KOHANZAD, Layla Anne (1 Oldfield Cottages, Town LaneMobberley, Cheshire WA16 7EX, GB)
| Claims 1. A bag comprising: a sac part defining a compartment having an opening for receiving a load, the sac part being deformable by folding to place a wall portion of the sac part located between the opening and the base of the sac part, in an orientation substantially inverted about a fold so formed; and a resilient handle part extending along an outward surface of the sac part generally towards the base of the sac part from the one or more locations on the wall portion at which the handle part is fixed to the sac part; wherein, the orientation of the handle part relative to the sac part is substantially invertible by action of said folding to cause the handle part to stand proud of the sac part beyond said fold so as to be readily accessible for use in carrying the sac part. 2. A bag according to any preceding claim in which the sac part is arranged such that the opening is closable by folding the sac part to place the wall portion over an opposite wall of the sac part to adopt thereat an orientation substantially inverted about said fold. 3. A bag according to any preceding claim including securing means arranged to secure the wall portion to the sac part when in said substantially inverted orientation. 4. A bag according to any preceding claim in which said wall portion and an opposite wall of the sac part are adapted to be pressable together along a mutual fold formable by action of said folding to close the compartment and place said wall portion and said opposite wall in an shared orientation substantially inverted about said mutual fold. 5. A bag according to any preceding claim wherein said wall portion comprises a flap adapted to be foldable to extend over the opening to an opposite wall of the sac part. 6. A bag according to any preceding claim in which the handle part comprises a resilient strip fixed to said wall portion of the sac part via a flat surface of the strip placed substantially parallel to the surface of the wall portion. 7. A bag according to any preceding claim in which the sac part is arranged to be deformable by folding to form said fold at a portions of the sac part between the sac base and the location(s) at which the handle part is attached to the sac part. 8. A paper bag according to any preceding claim. 9. A method of forming a carrier bag comprising: providing a bag having a sac part defining a compartment having an opening for receiving a load, a resilient handle part extending along an outward surface of the sac part generally towards the base of the sac part from the one or more locations on the wall portion at which the handle part is fixed to the sac part; folding the sac part to place a wall portion of the sac part located between the opening and the base of the sac part, in an orientation substantially inverted about a fold so formed; and thereby substantially inverting the orientation of the handle part by action of said folding to cause the handle part to stand proud of the sac part beyond said fold so as to be readily accessible for use in carrying the sac part. 10. A method of forming a carrier bag according to claim 9 including closing the opening by folding the sac part to place the wall portion over an opposite wall of the sac part to adopt thereat an orientation substantially inverted about said fold. 11. A method of forming a carrier bag according to claim 9 or 10 including securing the wall portion to the sac part when in said substantially inverted orientation. 12. A bag substantially as disclosed in any one embodiment described herein and/or illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings. 13. A method substantially as disclosed in any one embodiment described herein and/or illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings. |
The present invention relates to bags with one or more handles for the carrying thereof, such as carrier bags.
Carrier bags, particularly paper bags for storing ready-to-sell food in shops, are often without handles. To enable such a bag to be easily carried, users may close the bag by flattening together opposite sides of the bag at its opening, then folding-over the flattened sides so as to form a make-shift handle by using the folded-back shape at the top of the bag as a hook when placed over reversely hooked fingers of a hand. While this may sometimes be sufficient, it is usually a poor substitute for a handle. Alternatively, such bags may have two fixed upstanding handles at the top of the bag which prevent the bag from being closed by the above folding action if the handles are to remain accessible and usable. The invention aims to provide means which may be used to address this lack of versatility in existing bags.
At its most general, the invention provides a bag having a handle for carrying the bag which becomes readily accessible when the bag is closed by folding-over parts (e.g. top parts) of the bag. The bag may be a single-handled bag having a single such handle. The handle may be an inverted handle and may be externally fixed to the sac of the bag. The sac of the bag may provide a fold-over closure allowing the handle to be presented or exposed for use (e.g. upstanding, readily accessible) and the contents of the bag secured by the fold-over crease on the top of the closed sac of the bag. For example, a single (e.g. paper) tape handle may be glued facing down on the outside of one side of the sac of the bag only. Once the sac of the bag is filled, the front-side and rear-side of the sac may be closed together and then folded over on to the rear-side of the sac having no handle. The folded-over part of the sac may then be secured to the rear-side of the sac with an adhesive or label/sticker. The previously downward-facing handle may be thus made upstanding and secured in that orientation.
In a first of its aspects, the invention may provide a bag comprising a sac part defining a compartment having an opening for receiving a load, the sac part being deformable by folding to place a wall portion of the sac part located between the opening and the base of the sac part, in an orientation substantially inverted and/or reversed about a fold so formed; and a resilient handle part extending along an outward surface of the sac part generally towards the base of the sac part from the one or more locations on the wall portion at which the handle part is fixed to the sac part; wherein, the orientation of the handle part relative to the sac part is substantially invertible and/or reversible by action of said folding to cause the handle part to stand proud of the sac part beyond said fold so as to be readily accessible for use in carrying the sac part. Thus, a bag with a fold-over part may be provided for rendering readily accessible a previously substantially not readily accessible handle.
