CA1070090A - Bag closure - Google Patents
Bag closureInfo
- Publication number
- CA1070090A CA1070090A CA279,717A CA279717A CA1070090A CA 1070090 A CA1070090 A CA 1070090A CA 279717 A CA279717 A CA 279717A CA 1070090 A CA1070090 A CA 1070090A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- opening
- tongue
- bag
- edge sections
- tongue portion
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
- B65D33/00—Details of, or accessories for, sacks or bags
- B65D33/16—End- or aperture-closing arrangements or devices
- B65D33/1616—Elements constricting the neck of the bag
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
- Y02W30/00—Technologies for solid waste management
- Y02W30/50—Reuse, recycling or recovery technologies
- Y02W30/80—Packaging reuse or recycling, e.g. of multilayer packaging
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Bag Frames (AREA)
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A bag closure for polyethylene bags of the "pony-tail"
variety is disclosed. The closure is reusable, easy to manufac-ture and use, prevents the bag from inadvertently opening, and is amenable to printing thereon. It comprises a base portion and a tongue portion formed therefrom and integrally connected thereto.
Adjacent the connection between the base and tongue portions the tongue has a pair of opposed neck areas and the minimum width of the opening in the base portion created by formation of the tongue portion is substantially equal to the minimum distance between the neck areas. In use the bunched bag sides are trapped between the tongue and base portions, the base portion is bent around the bunched bag sides and the tongue portion is drawn or pulled through the opening until the adjacent edges of the opening lockingly engage the neck areas of the tongue when the bag is fully encom-passed. The closure can be released to permit opening of the bag and can be re-locked to again fully close the bag.
A bag closure for polyethylene bags of the "pony-tail"
variety is disclosed. The closure is reusable, easy to manufac-ture and use, prevents the bag from inadvertently opening, and is amenable to printing thereon. It comprises a base portion and a tongue portion formed therefrom and integrally connected thereto.
Adjacent the connection between the base and tongue portions the tongue has a pair of opposed neck areas and the minimum width of the opening in the base portion created by formation of the tongue portion is substantially equal to the minimum distance between the neck areas. In use the bunched bag sides are trapped between the tongue and base portions, the base portion is bent around the bunched bag sides and the tongue portion is drawn or pulled through the opening until the adjacent edges of the opening lockingly engage the neck areas of the tongue when the bag is fully encom-passed. The closure can be released to permit opening of the bag and can be re-locked to again fully close the bag.
Description
~ ~7~
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
. .
The present invention relates to bag closures in general and to closures for "poly" bags in particular.
Many industries utilize polyethylene or other thin plastic bags to package commodities, one of the most common industries being the food industry. Many foodstuffs are packaged in this way, for example, bread and milk. Most consumers are well-acquainted with the "pony-tail" bread bag and most are aquainted with the overbag containing a nu~ber of l-quart pouches of milk.
In both instances, it is necessary to open and close the covering bag a number of times before the contents thereof are ~xhausted.
This means that a bag closure which can be positioned by automatic machinery and which can be removed and reused by the consumer must be provided. Many such closures have been proposed and many are in commercial use. For example, there is a closure made from a sheet of plastics material and having a C-shaped opening at one end. The bunched bag sides are positioned in the opening and the edge thereof retains the bag sides therein. This closure has the disadvantage that during handling portions of the bag sides can slip thxough the open area of the closure allowing air to enter the ~ag and perhaps allowing bag contents to eventually leave the bag. Also, the size of the opening in the closure must be tailor,ed to the size of the bag to be closed. If the opening is too big or too small an improper closure will result.
An improved closure is ~ound in U.S. Patent 3,673,640 issued on July 4, 1972 to Dwight C. Brown. That closure includes a bowed strap and a clamping bar struck from the interior thereof and hinged at one end to the strap~ A lo~king hook ls provided at the other end of the bar for engagement with an edge of the ~, . . .
~L~)70l~
strap in the opening left by the bar. The bunched bag sides are locked between the bar and the 5 trap when the hook has engaged the strap. This closure eliminates any ~roble~s of inadvertent bag opening and also permits greater latitude in the size of the bag that can be closed thereby~ However the tooling to produce the closure is expensive as the closure is complex in configuration, requiring a number of steps ko bow the strap, form the clamping bar and form the hook thereon.
