Adam\Dickinson (19 Francis Road, Lichfield Staffordshir, WS 13 7JX United Kingdom, GB)
CLAIMS:-
1. A stack of bags, each bag comprising a bag body formed from front and rear layers of sheet material, the bag body having closed sides, a closed base end, an open mouth end opposite the base end and handles extending from the open mouth end away from the base end, the front and rear layers of sheet material each comprising a tab extending from the mouth to one or both of the handles, each tab being connected to the or each handle or to the mouth end of the bag by a frangible connection, the tab on the rear layer of one bag being separably attached to the tab on the front layer of the subsequent bag.
2. A stack of bags according to claim 1 in which the tabs are connected by frangible connections to both handles.
3. A stack of bags according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the frangible connection is arranged near the top of the or each handle.
4. A stack of bags according to claim 1 or 2 in which the or each frangible connection is arranged near the mouth of the bag.
5. A stack of bags according to any preceding claim in which the separable attachment between rear tab and front tab of a subsequent bag in the stack is positioned adjacent the route of each tab.
6. A stack of bags according to claim 1 in which each tab is connected to both handles by respective frangible connections.
7. A stack of bags according to claim 6 in which the handles have spur parts projecting inwardly from the top end of each handle and each tab is connected to a respective spur part.
8. A stack of bags, each bag comprising a bag body formed from front and rear layers of sheet material, the bag body having closed sides, a closed base end, an open mouth end opposite the base end, handles extending from the open mouth end away from the base end, an attachment formation extending between the handles at their ends spaced from the open mouth end, the front and rear layers of sheet material each comprising a tab extending from one of the handles to the attachment formation or one of the handles to the other handle, the tab on the rear layer of one bag being seperably attached to the tab on the front layer of the subsequent bag.
9. A stack of bags according to claim 9 in which the attachment formation comprises spur portions extending from both handles and being connected to each other.
10. A stack of bags, each bag comprising a bag body formed from front and rear layers of sheet material, the bag body having closed sides, closed base end, an open mouth end opposite the base end, handles extending from the open mouth end away from the base end and an attachment formation extending between the handles at their ends spaced from the open mouth end, the handles being separably attached to the attachment formation and the rear surface of one of the handles being attached to the front surface of the subsequent bag in the stack, the separable attachment to the attachment formation and the attachment between the surfaces of the handles being arranged such that upon withdrawal of a bag from the stack, the separable attachments between the handles and the attachment formations fail before the attachment between the handles of the removed subsequent bags so that the bag is removed open and the handle of the subsequent bag in the stack is pulled forward for subsequent pulling by the user. |
STACK OF BAGS
This invention relates to the production of advantageously formed punched or cut profile forms in a stack of individually preformed bags so as to provide a means of dispensing a singular bag from a stack with or without the correlating use of a dispensing fixture.
Various carrier bag formats are well known. Most comprise a bag having closed sides, a closed base and an open mouth opposite the base with handles extending from the mouth end away from the base.
It is known that the use of the punched area, defining the handle formations can be so formed to provide formations of materials in combination with the use of adhesives or other bonding mechanisms to provide a function of the bag to present itself for simple "picking" or selection by a user intending to have easy access to the volume of the bag ready for filling.
It is known for the body of the bag between the handles to be removed in manufacture, leaving residual materials, either frangibly attached to the body or the inner edge of the handle to facilitate mounting of the bag stack on a dispensing mechanism found in a retail outlet, or to provide protrusions from the mouth of the bag to extend away from the mouth in order to present itself for picking by the user. The sequential severance of the frangible bonds between the "blocks" of material and the body of the bag or handle provides the function required.
A block of material is any amount of material provided within the confines of the punched area of the bag or adjacent to the said area, these may be frangibly attached to the body of the bag and/or the handles of the bag and/or to a feature/s intended for the end picking by the user or that they may be adhered together permanently or semi-permanently by the use of melt bonding, corona treatment bonding or use of an adhesive like material or cold pressing.
Applicant's earlier International Application No. PCT/GB2003/000652 shows a tab extending from the mouth of the bag to an attachment block of bag material and arranged so that the tab falls down for pulling by the user.
That arrangement provided the first tab removal system but required a specific dispensing installation.
This invention relates to the production of advantageously formed punched or cut profile forms provided in a stack of individually preformed bags so as to provide a means of dispensing a singular bag from a stack with or without the correlating use of a dispensing fixture.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a stack of bags, each bag comprising a bag body formed from front and rear layers of sheet material, the bag body having closed sides, a closed base end, an open mouth end opposite the base end and handles extending from the open mouth end away from the base end, the front and rear layers of sheet material each comprising a tab extending from the mouth to one or both of the handles, each tab being connected to the or each handle or to the mouth end of the bag by a frangible connection, the tab on the rear layer of one bag being separably attached to the tab on the front layer of the subsequent bag.
