CA2061300A1 - Headerless grocery bag pack and dispensing and loading system - Google Patents

Abstract

HEADERLESS GROCERY BAG PACK AND
DISPENSING AND LOADING SYSTEM

ABSTRACT

The invention involves a system for bag pack support, easy dispensing, loading and removal of grocery bags involving a pack of bags and a rack suitable for the dispensing of the bags. The pack includes a plurality of undershirt type bags having integrally extended double-loop handles in the bag mouth. Each bag mouth is distinguished by being free of any suspension tabs. Thus, in bag pack form there is no "header". suspension orifices are located in the handles of the bags. The pack of bags is employed with a rack which includes a pair of spaced parallel cantilevered rods having free ends. The bag pack is threaded onto the support rods by means of the support orifices. The rack also includes a bag pack mouth support means which extends through suspension orifices just below the bag mouth in the front and rear walls thereof.

Description

F-6171 -1- 2~13~

HEADERLESS GROCER~ BAG PACK AND
DISPENSING AND LOADING SYSTEM

The present invention is concerned with a system for grocery bag pack support, easy dispensing, loading and removal of the loaded grocery bag from the system and a bag pack for use therein.
At least since the early 1980s, when plastic grocery bags promised to be a viable alternative for kraft paper grocery sacks, these plastic bags were manufactured in layflat stacks of bags and held together by means of a "header" at the region of the bag mouths. Even more recently, for example in Baxley U.S. Patent No. 4,676,378 and its reissue Patent No.
33,264, the inventors employ the prior art technique of utilizing a wasteful bag pack header in the formation of their bag packs, see e.g., Fig. 1, item 15 therein.
During the formation of packs of bags, a bag mouth and handle cutout remove plastic from one end of a stack of so-called end-sealed gusseted pillowcases. In order to maintain the plurality of stacked bags in a more or less fixed, stacked condition, extensions at the top center of the bag mouths are fastened together so that 50, 75, 100 or 125, etc., bags are bonded together.
This bonded extension is known in the art as a "header". The individual tab extensions are connected by a line of perforations, or other pre-weakening means, to the bag mouth region of each bag. As bags are serially used up at the front end of a supermarket, there remains, after the last bag has been used, the bonded header which ends up being discarded as waste.
The header of a bag pack would amount to a significant savings source if a bag pack, or a bag pack and system, could be devised which eliminates the need for a header and yet would not adversely impact the handling of bag 2 ~

packs and~or the effective dispensing of bags because of bag misalignment at the supermarket.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to eliminate the need for a header in the manufacture of thermoplastic film grocery bag packs.
It is another object of the present invention to present a system for effective baq pack support, easy dispensing, loading and removal of headerless grocery bags from the system.
The system of the present invention comprises, in combination:
(a) a pack of stacked thermoplastic film undershirt-type grocery bags, each bag comprising front, rear, gusseted side walls, a closed bottom and an open-mouth top portion, said open-mouth portion being free of any integral extension header of the film at the top center of the front and rear walls; said top portion having a pair of spaced double-film loop handles as integral extensions of said walls at opposite ends of said mouth, said handles having support orifices therein; the open-mouth top portion of said bag having suspension orifices centrally located just below the bag mouth edges;
(b) a rack for said bag pack comprising a pair of spaced, parallel cantilevered handle support rods having free outer ends, said rods functioning to support said bag pack from the support orifices of said handles; and (c) a bag pack mouth support means in association with said rack, said means extending through said mouth suspension orifices.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the subject system showing a bag rack suspending a bag pack and featuring centrally thereof a pack mouth support means;

Fig. 2 shows the system of Fig. 1 with the lead bag deployed into a position for receiving items by a bagger; and Fig. 3 shows a bag pack, partly broken away, and having handle and bag mouth orifices.
The present invention is concerned with a system in which a combination of a bag pack rack and a grocery sack pack is effectively utilized in an environment such as the front end of a supermarket. The contemplated thermoplastic film grocery bag packs are, in their essential features, well known. ~he individual bags are constructed of a thin film of thermoplastic material such as polyethylene or a copolymer of ethylene and another alpha-olefin. This copolymer material is commonly known as LLDPE. This material and high-density polyethylene are the most common films employed for grocery sacks. The individual bags have side gussets that yield double-film loop handles during a cutout technique which forms the top bag mouth and handles of the bag.
The bags are normally manufactured in bag pack combinations of registered bags numbering anywhere from 50 to 200 bays per pack. The bag packs contemplated herein will have an appropriate means in association with the handles so that the bag packs can be suspended from the handles at a point about intermediate the top of the handle and the base of the handle. This can be accomplished with bag pack structures such as those shown in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,493,419, Prader et al., 4,480,750, Dancy, 4,676,378 and its reissue, 33,264, Baxley et al., 4,811,417, Prince et al., etc. All of these bag packs include a suspension orifice in association with the handles. It is intended that the handles of bag packs of this type be threaded onto two elongated parallel cantilevered support rods in order F-6171 -4~

