AU2012101921A6 - Packaging bag with carrying handle - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention disclosed a packaging bag comprising a body portion and a handle portion formed from sheet material, the body portion and the handle portion is separated by 5 a first seal; the body portion comprising a first wall, a second wall, a first side edge, and a second side edge, an opening and a bottom; the first wall and the second wall are selectively sealed at a position to designate the opening enabling feeding of a product into the packaging bag; wherein the handle portion is continuously formed from the same sheet material which formed the body portion; and wherein the handle portion defines an insert 10 configured to receive at least one handle strip inserted therein, the handle portion comprising a cut away section prepared at the middle exposing a portion of the handle strip inside the insert; the in-exposed portion of the handle strip is secured in position to the insert of the handle portion at a predetermine location by a second seal on each side of the of the cut away section along the length of the handle strip. 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I

Description

1 PACKAGING BAG WITH CARRYING HANDLE FIELD OF THE INVENTION This is invention related to a packaging bag, especially packaging bag with a carrying handle. 5 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Packaging bag nowadays plays an important role in retail business. Many packaging bags are designed to serves various aspects of the trade, such as packaging convenience, attracting customer attention, reducing waste, extending shelf life of the product, etc. Once of the most important aspect of the trade is customer needs and 10 satisfaction, including providing the customer with the ability to carry the purchased item away without the assistance of a shopping cart, or the need of re-bagging with a separate plastic bag such as T-shirt bag. Bags with carrying handle are developed to fulfill such needs. However, many of such bags still have flaws and do not satisfactory fulfill such 15 need. Known prior art includes, for example, a bag with finger holes on the handle. This type of handle, however, proof to be inadequate for carrying the item for a long distance as the handle tend to bit into the palm or fingers of the handler causing discomfort when carrying for a long distance is needed. Another common flaw for this type of bag is that the handle cannot withstand the weight of the product and stretching or tearing of the 20 handle is a common incident. US Patent No. 3,774,837 disclosed a carrier bag having two wide sides and a folded bottom manufactured from a tubular synthetic resin wed. At the open end of the bag is provided with a reinforcing folds or reinforcing strips extending transversely of the bag. Grip opening are punch out in the centre of the opening edge. The reinforcing folds or 25 strips are welded to the wide sides of the bag by means of weld seams extending obliquely toward the opening edge, one on either side of the grip opening and across the entire width 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 2 of the fold strips. The carry grips are thus formed by the centre part of the reinforcing folds or strips between the inclined welded seams. International Patent Application Publication W02008/056694 disclosed a packaging material which can be formed into package each having a carrying handle and 5 which can be wound into a roll and then continuously unwound. The packaging bag material includes an elongated tube body made of resin film and including a front sheet and a back sheet. A sheet strip is disposed between portions of the front and back sheets extending from a first heat-bonded portion toward a second side edge with the longitudinal direction of the strip sheet coincide with the longitudinal direction of the tube body. The 10 front and the back sheet are bonded to the strip sheet at bond portions having a predetermined length and longitudinally spaced from each other with a predetermined pitch, thereby defining unbounded portions between the adjacent bonded portions deriving a large number of bags connected to each other arranged in a row in the longitudinal direction. The portion of the sheet strip at each unbounded portion serves as a carrying 15 handle. International Patent Application Publication W02009/054151 disclosed a packaging bag material for constructing a package with carrying handle part that allows roll winding and back winding for continuous supply. A tape for carrying handle is inserted at a constant pitch in the longitudinal midstream of a tubular base material across 20 the base material. Both end portions of the tape are fusion bonded to surface and backside sheets by providing second heat seal areas. The superior edge side of the bag material is sealed by providing a third heat seal area. The base material at a predetermined location along the opposite side edge of the tape for carrying handle is cut off in the longitudinal direction thereof After packing the bag with a matter to be packed and opening sealing, at 25 a non-seal area, the tape for the carrying handle is pulled outside from the interspace of the sheets to thereby form a carrying handle part. 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 3 It is, therefore, an advantage of the present invention to provide an alternative arrangement of a packaging bag with a carrying handle with improved load bearing. