after forming and fixing the tab 550 as described below).

In some embodiments, the tongue 550 may be cut in the manner shown in Figure 4, in which three sides (indicated as X, Y, and Z) 550 of the bag material are cut below the sealed bottom end 504 and the bag material of the removed handle-mouth portion 609 (prior to its removal from the bag) to form the tongue 550. Next, the tongue 550 can be folded around its uncut edge and fixed to the bag 500 at the joint of the inner bellows point 516 'and the sealed lower end 504 (as indicated by the shaded region in Figure 4). In this regard, for descriptive purposes only, Figure 4 illustrates both the cutting lines X, Y and Z for the tongue 550 and the tongue 550 attached to the bag 500. In alternative embodiments, the removed handle-mouth portion 609 could cut so that tongue 550 is formed without additional cutting. In addition, the tongue 550 can be folded before or after forming the sealed lower end 504.

In another embodiment, the tongue 550 can be folded along the tear line 511 such that the tongue 550 is formed only from bag material of the removed handle-mouth portion 609 of the bag 600. In Another embodiment, the tongue 550 can only be formed from bag material located below the sealed bottom end 504 of the bag 500 and the tear line 511, such that the tongue 550 is formed from bag material taken only of the bag 500. In such an embodiment, the tongue 550 can be cut on three sides and folded as described above. In addition, in some embodiments, the bag material described herein can be completely cut on all sides and then removed and fixed to a bag.

As shown, the tongues 550 are formed by cutting only three sides of the tongue and then folding and fixing them in the shaded region. In some embodiments, the tabs 550 can be formed and fixed on the front and rear sides of a bag (where the rear side is not shown in Figure 4).

Figure 5 illustrates a further embodiment of the present invention and a method of its manufacture. As shown in Figure 5, a bag 700 has a tongue 750 that is composed of bag material and extends through the two illustrated bellows points. As also shown, the area of the adjacent bag in the manufacturing process from which the bag material for the tongue 750 is taken, can ultimately be a removed handle-mouth region. In some embodiments, the manufacturing steps can be carried out in the following order:

1. Form the tube;

2. Form at least one, and optionally two, side bellows in the tube;

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3. Cut a tongue or tongues in the tube, for example, by making three contiguous U-shaped cuts in the plastic tube;

4. Fold the tongue on its uncut side;

5. Heat seal the plastic tube to form a sealed bottom end, where thermal sealing can optionally overlap the folded tongue; Y

6. Optionally chop a mouth region of the bag and remove a handle-mouth portion.

In some embodiments, the tongues of the present invention can be attached to a bag using any conventional practices or materials. In some embodiments, the tabs can be heated and combined with a bag. In other embodiments, the tabs can be mounted with adhesives, sewn, heat seal or using any other suitable methods or combination of methods.

In addition to individual bags, the embodiments of the present invention include piles of bags, also called bag packs, in which multiple bags are stacked adjacently. The piles of bags may have any number of reinforced bags such as those described herein and, in some exemplary embodiments, a stack of bags may have 50 bags, 100 bags or more.

The bags and piles of bags of the present invention can be made using any conventional techniques known in the art, for example, those described in U.S. Patent No. 5,335,788 and in U.S. Patent No. 5,562,580.

Suitable bag materials may include any polymeric materials, including polyolefins. By way of example, and without limitation, the bag materials may include polyethylene such as linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), high density polyethylene and molecular weight High (HMW-HDPE) and its combinations. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other materials may be suitable, such as other thermoplastic materials, including copolymers.

Although the above examples have been shown with respect to t-shirt bags, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention can also be used in other types of bags, such as, but not limited to, for product bags in a stack, bags of Roll product, roll shopping bags, and other types of bags. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the reinforcing tabs of the present invention can be used to reinforce areas of a bag other than those specifically described in the examples.

The foregoing description of illustrative embodiments of the invention has been presented solely for purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the exact manner described. Its numerous modifications and adaptations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (12)

5 10 fifteen twenty 25 30 35 40 Four. Five fifty 55 60 65 1. A bag (200) including: two outer faces (206), an open mouth end (202) defined by the outer faces (216), a sealed lower end (204) joining the outer faces (216), at least one bellows (216) extending between the mouth end (202) and the sealed lower end (204) and defining an inner bellows point (216 '), at least one tongue (250) fixed to the bag (200) in the position where an inner bellows point (216 ') intersects the lower seal (204), characterized in that the tongue (250) is formed from bag material cutting three sides of the tongue of the bag material tube and folding the tongue around its uncut side to superimpose it on the bag at the point where an inner bellows point (216 ') will be attached to a lower seal (204). 2. The bag (200) of claim 1, wherein the bag is a shirt-shaped bag having handles (208) and a cut-off region of the handle. 3. The bag (200) of claim 2, wherein the tongue (250) has a shape selected from the group consisting of circular, semicircular, square, rectangular and triangular. 4. The bag (200) of claim 2, wherein the bag includes two tabs (250), wherein each of the two tabs is fixed to an outer face (206) of the bag (200) in a position where a point of inner bellows (216 ') intersects the bottom seal (204), where each tongue (250) is formed from bag material by cutting three sides of the tongue of the bag material tube and folding the tongue around its non-side cut to superimpose it on the bag at the point where an inner bellows point (216 ') will join a lower seal (204). 5. The bag (200) of claim 4 further includes at least two bellows and at least two inner bellows points, where at least a second tongue is fixed on the two outer faces of the bag at a second point where a Second inner bellows point intersects the lower seal. 6. The bag (200) of claim 2, wherein at least one tongue (250) is fixed on a first outer face (206) of the bag (200) in a first position where an inner bellows point (216 ') intersects the bottom seal (204) and at least one tongue (250) is fixed on a second outer face (206) of the bag (200) in a second position where an inner bellows point (216') intersects the lower seal (204). 7. A method of reinforcing a bellows bag (200) according to any of claims 1-6, including the process: cut a tongue (250) of bag material by cutting three sides of the tongue of the bag material tube and folding the tongue around its uncut side to superimpose the bag at the point where an inner bellows point (216 ') is will bind a lower seal (204), and fix at least one tongue (250) to the bellows bag (200) in a position where an inner bellows point (216 ') of the bag intersects with a lower seal ( 204) of the bag (200). 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the tongue (250) is cut from the handle-mouth portion removed from an adjacent bag that is adjacent to the bag (250) during a bag manufacturing process. 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the tongue (250) is cut from an area in a tube that is located below where a bottom seal (204) of the bag (200) will be formed. 10. A method of manufacturing a reinforced bellows bag (200) according to any of claims 1-6, including the process: form a plastic tube, fold the plastic tube in bellows to form at least a first bellows (216), cut a portion of the tube to form a tongue (250), where the tongue (250) is cut from the tube on three sides (X, Y, Z), and fold the tongue (250) around its uncut side to superimpose it on the bag at the point where an inner bellows (216 ') of the first bellows (216) will be attached to a thermal seal (204); Y forming a thermal seal (204) in the plastic tube to form a sealed bottom end (204) of a bag (200). The method of claim 10, wherein the tube is cut from an area of the tube that is located below where a bottom seal (204) of the bag will be formed. 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the tube is cut from an area of the tube that will form the handle portion of an adjacent bag formed in the tube. 10 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the tube is cut from an area of the tube that is located below where a bottom seal (204) of the bag (200) will be formed and will create an area in the tube that will form the portion handle of an adjacent bag formed in the tube. 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the bag material is composed of group material consisting of of linear low density polyethylene, low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, high density polyethylene and high molecular weight, and combinations thereof.