to maintain the bag pack in an upright position by suspension from the handles. The reason that the handle orifices are located at an approximate midway position between the top of the handles and the base of the handles, is that this permits the loops of the handles to be extended from a flattened position to an expanded position while still being suspended from the support rods. This is important because by this structural arrangement and combination, the front panel of the lead bag can be separated from the back panel of the lead bag so that the supermarket bagger can easily access the mouth entrance of each bag. The support rods can be long, so as to support both expanded double layers of each handle loop, or short, so as to just support the rear layers of the loops.
In its basic essentials, the rack to be used with the bag packs of the present invention must have two spaced parallel cantilevered support rods located so as to receive the handles o~ the bag pack and maintain the bag pack in an upright position for easy access by a supermarket bagger.
In accordance with the present invention, the bag packs contemplated herein do not contain and are free of the prior art "header" tabs seen in many prior art patents such as Baxley et al., 4,676,378. As indicated above, this "header" comprises the overall collection of tab extensions connected to the front and the rear central region of each bag mouth, which are bonded together and include an orifice somewhere in the central region thereof. The individual tabs which make up the "header" are connected usually by a line of perforations at the bag mouthO This permits individual bags to be torn free of the header serially. After all the bags have been torn free of the header, this header F-6171 ~5~

3 ~ ~

is discarded. This accounts for a significant waste of material.
Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown a rack and bag pack system 10 having a pack 12 of a plurality of bags suspended from a bag pack rack 14. Rack 14 includes a rack baseplate 16. Extending upwardly from the baseplate are a pair of spaced vertical rods 18. The vertical rods carry a cross-brace 20. Cantilevered from vertical rods 18 are support rods 22. Centered approximately midway of the cross-brace 20 is a bag pack mouth support means 24. As shown, support means 24 can be a flat member or it can be wire-form. Means 24 is sized in relation to orifice 44, described below, so as to inhibit movement of the bag pack as a first bag is removed. This rack is designed to function with a pack of thermoplastic grocery bags, the individual bags of which include the following structure: a front bag wall 26, a rear bag wall 28, opposed gusseted sidewalls 30, a closed bottom 32, an open mouth top 34, double-film loop handles 36 and in the handles, about midway between the top of the handle seal and the base of the handle, are support orifices 38. Just below the bag mouth are orifices 44, through which support means 24 extends. Orifices 38 and 44 can be of any geometric shape consistent with its support means. A curved slit is preferred. A straight, zig-zag or circular orifice can also be used. In order to maintain the plurality of stacked bags in a more or less orderly stacked registration, various means can be used in order to releasably fix the bags in such registration. One means of accomplishing this is to employ a hot needle and releasably tack each adjacent handle region together throughout the bag pack. This effectively keeps the handles together and, thus, the bags of the bag pack in registration. This is illustrated at point 40 in the Figures. An alternative or cumulative technique for temporarily fixing this registration is, during the formatiQn of the support orifices 38 adjacent films become somewhat inter-confused physically so that the bag films in this region tend to remain together until some moderate force separates them. In addition, an alternative or, again, cumulative technique of maintaining the bags in registration is to releasably adhesively bond adjacent outside film layers together such as by providing for adhesion either in the handles or in the bag mouth region. This is illustrated at area 42 in the Figures.
This can be applied by employing a topical, low-aggression adhesive, or by ensuring that corona discharge has occurred in this region coupled with sufficient pressure to cause the adjacent surfaces to lightly adhere together.
Fig. 1, as indicated above, shows the system in a standby condition ready to be employed in the bagging of groceries in the front end of a supermarket. The length of the support rods 22 must be ~ufficient to permit expansion of the loop handles 36 and support at least the back of the loop. In operation, the bagger accesses the front panel of the lead bag of the pack and draws it forward a short distance as shown in Fig.
2. During this operation, support means 24 operates to resist any movement in the direction of the draw and causes the front panel at the bag mouth to separate from the rear panel at the bag mouth and also to expand or open the handle loops. Thus, with one swipe of the hand this positions the lead bag in a ready position for the bagging of supermarket articles.
The support means 24, by having a slight upward bend, performs the function of holding back the top center of the bag pack, thus preventing all or some of F-6171 -7- 2 ~