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention disclosed a packaging bag with a carrying handle. In one 5 embodiment there is provided, a packaging bag comprising a body portion and a handle portion formed from sheet material, the body portion and the handle portion is separated by a first seal; the body portion comprising a first wall, a second wall, a first side edge, and a second side edge, an opening and a bottom; the first wall and the second wall are selectively sealed at a position to designate the opening enabling feeding of a product into 10 the packaging bag; wherein the handle portion is continuously formed from the same sheet material which formed the body portion; and wherein the handle portion defines an insert configured to receive at least one handle strip inserted therein, the handle portion comprising a cut away section prepared at the middle exposing a portion of the handle strip inside the insert; the in-exposed portion of the handle strip is secured in position to the 15 insert of the handle portion at a predetermine location by a second seal on each side of the of the cut away section along the length of the handle strip. In another embodiment, the packaging bag may comprise the body portion that is further include an expandable portion located opposite and parallel to handle portion. The handle portion may be a double handle portion; the double handle portions derived from 20 double folding the same sheet material forming the body portion of the packaging bag at the region which is determined to be the handle portion; the two handle portions are separated by a bridge section disposed between the two handle portions. The bottom of the packaging bag may be configured to be expandable. In another embodiment, the packaging bag may comprise two handle portions and a 25 bridge section position between the two handle portions. 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 4 In another embodiment, the packaging bag may comprise the two handle portions and the bridge section position between the two handle portions, and a body portion that is further include an expandable portion located opposite and parallel to the two handle portions. 5 In another embodiment, the packaging bag may further comprise a seal on each corner of the body opposite the handle portion. In one embodiment, the packaging bag may further comprise incisions, each of which are disposed at each corner of the expandable bottom, and at each end of each 10 handle portion where multilayers of sheet material is to be bonded. The handle strip may be a separate strip of material having greater tensile strength than that of the sheet material forming the body portion and the handle portion of the packaging bag. The packaging bag may further include a diagonal seal disposed at each corner of the expandable bottom behind the incision. In some embodiments, the packaging bag may further comprise a zipper disposed below the bridge section; the zipper comprising a male and a female strip disposed on respective first and second walls of the body portion. The handle strip may be made from composite or reinforced materials including plastic, plastic composite material, reinforced natural or synthetic fibers, fabrics, paper or combinations thereof The body portion and the handle portion may be made of sheet material including plastic, reinforced natural or synthetic fibers including fabrics, paper wood, aluminum foil. The sheet material may be plastic, including plastic with a laminate coating, or plastic without a laminate coating. The packaging bag may be connected in a continuous roll. 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 5 Further and specific embodiments, features and advantages according to the principle of the present invention are described in detail below BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments of the principles 5 described herein and are a part of the specification. The illustrated embodiments are merely examples, and do not limit the scope of the claims. The description will be made in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 shows a method of folding of sheet material for producing an embodiment of packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention; 10 FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention using the folding method of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 shows a method of folding of sheet material for producing an embodiment of packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention; FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a packaging bag with carrying handle according to 15 the principle of the present invention using the folding method of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 shows a method of folding of sheet material for producing an embodiment of packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention; FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention using the folding method of FIG. 5; 20 FIG. 7 shows a method of folding of sheet material for producing an embodiment of packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention; FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of a packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention using the folding method of FIG. 7; FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of a packaging bag with carrying handle according to 25 the principle of the present invention; FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention; 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 6 FIG. 11 shows use of carrying handle of an embodiment of the packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention; FIG. 