Advantageously the balance of the bond strength between the tabs and the frangible bond of the tab to the handle may also provide means of further opening the bags mouth to facilitate a gaping bag mouth ready for filling, and single bag selection.
Note a bag may also refer to a single or multiple ply sheet of material in a stack. The sheet may be provided in a tube format with or without either base end closed.
A dispensing fixture can be provided in store. Alternatively, it may be preformed from manufacture along with the bags in order that an appropriate mechanism is provided with the bag stack so that a fixture is not required in store or that a minimised dispensing solution or location is provided in store with the preformed dispensing fixture being of a preferably disposable nature.
In all embodiments, where a bonding area is described, a single or multiple bonding areas or bonding edges may also be assumed where advantageous. The bonds may be provided by the use of corona treatment of above 38dynes and punching, adhesive that may be sprayed, coated, printed, or a bond provided by other suitable means or combination of means.
A stack of preformed bags are provided whereby the bags are so formed from a tube of material in that each has a side wall, a front and rear face with an opposing second side wall. The base of the body of material is so provided with a closure, either permanent of semi-permanent, whereby the opposing top of the body of material is provided with or without a closure. In the event of a Vest bag being utilised, the top of the bag is permanently closed, yet a formation is preferably "punched" into the upper body of the bag intersecting the top sealed edge of the bag and extending down the body of the bag leaving a width of material either side which constitutes handle formations. The punched out area accordingly forms a mouth of the bag to which it is intended a user may manually fill with purchased Goods. Also preferable are areas of pleats in the side walls of the bag connecting the front face of material to the rear face of material. These formations constitute gussets. When used in conjunction with the punched handle feature the punched formation extends through the body of material including the multiple ply of the gusset formations. The gussets can extend inwards across the front face of the bag to become offset from each other or they can intersect in the centre of the bag or where appropriate extend past each other, at the maximum they would extend completely to the opposite side of the bag. Where the gussets are provided this allows for the full expansion of the bag body volume to allow for maximised filling by the end user.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a stack of bags, each bag comprising a bag body formed from front and rear layers of sheet material, the bag body having closed sides, a closed base end, an open mouth end opposite the base end, handles extending from the open mouth end away from the base end, an attachment formation extending between the handles at their ends spaced from the open mouth end, the front and rear layers of sheet material each comprising a tab
extending from one of the handles to the attachment formation or one of the handles to the other handle, the tab on the rear layer of one bag being seperably attached to the tab on the front layer of the subsequent bag.
The tabs are preferably formed of the body of the bag and but could be provided as a subcomponent to the bag.
The attachment formation can be so formed as to have apertures or define apertures for correlating protrusions or mounting points of a dispensing fixture. These apertures may be loops, holes or cuts in the body of the formation.
The projecting tabs may be so formed so as to assist in the description of the action to the user, or so provided with a stamped, printed or other visual aid to indicate the action or request for dispensing.
The provision of the said projecting handle tab extending from the inner edge of either or both handles provides a mechanism that delivers the associated handle of the bag forward ready for selection by the user. The use of the projecting tab as an identified "leader" to the detachment of the handle from either, a secondary block of material bound by the bag stack to a dispensing fixture, or the release of the associated handle from the subsequent handles in the stack, is advantageous for the ease of selection of a single, open bag. The formation of the projecting handle tab may be so provided that whilst extending into the area of the punched features it may be severabley attached to a secondary or tertiary block of material that are so formed to allow for the ease of mounting the bag stack on to an appropriate fixture in a store environment, such as a checkout or cash desk. One or more of these blocks may have a single or plurality of melt bonds or adhesive bonds that may bind the layers of material together in order to prevent any "confetti" or blocks becoming detached either from the bag or from the dispensing fixture in store.
The projecting handle tab may be so formed as to extend away from a handle and then loop back, or be permanently or severably attached by return to the same handle edge without spanning the entire distance from one handle to the next. The provision
of this returning tab of material is to create a projecting tab of material such that the use of the tab provides the user means of a leader to the detachment of the associated handle from the attachment means or dispensing fixture. As the handle may also be severabley attached at a line of weakening to a block of material or other projecting tab formation that is acting as a loading point to a dispensing fixture in store. The advantageous pulling of the leading tab provides the user with the bag body handle in grasp for easier pulling with a load bearing element of the body of the handle or bag ready for filling. This is beneficial as the manual pulling of a tab, and the resultant detachment of a bag handle by this means leaves the user with a detached handle in their grasp that then allows for the heavy loading of a bag without the need to reaffirm their grasp of the bag in a area of the bag that provide load bearing assistance ready for loading.
