Such bags are supplied with the bags grouped seriatim with one major planar face of one bag adjacent a major planar face of another bag and because adjacent plastic films tend to cling to one another, it is difficult to separate a single bag from the group and to open the bag selected. This results in considerable inconvenience and wastage.

Various means are known in the art to attempt to overcome these difficulties."Gluespot"systems use a small deposit of adhesive on the outside of bag walls releasably to attach a bag to its neighbour, close to the mouths of the bags, so that dispensing a first bag from a dispensing position, opens the next neighbouring bag and draws it into the dispensing position. These arrangements typically require a rack with guiding rails passing through holes in handles of the bag, and some form of retaining tags or apparatus to prevent more than one bag being pulled into the dispensing position at a time.

It is also known from GB-A-2298632 to provide folded "Gluespot"bags in cardboard cartons, the cartons having a restricted aperture through which bags may be pulled. The restricting aperture provides sufficient resistance to cause a bag being pulled from the carton to open, and for the"Gluespot"adhesive to release the dispensed bag from its next neighbour after it has partially opened the next bag and partially pulled the next bag through the restricted aperture to the dispensing position. Such a system requires fine tolerances of the carton size in relation to the size, packing density and weight of the

bags and fine tolerances of the dimensions of the dispensing aperture. Typically the dimensions of the dispensing aperture have to be changed as the box is emptied of bags. Also, the bags have to be packed in the carton in more than one folded group, otherwise when, for example, the carton is full, the weight of-bags acting on the bag being dispensed prevents dispensing.

It is an object of this invention to provide a dispensing system which is not dependant on"Gluespots"and associated racking and overcomes the tolerance requirements of the system of GB-A-2298632.

According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a bag dispensing package comprising in combination a plurality of bags located within a retaining enclosure, the bags being fixedly attached to the enclosure by a frangibly separable portions of the bags respectively, wherein when a bag is dispensed from the enclosure, the respective frangibly separable portion is fixedly retained within the enclosure.

Preferably, the bags are provided with handle means and the frangibly separable portion comprises a cross- member located between and frangibly separably joined to the handle means.

Advantageously, the frangibly separable portion is attached to the enclosure by tie means.

Conveniently, the enclosure is formed of cardboard.

Advantageously, the enclosure has a frangible portion for removal to form a dispensing aperture.

Conveniently, in a first embodiment, the enclosure is adapted such that, in use, at least a portion of a bag protrudes from the enclosure through the dispensing

aperture, whereby the portion of the bag may be grasped to detach the bag from the attachment means and withdraw the bag from the enclosure.

Conveniently, in a second embodiment, in use, the bags are folded within the enclosure.

Advantageously, the bags are of plastics material.

According to a feature of this invention, there is provided a bag dispenser comprising a package according to the first aspect of this invention and a housing for locating and retaining at least one said package.

Conveniently, the housing has an aperture for inserting said package and for dispensing bags from the package.

Advantageously, the housing has a loading aperture for inserting a package into the housing, said loading aperture being separate from said dispensing aperture.

Preferably, the loading aperture is closable by door means.

According to a second aspect of this invention, there is provided A method of dispensing bags comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of bags each having a frangibly separable portion; (b) providing an enclosure for locating the plurality of bags, the enclosure being provided with a dispensing aperture; (c) fixedly attaching the frangibly separable portion of the bags within the enclosure; (d) grasping a wall of a bag within the enclosure and detaching and removing the bag from the bag dispensing package by separating the bag from the frangibly separable portion of the bag; and

(e) fixedly retaining the frangibly separable portion of the bag in the enclosure.

In a preferred embodiment, the additional steps are provided of: (f) providing a housing at a dispensing station for locating the bag dispensing package, the housing being provided with an aperture through which the bag dispensing package may be inserted; and (g) inserting the bag dispensing package through the loading aperture in the housing to locate and retain the bag dispensing package in the housings The present invention has the advantage of not relying on"Gluespots"and associated racking, although the invention is equally applicable to the dispensing of "Gluespot"bags where required. The enclosure of the present invention also has no stringent tolerance requirements since it is not necessary to rely on the dimensions of the dispensing aperture to provide a predetermined restriction to the passage of a bag.

It is also found with the invention that, depending on the blocking of the bags, when the outer wall of the bag to be dispensed is grasped, this outer wall may be pulled away from the inner wall before the bag separates from the enclosure, thereby opening the bag.

The invention also has the advantage of providing a modular system which may be used with or without a housing.

However, when used with the housing, complete packs of bags can be loaded into the dispenser so that there is no requirement to accommodate partially empty packs at a dispensing location, such as a point of sale. Moreover, all the waste material formed from the separable portions of the bags is retained fixed within the enclosure, and disposed of, or recycled, with the otherwise empty enclosure.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Figure 1 shows a bag dispensing package according to a first embodiment of the present invention in which the package is unopened ; Figure 2 shows the bag dispensing package of Figure 1, in which the package is opened; Figure 3 shows the bag dispensing package of Figure 1 within a housing of the present invention, in an horizontal orientation; Figure 4 shows the bag dispensing package of Figure 1 within the housing of Figure 3, in a vertical orientation; Figure 5 shows a detail of the attachment of a bag to an enclosure wall of the bag dispensing package of Figure 1; Figure 6 shows a bag dispensing package according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and bags for location within the package; and Figure 7 shows the bag dispensing package of Figure 6, with the bags located within the package.

In the figures like reference numerals denote like parts.

The bag dispensing package, shown in Figures 1 and 2, has a cuboid cardboard enclosure 1, orientated with its major planar faces 2 horizontal in the exemplary Figures, and the enclosure has a preformed frangible portion 3,4 at one end thereof. The frangible portion 3,4 is defined by two opposed perforated vertical edges 5,6, a perforated horizontal bottom edge 7 bridging the two perforated vertical edges 5,6 and a rhombus-shaped section 3, on the top surface (as shown in Figure 1), defined by perforations 8,9,10 and a top horizontal edge 11 bridging the two perforated vertical edges 5,6.