The configuration also fails to provide areas for imprinting, an important feature with respect to mounting consumer inter-est in price, quality, weight and dates of latest use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
.. , . . _ .
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the above described closures. It is simple, easy to manu-facture, prevents inadvertent bag opening, accomodates a great variety of bag sizes and lends itself to imprinting. The bag closure of the present invention is stamped ~rom a flat sheet of plastics material and remains flat until use. It has a flat base portion and a flat tongue portion stamped from-the base but hinged thereto. Ad~acent the hinge area the tongue portion has a pair of opposed neck areas and at the free end the side ~dges of the tongue portion converge slightly. When usecl the tongue portion is pushed out rom the base portion and the bunched bag sides are positioned therebetween. The base portion is bent around the bunched bag sides and the tongue portion is pulled through the opening created by pushing the tongue portion ~rom the base portion. The tongue portion is pulled ~or pushed) through the opening until the neck areas engage the converging edges of the opening in the base portion, therebv loc:king the . ~ , closure about the bunched bag sides. The tongue portion can be easily released or unlocked by simply disengaging the edges of the opening in the base portion from the neck areas o~ the -tongue portion and drawing the tongue portion back through the opening in the base portion. The closure can be reused as o~ten as desired without fear of failure. Also the tongue surface area readily lends itself to imprinting.
Broadly speaking therefore, the pxesent invention provides a bag closure comprising a base portion and a tongue portion formed from the base portion so as to define an opening in the base portion, the opening having edge sections closely conforming to the periphery of the tongue portion, the tongue portion being integrally hinged to the base portion at one end o~ the opening and having a pair of opposed neck areas adjacent the one end, the width of the tongue portion at the neck areas being greater than the minimum width of the opening adjacent the other end thereof5 whereby in its bag closing mode the base and tongue portions may be flexed so that the tongue portion may be inserted through the opening until the neck areas releasably engage and lock with the edge sections oE the opening adjacent the other end thereof.
Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of the bag closure according to the present invention.
Figure 2 il~ustrates the bag closure of the present invention in use.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREEERRED EMBODIMENT
Figure 1 shows an enlarged plan view o~ the bag closure according to the present invention. The bag closure 10 includes jb/ _ 3 ' `' ' " ' .: . "' '', : ' ' ~
.
, . . .
- . . . : .
'. ' . '' ' .' .' ' ',: ', ' :
~070090 a base portion 12 which in an unused state is generally flat, the base portion 12 being provided with a tongue portion 14 which is stamped or struck therefrom. The tongue portion 14 is delineated by a pair of opposed parallel edge sections 16, a pair of opposed converging edge sections 18, a curved edge section 20 joining edge sections 18 and a pair of opposed inwardly directed neck areas 24 adjacent the integral hinge connection between the tongue portion 14 and the base portion 12.
The neck areas 24 correspond to a pair of opposed projections 22 on the base portion, the projections 22 being directed inwardly towards each other. While the projections 22 are shown as bein~
generally triangular in plan they can take any form such as circular or rectangular.
As seen in Figure 2 the base portion 12 has an opening 26 that corresponds to the tongue portion 14 and is delineated by corresponding edge sections 16', 18' and 20'. The width of the tongue portion 14 between the neck areas 24 is greater than the minimum width of the opening 26 at the end thereof opposite the hinge connection, that is in the vicinity of the edge sections 18'.
The closure of the present invention may be formed from a sheet of a plastics material in a simple stamping press, the punch and die of which could simultaneously or progressively stamp the outline of the base 12 and the outline of the tongue 14.
It i8 alBo possible to stamp the closures progressively in a continuous strip of plastics material, which strip of closures c~uld be rolled up for use in automatic packaging equipment.
Thus, a closure would be struck from the roll as requiredD
Alternatively, it would also be possible to stamp out the ib/ D
- .
closure just prior to use from a roll or strip of plastics material, the stamping press in this case adjoining the packaging eqiuipment. The material may be any o~ the flexible yet strong plastics such as polyethylene.
