Background Art Generally, securely sealed vinyl packs in which contents are packed such as pouches containing traditional oriental medicines and various kinds of fruit juices therein are easy to carry and to be kept at predetermined places. However, these vinyl packs are sealed so securely that they are difficult to open without a knife or scissors. In case of using the knife to open the vinyl packs, however, it is difficult for even adults to cut and open the pack along a relatively constant line, or sometimes it may be a hard work. In case of using the scissors, on the other hand, the packs can be cut along a relatively constant line, but they should be always carried together with

the packs, which of course gives inconveniences in use.

According to common practice, in case of attempting to open the oriental medicine'pack at the office, it is liable to cut it by use of the scissors for work, and in case of attempting to open the synthetic detergent pack for a refill at home, it is necessary to wash the scissors after use or to prepare several pairs of scissors for various purposes.

To address the aforementioned problems, there have been proposed a conventional vinyl pack opener that is provided with a guide space on the front portion of the opener body and a cutter fixed to the back portion of an opening part of the guide space. However, in case where the vinyl pack is put to the opening part of the guide space of the conventional vinyl pack opener and is cut by the cutter at its edge portion, the sharp portion of the vinyl pack that has been first cut is caught by the opener body that is thicker than the cutter such that it is impossible to cut the vinyl pack in a smooth manner.

Like this, the vinyl pack that is being cut by the cutter of the opener is caught by the opener body, which is called cutting resistance'in the preferred embodiments of the present invention.

In conventional practice, as an excessive force is applied to the opener body to reduce the cutting resistance occurring upon cutting, the contents in the pack are often split and a user even gets hurt.

Disclosure of Invention Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems that the sharp portion of the vinyl pack that has been first cut is caught by the opener body that is thicker than the cutter, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a vinyl pack opener that is provided with cutting resistance reducing means for reducing the cutting resistance of the pack cutting, especially left/right separating means for separating the vinyl pack being cut to the left and right sides, thereby solving the problems that the contents in the pack are often split and a user gets hurt as an excessive force is applied to the opener body to reduce the cutting resistance occurring upon cutting and further enhancing the reliability of the opener in use to create a big demand for the product.

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a vinyl pack opener having a body having a guide space formed therein, the guide space having an opening part at the front portion thereof, a cutter provided at the back portion of the opening part, for cutting a vinyl pack put in the opening part of the guide space, and a protrusion serving as left/right separating means, the protrusion being provided at a predetermined position of the opening part for reducing the cutting resistance of the vinyl pack'being cut by the use of. the cutter, the vinyl pack opener characterized in

that the protrusion is formed on the cutter itself.

Brief Description of the Drawings Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the front of a vinyl pack opener according. to a present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the back of the vinyl pack opener; FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing an upper portion of the vinyl pack opener; FIG. 4 is a front view showing the left side body member of the vinyl pack opener; FIG. 5 is a front view showing the right side body member of the vinyl pack opener; FIGS. 6 to 9 are sectional views taken along the line A-A in FIG. 3, wherein different kinds of protrusions of the vinyl pack opener are shown; and FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the vinyl pack opener that is assembled with ease.

Best mode for Carrying Out the Invention Now, an explanation of the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be in detail given with reference to

attached drawings. In this preferred embodiment, the parts corresponding to the drawings are indicated by like reference numerals.

The directions as will be described in the preferred embodiment of this invention are defined by the coordinates indicated by one-dotted broken lines as shown in FIG. 1. In more detail, the direction where an opening part 21 is formed is defined as the front with respect to a guide space 20, the direction opposite to the front is defined as the back with respect to the guide space 20. The side viewed in FIG. 1 is defined as the left side or the front face, and the side where a magnet M that is laid under an opener body 10, as shown in FIG.

2 is defined as the right side or the back face.

The vinyl'pack opener according to the preferred embodiments of this invention is different from the conventional openers in that it is very easy to carry and it has the guide space preventing a user from having his or her finger cut.

The key point of the vinyl pack opener according to this invention is placed in that the cutting resistance of the cutter occurring upon cutting is extremely reduced so that the vinyl pack can be cut gently and smoothly until it is completely cut.

According to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, such the cutting resistance reducing means has a function of left and right separation for the vinyl pack. In other words, the function of the cutting resistance reducing

means is to separate to the left and right sides the vinyl pack end portion that is cut as it goes toward the back from the front of the edge of the cutter, without having any contact with the cutter.

The left and right separation of the preferred embodiments of the present invention is embodied with a protrusion that is provided on the cutter 30 itself. The protrusion prevents the front end portion of the vinyl pack from being caught by the opener body 10 that is thicker than the cutter 30 at the stepped projections thereof.

In addition to the protrusion as the left/right separating means, the present inventor has found that the cutting resistance can be remarkably reduced by a predetermined angle at the time of fixing the cutter 30 to the opener body 10. In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the predetermined fixed angle of the cutter 30 with respect to the vinyl pack to be inserted into the opening part 21 is set to be 90 degrees or less.

Hereinafter, an explanation of the protrusion as the left/right separating means and the fixed angle of the cutter will be in detail given.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the guide space 20 that is formed in the opener body 10 has the opening part 21 into which the vinyl pack is inserted and has the cutter 30 formed on the end portion of the back thereof for cutting the vinyl pack. The

opening part 21 is configured in such a manner as to be gradually reduced in width as it goes toward the inside thereof, which allows the vinyl pack to be easily inserted thereinto.

Preferably, the opening part 21 is open to such a minimum width as to prevent a user's hand from being pushed into the guide space 20 and being cut.

The guide space 20 at the back of the cutter 30 has inclined parts 23a and 23b that are tapered in such a manner as to be first same in height as the plane of the cutter 30 and then to correspond with the guide space side of the opener body 10 as it goes toward the back of the cutter 30, on a front side lla and a back side lib of the opener body 10.

To satisfy the intentions of the producers, sellers, and advertisers of various kinds of vinyl packs, preferably, the front side lla and the back side llb of the opener body 10 have no irregular portion on the surfaces thereof, such that a predetermined advertisement is attached in a shape of a sticker or a print. Alternately, the advertisement may be achieved in a raised relief or bas-relief manner in a mold itself.

As shown in FIG. 2, a magnet M is laid under the back side llb of the opener body 10, which enables the opener to be kept . with ease at a predetermined place.

Protrusions Pla and Plb, the left/right separating means for the vinyl pack. as main components of the present invention are formed on the cutter 30 itself, but one of the protrusions

may be formed on only one side of the opener body 10.

With the inclined parts 23a and 23b of the guide space 20, actually, the cutting resistance is somewhat reduced, but during the manufacturing for the vinyl pack opener, the very small difference is formed in the heights between the cutter 30 and the portion at which the inclined parts 23a and 23b start to be formed, which undesirably causes the stepped projections at the corresponding portion. In this case, the vinyl pack like pouches in which traditional oriental medicines are contained is caught by the stepped projections upon cutting, which makes the user feel it is not cut in a smooth manner.

This problem becomes more serious as the number of the use increases. That is, the stepped projections are more and more lifted up, so the cutting resistance increases.

To completely solve this problem, thus, the present invention has the protrusions Pla and Plb formed on the cutter 30. That is to say, they are formed around the cutter 30 adjacent to the portion where the inclined parts 23a and 23b start to be formed, with a consequence that the portion to be cut of the vinyl pack isn't be caught.

Especially, the protrusions Pla and Plb are tapered as they go toward the back thereof, and alternately, they are formed integrally with'the cutter 30 to remove the possibility of forming the stepped projections causing the increase of the cutting resistance.

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged perspective view showing the front side of the opener body 10.

FIGS. 4,5 and 10 show the configuration of the opener that makes the opener of this invention ease to be made.

The vinyl pack opener as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are divided into two body members 10a and lOb that are engaged with each other. FIG. 4 shows the body member 10a as the front side of the opener and FIG. 5 shows the body member lOb as the back side of the opener.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 10 illustrating the back side body member lOb, the back side body member lOb is provided with a cutter receiving groove G and a magnet receiving part m formed thereon.

The opener body 10 of the present invention is manufactured in such a manner where the front side body member 10a and the back side body member lOb are molded, the cutter 30 is inserted into the cutter receiving groove G, and the two body members lOa and lOb are coupled to each other.

Alternately, the cutter 30 is first fixed to a mold and the opener body 10 is then molded like a conventional manner.

As appreciated from FIGS. 5 and 10, the cutter receiving groove G is formed to be inclined such that the cutting resistance is reduced, which is made at a predetermined fixed angle of the cutter 30 with respect to the vinyl pack that is r being inserted into the opening part 21.

As shown, the predetermined fixed angle of. the cutter 30 is determined by the cutter receiving groove G of the back side body member lOb. A vertical axis X1 of the cutter receiving groove Gl (which means the vertical axis of the cutter 30 when the cutter 30 is fixed to the opener body 10) is not at a right angle but at an acute angle with respect to an imaginary straight line axis X2 that defines an advancing direction of the vinyl pack inserted into the guide space 20 through the opening part 21. This allows the vinyl pack to be cut with ease.