At an opposite end of the enclosure from the frangible

portion is a vertical end face 12 provided with four apertures 13 arranged in a rectangle, such that two of the apertures 13 are located substantially on a horizontal centre line of the end face 12 and two apertures 13 are located below the horizontal centre line.

As shown in Figure 5, the enclosure 1 is loaded with blockheaded bags 20, known per se, stacked one on top of the other, each bag having a cross-member 21 separated from handles 22 by perforations 23. The cross-members 21 of the bags 20 are secured by two ties 24, each tie 24 passing around the respective cross-member 21 and through a pair of the apertures 13 in the end face 12, each one of the pair of apertures 13 being arranged in a substantially vertical relationship to the other member of the pair. It will be evident to the skilled person that the bags 20 could alternatively be releasably secured in the enclosure 1 in other ways, for example by detachable tabs or flaps on the bags 20 secured to the enclosure 1 by adhesive, or by an adaptation of the enclosure 1 so that part of the enclosure 1 secures the bags.

The bags 20 are folded back on themselves as shown in broken lines in Figure 1, so that a base 25 of each bag 20 is disposed towards a mouth 26 of the bag 20, as represented by a single bag 20 in Figure 1. The enclosure 1 is closed and secured in a known manner.

To prepare the enclosure 1 for dispensing bags 20, the frangible portion 3,4 of the enclosure 1 is removed, as shown in Figure 2, to form a dispensing aperture 30 and the bags 20 are unfolded so that the bags 20 protrude through the dispensing aperture 30.

To dispense a bag 20, a wall 31 of the topmost bag 20 is grasped, preferably in a region towards the mouth 26 of the bag 20, and pulled in a generally outward and upward (as shown in Figure 2) direction. This results in the topmost wall 31 of the bag 20 being pulled away from the

opposite wall, while the bag 20 is still held in the enclosure 1 by the ties 24 around the cross-member 21. On further pulling on the wall 31 of the bag 20, the bag 20 separates from the cross-member 21 along the perforations 23. An open bag 20 is thus dispensed, leaving its cross- member 21, attached by the ties 24, in the enclosure 1. It will be apparent that because only the outer wall 31 of the uppermost bag 20 is grasped, there is little likelihood of more than one bag 20 being dispensed at a time, in error.

The bag dispensing pack is preferably used in association with a housing 40, as shown in Figures 3 and 4.

The housing 40 securely retains the bag dispensing enclosure 1, enabling bags to be dispensed with one hand.

The housing 40 is a hollow, open-ended cuboid receptacle of, for example metal or plastics material, of dimensions just sufficiently larger than the bag dispensing enclosure 1 for the enclosure 1 to form a loose fit within the housing 40. The housing has an open end 41 and a vertical lip 42 formed along the open end 41.

In use, the bag dispensing enclosure 1 is prepared for dispensing by removing the frangible portion 3,4 and unfolding the bags 40, as described above, and the enclosure 1 is inserted through the open end 41 of the housing 40, which in this embodiment forms both a loading and dispensing aperture of the housing 40. The frangible portion 3,4 may conveniently be disposed of in an empty enclosure 1 previously removed from the housing 40. On insertion through the aperture 41, the enclosure 1 is retained in the housing 40 by the vertical lip 42. It is to be understood that alternatively the enclosure 1 may be retained in the housing 40 by other known means, such as, for example, resilient or sprung catches.

In another embodiment, the enclosure 1 may be loaded into the housing 40 through a dedicated loading aperture 43 at the end of the housing 40 remote from the dispensing

aperture 41. The dedicated loading aperture 43 may be provided with a door 44 hingedly attached to the housing along its top edge. Such an embodiment is convenient at, for example, supermarket checkouts, where the housing 40 is fixedly mounted so that customers have access to the dispensing aperture 41 and staff have access to the dedicated loading aperture 43. It will be understood that such a dedicated loading aperture could alternatively be located in another wall of the housing.

In order to allow single-handed dispensing of bags 20, the housing 40 is preferably fixed to a checkout desk or other support, either horizontally as shown in Figure 3, or vertically as shown in Figure 4.

A second embodiment of a bag dispensing package according to the invention, shown in Figures 6 and 7, has a cuboid cardboard enclosure 100, orientated with its major planar faces 200 horizontal in the exemplary Figures. The enclosure 100 has a dispensing aperture 300 at one end thereof. The dispensing aperture is defined by two trapezoidal cut-outs 210,310 in an upper face 201 and an end face 301 respectively, the trapezoidal cut-outs 210, 310 having a common base formed from the intersection of the upper face 201 and the end face 301. The trapezoidal cut-out 210 in the upper face 201 has a small semi-circular projection 230 in a shorter parallel side 215 of the trapezoidal cut-out 210 for engaging an inner wall of a bag 400 being dispensed.

A stack of bags 400 are inserted within the enclosure 100 in the direction of arrow-headed lines 600, the bags being folded upon themselves with a frangible portion 410 of the bags uppermost. The bags 400 are secured to an end wall 500 of the enclosure 100 remote from the dispensing aperture 300 by two ties 510 passing around a frangibly separable portion of the bags 400 and through pairs of apertures 520 respectively in the end wall 500.

In use the undispensed bags 400 remain folded within the enclosure 100. To dispense a bag 400 an outermost wall of an uppermost bag 400 is grasped and pulled through the dispensing aperture 300. On the bag 400 passing through the dispensing aperture 300, an innermost wall of the bag 400 is engaged by the projection 230 to assist in opening the bag 400.