the bag pack from sliding forward as the bagger exerts a pulling force on the lead bag. The number and actual design of the restraint means is not important so long as the structure will support and pre~ent forward movement of the bag pack.
The Figures reveal several means for releasably maintaining the bags in registration to facilitate easy suspension of the pack from the support orifices 38.
These means are shown at 40 where a hot needle has releasably bonded adjacent film layers together;
adhesive area 42 shown at a region near the bag mouth;
and light bonding at the support orifices 38. These means also have an important secondary function. For example, the hot needle bonded area not only tends to keep the handles and therefore the bag pack in registration, but as a bag is removed from the pack, the bonding force between the departing bag and the next bag in succession is sufficient to cause the succeeding bag in the heat-bonded area to want to follow along at least a short distance before the departing force overcomes the lightly adhesive force.
This tendency is beneficial because the result is that the next succeeding bag is partially in an open position rather than a layflat or collapsed condition.
In a collapsed, layflat condition, the bagger will find access to the mouth entrance of the bag a little more difficult than if the top of the bag were partially open. Thus, when this more or less automatic partial opening occurs, more efficient utilization of the dispensing system results. The same is true of the orifices 38. These orifices are usually made by some type of cutting or piercing instrument which tends to inter-confuse the orifices' edges, one layer to the next, with the result that the attempt to separate one film of the bag by pulling on it, alone results in the F-6171 -8- ~0~

next succeeding film tending to follow along, thus also assisting in partially opening the next succeeding bag.
Likewise, by placing an adhesive condition, such as that shown at 42, on the front wall of each bag near the bag mouth or at the rear wall near the bag mouth or in both locations, not only does this assist in maintaining the bags in effective registration, but on overcoming the adhesive contact between films, the next succeeding bag in the bag mouth region is effectively opened. This will occur in spite of the location of support means 24. Support means 24 can be positioned as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and, in spite of this location, on removal of the lead bag, the next succeeding bag will tend to partially open as a result of the adherence between the departing bag and the next succeeding bag due to the adhesion described above at 40, 38 and/or 42.
The bag packs described herein may be prepared by any process or system which will result in the defined bag packs. One suitable technique can be described as follows:
A thermoplastic tube, for example, of a polyethylene film, is flattened and gusseted so that the gussets extend inwardly from the sides to an extent such as is suggested by Fig. 2. Thereafter, the gusseted tube is sealed transversely along spaced lines which ultimately constitute the seals at the ends of the handles and at the bottom of the bag. By this technique, a series of interconnected "pillowcases" is continuously formed. After separation and stacking, a suitable mechanism will cut out one end of the pillowcase stack to form the double-film loop handles and the bag mouth region of the bags. At the same time or thereafter, a suitable mechanism will form the suspension orifices through all of the layers of each ~-6171 -9-of the handles. This device can be a simple piercing knife which forms a straight line slit in the handles.
A circular punch, alternatively, may create holes all the way through a region midway between the top and the base of the handles. Also, simultaneously or sequentially, the layers of the handles may be lightly heat-sealed together by means of a hot needle passing through all the films. During formation of the pillowcases, adhesive region 42 can be applied so that it will be adjacent to bag mouth 34 after the handle cutout and bag mouth is created.
By this technique, bag packs are adapted to be received by the abo~e-described bag rack. Thus, the system of the present invention advances the art by eliminating the need for any centrally-located header with the consequent savings in raw material and elimination of the creation of one more aspect of environmental waste. The described system accomplishes these advantages while still providing a facile system for utilizing thin film plastic grocery sacks in a supermarket environment.
Thus, while there have been described what are presently believe to be the preferred embodiments of the present invention, other and further modifications and changes may be made without departing from the true spirit of the invention, and it is intended to claim all such changes and modifications which come within the true scope of the invention.

Claims (5)

1. A system for dispensing plastic grocery sacks comprising in combination;
a) a pack of stacked thermoplastic film undershirt-type grocery bags, each bag comprising front, rear, gusseted side walls, a closed bottom and an open-mouth top portion, the open-mouth portion being free of any integral extension header of the film at the top center of the front and rear walls; the top portion having a pair of spaced double film loop handles as integral extensions of the walls at opposite ends of the mouth, the handles having support orifices therein; the open-mouth top portion of the bag having suspension orifices centrally located just below the bag mouth edges;
b) a rack for the bag pack comprising a pair of spaced, parallel cantilevered handle support rods having free outer ends, the rods functioning to support the bag pack from the support orifices of the handles;
and c) a bag pack mouth support means in association with the rack, the means extending through the mouth suspension orifices.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the bag pack mouth support means is a flat member having a slightly upwardly curved end extending through the mouth suspension orifices.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the bag pack mouth support means is sized so as to resist bag pack movement at the bag mouth region of the bag pack.

4. A headerless plastic undershirt type bag pack comprising a plurality of the bags in at least general stacked registration, each of the bags having a front and rear wall connected by gusseted side walls, a sealed bottom an open mouth top portion and double film handles as integral extensions of the walls, the handles having suspension orifices therein and the bag mouth having suspension orifices centrally located in the front and rear walls just below the bag mouth line.

5. In an undershirt type bag pack comprising a plurality of the bags in stacked registration, each bag having a front and rear wall connected by gusseted side walls, a sealed bottom, and an open mouth top portion extending between a pair of spaced double film handles as integral extensions of the walls at opposite ends of the mouth portion, the handles having suspension orifices therein, the improvement comprising providing registered suspension orifices in the back and front walls just below the bag mouth.