In use, the tongue portion 14 i's initially pushed from the base portion, the tongue being hinged at its junction with the base. This lea~es the opening 26 in the base portion 12 closely con~orming ~o the periphery o~ the tongue portion 1~.
The base portion 12 and the tongue portion 14 when pushed from the base . .
~ a -.
- . . .
:, . . . . : - , . . . .: :: . :.. : . - : .
:: ,. : .::: . -:, -: i . ~ : . - . : ' . :
~L~7~
portion, form a V-shaped zone into which the bunched bag sides 28 are moved. The base portion 12 is wrapped around the bunched bag sides as seen in Figure 2 and the tongue po~tion 14 is ~oved through the opening 26 in the v-Lcini~y of the converging edges 18' thereof so that when the tongue is pulled through the opening 26 the converging edges 18' of the opening 26 will engage the neck areas 24 on the tongue thereby locking the closure about the bunched bag sides. Since the bag closure is intended to tightly close the bag there will be resistence to closure provided by the bunched bag sides and the out~ardly directed forces produced thereby will tend to enhance the engagement between edges 18' and neck areas 24.
In order to release the closure it is only necessary to release the engagement between edges 18' and neck areas 24 which can be easily accomplished by slightly twlsting tongue portion 14 and wlthdrawing the tongue portion back through opening 26. Needless to say the closure of the prese~t invention may be used over and over again as there are no zones thereon which will be subject to high ~atigue stresses during opening and closing thereofO
The relatively large flat surface of the tongue portion 14 lends itself to printing and thls becomes a convenient area for price or other information pertaining to the product.
The present inventlo~ accordlngly provldes a bag closure which is highly efficient, eEfective in use~ and economic to produce. It has large areas for prin~ing thereon while being compact in size and it can therefore be unobstrusive when in use.
It is also conceivable that detail changes in the design of the pre~ent bag closure could be effected withou~ departlng from the ba9ic concept and hence the protection to be afforded the present inventlon should be determined only from the appended claims.
dav~
.. : - .
.
'' '' ' . ' ~ ' . ' :
.: ' ~ ', .. , .
.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
. .
The present invention relates to bag closures in general and to closures for "poly" bags in particular.
Many industries utilize polyethylene or other thin plastic bags to package commodities, one of the most common industries being the food industry. Many foodstuffs are packaged in this way, for example, bread and milk. Most consumers are well-acquainted with the "pony-tail" bread bag and most are aquainted with the overbag containing a nu~ber of l-quart pouches of milk.
In both instances, it is necessary to open and close the covering bag a number of times before the contents thereof are ~xhausted.
This means that a bag closure which can be positioned by automatic machinery and which can be removed and reused by the consumer must be provided. Many such closures have been proposed and many are in commercial use. For example, there is a closure made from a sheet of plastics material and having a C-shaped opening at one end. The bunched bag sides are positioned in the opening and the edge thereof retains the bag sides therein. This closure has the disadvantage that during handling portions of the bag sides can slip thxough the open area of the closure allowing air to enter the ~ag and perhaps allowing bag contents to eventually leave the bag. Also, the size of the opening in the closure must be tailor,ed to the size of the bag to be closed. If the opening is too big or too small an improper closure will result.
An improved closure is ~ound in U.S. Patent 3,673,640 issued on July 4, 1972 to Dwight C. Brown. That closure includes a bowed strap and a clamping bar struck from the interior thereof and hinged at one end to the strap~ A lo~king hook ls provided at the other end of the bar for engagement with an edge of the ~, . . .
~L~)70l~
strap in the opening left by the bar. The bunched bag sides are locked between the bar and the 5 trap when the hook has engaged the strap. This closure eliminates any ~roble~s of inadvertent bag opening and also permits greater latitude in the size of the bag that can be closed thereby~ However the tooling to produce the closure is expensive as the closure is complex in configuration, requiring a number of steps ko bow the strap, form the clamping bar and form the hook thereon.