Preferably, the sac part is arranged such that the opening is closable by folding the sac part to place the wall portion over an opposite wall of the sac part to adopt thereat an orientation substantially inverted about said fold. Thus, the fold-over action may also serve to close the bag, either partly or wholly.
The wall portion and an opposite wall of the sac part may be adapted to be pressable together along a mutual fold formable by action of said folding to close the compartment and place said wall portion and said opposite wall in an shared orientation substantially inverted about said mutual fold. In this way, the wall portion when in the folded state and the opposite wall over which the wall portion is folded, may sandwich between them a portion of the opposing wall itself inverted by the folding action. This may be the arrangement employed when the wall and the opposite wall of the sac have substantially the same height.
The wall portion may comprise a flap adapted to be foldable to extend over the opening to an opposite wall of the sac part. The foldable wall portion may be a flap arranged to be foldable over the opening and against outer parts of an opposite wall.
The bag may include securing means arranged to secure the wall portion to the sac part when in said substantially inverted or reversed orientation. One or more adhesive patches of stickers may be used (a sticker, label or glue etc) to secure the inverted wall portion to the sac wall against which it is folded when so inverted.
The handle part may comprise a resilient strip fixed to said wall portion of the sac part via a flat surface of the strip placed substantially parallel to the surface of the wall portion. The bag may have a single handle. Most preferably, all those portions of the handle part fixed to the sac part are so fixed to the wall portion at the same wall/side of the sac part. Preferably, the wall portion is substantially flat. A handle part may be substantially/generally U-shaped. It may be made from firm paper or card. The handle part may be fixed by adhesive, staples or stitching, at one or each of (e.g. two) strip ends of the handle, to a respective two spaced locations on the wall portion. The locations of these fixtures may be adjacent the uppermost edge of the the sac at the sac opening. The handle part may extend from where it is fixed to the wall portion, in a direction along the outward-facing surface of the first wall generally downwardly towards the base of the sac part. The handle part is preferably a resilient strip urged by its resilience to lie closely over the outward surface of the wall part generally parallel to at least those parts of the wall part to which it is fixed. Preferably, when the handle part comprises a strip, the flat strip surface of the strip is preferably fixed at the handle ends to the opposing flat surface of the wall portion where the handle part if fixed to the wall portion. In preferred embodiments, the handle part is not fixed or attached to any parts of the bag. Most preferably, the fixture of the handle part to the sac is a firm fixture which substantially preserves the orientation or the fixed parts of the handle relative to the wall parts to which they are fixed. This ensures that substantially inverting the orientation of the wall part enforces/ensures substantial inversion of the orientation of the handle fixed to it.
Preferably the wall and preferably the opposite wall of the sac are flat. The wall and the opposite wall may be joined along their lateral edges e.g. the whole of each lateral edge from the opening to the base of the sac part. The base of the sac part may join the lowermost edges of the wall and the opposite wall of the sac part. The sac may have a window (e.g. transparent film) in one or each wall permitting the contents of the bag to be viewed.
The sac part may be arranged to be deformable by folding to form said fold at a portions of the sac part between the sac base and the location(s) at which the handle part is attached to the sac part.
The bag may be made of paper, or a plastics material (e.g. polythene, High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)).
In a second of its aspects, the invention may provide a method of forming a carrier bag comprising: providing a bag having a sac part defining a compartment having an opening for receiving a load, a resilient handle part extending along an outward surface of the sac part generally towards the base of the sac part from the one or more locations on the wall portion at which the handle part is fixed to the sac part; folding the sac part to place a wall portion of the sac part located between the opening and the base of the sac part, in an orientation substantially inverted and/or reversed about a fold so formed; and thereby substantially inverting and/or reversing the orientation of the handle part by action of said folding to cause the handle part to stand proud of the sac part beyond said fold so as to be readily accessible for use in carrying the sac part.
The method may include closing the opening by folding the sac part to place the wall portion over an opposite wall of the sac part to adopt thereat an orientation substantially inverted about said fold.
The method may include securing the wall portion to the sac part when in said substantially inverted/reversed orientation. In the following, there is described a non-limiting example of the invention embodied in the form of a paper carrier bag illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:
Figure 1 illustrates a paper bag according to the invention in an un-folded state;
Figure 2 illustrates the paper carrier bag of Figure 1 in the process of being folded;
Figure 3 illustrates the paper carrier bag of Figures 1 and 2 in the folded, closed and secured state in which in a handle is upstanding and readily accessible for use in carrying the paper carrier bag.
In the Figures, like articles are assigned like reference numerals for consistency.
Figure 1 illustrates a paper carrier bag (1 ) comprising a sac part (2) defining a compartment having an opening (10) for receiving a load, such as food items or the like. The sac part comprises a first wall (4) extending from a base (3) of the bag (2) to an opening (10) uppermost in the sac in use, and a second wall (6) which extends from the base (3) of the sac part to the opening (10) in the manner of the first wall portion. The first and second walls face each other in opposition across the compartment of the sac they collectively define with other elements of the sac part. The second wall has substantially the same dimensions and shape as the first wall.