12 shows use of carrying handle of an embodiment of the packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention; 5 FIG. 13 shows an embodiment of the packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention; FIG. 14 shows an embodiment of the packaging bag with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention prepared in a roll form; and FIG. 15 shows an embodiment of the packaging bag with carrying handle 10 according to the principle of the present invention illustrating a re-position of the opening of the bag. DETAILED DESCRIPTION While specific configurations and arrangement are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustrative purposes only. A person skilled in the art will 15 recognized that other configurations and arrangements can be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Further, it should be noted that reference in the specification to "an embodiment", "one embodiment", etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the 20 particular feature, structure, or characteristic, or necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Fig. 1 shows a method of folding of single sheet material forming into an embodiment of a packaging bag 15 with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention as shown in Fig. 2. In this embodiment, the packaging bag 15 25 comprising a body portion 20 and a handle portion 25 formed from sheet material. The sheet materials are preferably plastic sheet, with or without laminate coating, and includes plastic that are produced from known method, including blowing, casting, weaving, 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 7 spundbonding and other methods. The sheet materials may also be other kinds of plastic composite materials, plastic coated natural or synthetic fibers such as paper, wood, fabric, aluminum foil, etc. The body portion 20 and the handle portion 25 are separated by a seal A 30 which 5 bond a first wall 35 and a second wall 40 of the body portion 20 at a predetermined location. The seal A 30 may be a lap seal or a fin seal and inducing bonding may be by heat, welding, or any other techniques as generally known in the art. The body portion comprising a first wall 35, a second wall 40, a first side edge 45, and a second side edge 50, a bottom 85 and an opening 60 wherein the first wall 35 and the 10 second wall 40 are selectively sealed by seal B 55 at predetermined position(s) to designate the opening at a predetermined position. The opening 60 is configured to receive feeding of a product into the said packaging bag 15. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, as the first wall 35 and the second wall 40 of the body portion 20 is sealed by the seal B 55 on the second side edge 50 it defines a pocket for holding a product, the non-seal side edge 15 45 or 50 defines an opening 60 for receiving feeding of the products to be packaged. Similarly, if the first side edge 45 were to be sealed, then the opening 60 would form on the second side edge 50. The far edge of the body portion 20, opposite the handle portion became the bottom 85 of the packaging bag 15. The handle portion 25 which is also continuously formed from folding the sheet material defines an insert 65 having at least 20 one handle strip 70 inserted there through. The handle portion 25 includes a cut away section 75 prepared at the middle, exposing a portion of the handle strip 70 inserted therein. The handle strip 70 is a separate strip of material inserted through the insert 65 in the handle portion 25. The handle strip 70 is secured in position inside the insert 65 of the handle portion 25 at a predetermine location, preferably by a seal C 80, at least one seal on 25 each side of the cut away section 75 along the length of the handle strip 70. Other means for securing the handle strip 70 to the handle portion 25 is also possible. The handle strip 70 preferably is made of a separate strip of materials, preferably of different, i.e. greater tensile strength than that of the sheet material making up the packaging bag 15 in order to 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 8 ensure that the handle strip can withstand the carrying load of the product. The handle strip 70 may be made of the same material as with the sheet material making up the packaging bag 15, but with greater thickness. The handle strip 70 may be also made of other materials including composite or reinforced materials such as plastic, plastic 5 composite material, reinforce natural or synthetic fibers such as fabrics, paper, etc. It is possible to insert more than one handle strips 70 into the insert 65 of the handle portion 25 to enhance strength of the handle strip 70. Preferably the handle strip 70 is made of sheet material with sufficient width such that the said handle strip 70 will not deform or roll and bit into the palm or fingers of handler while the package is being carried. Further, the 10 length of the handle strip 70 at the cut away section 75 may be pre-adjusted prior to securing the handle strip 70 to the handle portion 25. Such length will become the length of the carrying handle of the packaging bag 15. Preferably, the handle portion 25 is positioned longitudinal to the finish packaging bag to ensure a better load distribution of the packaging bag 15 and hence ensure satisfactory performance of the packaging bag 15, 15 i.e. easy to carry and with less or no possibility of stretching or tearing of the handle. FIG. 4 show a further embodiment of the packaging bag 15 with carrying handle according to the principle