The configuration also fails to provide areas for imprinting, an important feature with respect to mounting consumer inter-est in price, quality, weight and dates of latest use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
.. , . . _ .
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the above described closures. It is simple, easy to manu-facture, prevents inadvertent bag opening, accomodates a great variety of bag sizes and lends itself to imprinting. The bag closure of the present invention is stamped ~rom a flat sheet of plastics material and remains flat until use. It has a flat base portion and a flat tongue portion stamped from-the base but hinged thereto. Ad~acent the hinge area the tongue portion has a pair of opposed neck areas and at the free end the side ~dges of the tongue portion converge slightly. When usecl the tongue portion is pushed out rom the base portion and the bunched bag sides are positioned therebetween. The base portion is bent around the bunched bag sides and the tongue portion is pulled through the opening created by pushing the tongue portion ~rom the base portion. The tongue portion is pulled ~or pushed) through the opening until the neck areas engage the converging edges of the opening in the base portion, therebv loc:king the . ~ , closure about the bunched bag sides. The tongue portion can be easily released or unlocked by simply disengaging the edges of the opening in the base portion from the neck areas o~ the -tongue portion and drawing the tongue portion back through the opening in the base portion. The closure can be reused as o~ten as desired without fear of failure. Also the tongue surface area readily lends itself to imprinting.
Broadly speaking therefore, the pxesent invention provides a bag closure comprising a base portion and a tongue portion formed from the base portion so as to define an opening in the base portion, the opening having edge sections closely conforming to the periphery of the tongue portion, the tongue portion being integrally hinged to the base portion at one end o~ the opening and having a pair of opposed neck areas adjacent the one end, the width of the tongue portion at the neck areas being greater than the minimum width of the opening adjacent the other end thereof5 whereby in its bag closing mode the base and tongue portions may be flexed so that the tongue portion may be inserted through the opening until the neck areas releasably engage and lock with the edge sections oE the opening adjacent the other end thereof.
Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of the bag closure according to the present invention.
Figure 2 il~ustrates the bag closure of the present invention in use.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREEERRED EMBODIMENT
Figure 1 shows an enlarged plan view o~ the bag closure according to the present invention. The bag closure 10 includes jb/ _ 3 ' `' ' " ' .: . "' '', : ' ' ~
.
, . . .
- . . . : .
'. ' . '' ' .' .' ' ',: ', ' :
~070090 a base portion 12 which in an unused state is generally flat, the base portion 12 being provided with a tongue portion 14 which is stamped or struck therefrom. The tongue portion 14 is delineated by a pair of opposed parallel edge sections 16, a pair of opposed converging edge sections 18, a curved edge section 20 joining edge sections 18 and a pair of opposed inwardly directed neck areas 24 adjacent the integral hinge connection between the tongue portion 14 and the base portion 12.
The neck areas 24 correspond to a pair of opposed projections 22 on the base portion, the projections 22 being directed inwardly towards each other. While the projections 22 are shown as bein~
generally triangular in plan they can take any form such as circular or rectangular.
As seen in Figure 2 the base portion 12 has an opening 26 that corresponds to the tongue portion 14 and is delineated by corresponding edge sections 16', 18' and 20'. The width of the tongue portion 14 between the neck areas 24 is greater than the minimum width of the opening 26 at the end thereof opposite the hinge connection, that is in the vicinity of the edge sections 18'.
The closure of the present invention may be formed from a sheet of a plastics material in a simple stamping press, the punch and die of which could simultaneously or progressively stamp the outline of the base 12 and the outline of the tongue 14.
It i8 alBo possible to stamp the closures progressively in a continuous strip of plastics material, which strip of closures c~uld be rolled up for use in automatic packaging equipment.
Thus, a closure would be struck from the roll as requiredD
Alternatively, it would also be possible to stamp out the ib/ D
- .
closure just prior to use from a roll or strip of plastics material, the stamping press in this case adjoining the packaging eqiuipment. The material may be any o~ the flexible yet strong plastics such as polyethylene.
In use, the tongue portion 14 i's initially pushed from the base portion, the tongue being hinged at its junction with the base. This lea~es the opening 26 in the base portion 12 closely con~orming ~o the periphery o~ the tongue portion 1~.