The sac part includes a first pleat portion (5) and an opposing second pleat portion (not shown) which each extend from a respective one of the two lateral edges of the first wall to a respective adjacent one of two lateral edges of the second wall such that, collectively, the first and second walls, the first and second pleat portions, and the base of the sac define a compartment accessible only via the opening (10). In this way, the opening is arranged for accepting an appropriate load into the sac portion, which is constructed and arranged to contain the load. The base of the carrier bag joins the lowermost edges of both the first and second walls and the two pleat portions to provide a complete and continuous base to the sac part.
A resilient handle part (7) is a generally U-shaped strip of material, e.g. made from firm paper or card, which is fixed by adhesive, staples or stitching, at each of two handle ends (8, 9) to a respective two spaced locations on the first wall adjacent the uppermost edge of the first wall at the sac opening. The handle part extends from where it is fixed to the first wall, in a direction along the outward-facing surface of the first wall generally downwardly towards the base of the sac part. The handle part is a resilient strip urged by its resilience to lie closely over the outward surface of the first wall generally parallel to at least those parts of the first wall to which it is fixed. The flat strip surface of the strip is fixed at its handle ends (8, 9) to the opposing flat surface of the first wall where the handle part if fixed to the first wall. The handle part is not fixed or attached to the second wall or to any pleat portion, or any other part of the first wall.
Referring to Figure 2, the sac part is deformable by folding according to a folding action (12) along a first fold line (1 1 ) so as to place a first wall portion (13) of the first wall, comprising the parts of the first wall between the opening and the first fold line, in an orientation substantially inverted about a fold line. Similarly, the sac part is deformable by folding according to the folding action (12) along a second fold line (not shown) in the second wall parallel to the first fold line. Such folding places a second wall portion (not shown) of the second wall, comprising the parts of the second wall between the opening and the second fold line, in an orientation substantially inverted about both the first and second fold lines and sandwiched between the first wall part (13) and the outward parts of the second wall between the second fold line and the sac base. The fold lines are formable laterally along the walls from one lateral edge of the respective wall to the other lateral edge thereof, at a region between the opening (10) and base (3) of the sac part.
Figure 3 illustrates the carrier bag (1 ) of figures 1 and 2 in a final folded and secured state. The first wall portion (13) of the first wall (4) is folded in unison with a corresponding and opposing second wall portion (not shown) of the second wall (6). The two wall portions are pressed against each other along at least the fold in each respective wall by virtue of the mutual folding action (12) applied to both walls. With the first wall part folded across the top of the sac part, the opening of the sac is closed-off thereby securing the contents of the sac (e.g. food items). An adhesive strip of patch (14) is adhered to the inverted outer surface of the first wall part (13) and the adjacent exposed surface of the second wall (6) to secure the inverted first wall part to the second wall and retain the sac in the closed state.
Due to this inversion in orientation of the first wall part, the handle part fixed to it is similarly inverted in orientation so as to stand proud of the sac part above the fold (1 1 ) so as to be readily accessible for use in carrying the sac and its contents. The resilience of the handle keeps it upstanding.
Thus, when the sac is open and ready to accept a load, the handle part is less readily accessible, and is inappropriately oriented for use in carrying the sac. However, when the sac is folded to close-off the opening such as after a load has been placed in the sac, as described above, the handle part is readily accessible for use in carrying the loaded sac. This is particularly useful when the load is, for example, a food item which desirably is not further handled after having been placed in the sac and prior to consumption. Loading of the sac is not obstructed by an upstanding handle while the sac is open. The absence of an accessible handle while the sac is open signals to users that the sac is not closed and so may still be empty or in the process of being loaded, and so may not be ready for closing or carrying away from the loading site.
The single-handled bags allows merchandising of a "take-away" style bag while providing a fold-over top for security of bag contents. The design is such as to reduce production costs (one handle only) and jet not reduce the integrity or strength of the bag. The slim-line design of the un-folded sac and handle may reduce packaging space. The pleat parts of the sac are such as to permit the sac to be collapsed an flattened by pressing the first and second walls together such that the pleats parts fold-in between the walls. This design allows ease of use and speed while packing the bag with content.
The sac may be any size with or without gussets and either block-bottomed or not. The handle may be any size appropriate to the load to be carried by the bag. It may be a U-shape or horse-shoe shape or any other appropriate shape. The sac and/or handle may be made from paper, coated paper or plastic or any suitable thickness and size, and may be printed or otherwise. The handle may be glued to the sac in such a way that as the top of the bag is folded and sealed (either with a sticker, label or glue etc.) the handle will stand erect at the top of the sac ready to be used to carry the bag away. This leaves food sealed within the bag covered for freshness and protection without the traditional opening at the top of the sac. The handle nay be a single suspended handle.
It is to be understood that the above embodiment is provided for illustration and is not intended to be limiting. Variants, modifications and alternative features may be applied to the above example such as would be readily apparent to the skilled person and these are intended to be encompassed within the scope of the invention.
Next Patent: ESTIMATING USER DEVICE LOCATION IN A WIRELESS NETWORK