of the present invention. In this embodiment, the bottom 85 of the packaging bag is configured to be expandable. In this embodiment, the sheet material is folded as shown in FIG. 3, wherein the sheet material is double folded at the region 20 which is determined to be the bottom of the packaging bag 15 hence the expandable bottom 85 is formed. It is possible to fold the sheet material several times to achieve a greater expansion of the bottom 85 of the packaging bag 15. However, this is less preferred since bonding multilayer of overlaying sheet material together can be difficult. In a further embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the packaging bag 15 with carrying 25 handle may be prepared with double handle portion 25. In this embodiment, the sheet material is folded as shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, the sheet material is double folded at the region which is determined to be the handle portion 25 wherein each fold becomes a separate handle portion 25. The arrangement of the handle portion 25 and the 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 9 handle strip 70 are the same as previously described. Since the packaging bag 15 is made from a continuous single sheet of sheet material, the two handle portions 25 share a common bridge section 90 disposed between them. Once the packaging bag 15 are filled with the pre-weighted produce, the side edge 45, including the opening 60, and bridge 5 section 90 and the insert 65 having the handle strip 70 secured therein are sealed. Thus, in this embodiment, the customer may cut along the bridge section 90 to gain access to the content of the packaging bag 15. Hence, the empty packaging bag 15 may be reused as a carrying bag. In a further embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the packaging bag 15 includes double 10 handle portions 25 and an expandable bottom 85. The double handle portion 25 and the expandable bottom 85 are formed from the folding method as shown in FIG. 7. The arrangement and configuration of the handle portion 25 and the expandable bottom 85 are as previously described. The packaging bag 15 according to this particular embodiment is useful for large size package with higher load. 15 In a further embodiment as shown in FIG. 9, the packaging bag 15, further includes an incision 100 disposed at each corner of the expandable bottom 95 and at each end of each of the handle portion 25, in order to aid bonding of multilayer of sheet material. This is because in an embodiment where double folding is utilized to form either expandable bottom 85 or double handle portion 25, it is more difficult to effectively bonded the 20 multilayer of sheet material together or certain surface of certain type of sheet material is not susceptible to heat bonding, removing the inner layer of sheet material (other than the first wall 35 and the second wall) will improve bonding of multilayer of sheet material. In a further embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, the packaging bag 15 further include an diagonal seal 105 disposed at each corner of the expandable bottom 85. This 25 embodiment is particular useful when a full expansion of the expandable bottom 85 is not desired or intentionally restricted. The diagonal seal 105 will crimp each corner of the expandable bottom 85, behind the incision 100, hence the expandable bottom 85 will not 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 10 fully expand in that corner. This embodiment is useful and desirable for packaging bag 15 for packaging of grain produce such as rice. This feature will avoid accumulation of rice grain in the corner of the packaging bag where is can potentially cause puncture to the bag. Again as shown in FIG. 11 once the packaging bag 15 is filled with pre-weighted 5 product, the side edge 45, including the opening 60, and bridge section 90 and the insert 65 having the handle strip 70 secured therein are sealed to contain the product therein. The cut away section 75 provide easy hand or fingers access to gain access to the exposed handle strip 70, enable the customer to carry the good with comfort. The same is also shown in FIG. 12, for an embodiment with double handle portion 25. In the embodiment 10 as shown in FIG. 12, once the packaging bag 15 is cut open along the along the bridge section 90 to gain access to the content of the packaging bag 15, the empty packaging bag 15 may be reused as general purposes carrying bag. FIG. 13 shows a further embodiment of the packaging bag 15 according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the packaging bag 15 is further provided with a 15 zipper 95 disposed between the handle portion 25 and the body portion 20. More specifically, the zipper 95 is disposed below the bridge section 90. The zipper 95 is preferably a non-permanent seal zipper, i.e. the zipper is able to disengaged or disengaged as desired. The zipper 95 includes a male and female strip (not shown) disposed on the respective wall first and second walls 35, 40 of the body portion 20 of the packaging bag 20 15. The male and female strip is configured to couple to one another and that such coupling able to withstand that pressure of the content of the packaging bag 15 such that unwanted disengagement of the zipper 95 cannot occur. In order to access the content of the packaging bag 15, the user can cut along the bridge section 90 and then disengage the zipper 95 to gain access to the content of the packaging bag 15. As the packaging bag 15 25 is empty of its content, the packaging bag 15 may be reused for other purposes where the bag may be reseal with the zipper 95. 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 11 FIG. 14 shows an embodiment of the packaging bag 15 in a roll form. This embodiment is particularly suitable for automate packaging of the product. In this embodiment, each individual bag is connected to form a continuous roll. The second and subsequent packaging bag 15 adjacent from the first packaging bag 15 with the opening 60 5 is originally prepared without the existing opening 60. However, once the first packaging bag 15 is filled with the product, the automate packaging apparatus will cut off the filled the packaging bag below the seal B 55, hence creating an opening 60 for the next packaging bag 15 permitting continue operation of the packaging. As certain embodiment of the packaging bag 15 with carrying handle according to 10 the present invention is intended for automate or industrial scale packaging, it is, therefore, preferable that the packaging bag 15 is produced from a single sheet material. However, it will be appreciate by a person skilled in the art that with the modification of manufacturing apparatus or changes in manufacturing process, including manual production, use of more than one sheets of the material is also possible. Further, while the packaging bag 15 may 15 be in a continuous roll to facilitate automate or industrial scale packaging, it is also possible to prepared the packaging bag 15 as individually separate packaging bag 15 for use in small to medium enterprises where to the packaging may be done manually. Also, it is possible to reposition the arrangement of the first and second side edge 20 45, 50, the opening 60, and the bottom 85 and such reposition of the elements are regarded to be within the scope and spirit of the present invention. For example, it is possible to seal side edge 45 and designate the opening 60 to locate at the side edge 50. It is also possible to seal both on side edges 45 and 50 and designate the opening 60 to locate at the bottom of the packaging bag 15, as shown in FIG. 15. Designating the opening 60 at the bottom 25 85, however, is less preferred for an embodiment which the bottom 85 is an expandable bottom. Further, it is also possible that the handle strip 70 is not necessary a strip-like material. The handle strip 70 may be in a form of rope-like or rod-like materials of which permit securing to the handle portion of the packaging bag 15 and that the means for 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 12 securing the handle strip 70 may be in a form others than heat seal or welding. The said means may be change to suit each different structure or materials of the handle strip. As it is apparent from the above description, the configuration of the packaging bag 15, in particular, the arrangement and configuration of the handle portion 25 and the handle 5 strip 70 as set out above provides a higher performance packaging bag 15 with carrying handle enable the customer to carry the purchased item comfortably and without failing of the carrying handle as set out in the object of the invention above. It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, such 10 reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country. In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the 15 word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention. 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I

Claims (5)

1. A packaging bag comprising a body portion and a handle portion formed from sheet material, the body portion and the handle portion is separated by a first 5 seal; the body portion comprising a first wall, a second wall, a first side edge, and a second side edge, an opening and a bottom; the first wall and the second wall are selectively sealed at a position to designate the opening enabling feeding of a product into the packaging bag; wherein the handle portion is continuously formed from the same sheet 10 material which formed the body portion; and wherein the handle portion defines an insert configured to receive at least one handle strip inserted therein, the handle portion comprising a cut away section prepared at the middle exposing a portion of the handle strip inside the insert; the in-exposed portion of the handle strip is secured in position to the insert of the handle portion at a predetermine 15 location by a second seal on each side of the of the cut away section along the length of the handle strip.

2. The packaging bag according to claim 1, wherein the handle portion is a double handle portion; the double handle portions derived from double folding the same sheet material forming the body portion of the packaging bag at the region 20 which is determined to be the handle portion; the two handle portions are separated by a bridge section disposed between the two handle portions.

3. The packaging bag according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the bottom of the packaging bag is configured to be expandable.

4. The packaging bag according to claim 3, further comprising incisions, each of 25 which are disposed at each corner of the expandable bottom, and at each end of each handle portion where multilayers of sheet material is to be bonded. 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I 14

5. The packaging bag according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the handle strip is a separate strip of material having greater tensile strength than both of the sheet material forming the body portion and the handle portion of the packaging bag. 5 5895713_1 (GHMatters) P97843.AU.1 TERUN I