The base portion 12 and the tongue portion 14 when pushed from the base . .
~ a -.
- . . .
:, . . . . : - , . . . .: :: . :.. : . - : .
:: ,. : .::: . -:, -: i . ~ : . - . : ' . :
~L~7~
portion, form a V-shaped zone into which the bunched bag sides 28 are moved. The base portion 12 is wrapped around the bunched bag sides as seen in Figure 2 and the tongue po~tion 14 is ~oved through the opening 26 in the v-Lcini~y of the converging edges 18' thereof so that when the tongue is pulled through the opening 26 the converging edges 18' of the opening 26 will engage the neck areas 24 on the tongue thereby locking the closure about the bunched bag sides. Since the bag closure is intended to tightly close the bag there will be resistence to closure provided by the bunched bag sides and the out~ardly directed forces produced thereby will tend to enhance the engagement between edges 18' and neck areas 24.
In order to release the closure it is only necessary to release the engagement between edges 18' and neck areas 24 which can be easily accomplished by slightly twlsting tongue portion 14 and wlthdrawing the tongue portion back through opening 26. Needless to say the closure of the prese~t invention may be used over and over again as there are no zones thereon which will be subject to high ~atigue stresses during opening and closing thereofO
The relatively large flat surface of the tongue portion 14 lends itself to printing and thls becomes a convenient area for price or other information pertaining to the product.
The present inventlo~ accordlngly provldes a bag closure which is highly efficient, eEfective in use~ and economic to produce. It has large areas for prin~ing thereon while being compact in size and it can therefore be unobstrusive when in use.
It is also conceivable that detail changes in the design of the pre~ent bag closure could be effected withou~ departlng from the ba9ic concept and hence the protection to be afforded the present inventlon should be determined only from the appended claims.
dav~
.. : - .
.
'' '' ' . ' ~ ' . ' :
.: ' ~ ', .. , .
.
Claims (3)
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A bag closure comprising a base portion and a tongue portion formed from said base portion so as to define an opening in said base portion, said opening having edge sections closely conforming to the periphery of said tongue portion, said tongue portion being integrally hinged to said base portion at one end of said opening and having a pair of opposed neck areas adjacent said one end, the width of said tongue portion at said neck areas being greater than the minimum width of said opening adjacent the other end thereof, whereby in its bag closing mode said base and tongue portions may be flexed so that said tongue portion may be inserted through said opening until said neck areas releasably engage and lock with the edge sections of said opening adjacent said other end thereof.
2. A bag closure according to Claim 1 wherein said tongue portion is defined by a pair of opposed parallel edge sections connected to said neck areas, a pair of opposed converging edge sections connected to said parallel edge sections and a curved end edge section connecting said converging edge sections.
3. A reusable bag closure comprising a base portion and a tongue portion formed from said base portion so as to define an opening in said base portion, said tongue portion having an integral hinge connection with said base base portion at one end of said opening and being defined by a pair of opposed inwardly directed neck areas adjacent said connection, a pair of opposed parallel edge sections connected to said neck areas, a pair of opposed converging edge sections connected to said parallel edge sections and a curved end section connecting said con-verging edge sections, said opening having parallel, converging and curved edge sections closely conforming to the parallel, converging and curved edge sections respectively of said tongue portion, the width of said tongue portion at said neck areas being greater than the minimum width of said opening between the converging edge sections thereof, whereby in its bag closing mode said base and tongue portions may be flexed so that said tongue portion may be inserted through said opening until said neck areas releasably engage and lock with the converging edge sections of said opening.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA279,717A CA1070090A (en) | 1977-06-02 | 1977-06-02 | Bag closure |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA279,717A CA1070090A (en) | 1977-06-02 | 1977-06-02 | Bag closure |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1070090A true CA1070090A (en) | 1980-01-22 |
Family
ID=4108794
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA279,717A Expired CA1070090A (en) | 1977-06-02 | 1977-06-02 | Bag closure |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1070090A (en) |
-
1977
- 1977-06-02 CA CA279,717A patent/CA1070090A/en not_active Expired
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |