The present invention relates to child-resistant bags, and more specifically, re-sealable bags.

In the interests of safety there exists a need to keep dangerous, toxic, hazardous or poisonous materials out of reach of children to avoid accidental injury and/or death. Whilst it is always preferable to store dangerous items away from the natural curiosity and accessibility of children, such as high cupboards or behind locked doors, there exists the potential for young children to encounter the materials when they are not stored correctly, or left out after or during use. It is therefore important that the packaging itself provides a further safety barrier against accidental access by young children. It is well known in the prior art to package materials such as pharmaceutical drugs or household chemicals in child-proof or child-resistant packaging which makes opening and accessing the contents difficult/impossible for young children. These packaging solutions comprise a range of different techniques which help ensure that only adults are able to access the potentially hazardous contents inside, for example; push-down or squeeze-in caps on pill bottles, or squeeze-in tab lids on detergent boxes.

Some hazardous materials, such as tobacco, are stored in flexible bags or pouches made of plastics materials. Such bags or pouches typically include a plastics re-sealable zip opening which allows easy access to the contents whilst also providing an airtight seal so that the, for example, tobacco does not become contaminated or go off. Whilst these plastic re-sealable bags provide a convenient storage medium for tobacco-type goods, child safety considerations urge us to make access to the tobacco products inside such bags or pouches difficult or impossible for young children to access.

A number of solutions exist in the prior art, such as US Patent No. 5681115 which provides a child- resistant locking device for a flexible bag having a zipper, moveable between an open and closed position, with a pull tab for the zipper, and an enclosure for the zipper pull tab so that it requires a certain amount of manual dexterity in order to release the zip and open the bag. Similarly, US Patent Application No. 2003/0014848 provides two slider elements along the same length of re-sealable zip, wherein the two separate zipper sliders comprise interlocking devices mounted on the body of the sliders which must be activated and unlocked in order to open the bag. The present invention seeks to provide an improved child-resistant bag which restricts access to the contents by providing a locking system which is difficult for young children to open but relatively straightforward for adults to open.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a child-resistant bag according to claim 1. The bag comprises a re-sealable zip which is closed and opened by a zipper slider movable along the zip between a closed position and an open position. There is also a locking tab attached to the bag/container and movable between a locked position and an unlocked position, wherein the locking tab overs a portion of the zip in the locked position and is spaced from the zip in the unlocked position. The zipper slider comprises a projection and the locking tab comprises a corresponding aperture such that, when the zipper slider is in the closed position and the locking tab is moved to the locked position, the zipper slider projection projects through the locking tab aperture so that the zipper slider is locked in the closed position. Therefore, the locked bag requires two separate procedures in order to open the bag, namely removing the locking tab from on top of the slider projection, and opening the zip. Preferably, the child-resistant bag comprises two zipper sliders along the same re-sealable zip, each comprising a projection, and wherein the corresponding aperture on the locking tab may accommodate both simultaneously. This adds a further level of security to the bag, now requiring the locking tab to be removed from two separate projections before the zip can be reopened.

Preferably still the locking tab comprising two separate apertures, one for each slider projection, and the locking tab is located substantially in the centre of the re-sealable zip.

Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment, the or each slider projection has a substantially flat head, and the or each flat projection is rotatable through at least 90°. This results in the rotatable head being able to lock the locking tab in position, folded down over the projections.

Preferably still, the or each flat projection may be folded flat against the bag. This helps reduce the overall profile of the bag and makes it easier to carry.

Preferably still, the or each flat projection has a through-channel. Therefore, additional security measures, such as cable ties, may be used to secure the zips together.

Preferably, the or each flat projection has a substantially narrow neck adjacent the flat head and the or each aperture in the locking tab is an elongate slot. Preferably still, the locking tab comprises two elongate slots and preferably still the two elongate slots are horizontally aligned and the rotatable tab projection is biased to be in at least one of its rotatable positions. This results in the zipper tab being slightly harder to open.

Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment, the bag is airtight when the re-sealable zip is closed, preventing unwanted odours escaping the bag.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the following accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front-on view of the present invention in a first configuration, in its fully opened state.

Figure 2 is a front-on view of the present invention in a second configuration, with both zipper sliders closed and the locking tab open.

Figure 3 is a front-on view of the present invention in a third configuration, with both the zipper sliders closed and the locking tab folded over them.

Figure 4 is a front-on view of the present invention in a fourth configuration, fully closed and locked.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the two zipper sliders and the re-sealable strips between them. Figure 6 shows one of the zipper sliders in its first (open) and second (locked) positions.

In a preferred embodiment, and as shown in figures 1 to 4, the present invention is a child-resistant bag 100, suitable for storing tobacco products and the like, which comprises a flexible pouch 105. The entrance to the pouch 105 is formed by a slit across almost the entire width of one side, towards the top of the pouch 105 as shown, with at least a small gap between three of the edges of the side of the pouch 105 and the opening. Each end of the slit is sealed with a flattening zipper seal/weld. Cast in the slit is a re-sealable plastics zip 110 provided with two separate zipper sliders 120 moveable along the length of the re-sealable zip 110. The re-sealable zip 110 comprises a pair of interlocking plastics strips which extend along the length of the slit and engage with each other to close the slit and disengage from each other to open the slit, the engagement and disengagement achieved by means of the sliders 120.

The child-resistant bag 100 further comprises a locking tab 130 positioned at the top edge of the bag generally equidistant from the two side edges. The locking tab extends outwardly away from the bag 105 and further comprises two side-by-side horizontally aligned slots 135 towards the distal end of the tab 130 bag 105. The slots are adapted to accommodate the projecting ends, or "staples", of the respective sliders 120.

As can be seen in Figures 5 and 6, each individual slider 120 comprises two sections: a base section 122 operable to engage and disengage the inter-lockable plastic strips of the re-sealable zip 110, and a projection. In the preferred embodiment, the projection is a rotatable staple 124, operable to pass through a locking tab slot, and rotate to secure the locking tab 130 against the bag 105.

In a similar fashion to a standard zipper slider, the plastics zipper sliders 120 are operative to engage and disengage the two opposing interlocking plastic strips as they are moved along the strip. In particular, with each zipper slider positioned adjacent a respective side edge, the zip is open and the contents of the bag 105 accessible. Moving the sliders towards each other and away from their respective side edges causes the strips to engage so that the slit between the side edge and the slider is closed. The arrangement is therefore such that any length of zip 110 on the outside of both sliders 120 is closed, whilst any length of zip 110 between the two sliding devices 120 is open. The sliders 120 must therefore be separated and moved towards the ends of the re-sealable zip 110 strip in order to open the bag, and moved towards each other to close the bag. When the two sliders 120 are drawn together, as shown in figures 2 to 4, they form an air-tight seal between each other. This may be achieved by a suitable interface, engagement or locking mechanism between them. This, in combination with the re-sealable plastics zip 110, keeps the bag 100 air-tight when the zip 100 is closed. The second section is a projection, preferably a flat 'staple' (which includes a through-channel 126 from one side to the other), which may pass through the horizontally aligned slots 135 in the locking tab 130 when correctly aligned. The projection comprises a substantially flat head 124 mounted upon a narrow neck 128 connecting the head 124 to the base 122. The rotatable projection head 124 may rotate through at least 90° from a first substantially horizontal configuration (with reference to the axes of the re-sealable zip 110) and a second substantially vertical configuration (with reference to the longitudinal axes of the zip 110 or the horizontally aligned slots 135 of the locking tab). When both projection/staple heads 124 have been rotated into a second, substantially vertical position (misaligned with the side-by-side locking tab slots 135), their opposing through- channels 126 align allowing them to be secured by a further device, such as a padlock or a cable tie (not shown).

In use, the bag can be reconfigured from an open configuration (see Figure 1) to a closed and locked configuration (see Figure 4) by first drawing the two sliders 120 together into the middle of the zip 110 (see Figure 2). Both of the rotating projection heads of each slider should be in the first, substantially horizontal, position, e.g. aligned with the slots 135.

Next, the locking tab 130 is folded down over the top of both sliders 120 so that the side-by-side projection heads 124 pass through the side-by-side horizontally aligned slots 135 in the locking tab 130 (see Figure 3), and the locking tab 130 surrounds the narrow necks 128 of the sliders, beneath the slider projection heads 124.

Finally, both rotating projection heads are turned through 90° (perpendicular to the side-by-side horizontal slots 135) so that the locking tab 130 is held in place around the narrow necks 128 beneath the two projection heads 124, and cannot be lifted owing to the misalignment of the rotated projection heads 124 with respect to the side-by-side slots 135. Additionally the separate sliders 120 are held in place in the centre of the re-sealable zip 110 and the bag is therefore locked (see Figure 4).

When the bag is both closed and locked, it requires two separate motions of considerable manual dexterity to open it, namely rotating both projection heads 124 of each slider 120 so that they are aligned with the side-by-side slots 135 and removing the locking tab 130 from around the narrow necks 128 and over the top of both sliders 120 allowing them to be separated and the bag 105 opened. Only once the locking tab 130 has been removed from the two sliders 120 may the sliders 120 be separated from each other, thus opening the re-sealable zip 110 and allowing access to the contents of the pouch 105. The dual nature of the invention provides an added level of complexity and security reducing the risk of accidental or unintentional opening by a young child.

In the event that only one of the rotating projection heads 124 of the separate sliders 120 is successfully rotated to the substantially horizontal (second) position, the locking tab 130 may not be removed from either the first or second sliders 120. However, in the event that the locking tab 130 is forced over the top of the single "unlocked" projection, whilst remaining in position on the other "locked" projection, only the unlocked slider will be permitted to move and therefore only half of the re-sealable zip 110 will be open thus not allowing easy access.

The airtight seal formed between the two sliders 120 when drawn together, in combination with the re-sealable zip 110, means that potentially unwanted odours from any material stored inside (such as tobacco) are not permitted to escape the bag 100. The plastics nature of the child-resistant bag 100 means that protection from water moisture contamination is also provided.

Alternative embodiments may employ the standard metal/plastics hooked tooth arrangements of a normal zip whilst still employing the rotating projection head 124 and locking tab 130 arrangement of the present invention. The present invention is suitable for implementation on re-sealable plastic bags to store such materials as tobacco, or other potentially hazardous materials.

The material of the flexible bag may be anything suitable such as flexible plastics or cloth.

Alternatively, the present device would also work on a more rigid pouch.

The rotating projection heads 124 may be further be foldable about a joint between the flat head and the base 122. Therefore, the protruding projection head may be folded down to lie against and parallel to the locking tab 130 when in the locked configuration, to reduce the risk of accidentally catching the projection heads, and also to reduce the overall profile of the bag.

The side-by-side slots 135 in the locking tab 130 may of course be provided in any orientation, as long as the rotating projection head 124 may be aligned and misaligned accordingly. The locking tab 130 may alternatively employ only a single slot capable of accommodating both of the rotating projection heads side-by-side. The rotatable projection heads 124 may also incorporate a mechanism, such as a groove and flange arrangement, in order to provide a bias for the projection heads to be in at least one preferred position. This would help "lock" the projection heads in position, further enhancing the security of the bag.