The tab that is provided returning from and to the said same handle, functions in that when the front most projecting tab of the first bag is picked by the user, either the frangible line or element of a solid line with a frangible area between the tab and the handle severs before a bond between the rear face and front face of the following bag at the tab area, therefore providing a mechanism that pulls the next tab forward ready for picking. In the event that the tab is not frangibly attached the same is true although the use of a frangible line provides a tab that may extend to a differing length or direction to that of the stack of tabs for easier recognition by the user for selection /picking. Further pulling of the same tab will release the frangible bond of the said 2 nd bag's front face from the inner edge of the said handle, therefore providing the 2 nd bags front face tab forward, the combination strength of the adherence of one bag tab to the next and the severance lines of weakening between the handles to other blocks of material provides such resistance to the manual pulling that the bond between the faces of the protruding tabs severs to release the first bag. Advantageously the relationship of the bond strength at the tab faces / edges and the frangible bond of the tab to the handle, and preferably the handle to another block of material may also provide means of further opening the layers of material forming the handle to further advantageously open the mouth to facilitate a gaping bag mouth ready for filling during single bag selection.
A further embodiment is described in that the projecting handle tab may be so formed as to extend away from one handle to span the entire distance to the opposite inner edge of the handle without being attached to the mouth of the bag. The spanning bar tab may be so formed as to provide an arc whereby its equidistant most point to offset from the projecting point from either handle. The form of the said spanning bar tab may also be asymmetrical, whereby the tab starts at one length/height on the inner edge of the handle and ends at a differing height on the opposing handle. The arc of material may be formed in a sine wave, positive or inverse. The provision of this spanning tab of material is to create a projecting tab of material such that the use of the tab provides the user means of a bar in which to grasp. The grasping bar tab may be provided in conjunction with additional block/s of material that are so formed to provide loading points for the advantageous association to a dispensing fixture that may be provided in store. Further more it is preferable that the spanning bar tab is severably attached to the loading block or blocks of material along a line or lines of weakening in order to provide stability of the length of material forming the spanning bar tab. Furthermore the spanning bar tab may be formed with a protrusion or plurality of protrusions either extending away from the mouth of the bag or towards the mouth of the bag in order to provide a focused point for the users to select and pick.
The advantageous pulling of the front most spanning bar tab or associated said projecting tabs, provides the user with a larger element of which to grasp for ease of pulling. This is beneficial as the manual pulling of a bar tab, and the resultant detachment of a bag by this means leaves the user with a bag in the correct orientation ready for filling.
The spanning tab that is provided functions in that, when the front most projecting bar tab of the first bag is picked by the user the continual pulling opens the bag until it is limited by the line of weakening of the spanning tab to the block/s of material, the rear face spanning tab then severs along the line of weakening from the said dispenser locating block/s of material before the bond between the rear face and front face of the following bag at the tab area is broken, therefore providing a mechanism that
severs the front face severance line of weakening in unison with the prior this releases the 2 nd bag bar tab in the stacks to deflect forward ready for picking by the user.
The pulling of the same tab that has released the frangible bond of the said 2 bag's front face along the line of weakening, has provided the 2 nd bags front face tab forward, the combination strength of the adherence of one bag tab to the next and the resistance provided by the severance lines of weakening between the handles to other blocks of material provides such resistance to the manual pulling that the bond between the faces of the protruding tabs sever to release the first bag.
In the event that the tab is not severably attached to the said dispenser locating block/s the same result is true although the spanning tab form deflects from rest to a secondary position that is advantageous for selection and picking prior to the bond between the rear and front faces breaking due to tension across the spanning tab or surrounding area that is so provided by the formation of the spanning tab punched profile.
Advantageously the relationship of the severance of the bond strength at the tab faces / edges and the severable bond of the tab to the block/s or the attachment from the handle where protruding, and preferably the handle to severabley another block of material may also provide means of further opening the layers of material forming the body of the bag to open the mouth to facilitate a gaping bag mouth ready for filling during single bag selection.
The spanning tab may also have provided single or multiple protrusions that act to provide picking points that are advantageously placed to either extending above or below the spanning tab. The user is therefore intended to pick the protruding tab as a leader to pick the spanning tab for easy operation. Furthermore the leader tab may extend to be attached to the mouth of the bag via a line of weakening or permanently in order that the function of selecting the spanning tab acts to provide direct motion to the mouth of the bag to assist with the opening of the bag. The use of this connecting leader tab may be used in conjunction with any number of other leader tabs to
provide simplistic explanation to the user of the operation of the dispensing of a single bag open.
A further embodiment of the bag is provided whereby the form of the punched profile describing correlating dispenser mounting forms in that this allows for either handle to be utilised as the dispensing tab. The nature of this invention presents one handle forward from the body of the bag stack to indicate to the user the intention to pick the handle and manually pull it to remove one bag from the bag stack and preferably open the bag at the same time. A bar block of material is so provided in order to support the bag stack upon an advantageously formed dispenser mechanism in store, but also provided to support the handle in its rested state or presented state. The extension of a block of material spanning the distance between the handles or two or more blocks of material attached to the inside edges of the handles, but not extending across to the opposing handle, by a line of weakening so that the block of material is retained to the dispensing fixture, or that the block of material is not severable from the bag handle yet provides means of detaching via severance or propagated tear from the dispensing fixture upon manual pulling of the handle to release the said tab handle to the extent required.
It is preferable that the handle has a semi-permanent, or permanent bond from the rear most face of the handle to the front face of the adjacent handle in the bag stack, this bond acts to provide the subsequent handle forward whilst the front most handle in the stack is manually pulled by the user. In the event where the handle is attached to at least one block of material providing the dispenser locating points, the line of weakening between the features may be so provided in that the line of weakening between the upper most handle in the stack severs before the handle to handle bond, therefore allowing the handles to be pulled away from the bag stack. Subsequent lines of weakening may preferably be provided in that the sequential or controlled severance of the lines of weakening assist in separating the layers of material that constitute the handle formed via the multiple ply of the gusseted area of the bag. The end result is a bag provided that is pulled by the handle that acts to open the mouth whilst also presenting the following handle forward ready for selection. As an advantageous benefit, provided along the severance line, an area of increase severance
resistance may be provided or a higher or lower concentration of severance lines to provide the handle with a folding point where by it is only with increase pulling force from the user that the handle and therefore the bag is detached from the bag stack or block of material or dispensing fixture. The opposing handle may duplicate the said features as described or have accordingly formed severance lines such that this second handle is the last point to become detached from the block of material or the dispensing fixture to release the single bag ready for use. The use of severabley weaker frangible lines provides a decreased resistance on the opposing handle to allow the remaining attachment point to facilitate the detachment of the bag without causing any stress area in the body of the bag film as these would cause potential weaknesses in the bags ability to carry the users goods.
One example may be the use of a circular block or loop/s of material that may be connected to the circumference of the inner edge of the 1 st handle and the mouth and then the second handle of the bag whereby the severance lines are appropriate in frangible strength to break in a manner to facilitate the easy progressive removal of the first bag handle from the bag stack via the grasping and manual pulling of one or the other handle. It is advantageous that all of the bar block material is detached with the bag leaving no residual material on the dispensing fixture where possible therefore the frangible lines in the block of material may break to the edge of the body of the bag or handle to act to release the bag from the stack.
A further means of providing an advantageous feature for the dispensing of the bag via a tab of material is the formation of a cut in the body of the bag below the mouth of the bag whereby provision is made to have a formed cut / punch that is in the form of a tab shape, ie a shape that indicates its semantic use, eg circle or triangle, for the user to know to pick the point. The form must be so formed as not to precipitate a tear down or across the body of the bag, that may result in a failure of the body of film in its ability to carry the end users goods. As the body tab is punched through the stack of bags the rear most face is attached / bonded in a semi-permanent manner to the front face of the subsequent bags, in order that on the manual pulling of the front most tab the front bag is pulled away from the dispensing fixture, and that when the bag is extended the bond between the tabs pull the next tab forward and as a result the
next bag mouth ready for filling by the user. The rear tab being resistantly held against the remaining bags stack by the adherence to the body of the bags in the stack or by the preferable provision of a block of material connected by a line of weakening to the mouth of the bag. The block may extend directly to be located on a dispensing fixture on an in store unit or extend to connect permanently or frangible to other blocks of material within the punched area for advantageous benefit in the provision of the dispense of a single or open bag on a said dispensing fixture.
The gussets of the body of the bag extend to become adjacent to each other in preferably, but not exclusively, the centre of the bag the punched form of the handle may not be parallel for example such that they converge at the point of the provision of the body tab form at the mouth of the bag, this visual convergence acts as a visual reference to the point of picking as well as provides extra material in the formation of the handle area to increase the loading ability of the film bag for the users goods. The top of the bag between the non parallel handle may be provided a block or blocks of material that are so formed as to provide a point of loading to a dispenser fixture in store. This block of material may extend the entire distance from one handle to the other, but may extend to be offset from one another. The block/s may be attached to the handles by lines of weakening or permanently dependant if the intention is to have all of the material of the body of the bag become removed with the bag as the bag is manually pulled by the user.
Bag profiles in accordance with the various aspects of the invention will now be described in detail by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-
Figs.l to 21 are plan views of bag profiles in accordance with various aspects of the invention.
In all of the figures, the bag profiles comprise a rectangular bag body 10 having closed sides 12, 14, a closed base 16 and an open mouth 18 spaced from the base 16. Handles 20, 22 extend from the mouth end 18 in the direction away from the base 16. An attachment member or formation 24 extends between the handles 20, 22 at the
end of the handles spaced from the mouth 18. The body 10 can be formed either by a tube of material with the base 16 sealed, for example, by heat sealing and the mouth 18 formed by cutting. Alternatively, the body 10 can be formed by two plys of material which are sealed along the edges to form the closed sides 12. 14 and sealed transversely to form the base 16 with a cut being made to form the handles 20, 22 and the opening mouth 18. The attachment formation 24 is attached to the handles 20, 22 by perforated connections 26, 28. Those features are common to all of the embodiments shown in the figures and most parts are referred to with the above reference numerals throughout. Of course, each bag comprises front and rear layers and unless expressly referenced separately it can be assumed that a feature present on the front layer is also present on the rear layer.
In Fig.l, the bag body 10 further comprises a tab 30 which extends from the middle part of the mouth 18 to the upper part of the right hand handle 22 as viewed in Fig.l. The tab 30 is connected to the handle 22 by means of a frangible connection, in the form of a perforated line 32.
The tab 30 on the rear layer of the bag body 10 is connected to the tab 30 on the front layer of the next bag in the stack 10 by means of an adhesive spot 34. Various methods of adhesion can be used, for example, gluing, corona treatment of an appropriate level, punching a deformation and spot welding.
The attachment formation 24 allows the bag body 10 to be secured on a dispensing fixture in a store. In use, the bag of Fig.l is configured as shown in Fig.2 with the tab 30 of the front layer of the bag body 10 handing downwardly, having had its handle end detached from the handle 22.
The various frangible connections and perforated connections 26, 28 and 32 and the adhesion 34 between the front and rear layer tabs 30 are arranged so that when the user pulls the front tab 30 the frangible connection 32 breaks and the handle connections 26, 28 break before the adhesive spot 34 between the tab breaks. In that way, the bag is delivered open and the front tab of the next bag in the stack is pulled forwardly ready for the user as shown in Fig.2.
The arrangement in Figs.3 and 4 is similar to that shown in Figs.l and 2 expect the tab 30 lies along the side of handle 22 as opposed to extending from the middle of the mouth 18.
The bag arrangement in Figs.5 and 6 is similar to that shown in our earlier International Patent Application No.PCT/GB2003/000652. The contents of that application are included herein by reference. However, in this case the supplementary tab part 36 is detachable from the tab as shown in Fig.6 to provide an additional length of tab material for pulling by the user.
In Fig.7, the tab 30 extends from one handle 20 to the other handle 22 and is frangibly connected at a perforated line 38 to the attachment formation 34. The tab 30 is generally semi-circular in shape and this provides a handle-shaped tab for pulling by the user as shown in Fig .8.
In Figs.9 and 10 the tab is a large semi-circle which is not connected to the attachment means 24 or to the handles 20, 22.
In Figs.l 1 to 14, two different embodiments of the second aspect are shown whereby a tab extends from one handle to the attachment means and is frangibly connected to the attachment means at perforated line 38. In both cases, a depending finger pull portion 40 is provided to allow the user to pull the tab free of the attachment means 24.
In Fig.15, the tab 30 is provided by cutting the body of the bag just beneath the mouth 18.
In Fig.16, the tab 30 extends from one handle 20 to the opposite handle 22. A depending finger pull portion 40 extends from the tab 30. The adhesion between front and rear tabs 30 is arranged in the finger pull portion 40.
Figs.17 to 20 show further embodiments of the invention. In particular, in Figs.17 to 20 the handle 20 is arranged to be pulled by the user to remove the bag from the stack, thus, the handle 20 hangs down from the rest of the bag as shown in Figs.18 and 20.
In both arrangements, the attachment formation 24 is connected to the handle 20 at several points 42, 44 in frangible fashion.
In Fig.21, the tab 30 is again formed by cutting part of the body of the bag beneath the mouth 18.