The present inventor has found the range of the acute angles of the cutter where the vinyl packs are cut with ease.

The angle 01 between the axes X1 and X2 is desirably between 68 degrees and 75 degrees.

The fact that the angle between the axes XI and X2 is the acute angle has been proved with the same results when the opener of this invention is used upside down, and therefore, the opener having an acute angle 02 is included in the scope of this invention.

FIGS. 6 to 9 are sectional views taken along the line A-A in FIG. 3, wherein different kinds of protrusions of the vinyl pack opener are shown. In the preferred embodiments, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the opener has the two body members engaged with each other.

According to the vinyl pack opener as shown in FIG. 6, a protrusion P2 of a cutter 30a is adapted to pressurize the

cutter 30a itself to thereby form a concavo-convex part 13.

Unlike the protrusions Pla and P2a as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 10, especially, the cutter 30a is provided with only one protrusion P2 on itself. This allows the opener to be manufactured with ease.

At this time, a back side body. member lOb ! of the opener is provided with a protrusion P3 that is formed integrally therewith, with a result that the protrusion P3 has a function of separating the vinyl pack to left and right sides, being engaged with the protrusion P2 of the cutter 30a.

The opener body members lOan and lObl have the inclined parts 23al and 23bl that have different inclination angles from each other. Desirably, the inclined part 23bl has the same plane as the cutter 30a just at the back of the protrusion P2 of the cutter 30a and the inclined part 23al is lowest in height just at the back of the protrusion P3 of the back side body member lObl.

The protrusion P3 of the back side body member lObl operates together with the protrusion P2 of the cutter 30a, so that they serve as the left/right separating means. This is achieved when the protrusion P2 is engaged with each of the protrusions on the cutter as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. Of course, this solves the problem that it is difficult to form the two protrusions as integral on the cutter during the manufacturing of all types of vinyl pack openers.

The cutter 30a as shown in FIG. 7 has the same shape as FIG.

6, but there is a difference between the two openers in that the inclined part 23b2 in FIG. 7 has no protrusion thereon but the inclined part 23bl in FIG. 6 has the protrusion thereon.

In addition, there is another difference between the two openers in that the inclined part 23a2 in FIG. 7 starts to be formed at a portion that is somewhat separated from the cutter 30a. In this case, the front end of the vinyl pack is cut by the cutter 30a with the reduction of the cutting resistance by virtue of the protrusion P2 of the cutter 30a and then abuts against the portion at which the inclined part 23a2 of the front side body member 10a2 starts to be formed, thereby preventing the front end of the vinyl pack from being caught by. the very small stepped projections on the inclined part 23a2.

In case where the inclined part 23a2 in FIG. 7 starts to be formed at the portion that is somewhat separated from the cutter 30a, unlike the case where the inclined parts start to be formed at the same time just at the back of the cutter 30a, the cutting resistance upon cutting can be substantially reduced.

The body members 10a2 and 10b2 as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 have the same shapes and functions as FIG. 7, but there is a difference between the shapes of the cutter, especially the shapes of the protrusion.

A protrusion P4 of a cutter 30b in FIG. 8 is formed in such a manner that the cutter 30b has a punched part protruded

thereon.

A protrusion P5 of a cutter 30c in FIG. 9 is formed in such a manner that the cutter 30c is bent at the back thereof.

Industrial applicability As set forth in the foregoing, according to the vinyl pack opener in the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the edge portion of the vinyl pack is passed through the opening part 21 of the guide space 20, while holding the both sides lla and lib of the opener body 10, such that it is cut by each of the different kinds of cutters formed on the guide space 20, being separated to left and right sides by means of the protrusion on the cutter itself and the protrusion on the opener body that are engaged, with each other. As a result, the front end portion of the vinyl pack is not caught by the opener body or the inclined parts that are thicker than the cutter at the very small stepped projections thereon, which enables the vinyl pack to be cut with ease, greatly reducing the cutting resistance.

Together with the protrusions functioning as the left/right separating means, the cutter is fixed at an acute angle with respect. to the vinyl pack that is inserted into the opening part 21, which enables the cutting resistance to be further reduced.

In addition, the vinyl pack opener of this invention has some advantages that it is convenient to be carried and used, it

exhibits a high cutting performance, and it is easy to manufacture the product by the coupling with the two body members.

In order that the product is manufactured in a simpler manner and the production costs are greatly reduced, the protrusion is formed in various manners of pressing the cutter itself, being punched, or being bent. To do this, also, the protrusion that is engaged with the protrusion on the cutter is desirably formed on the opener body.

While the present invention has been described with reference to a few specific embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.