AU1000702A - Protective bag - Google Patents

Description

P/00/01i1 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: Protective Bag The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 1-reenills Uarter ~mitr~ Beadle Melbourne\003972072 Printed 2 January 2002 (15:11) page 3 Freehills Carter Smith Beadle Me] bourn e\003972072 Printed 2 January 2002 (15:11) page 3

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1A PROTECTIVE BAG Background of invention This invention relates to a protective bag for improved safety in transporting bottles by protecting the bottles from impact.

Frequently it is necessary to transport valuable bottles or breakable bottles, containing valuable goods such as wine, by hand or other means of transport.

Transporting such items is always subject to the risk of breakage caused by impacts against the medium in which the bottles are being transported.

::Furthermore, when two or more bottles are transported in a non-rigid medium it is 10 likely that the bottles will impact with each other which can lead to damage or even breakage. Bottle carry bags are known, but are generally formed from paper, plastic film or other light duty material that provides little protection to the contents of the bag.

It is therefore an object of this invention, at least in part, to reduce the risks of bottle damage or breakage when one or more bottles are transported by hand or otherwise.

Summary of the invention el .i In accordance with an aspect of the invention there is provided a protective bag for enabling transport of two or more bottles wherein said bag is formed substantially wholly in a low-friction plastics sheet material having a multiplicity of closed gas cells for absorbing impacts, and wherein the bag defines respective upright pockets for snugly receiving the bottles, which pockets are formed by heatsealing together one or more pairs of opposed substantially vertical elongate portions of the bag.

Preferably the bag includes a flap able to be folded over and thereby close an opening in the top of the bag. The bag also preferably includes means for releasably securing the flap in a closed position. Furthermore, the means of securing the flap is preferably an adhesive tape.

UUbJ~JuC 2 It is also preferable for the heat sealed portions of the bag to form a partition that extends over a portion of the height of the bag. In an alternative embodiment the heat sealed portions form a partition that extends substantially the full height of the bag. The securing means may, alternatively, be press studs, zip-lock tape, velcro, a draw-string or a combination of these.

In another embodiment, the bag includes means for releasably closing an opening in the top of the bag. In this instance, the closing means is located inside the bag near the opening. Furthermore, the closing means may be adhesive tape, press studs, zip-lock tape, velcro, a draw-string or a combination of these.

10 Preferably the protective bag also includes an aperture near the top of the bag adapted for use as a handle. Furthermore, the closed gas cells in the plastics sheet are preferably in a hexagonal close-packed arrangement.

Brief description of drawings Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 depicts a front elevation of a protective bag in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention; .i Figure 2 is a front elevation of a protective bag in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 illustrates a front elevation of a protective bag in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention; Figure 4 is a perspective view of the further embodiment of the protective bag shown in Figure 3; and Figure 5 is a cross-section of a three layer plastic sheet, used to form the bag, including the closed gas cells.

003962600 3 Description of preferred embodiments Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 5, according to a preferred embodiment the protective bag 1 is formed from plastics sheet material 8 by taking a long rectangular section and folding this almost in half on a fold line 8a such that one end overlaps the other to define a flap 4. The side edges 8b are then closed by heat sealing to form the bag. Flap 4 and the top edge of 8c of the shorter panel bound an opening 5 of the bag. Any other means for closing the side edges of the bag so as to form an effective, continuous and permanent seal may be substituted.

Pockets 2 for receiving respective bottles are formed by sectioning the internal cavity of the bag to provide the number of pockets desired. In the embodiment of Figure 1, two pockets are formed by heat-sealing together opposed substantially vertical elongate portions 3 of the bag to create a partition 13. Similarly, in the embodiment of Figure 2, three pockets 2 are formed by providing two linear heat-sealed partitions 13.

15 Partition 13 does not necessarily need to extend the full height from the bottom 8a of the bag 1 to opening 5 as each partition 13 does in Figure 2. Instead, partition 13 may extend partially between the bottom and opening 5 of the bag 1, as in Figure 1. Furthermore, it is not essential that partition 13 commences at the bottom or terminates at the opening *l In accordance with one particular embodiment (shown in Figures 3 and a partition is formed along the line marked A-A in Figure 4 by vertically aligning three separate heat-sealed portions 3. Other embodiments may include more or less than three vertically aligned and spaced apart heat-sealed portions 3 to form the partition.

The dimensions of the bag 1 are such that the pockets 2 can each snugly receive a bottle of a predetermined standard size range. By this means, the bottles should not move about or tilt in the pockets 2, thus preventing direct contact between the bottles above, below or between heat-sealed portions 3.

4 The bag 1 preferably includes an aperture 7 that defines a handle 7a near the opening 5 to allow the bag 1 to be easily carried by hand in the manner of a shopping bag. The handle 7a depicted in the drawings is elliptical, however, it is envisaged that other suitable shapes may be readily substituted.

Flap 4 is provided to fold over the opening 5 to close the bag 1. In addition, a releasable adhesive tape 6 is disposed along the inner surface of the flap 4 which comes into contact with an outer surface of the bag 1, above the aperture 7, when the flap 4 is in the folded position. The adhesive tape 6 acts to releasably secure the flap 4 in the closed position thereby helping to prevent the plastic sheet 10 gathering or collapsing around the handle 7a when the bag 1 is carried by the handle 7. This also has the added effect of preventing bottles in adjacent pockets 2 from contacting each other as the edges 8b are less inclined to collapse inwardly toward each other.

While adhesive tape is preferred as a releasable securing means, alternative 15 embodiments may adopt other suitable releasable securing means, such as press studs, zip-lock tape, velcro, a draw-string or a combination of these.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 3 and 4, the bag 1 does not have a flap 4. Instead the bag 1 is releasably closeable by an adhesive tape 6 located inside the bag 1 near the opening 5. In operation, the bag 1 is closed by contacting the adhesive tape 6 with an opposed internal surface of the bag 1. Also, the adhesive tape 6 may be substituted by suitable alternative releasable securing means, eg.

press studs, zip-lock tape, velcro, a draw-string or combination of these.

Referring now to Figure 5, the plastics sheet material 8 used to form the bag 1 preferably comprises a laminated construction of three or more layers 9, 11, 12 of polyethylene or other suitable polymer film assembled so as to form a multiplicity of closed gas cells 10. The gas may be air. This construction is commonly knows as "bubble wrap", and various grades of breaking strength and slip resistance are commercially available.

In the case of the protective bag 1, the preferred embodiment utilises a relatively tough and durable outer layer 11 to provide the bag 1 with structural support and at least a small level of resistance to puncturing by sharp objects.

The interior layer 9 of the plastics sheet material 8 forming the surface that bounds pockets 2 is preferably made of a low-friction material which enables the bottles to be easily inserted in and removed from the pockets 2.

The closed air cells 10 within the plastics sheet 8 cushion the bottles within the pockets 2 from impacts against the bag 1. In order to maximise the cushioning protection, the gas cells 10 are preferably in a hexagonal close packed 10 arrangement to maximise the number of gas cells within a specified area of the oo o plastics sheet material 8. However, other arrangements are equally appropriate.

One instance where a protective bag will be beneficial according to the invention is at liquor stores where a customer may desire a bag in which bottles of alcohol may be placed for easy and convenient transport while, simultaneously, 15 protecting the bottles from accidental impacts which may likely cause damage or breakage.

The protective bag would be equally beneficial for cellar door sales where bottles of wine need to be safely transported by hand, in a car or other means of transport over, sometimes, long distances from the winery. This invention is even more appropriately applied in both the above instances where thermal insulation is desirable to keep the contents of the bottles cool or protect then contents from becoming too warm. The air cells are thought to provide some degree of thermal insulation.

The protective bag may similarly be used to conveniently transport expensive glassware, including vases, drinking vessels or the like.

It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined herein extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned 003962602 6 or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.

Claims (11)

1. A protective bag for enabling transport of two or more bottles wherein said bag is formed substantially wholly in a plastics sheet material having a multiplicity of closed gas cells for absorbing impacts, and wherein the bag defines respective upright pockets for snugly receiving the bottles, which pockets are formed by heat- sealing together one or more pairs of opposed substantially vertical elongate portions of the bag.

2. A protective bag according to claim 1 wherein the surface of the plastics sheet material bounding said pockets is a low-friction material to facilitate easy insertion and removal of bottles to and from the pockets. oooo

3. A protective bag according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the bag includes a flap able to be folded over and thereby close an opening in the top of the bag.

4. A protective bag according to claim 3, wherein the bag includes means for releasably securing the flap in a closed position.

5. A protective bag according to claim 4, wherein the means of securing the flap is an adhesive tape.

6. A protective bag according to claim 4, wherein the means of securing the flap is selected from the group of press studs, zip-lock tape, velcro, a draw-string or a combination thereof.

7. A protective bag according to claim 1, wherein the bag includes means for releasably closing an opening in the top of the bag.

8. A protective bag according to claim 7, wherein the closing means is located inside the bag near the opening.

9. A protective bag according to claim 8, wherein the closing means is selected from the group of adhesive tape, press studs, zip-lock tape, velcro, a draw-string or a combination thereof. 003962602 8 A protective bag according to any preceding claim, wherein heat-sealed portions of the bag form a partition that extends over a portion of the height of the bag.

11. A protective bag in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the heat sealed portions form a partition that extends substantially the full height of the bag.

12. A protective bag in accordance with any preceding claim, wherein the bag includes an aperture near the top of the bag adapted to define a handle for carrying the bag by hand. 10 13. A protective bag in accordance with any preceding claim, wherein the closed gas cells in the plastics sheet are in a hexagonal close-packed arrangement. G. MITCHELL CO. PTY LTD By its Registered Patent Attorneys Freehills Carter Smith Beadle 2 January 2002 o•