CZ20001951A3 - Bag for ice cubes and process for producing thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An ice cube bag comprises two sheet-shaped foil layers (12, 14; 12', 14') defining an outer periphery. A peripheral joint (20, 21, 21a, 21b) extends along the major part of the outer periphery of the foil layers, with the exception of a peripheral area constituting a inlet aperture of said bag (10). Their peripheral joint joins the foil layers together defining an inner chamber which is divided into several ice cube compartments defined by separate joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) of the foil layers. An inlet channel extends from the inlet aperture to the inner chamber of the bag hereby allowing admission from the surroundings to the inner chamber of the bag through the inlet channel. Each of said separate joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) is constituted by a number of individual joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29), each of these individual joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) establishing a connection between the two sheet-shaped foil layers (12, 14; 12', 14') with such a joint strength and with such a limited area extension that the individual joint is not broken when the foil layers (12, 12; 12', 14') are exposed to a separation force, but provides a tearing apart or perforation (44) in one of the foil layers (12, 14; 12', 14') along the periphery of said individual joints. Hereby an ice cube bag is obtained which is easy to open by tearing it apart.

Description

The present invention relates to an ice cube bag comprising:

two sheets of sheets having the same geometric configuration and defining an outer periphery, a peripheral joint extending along most of the outer periphery of the film layers, with the exception of the region forming the bag inlet channel, the peripheral joint joining the film layers together, in particular overlapping each other the compartment of the bag, the inner compartment of which is divided into a plurality of ice cube compartments which are mutually delimited by separate foil-layer joints, an inlet channel defined by the foil-layer joints and extending from the inlet channel to the inner compartment of the bag to allow access from the environment to the interior chamber bag-inlet channel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A number of ice bags are known in the art, for example from US Patent No. 3,207,420, US Patent No. Re. No. 31,890, U.S. Patent No. 4,822,180, corresponding to EP No. 0 264 407, published European Patent Application No. 0 129 072, International Application Publication No. WO 82/00279, International Application No. WO 87/01183, corresponding to European patent No. 0 248 817, international application no.

WO 86/04561, International Application No. WO 92/15491, corresponding to European Patent No. 0 574 49, and European Published Publication No. 0 619 948, and Danish Patent No. 172 066, corresponding to Published European Patent Application No. 0 795 393 In this series of applications to which reference is made and which in the specification are incorporated by reference to several designs of ice cube bags of different embodiments having different closure devices described, including:

It is generally known in the art that ice cube bags can be either glued or welded, in the aforementioned Danish patent and corresponding European application, an industrial method of making an ice cube bag having continuous coils is described. or intermittent welds.

It is generally known in the art that ice cube bags can be made with very strong welds or gluing, creating a safe and reliable content of ice cubes produced using an ice cube bag. Similarly, it is generally understood that it may often be very difficult for consumers to open an ice cube bag in which the ice cube is contained, since the foil used, especially commonly used polyethylene plastic foil and very strong joints, cause the ice cube bag to tear or open is quite difficult. The international application published under WO 87/01183 and the corresponding European Patent No. 0 248 817 disclose the construction of an ice cube bag, in which gluing is advantageously used to form joints inside the ice cube bag. Later the joints can be easily separated to turn the ice cube bag with individual compartments into a non-compartment ice cube bag. The European patent states that the joints allow the ice cube bag to be converted from a ice cube bag divided into compartments into a non-compartment ice cube bag, since the welds or glueing enable a person skilled in the art to derive such a technique that creates weak welds allowing the splitting of the joints in the case of converting the ice cube bag from compartmental to non-compartmental. In this sense, it is specifically stated in the European patent that tearing off the joints, in particular by gluing, will not cause any damage to the walls of the ice cube bag, i. it does not tear the ice cube bag but merely separates the previously made joints.

The present invention is based on the problem or task of making an ice cube bag of the type mentioned in the introduction.

4 • 4 kterého ·· '· which can be easily torn in an ice cube bag after a series of ice cubes have been made in the ice cube bag, by pouring water into the ice cube bag, which is then frozen in a very freezer low temperature, home freezer, freezer or the like. As such, this problem or task entails a great contradiction because, on the one hand, a reliable sealing of the ice cube bag must be made to prevent leakage due to weak joints in the ice cube bag, including welds or glued joints that may unpredictably loosen and causing leakage. On the other hand, the requirement to create an ice cube bag that allows the user to easily enter its interior and remove the ice cube from inside the bag means that the seams should be weak to facilitate tearing of the ice cube bag .

The invention is based on the fact that by means of a suitable geometric construction of the joints which separate the inner chambers of the ice cube bag into a series of ice cube compartments, these joints can be made so that these joints are preferably made using the same technique and with the same strength as the other joints of the ice cube bag may have opened the ice cube bag after making the ice cubes or ice pieces by freezing the water contained in the inner chamber of the ice cube bag.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above object is achieved by the ice cube bag according to the present invention and the above problem is solved according to the present invention which consists in that each of the individual joints defining adjacent ice cube compartments relative to each other is formed by several separate joints and each of these separate joints forms a connection between two sheet plies having such joint strength and thus 4

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A limited area of area that the joint does not tear when the film layers are subjected to separating force, but

with tear or perforation in one of foil layers along the perimeter appropriate joints. The essence design bag on ice cubes according to submitted invention rests further in that joints

the defining compartments for the ice cube in the interior of the ice cube bag are formed by a series of individual seams, each forming such a connection between two planar layers of the ice cube bag that the respective seam cannot tear or break itself, but at the same time, due to the limited area of the respective seam, it is possible for the seam to tear or detach from one of the film layers of the ice cube bag if the two layers of the ice cube bag sheet are pulled apart and seek to separate them. First of all, it should be noted that tearing or perforation is not in itself conditioned by a particular orientation of force, but according to the solution of the present invention it has proved advantageous that freezing water in the interior of the ice cube bag into ice pieces causes the foil layers to expand. simply bending the ice cube bag may in itself cause the necessary tearing or perforation of one of the film layers of the ice cube bag, since the expanded film layers create substantial tension in one of the sheet film layers, which then causes tearing or perforation.

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Secondly, it should be noted that the separate joints characteristic of the present invention cannot be compared to what is disclosed in the aforementioned European patent no. No. 0 248 817 and that suitable surface welds can be made as micro welds which can be separated in the sense of the technical effect of this European patent. In contrast to this technical effect described in European Patent No. 0 248 817, according to the present invention, the correct tearing or perforation of one or both of these

The two layers of sheets are made when the ice cube bag according to the present invention is to be opened or torn.

It should further be noted that the design of the ice cube partitioning joints of the invention due to the very limited distance between the ice cube compartments results in better utilization of the ice cube bag compartments compared to known commercial ice cube bags because of the ice cube bag type further described by way of example, it has a total liquid volume of 480 g and ice cube bags which are commercially available usually have a liquid volume of 280 to 370 g.

A further advantage of the ice cube bag according to the present invention is that the individual ice cube compartments can be provided with corner joints between the individual ice cube compartments, as opposed to conventional ice cube bags having, in turn, joints defining or separating the ice cube compartments in the ice cube. corners between sections on ice cubes. Therefore, it is easier and faster to fill the interior of the ice cube bag as compared to known commercial ice cube bags and a larger internal volume, i.e. liquid volume, of the ice cube bag is achieved.

The individual joints of the present invention delimiting the ice cube compartments in the inner chamber of the ice cube bag are, as described below, usually placed in rows in a perpendicular pattern in the ice cube bag, which requires the use of a minimum surface area of two flat foil layers for separating joints. ice cubes and at the same time represents a very good definition of the distribution of the finished ice cubes or ice pieces contained in the ice cube bag, since the ice cubes will usually be defined by straight lines according to the perpendicular pattern above.

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In order to increase the technical effect of tearing or perforating in one of the film layers of the ice cube bag according to the present invention, if the ice cube bag is to be peeled or opened, it is preferred that the said joints be spaced apart so that the individual joints tearing or perforation in one of the film layers, have created a direction for a line of punching in one of the film layers, thereby obtaining a particularly simple tear-off or opening effect.

In conjunction with the foils commonly used in foils today, the effect, i.e. the effect of industry breakage, in particular of the polyethylene of the present invention has been found to be characteristic of the present invention, or perforation by breaking or opening the ice cube bag obtains if the coefficient calculated from the area of a single joint expressed in square millimeters divided by the circumference or closed curve length of the same joint measured in millimeters, they are in the range of 0.025 mm and 0.5 mm, preferably in the range of 0.125 mm and 0.375 mm, e.g. 0.25 mm.

In conjunction with commercially used films, tests have shown that the technical effect of the present invention can be obtained if each of said individual seams has an area corresponding to a circle area having a diameter of 0.1 mm to 5 mm, eg 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm preferably 0.9 mm to 1.0 mm, e.g. 0.5 mm to 0.8 mm, 0.8 mm to 1 mm, 1 mm to 1.2 mm or 1.2 mm to 1.5 mm .

Although with the development and implementation based on the present invention, the inventor has conducted surface welding tests in the manufacture of ice cube bags, it should be noted that the technical effect characteristic of the present invention is to achieve opening or tearing off the ice cube bag by tearing or perforating one from film layers, can also be achieved using adhesive techniques. It is a feature of the invention how

It has already been described that all connections of an ice cube bag can be advantageously made using only one technique and preferably in one and only way, eg by welding, resulting in a substantially higher production cost compared to methods in which the internal joints separating the compartments is produced by one technique, while peripheral joints are produced by another technique. Therefore, according to the present invention, a preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag proves that the peripheral joint as well as the joints defining the inner channel and said individual joints are formed by gluing or preferably by welding.

However, the individual joints mentioned above which are characteristic of the present invention for producing the above-mentioned tearing or perforation of one of the film layers, the other of the film layers, or both foils along the periphery of the joint may be of any geometrical shape. circular shape. Alternatively, the individual joints may have the shape of an ellipse, straight sections, triangles, rectangles, squares, polygons, their shape may be any convex or concave contour, or may be a combination of any of these shapes.

According to two further embodiments of the ice cube bag according to the present invention, one of these embodiments of the ice cube bag is formed as a self-closing bag in which the flat foil layers are provided with elongations forming two shut-off valve flaps located in the inlet opening extending from the inlet opening and into the inner space of the bag towards the inner compartment of the bag along the inlet duct and which are connected by the aforementioned inlet duct defined by the joint so that two closure pockets are formed which are open towards the inner compartment of the bag while the ice cube bag according to the second the design is a bag with a nodal closure, perforations or cutouts are made in two • 4 ·· »4 4 · · 444 • 4 4 ·· ··

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The flat foil layers outside the inlet duct defined by the joint are allowed to bind the foil material on both sides of the inlet duct, thereby forming a closing node by which the inlet duct is closed.

As mentioned above, the ice cube bag may preferably be made of a plastic film material, especially polyethylene, preferably LDPE or HDPE or other film material that can be glued or welded, preferably a plastic or polymeric material or an aluminum film material or a combination such foil materials, e.g., a plastic coated aluminum foil material.

The ice cube bag of the present invention may, according to another embodiment, be provided or formed with a large or small number of ice cube compartments, i. it may be provided with two or more compartments for ice cubes. In certain embodiments, the ice cube bag has a very limited number of individual ice cube compartments, eg, two, three, or four ice cube compartments, given the size of the two foil sheets from which the ice cube bag is made and formed relatively large cubes or pieces of ice for industrial or consumer use. However, in these preferred embodiments of the ice cube bag of the present invention, preferably more than four, e.g., 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 30 or 3 6 ice cube compartments are shown, for example, 15 or 21 ice cube compartments are also possible. An embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the present invention having one single ice cube compartment delimited by the interior space of the ice cube bag may be used for special purposes.

The individual ice cube compartments can be delimited individually by separate joints that are characteristic of the present invention, but at other times they can be grouped in separate compartments, allowing opening or tearing> 0

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Remove only a limited number of ice cubes from the ice cube bag from the ice cube bag instead of removing all ice cubes from the ice cube bag.

As will be described in greater detail below, the shape, orientation and relative distance and position of the individual seams defining the ice cube compartments within the interior of the ice cube bag determines a greater or lesser degree of direction of application of the tear or perforation technique of the present invention. Further, as will also be described below, it should be noted that the number of individual junctions defining two adjacent ice cube sections relative to each other is important in itself to obtain the functional characteristics of the invention, as well as the number of individual junctions either in the form of an even number or an odd number is important because tearing or perforating one of the film layers of the ice cube bag by opening or tearing off the ice cube bag will be important.

Although the ice cube bag according to the present invention can in fact be made of arbitrarily shaped sheets of film, including non-rectangular film layers of eg elliptical, polygonal or triangular sheet, it is preferred that both sheets of sheet are substantially rectangular.

According to particular further features of the ice cube bag according to the present invention, the ice cube bag is preferably - as described below - provided with expansion chambers located on one or both sides of the inlet channel, one or more joints being arranged from the inner chamber of the ice cube bag to the respective expansion chamber or expansion chambers.

In order to further facilitate tearing or opening the ice cube bag according to the present invention, tearing perforations in the tearing direction of the ice cube bag may be formed in the ice cube bag.

two sheets of sheet film outside the inner channel as will be explained below, which makes it possible, in combination, to use the tear or perforation characteristic of the present invention in one of the film layers of the ice cube bag and at the same time tear the ice cube bag by the above tear perforation.

The essence of the ice cube bag, in particular for freezing pieces of ice or ice cubes, and in particular the ice cube bag having a self-closing function according to the present invention, is in particular comprising:

two planar film layers having substantially the same geometric shapes and defining an outer periphery of a peripheral joint extending along most of the outer periphery of the film layers except for a peripheral surface forming the bag inlet opening, the peripheral joint of which interconnects the film layers, wherein the inner chamber is formed by at least one ice cube compartment, and preferably some ice cube compartments are interconnected and are delimited by separate film layer joints, an inlet channel delimited by the separate film layer joints and extending from the inner bag compartment to the inlet opening allowing access from surrounding into the inner chamber of the bag through the inlet channel, two shut-off valve flaps, connected to the foil layers at the inlet opening and passing from the inlet opening to the inner space of the bag towards the inner chamber of the bag along the inner channel, the shut-off valve flaps are connected to each other and joined to the sheets by separate joints defining an inlet channel to form two closure pockets that are open toward the inner compartment of the bag, the inlet channel comprising first and second portions, the first portion being formed immediately behind the inlet opening and the second part joining the first part of the ice cube compartment or compartments, the first part having a shape that tapers towards the compartment or compartments φφ ····

Φ) ΦΦ φ · · · · · · ♦ · · · · ·

In the transition between the first and second parts, a narrowing is made and the inlet channel defines the first direction forming the longitudinal direction of the channel and the second direction in a plane parallel to the two film layers and perpendicular to the first direction.

A number of ice cube bags are known in the art, e.g. from US Patent No. 3207420, US Patent No. Re. No. 31890, US Patent No. 4822180, corresponding to European Patent No. 0 264 407, European Patent Application No. 0 129 072, International Patent Applications published under WO 82/00279, International Patent Applications Publication No. WO 87/01183, International Patent Applications International Patent Application Publication No. WO 92/15491, corresponding to European Patent No. 574,596 and the corresponding U.S. Patent No. 5,527,012, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, and U.S. Patents are incorporated herein by reference. . A method of making ice cube bags of this kind is further known from Danish Patent Application Publication No. 1029/96, with priority being given to Danish Patent Application No. 343/96, to which International Patent Application Publication No. 2001/005.

PCT / DK97 / 00127 as well as European Patent Application No. 96510031.5.

In the above-mentioned re-issued US Patent No. Re. 31890, an ice cube bag has been described and shown, see Fig. 7 and the corresponding part of the description, comprising two closing flaps that form a check valve in the self-closing cap of the ice cube bag.

European Patent No. 0 574 496 describes an ice cube bag of the type mentioned in the introduction. In this known ice cube bag, the shut-off valve flaps are preferably formed such that the shut-off valve flaps extend to a position in the center of the second portion of the inlet duct, but according to other embodiments described in the European patent, the shut-off valve flaps

they may extend to a position either at the inner end of the inlet duct, i.e. substantially along the entire length of the inlet duct, or to a position immediately after the constriction. In any case, the ice cube bag described in the European patent is formed so that the shut-off valve flaps pass beyond the constriction. Furthermore, the ice cube bag described in the European patent No. 0 574 496 is formed so that the shut-off valve flaps are formed not only the static closure of the ice cube bag interior, but the venturi effect will also be a dynamic shut-off function with the geometric shape of the second inlet channel where the dynamic closure of the ice cube bag interior is secured by reliably filling the closing pockets formed behind the shut-off valve flaps these pockets are initially partially filled with air and therefore insufficiently filled with water.

European Patent No. 0 264 407 similarly describes an ice cube bag in which the inlet duct is delimited by a first weld seam forming an inlet of a funnel shape from which further weld seams facing one another pass inward from below the center of the inlet duct. and forming spikes facing each other to form a narrowing of the inlet channel. The flaps of the ice cube bag shut-off valve known from the European patent extend from the inlet opening substantially along the entire length of the inlet duct but not beyond the inlet duct and thereby into the interior of the ice cube bag.

It is a general feature of these ice cube bags that a safe and reliable closure, in particular a static closure of the interior of the ice cube bag, i. the closure behind which the closing pockets formed behind the shut-off valve flaps are completely filled with liquid or preferably water is conditioned by the shut-off valve flaps having a much longer length than the length of the inlet duct and according to European Patent No. 0 264 407 having a length corresponding to the length of the inlet channel.

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According to another embodiment described in European Patent No. 0 574 496, the shut-off valve flaps have a shortened length compared to the length of the inlet duct, but in any case, the shut-off valve flap length must be set such that the shut-off valve flaps extend beyond the constriction. Therefore, in order to achieve a secure and reliable static closure of the ice cube bag, it is considered necessary that the shut-off valve flaps pass through the constriction.

This feature of the present invention is based on the fact that it has been found that the dynamic as well as the static safety closure of the interior of the ice cube bag can be achieved with an ice cube bag of this type, even though the shut-off valve flaps have a smaller length compared to decisive criteria for achieving a safe and reliable closure of the interior of the ice cube bag. Therefore, by reducing the length of the shut-off valve flaps, a number of significant advantages are achieved. First, the material consumption per ice cube bag will be reduced compared to the ice cube bag in which the shut-off valve flaps extend, for example, over the whole. the length of the inlet channel, secondly, with the same material consumption, a greater net inner volume of the ice cube bag interior is obtained and the third source of savings relates to less water consumption because the volume of liquid or water in the closure pockets decreases in proportion to the closure flap length since the liquid or water content limited in the closure pockets formed behind the shut-off valve flaps, such as the volume of liquid or water enclosed in the interior of the ice cube bag to be frozen, requiring cooling energy and therefore reduced volume the stop valve pockets accordingly reduce the cooling energy required to freeze the amount of liquid or water enclosed in the ice cube bag.

It has therefore surprisingly been found in connection with a particular feature of the present invention that in order to achieve a safe and reliable closure of the interior of the ice cube bag both static and dynamic, it is sufficient that the ice cube bag described at the beginning is made with closure flaps extending from the inlet along the entire length, see the aforementioned first direction of the first portion of the inlet channel and to taper and to transition between the first and second portions of the inlet channel, but not beyond the narrowing and into the second portion of the inlet channel.

Thus, according to a particular feature of the present invention, a secure and reliable closure of the interior of the ice cube bag is ensured when the shut-off valve flaps defining the closure pocket pass into a position against the constriction but not beyond the constriction and into the second portion of the inlet channel.

It is stated in the description of the above-described European Patent No. 0 264 407 that it is very important for achieving a reliable closing function that the constriction is correctly defined and in the described and illustrated embodiment is in the form of a triangle with special welds directed towards each other. forming peaks facing each other and forming a narrowing of the inlet channel. Similarly, in European Patent No. 0574 596, two embodiments are shown, in one of which the constriction is defined by vertices facing each other and in the other, the constriction of the boundary joint is reinforced by circular joint stiffeners provided at the ends of the constriction of the boundary joint.

In this regard, it has been found in the present invention that in order to achieve a safe and reliable both static and dynamic closure of such an ice cube bag, the constriction must be delimited by point-shaped or circular joints which may in certain cases present technical manufacturing difficulties thus sharply defined joints, especially when the joints are made by welding. In addition to a preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag of the present invention, the ice cube bag according to another embodiment is characterized by the fact that the constriction at the transition between the first and second portions of the inlet channel is provided with joints not containing geometric interruptions and and joints forming a second portion of the inlet channel.

In order to achieve this particular feature of the present invention, that is, the shut-off valve flaps extend only from the inlet opening to the tapered position, i.e., to the tapered position. in the transition between the first and second portions of the inlet duct, and not beyond the constriction and into the second portion of the inlet duct, the ice cube bag according to this preferred embodiment of the invention is further preferably characterized by shutter valve flaps extending to an intermediate position relative to the constriction defined by the joint In the manufacture of ice cube bags of the kind described above, which is carried out by joining the continuous sheets of film and then splicing the joined sheets of film, the position of the two portions of the film is shaped. of the shut-off valve and the shut-off valve flap will undesirably shift under normal production conditions, which in practice has no relevance to the function or appearance of the ice cube bag, but may make it difficult to perform the above feature of this particular aspect of the present invention the closing valve flap against the constriction if the constriction is very short in the aforementioned first direction, i.e. in the longitudinal direction of the inlet channel. Therefore, it has been found that the constriction limiting joints may be formed in a geometric shape diverging from vertices or circles, in particular in a shape that does not contain geometric breaks, but may further be designed such that the individual constriction limiting joints exhibit elongation in the aforementioned first direction, i.e. in the longitudinal direction of the inlet channel, which is not insignificant as a point-shaped joint in relation to

Width, in particular the maximum width of the joint defining the taper. According to the above-defined feature, i.e. in a construction without geometric interruptions, these joints limiting the constriction may define a convex or concave constriction or alternatively and preferably a constriction delimited by rectangular parallel joints.

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Now it will be briefly described through very well

And known geometric principles, which means in this context the term geometric interruption. The curve, in particular the edge curve of the joint, defines the geometric perimeter or curve shape. This curve shape is bounded by a tangent at any point in the curve, and in this sense a geometrically continuous curve is a curve whose tangent changes its slope along this curve continuously. Therefore, geometric continuity means that at a given point, the smoothness of the tangent of the curve does not exist, but there is an offset or a jump from one tangent direction to another tangent direction.

According to a preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag according to this particular feature of the present invention, and to accomplish the main object of keeping the amount of water enclosed in the closure pockets as small as possible for the above reasons, the first inlet port and the second inlet port are formed with substantially the same extension. beyond the above-mentioned first direction, i. in this preferred embodiment, the constriction, in the longitudinal direction of the inlet channel, is located approximately přibližně of the center or preferably in the center of the inlet channel.

In one embodiment of the ice cube bag according to a particular feature of the present invention, the inlet channel is made substantially symmetrically with respect to the central taper axis in the aforementioned second direction, in particular to accomplish the above task, substantially the same length when viewed in the longitudinal direction of the inlet channel.

Similar to the known ice cube bags described, the inlet channel is preferably substantially symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal axis of the channel.

The flaps of the ice cube bag shut-off valve according to a particular feature of the present invention may be formed by separate flaps-shaped portions that can be made of the same material as the foil portions of the ice cube bag or other material having greater or less flexibility. In a preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag according to this particular feature of the invention, the shut-off valve flaps consist of bent portions of portions of the sheet of flat sheet. Thus, according to a preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag according to this particular feature of the present invention, the shut-off valve flaps are formed by integral parts or portions of the strips of the ice cube bag foil. If the shut-off valve flaps consist of separate parts or parts, the shut-off valve flaps may be secured to the portions of the film web by means of a joint which, depending on the material used for the portions of the film web and the valve valves, may be performed by gluing or welding.

The ice cube bag according to this particular feature of the present invention can be produced by the methods disclosed in the aforementioned European Patent No. 0 574 496 and thus can be performed with a dynamic self-closing function, which in the aforementioned European patent is designed as a venturi closure. In this regard, reference should be made to the aforementioned European patent, which describes this function, since this ice cube bag can be made such that the constriction at the transition between the first and second portions serves to effect the venturi effect to produce a relative pressure drop a constriction to close the channel in the constriction as the liquid flows from the second part by a constriction towards the first part to produce a self-closing effect.

The ice cube bag according to this particular feature of the present invention may further be made, in accordance with the facts described in the aforementioned European Patent No. 0 574 496, such that the second part comprises a chamber which is well delimited by joints adjacent to the constriction and diverging substantially in a second direction, and which is connected by means of lateral joints to other joints adjacent to the aforementioned ice cube compartments and diverging in the second direction to at least one channel leading to the inner portion of the ice cube bag.

Further, in this preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag according to this particular feature of the present invention, it is preferred that the second portion has a maximum dimension in the second direction of at least twice the constriction dimension in the same direction to form a water reservoir and liquid from which liquid can flow unhindered into the inlet opening through the constriction after the ice cube bag has been filled with liquid or water through the inlet opening in the first position in which the inlet opening is facing upwards and after the ice cube bag has been turned into another position in which the opening opening is facing down.

In this preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag according to this particular feature of the present invention, it is further preferred that the maximum dimension of the second portion in the second direction of the inlet duct is 2 to 7 times the taper dimension, preferably 2.4 to 5 times, such as e.g. 2.6 to 3.4 times the taper dimension.

First, the first portion of the inlet duct serves to form an inlet duct that can safely guide the incoming water, e.g., as a spout, into the interior of the ice cube bag and thus preferably forms a funnel inlet in the first portion of the duct. In order to form such an inlet funnel formed by the first part of the inlet channel, it is preferred that the dimension first

η ft ft of the portion of the channel in the second direction of the inlet channel in the aforementioned inlet was approximately twice the taper dimension in the aforementioned second direction.

To form such a funnel-shaped first portion of the inlet channel, the first portion of the channel is preferably delimited by lines forming lines or curves forming either a convex or concave first portion of the channel. Alternatively, the first portion of the channel may be a portion that is not funnel-shaped but may be formed only as an inlet pipe or may have the shape or configuration of an inverted funnel.

Similarly, the first portion is preferably formed by joints forming lines or curves, the second portion of the inlet channel preferably being defined by joints forming partially lines, partly curves such as sections or circles delimited by the second portion of the convex or concave configuration or as symmetrical in the above an inverted geometric design with respect to the first portion of the inlet channel.

From Danish Patent No. 172 066 and the corresponding published patent application, Publication No. 0 795 393, a method for making ice cube bags or corresponding bags of welded plastic foils is known. It has been found in the industry that this method is very advantageous because the method has made it possible to produce ice cube bags or corresponding bags from very thin plastic films with a frequency error of virtually zero, i.e., in the form of a bag. less than one mistake per million bags.

According to a particular embodiment, the above-described ice cube bag according to the present invention may be formed with individual spot or line welds, circumferential welds, and other welds that are common to ice cube bags produced by line welds, instead of the present invention, where they are created as «

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welds consisting of spot welds or welds formed in straight sections.

Such an ice cube bag having separate point or section welds allows further development of the method known from the aforementioned Danish patent and the aforementioned published European patent application, this further development makes it possible to reduce the time during which plastic or at least partially molten plastic films are softened after performing the compaction or welding operation, they are supported by a strip of heat-resistant material, since the precision welds formed by points or straight sections between each other form unconverted areas and therefore non-molten film material and thus form reinforcement and reinforcement conventional ice cube bags having welds in the form of straight sections.

In the method described in the aforementioned Danish patent and the aforementioned published European patent application, according to another feature of the present invention, it can be developed according to point iii) by performing a compression or welding operation during which the aforementioned pressed or welded regions of the finished ice cube bag or corresponding bag have single point welds or welds in the form of straight sections where non-welded material exists between the point welds or in the form of straight sections, forming continuous areas of the un welded material, and tearing off the high temperature resistant material strip from the adhered plastic films according to v) is performed immediately after operation pressing or welding.

According to this particular feature of the present invention, the method can further advantageously be carried out by means of the embodiments set forth in claims 33 to 46.

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG

Exemplary embodiments of the ice cube bag of the present invention are shown in the drawings, wherein Fig. 1a is a schematic side view of a preferred embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the present invention;

FIG. 1b is a cross-sectional view of the upper portion of the first preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1b;

Fig. 2 is a schematic and perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag of the present invention shown in Figs. 1a and 1b after being filled with water and after the water has frozen on ice to produce ice cubes enclosed in the ice cube bag;

Figures 3a and 3b are schematic and perspective views of two stages of operation during which the ice cube bag shown in Figure 2 and containing the ice cube is torn off to remove the ice cube enclosed in the bag;

Figures 4a and 4b are perspective and cross-sectional views of further details of the tear-off operation schematically shown in Figures 3a and 3b;

Fig. 5 is a schematic view corresponding to Fig. 1a of the upper portion of the second embodiment of the ice cube bag according to the invention;

6a and 6b correspond to FIGS. 4a and show the result of bending the second embodiment of the ice cube bag according to the invention shown in FIG. 5, transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the ice cube bag and respectively. longitudinally to the ice cube bag, to produce a tear-off or, respectively. tearing the ice cube bag and removing the ice cube separation in the ice cube bag;

Fig. 7a is a schematic view corresponding to Fig. 1a and Fig. 5 of a third embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the invention; Fig. 7b is a schematic view of a detail of a modified side weld with respect to the embodiment of the ice cube bag of the invention shown in Fig. 7a;

^ 3S9SSSS8ESS8SSEBSS & SS3BESS8SSS »^^^ 9RSi ^ S ^ S3a 0 ·» 0 * · • 0 · · ·· • 00 00 * * 1 * • • »00 · 00 Fig. 8 is a schematic view corresponding to Fig. 8. 1, 5 and 7a, a fourth embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the invention;

Fig. 9 is a schematic view corresponding to Fig. 1a, Fig. 5, Fig. 7a and Fig. 8 of a fifth embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the invention;

Fig. 10 is a schematic and perspective view of a method of tearing off a fifth embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the invention shown in Fig. 9 after freezing the water contained in the interior of the ice cube bag into cubes; Fig. 11 is a schematic and perspective view corresponding to Figs. 1, 5, 7a, 8 and 9 of a sixth embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the invention;

Fig. 12 is a schematic and perspective view corresponding to Fig. 1a, Fig. 5, Fig. 7a, Fig. 8, Fig. 9 and Fig. 11 of a seventh embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the invention;

Figure 13 is a schematic view corresponding to Figure 1a, Figure 5, Figure 7a, Figure 8, Figure 9, Figure 11 and Figure 12 of an eighth embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the invention;

Fig. 14 is a schematic and perspective view corresponding to Fig. 1a, Fig. 5, Fig. 7a, Fig. 8, Fig. 9, Fig. 11, Fig. 12 and Fig. 13, not the ninth embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the invention; wherein the ninth embodiment differs from the previous eight embodiments in that it is not a self-closing ice cube bag but a bag having a knot tie closure, Fig. 15 is a schematic and perspective view of a third embodiment of the ice cube bag according to the invention shown in Fig. 7a after being filled with water and after freezing, whereby by physical manipulation corresponding to the manipulation of Figs. 6a and 6b, it can be torn off or otherwise converted to a compartment without compartments; Fig. 16 is a schematic and perspective view of a third embodiment of a cube bag 7a, after the ice cube bag schematically shown in FIG. 15 has been converted into a compartment without compartments, with the ice cubes lying freely in the outside in the storage compartment of the bag,

Giant. Fig. 17 is a schematic and perspective view corresponding to Fig. 1a, Fig. 5, Fig. 7a, Fig. 8, Fig. 9, Fig. 11, Fig. 12, Fig. 13 and Fig. 14 of a tenth embodiment of an ice cube bag according to 18 is a schematic and perspective view corresponding to FIG. 1a, FIG. 5, FIG. 7a, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, FIG. 11, FIG. 12, FIG. 13, FIG. 14 and FIG. 17a and 19b are schematic and perspective views corresponding to FIG. 18 of the twelfth and thirteenth embodiments of the ice cube bag of the invention, FIGS. 20a, 20b, 20c and 20d are schematic and FIG. 1a, 5, 7a, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17 and 18 of the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth embodiments of the ice cube bag of the present invention, Figures 21 and 22 are schematic views. and perspective views of two alternative embodiments of the apparatus for making an ice cube bag according to p of the present invention by welding, and FIG. 23 is a schematic and perspective view corresponding to FIGS. 1a, 5, 7a, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18 and 20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d of an eighteenth embodiment of the bag. ice cubes according to the present invention.

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Giant. 1a and 1b are schematic, respectively. planar sectional views of a preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag according to the invention. The ice cube bag is denoted as a whole by 10. The ice cube bag 10 is composed of two identical plastic foils 1214, preferably of LD polyethylene foils with a thickness of 25 μιη or alternatively of HD polyethylene foils with a thickness of 18 μπι. Each of the sheets 12, 14 has a bent portion 16 18. extending inwardly into the interior of the ice cube bag 10 and forming the inner open edges 17 and 18 The sheets 12, 14 are substantially rectangular in shape and are positioned so as to be overlapping each other with the curved portions 16 (c &lt; t &gt;)

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extending upwardly in the interior of the ice cube bag 10 as mentioned above, the films 12 and 14 are joined by two side welds 20 of the bottom weld 21 and the two upper welds 21a and 21b. together forming a circumferential, continuous weld extending along the periphery of the foils 12 and 14, except for the straight portion, forming an inlet channel to the interior of the ice cube bag between the two upper welds 21a and 21h. the aforementioned circumferential continuous weld consisting of two side welds 20, a bottom weld 21 and two upper welds 21a and 21b. it can be considered as consisting of two parts, an inlet channel located at the upper end of the ice cube bag and an internal divided ice cube compartment.

It should now be noted that terms such as up, down, top, bottom, horizontal, perpendicular, etc. referring to the orientation of the ice cube bag relative to the vertical orientation given by the gravitational force are given as expressions alone serving purposes describing the usual, normal bag orientation of ice cube in use, especially when filled with water, as a larger or smaller portion of the ice cube bag may of course be angled relative to a particular orientation, such as a vertical orientation or ice cube bag as a whole may be held in a tilted position relative to a certain orientation, eg relative to vertical orientation.

The inlet portion located at the upper end of the ice cube bag consists of two mirror-symmetric weld sets, forming an inlet channel extending from the aforementioned inlet formed between the two upper welds 21a and 21b and into the aforementioned interior of the ice cube chamber in the cube bag 10 ice. The inner channel is essentially formed according to the technical description and principles set forth in European Patent No. 0 574 496 and European Published Patent Application No. 0 616 448, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

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99 · »99 99 ·» and both publications are incorporated herein by reference. In particular, the inlet duct is formed by welds 22 converging from the inlet opening towards the inner ice cube chamber of an ice cube bag which, in the narrowing in the inlet duct, passes into two symmetrically positioned, particularly semicircular welds 22, the narrowing between the welds 22 and 22 forming from above said taper in the inlet duct further limited by two parallel straight welds 24. The lower portions of the semicircular welds 32 extend into two outwardly sloping and diverging welds 27 connected to two side welds 22, the two outwardly sloping and diverging welds. the welds 27 are interrupted to form two upwardly extending channels positioned symmetrically with respect to the inlet channel and formed separately by two parallel welds 36 and 37 and extending into respective expansion chambers 42, mainly formed by elliptically shaped welds 22, extending to the adjacent side of the weld; These expansion chambers 40 and the associated set of parallel welds 22 and 37 can be omitted.

The aforementioned welds 30 converging with each other form a first portion of the inlet channel, while the above semicircular welds 32 form a second portion of the inlet channel. As shown in FIG. 1a, the curved portions 22 and 22 of the films 22 and 14 extend down to a position immediately opposite the center of the second portion formed by the aforementioned elliptically shaped welds 38. It should also be noted that other positions of the lower edges 17 and 19 of the curved portions 16 and 18 are possible with respect to semicircular shaped welds, e.g. as described and illustrated in the aforementioned European patent and the aforementioned published European patent application. It should further be noted that the curved portions 16 and 18 of the films 12 and 24 may be pierced so that the curved film material is present in the inlet duct exactly and immediately outside the inlet duct, but cut along the outer walls of the inlet duct, where and expansion chambers 42 may be 4 44

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In accordance with the present invention, additional ice cube compartments are provided as described below.

As can be seen from FIG. 1a, the aforementioned partitioned ice cube chamber is further divided into three subsections, hereinafter referred to as upper, middle and lower subsections, by two straight line welds 26 extending from each of the two side welds 20 inwardly. towards the axis of the ice cube bag. The total of four line welds 26 have a length of less than half the inner free width between the welds 20 so that between each pair of line welds 26 that are in line there is an opening between adjacent subsections through which water can flow from the top. subsections down to the middle subsections and even further into the lower subsections.

The sub-sections, ie the above-mentioned three sub-sections, are further subdivided into eight sections of ice cubes, each using spot welds, four sets of horizontal spot welds and two double sets of perpendicular spot welds are created in each sub-section. In this respect, the term horizontal spot welds means a term not referring to separate spot welds that are horizontal because the spot welds are circular or approximately circular configurations but on the contrary indicate that the straight line or other curve on which the spot welds are located passes horizontally or horizontally. essentially the horizontal direction. Similarly, the expression perpendicular spot welds means that these spot welds are located on a curve, preferably a straight line, extending in a perpendicular or approximately perpendicular direction. The three double sets of perpendicular spot welds and the four sets of horizontal spot welds in each subsection meet in the areas forming the joining areas between the ice cube compartments in which the joining areas are not welded to join the two films 12 and 14 together.

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Spot welds in the four sets of horizontal spot welds and the corresponding spot welds in the three double sets of perpendicular spot welds adjacent to the joining areas are produced with a greater pitch than the other spot welds. Each of the four sets of horizontal spot welds therefore forms five-point welds 22, which are typically 0.1 to 5 mm in size, such as 0.5 to 1 mm, eg 0.6 to 0.9 mm, preferably about 0.9 mm, two sets of horizontal spot welds adjacent to the side welds 20, each forming a 6-point weld 22. Each of the two sets of spot welds adjacent the side welds 20 form two-point welds 22 having a larger diameter compared to the spot welds 22, usually have a diameter of more than. 0.5 mm, more preferably more than 1 mm, e.g. 1 to 1.5 mm, e.g. 1.1 to 1.3 mm diameter, preferably 1.1 mm. Each of the two middle sets of horizontal spot welds, as will be seen below, forms five-point welds 22 and two-point welds 23. Each of the three double sets of perpendicular spot welds, like the two middle sets of horizontal spot welds 5, consists of spot welds 24 corresponding to spot welds 22 and two spot welds 22 corresponding to spot welds 23.

The first preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag 10 described above is shown in a planar state, wherein the two films 12 and 44 are positioned so as to lie flat with each other, the inner ice cube compartments of the ice cube bag and the corresponding inner channel and expansion chambers are partially filled with air, but are shown in an unfilled state, ie. in conditions where the water has not yet been filled into the inner space of the bag.

In Fig. 1b, the upper portion of the ice cube bag 10 is shown in section I-I of Fig. 1a, showing two sheets 12 and 14, two folded portions 16 and 18 of two sheets and two lower edges 12 and 14 of these folded portions 16. and 18 transparencies. Further, in FIG. 1b, all 7 welds are shown in the upper perpendicular set of spot welds, consisting of two-point welds 25, and

5-spot welds 24 located between the two-spot welds 25.

The difference in spacing between spot welds 22 and 23 as well as spot welds 24 and 25 is due to the requirement that they do not have any adjacent adjacent spot welds, ie spot welds 22 and 22 are not torn apart during water filling and water freezing, although it should be remembered that when the water is cooled below 4 ° C, it expands and continues to expand during freezing, causing the amount of liquid contained in the interior of the ice cube bag to expand during freezing and therefore exerts a high pressure in the ice. the inner space of the ice cube bag and therefore causes a large tension in the welds forming the inner space of the ice cube bag and divides the inner space of the ice cube bag into individual sections of the ice cube bag.

Giant. 2 shows a first and preferred embodiment of the bag 10. 1a and 1b after the bag 10 has been placed. filled with water, closed by a self-closing effect as described in the above-mentioned European patent and the above-mentioned published patent application, and after the water contained in the interior of the ice cube bag and in the closure pockets formed behind the curved portions 16 and foils 12 and 14 froze. During water filling, the individual sections of the ice cubes in the three subsections of the ice cube bag are filled with water and the water fills the inner space of the inlet channel through which it closes into the aforementioned closure pockets as soon as the bag is turned upside down. During the filling of the ice cube bag with water, the water usually does not enter the expansion chambers which are not vented, with small air pockets being delimited in these expansion chambers. When the ice cube bag is then turned upside down for a self-closing function, the air in these air pockets is vented and divided into the interior of the ice cube bag, causing water to penetrate into the expansion chambers 40. In this way,

the liquid pressure inside the ice cube bag will decrease. During freezing, the water expands as explained above, causing the ice cube bag films to break because they do not burst due to the expansion of the water due to the reduction in pressure caused by the chambers 40. See above explanation. Fig. 2 shows pieces of ice 42 formed from water that has penetrated into the expansion chambers and frozen in them in ice and some small air space above them. Therefore, it should be remembered that during normal use, which is a measure in conjunction with the frozen bag shown in Fig. 2, the ice cube bag is placed in a very low temperature freezer or a freezer plate resting on one of the foil walls or at least o the rearmost and invisible wall of the film of Fig. 2.

After freezing the water as described above, the individual ice cube compartments will be closely separated by the ice cubes enclosed in the respective ice cube compartments. In addition to the individual ice cube compartments, the areas between the ice cube compartments, i.e. between the spot welds 23 and 25 are filled with ice separated between the foils and by the foils act in these spot welds and intermediate spot welds 22 and 24 by tension and the like during foil inflation. the corresponding tension occurs in closed straight welds, i.e. two side welds 21, a bottom weld 21, outwardly inclined and diverging welds 27 and separating straight welds 25. Therefore, according to the present invention, it has surprisingly been found that this stretch of films in combination with limited 1a, forms a simple and predetermined tearing of the foils 12 and 14. from which the ice cubes can be removed from the interior of the ice cube bag.

This phenomenon is illustrated in Figures 3a and 3b. In Fig. 3a., The middle subsection of the ice cube bag 10 is folded around an imaginary line guided by the median horizontal spot welds of the ice cube bag, causing the outer film

ie. foil 12, expands above the ice cubes 12 closed behind the foil

12. In this way, the tension produced by the film 12, which is actually concentrated in the spot welds lying in the fold line and therefore bending the ice cube bag results in tearing in these spot welds, since the film 12 is released in the spot welds so that several perforations 22 are formed in the foil at the points where the welds were initially and before the ice cube bag was bent. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 3a, the spot weld material tears away from the film 12 and then contacts the underlying film 14.

Upon continuous bending, by stretching the film 12, the resulting perforations 44 are further expanded, which eventually, as shown in Fig. 3b, causes the film 12 to completely break off along the line through the perforations 44 described above with reference to Fig. 3a. FIG. 3b shows a broken edge 46 of one of the halves of the film 12. Then, a total of eight ice cubes 48 initially enclosed in the middle subsection of the ice cube bag 10 are accessible and can be immediately removed from the broken ice cube bag 10. In this context, it should be noted that by bending the ice cube bag an extremely high force can be generated with very little force with the regions of the foils resting on the horizontal spot welds, since bending the ice cube bag uses considerably more torque compared to the torque the moment transmitting the thrust to the spot welds locally against the individual spot welds.

Giant. 4a is a cross-sectional and more detailed illustration of the tearing of the spot welds of FIG. 3a during the first portion of tearing or opening the ice cube bag 10, and illustrating how stretching the topsheet 12 and pulling the film over the ice cubes will tear the film 12 from the spot weld regions and Forming the perforations 4A in the film 12. Further bending the ice cube bag 12 as shown in Fig. 4b causes the film 12 to expand continuously, which eventually ruptures in line 46 over the perforations 44 shown in Fig. 4a.

Giant. 5 shows a second embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the present invention. This second embodiment is referred to as bag XQ ¹ and differs from the embodiment of bag 10 described above with reference to Figs. 1a, 1b and 2 in that the weld line 26 is omitted, and instead five transverse or horizontal weld sets are formed. , each set consisting of 39 spot welds 22 located equidistant from each other and each perpendicular set of spot welds consisting of four spot welds 25. Thus, according to the present invention, it has been shown that not only a certain spot weld size relative to the film thickness and a certain film material gives a tear-off function, including the first perforations as described above with reference to Figures 4a and 4b, spot welds and their distances from other welds, whether from line welds or spot welds, are important and critical to whether spot welds - after the interior of the ice cube bag has been filled with water and then when the water has frozen ice - 4a as well as the tear-off function shown in FIG. 4b.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, the small distance between the relatively small spot welds 22 in the transverse five sets of welds 22 will cause the bag to tear as bending the ice cube bag around the line extending through the relatively small spot welds 22 spaced apart from each other. 6a and functionally corresponds to the above description with reference to 4a and 4b.

Therefore, the relatively small distance between the relatively small spot welds 25 in the perpendicular compartments of the bag ¹⁰ causes that even when the bag is subjected to extremely large bending, these spot welds 25 only allow and allow perforation of the film wall as shown in Figure 6b. corresponding to the above description with reference to Fig. 4a, whereby the ice cube bag ¹⁰ of Fig. 5 can be manipulated in such a way that firstly, the a ooa se ,ee (oa BB BB BBeeee o o nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve nejprve)

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B5F bag IQ. ¹ on the ice cube bends or curves in lines passing through the direct spot welds 25, causing these spot welds to tear to create perforations and eliminate a perpendicular division into compartments, then bending the ice cube bag in a line passing through the spot welds 22 tear the foil walls as shown in Fig. 6a and allow immediate access to eight separate ice cubes within the tear line.

Fig. 7a shows a third embodiment of an ice cube bag ¹⁰ according to the present invention. This third embodiment differs from the aforementioned first and preferred embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 1a, 1b and 2 in that the four horizontal line welds 26 have been omitted and replaced by two additional sets of horizontal spot welds corresponding to the three sets of horizontal spot welds described from above with reference to FIG. 1a and formed in three subsections in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1a. The third embodiment of the ice cube bag of the present invention shown in Fig. 7a is further different in that the number of spot welds in the set of horizontal and perpendicular spot welds differs from the number described above. The tests carried out by the inventor have shown that the number of spot welds may also be important, firstly, in terms of compressive strength of the ice cube bag, since stretching the film in each ice cube compartment produces the greatest force component or greatest pull in the middle edge of each ice cube compartment. If the spot weld lies in the middle of the side edge of the ice cube compartment, this spot weld will be exposed to the greatest stress and therefore the resistance to the pressure of the ice cube bag can be increased by avoiding placing each spot weld in the center and making horizontal and perpendicular spot welds in even numbers, eg, four-point, six-point or, as shown in Fig. 7a, eight-point spot welds in both a set of horizontal and perpendicular spot welds. Furthermore, this third embodiment differs from the two previously described embodiments in that the outwardly inclined and diverging welds 27

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9 and 9 have been replaced by straight line welds 21 '.

The third embodiment shown in Fig. 7a can be handled according to the present invention in a number of alternative ways, horizontal sets of spot welds to tear the ice cube bag in a line extending through such a set and perpendicular sets of spot welds to tear the bag in perpendicular line leading through such a set welds. Alternatively, by twisting the ice cube bag as described below with reference to Fig. 15, it is possible to tear off the spot welds without simultaneously tearing off the foils and therefore converting the ice cube bag with compartments into an ice cube bag without compartments, the individual spot welds in both horizontal and perpendicular spot welds are therefore subjected to stress, thereby causing perforation of one of the foil walls, corresponding to the above description with reference to Fig. 4a.

Fig. 7b shows a detail of a third embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the present invention, modified with respect to the embodiment of Fig. 7a. The line welds described above, i.e. the side welds 20, the bottom welds 21, the top welds 21 and 21b, and the welds 22 ', 22, 34, and 38 may be formed according to the invention as continuous line welds or else may be formed as a combination of closely spaced spot welds. welds positioned in a single line or as multiple sets of lines as shown in Figure 7b. Fig. 7b shows the lower right corner of a modified embodiment of the third embodiment .IQ ¹¹ ice cube bag according to the present invention in which the side welding 20 and the bottom seam 21 is replaced by two series of staggered spot welds which have the same geometrical separation, as described above, spot welds 22. and 24. The two-spot welds in the inner and outer rows of the two series of spot welds 20 'and 20 together form a side weld. These two series of spot welds offset from each other will cause the foils to expand as soon as the bag is on

The ice cubes are filled with water so that the foil is pressed together and held firmly at the water pressures generated by the water column in the interior of the ice cube bag.

Fig. 8 shows a fourth embodiment of an ice cube bag ¹¹¹ according to the present invention. This fourth embodiment of the ice cube bag of the present invention differs from the first and above described third embodiment in that two straight sections forming transverse welds 26 ' _f are formed in the center of the ice cube bag to form a two-piece interior of the ice cube bag . Further, this fourth embodiment of the ice cube bag 10 * allows for the same handling of the ice cube bag after freezing the ice cubes as described with reference to Fig. 2 or elsewhere as described above with reference to Fig. 7a, i. how to remove by removing the ice cubes from one half of the interior of the ice cube bag or removing the compartments in one or both semi-compartments in the interior of the ice cube bag.

Fig. 9 shows a fifth embodiment of an ice cube bag 10 ^iv . Like the previously described embodiments, the ice cube bag 10 ^iv is a so-called self-closing bag and consists of the two films 12 and 14 described above with associated curved portions 16 and 18. Similarly, the fifth embodiment shown in Fig. welds 21, the two upper welds 21a and 21b and the inlet duct bounded by the weld sets 28, 32 and 24. Further, the ice cube bag 10 ^iv has two horizontal line welds 21 'corresponding to the elongation of the semicircular welds 22 described above with reference to Fig. 7a. the welds 22 'are broken to form two expansion chambers 48' each side of the channel. The ice cube compartments within the ice cube bag are divided into four columnar subsections by three sets of perpendicular welds 29 extending from a position above the bottom weld 21, not shown in FIG. 9, to a position just below the transverse welds 27 'and each form a plurality of obliquely inclined individual welds in the shape of parts of lines,

generally forming a line weld according to the present invention. The perpendicular weld 29 may at other times be formed by spot welds or line welds. As in the previously described four embodiments, the ice cube bag is an ice cube bag for making 24 ice cubes, and each of the four columnar subsections is divided into six ice cube compartments using four separate sets of horizontal spot welds 22. This set of horizontal spot welds is formed and shaped in the same way as the horizontal spot welds 22 described above with reference to Figure 1a in the first embodiment of the ice cube bag of the invention shown in Figure 1a.

A fifth embodiment of the bag 10 ^iv is characterized by providing a tear-off guide which is arranged in the form of perforations 52 extending from the top of the ice cube bag through the upper welds 21a and 21b and down to the welds 27j. these perforations are designed to be limited between two sets of parallel line welds 49 and 52, which simultaneously serve to prevent water leakage from the expansion chambers 40 through the perforations 52. The fifth embodiment of the ice cube bag shown in FIG. 9 is filled with the same in a manner such as the four embodiments described above and is closed using the self-closing function described in the above-mentioned European patent and the above-mentioned European application.

After freezing, the ice cube bag 10 ^iv can rapidly tear as shown in Fig. 10, the ice cube bag tears off in the perforations 52, causing the tear to continue down through the respective weld 29. Access to the twelve ice cubes enclosed in one from the halves of the ice cube bag by tearing the ice cube bag on one side, i.e., on the right or left side of the inlet channel, and downwardly through the weld 22 which continues the perforations 52. These twelve ice cubes can be immediately removed using a tear-off technique foil how

4a and 6b to release individual ice cubes. It should be noted that this separation of the individual ice cubes or the separation of the ice cubes from each other by tearing off the foils, e.g. the foil 12 as shown in Figures 4a and 6b, may instead be used to separate the individual ice cubes from each other before the ice cube bag tears using the above perforations 52.

FIG. 11 shows a sixth embodiment of the pouch 10 ⁱⁿ the ice cube. This embodiment corresponds essentially to the third embodiment of the ¹²¹¹¹ described above with reference to FIG. 7A, the point weldings 22, 22, 24 and 22 in the sixth embodiment ¹⁰ shown in Fig. 11 have been replaced by small rectangular weldings having substantially the same area extension as the the spot welds 22 and 24 described above. The split welds of the bag 10. ^The ice cube comprises a set of rectangular shaped welds 22 'disposed in a horizontal line with the longitudinal axis of the individual rectangles perpendicular to this horizontal line. Welds in the perpendicular sections of the ice cubes in the ice cube bag W, in contrast, are positioned with individual rectangles of rectangular welds 24 'positioned in the direction of the compartment lines, i.e. with the individual rectangular shaped welds 24' continuing with each other. According to the present invention, this different orientation of the rectangular welds 22 'and 24', corresponding to the above description with reference to Fig. 5, constitutes a difference in the tendency to tear off the rectangular welds, the ice cube bag 10 ⁱⁿ Fig. 11 shows a greater tendency to tear off perpendicular rectangular shaped welds 24 disposed in mutual relationship and thus have a lower mutual distance than horizontal rectangular shaped welds 22 '. preferably forming instructions for undoing the partitioning of the ice cube bag into compartments according to the technique described above with reference to Figs. 4a and 6.

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12 and 13 show seventh and eighth embodiments of the ice cube bag 10 ^vi and 10 ^vii . Similar to the embodiments described above, these embodiments are made of the films 12 and 14 described above and assembled using the side welds 20, the bottom weld 21 and the two upper welds 21a and 21b described above. The two ice cube bags 10 ^vi and 10 ^vii are provided with the two above-described outwardly sloping and diverging welds 27, but unlike the embodiments described above, they are not provided with breaks.

The internal division of the ice cube compartment 10 ^vi and 10 ^vii in the seventh embodiment is incidentally made essentially the same as the one shown in Fig. 7a with horizontal and perpendicular spot welds 22, 23 and 24, 25, the seventh embodiment in Fig. 12 is made. with one middle perpendicular line welding 28, whereas the eighth embodiment of the pouch 10 ^{in Li} ice cube shown in Fig. 13 is provided in addition to the middle vertical rectilinear weld even horizontal line welding 26 intersecting the perpendicular line welding 28, but without being in connection with the side the welds 20 and thus form a connection from the upper half of the inner ice cube compartment, i.e., the half of the inner ice cube compartment positioned above the line welds 26 to the lower half formed below the line weld 26.

The inlet portions of the seventh and eighth embodiments of the ice cube bag of the present invention shown in Figs. 12 and 13 are provided with an inlet duct substantially in shape corresponding to the shape of the inlet duct described with reference to Fig. 1a. Thus, the inlet duct of the ice cube bag 10 ^vi and 10 ^vii is limited by two welds 30 diverging from the inlet duct towards the inner compartment of the ice cube bag extending into two quadrant-shaped welds 32 'in a constriction limited by these welds. In the taper, two line welds 34 'are formed which, in comparison with the above-described line welds 34 shown in Fig. 1a, extend only inwardly from the constriction towards the inner

section on ice cubes. Above the taper, two spot welds 25 are formed to hold the sheets together in the inlet channel. In two embodiments of the ice cube bag 10 ^vi and 10 ^vii shown in Figs. 12 and 13, the right weld is broken to form a S-shaped chamber 40 to form an expansion chamber corresponding to the expansion chamber 40 described above. The quadrant-shaped weld 32 'is broken to form a connection with the second expansion chamber 40', in which a plurality of spot welds 54 are similarly formed to limit the volume of liquid that can expand into the expansion chamber.

Embodiments 10 ^vi and 10 ^vii . 12 and 13 are further adapted to tear by tearing off the inlet channel of the ice cube bag after the water contained in the ice cube bag has frozen on ice. Similar to the perforations 52 described above, perforations 52 'extending from the side welds 20 towards the quadrant welds 22' are formed for this tear function, the perforations not extending beyond these line welds and the like to limit the perforations 52 'corresponding to the line welds 49 and 50 shown. in Fig. 9, the line welds 55 and 58 are provided with connecting line welds 25 with quadrant-shaped welds 32 'and further strengthening the film material behind or close to the perforations 52'

The self-closing bags shown in Figs. 12 and 13 are filled with water and sealed as described above and more fully described in the aforementioned European patent and the aforementioned published patent application, then allowing the water contained in the inner ice cube compartments to freeze by freezing the sachet. placed on ice cubes in a very low temperature freezer, freezer cabinets or other compartments that have been cooled below freezing. Once the water in the ice cube compartments freezes into ice cubes, the entire inner part, i.e. the area above the perforations 52 'of the ice cube bags 15 ^V1 and 15 ^vii can be torn to

allow access to the ice cubes contained in the inner space of the ice cube bag thus torn apart by the second portion of the inlet channel; individual ice cubes can be manipulated and removed from the ice cube bag by using foil separation and foil tear features defined by horizontal and perpendicular points welds in the inner divided ice cube compartments ice cube bag.

All eight embodiments described above are so-called self-closing bags and are further bags for making 24 ice cubes. However, it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to self-closing bags and is not limited to a certain number of ice cubes, since any number of ice cube compartments may be arranged in the ice bag of the present invention in a number of less than or greater than 24 e.g. 12, 16, 18, 30, and 36 etc. Similarly, the inlet portion of the ice cube bag may be formed without a self-closing function, eg, with a funnel portion for the luggage closure or else by the luggage closure described in US Patent No. Re. No. 31,890, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. It should further be noted that a combination of a self-closing bag and a bag can also be realized by combining, for example, the technical principles described in the above-mentioned US patent and the technical principles set forth in the above-mentioned European patent and the above-mentioned European patent application. By combining the self-closing and tether closure in the ice cube bag, the particular advantage can be achieved that the internal liquid pressure can be increased in the self-closing bag when the tether closure is formed.

Fig. 14 shows a ninth embodiment of an ice cube bag 10 ^viii . This ice cube bag differs from the ice cube bags described above in that the ice cube bag forms a luggage bag, i. an ice cube bag which, unlike the self-closing bags described above, is closed with a flap formed in the ftftft inlet channel

H ft ft

Ice cube bags according to the solution disclosed in the aforementioned US patent. Therefore, in contrast to the self-closing ice cube bags described above, the ice cube bag ΐθ ^ν vyrob is made of two films, of which only one, ie. the uppermost film 12 'is not formed with the curved portions corresponding to the curved portions 16 and 18 shown in Figure 14 above. The foils of the ice cube bag 10 ^viii are welded together by two side welds 20 of the bottom weld 21 and two upper welds 21a and 21b. The inner space of the ice cube bag is further delimited by two straight line welds 22 'which, unlike the straight line welds 27' shown in Fig. 7a, are not broken to form an expansion chamber. In contrast, the line welds 27 'connect the side welds 25 to the line welds 30' connecting the top welds 21a and 21b to the above-mentioned line welds 22 '. Above the line welds 22', cuts 52 or perforations corresponding to perforations are formed from the ice cube bag. 12 'and 13' and passing just before the inward diverging line welds 30 '. together forming a channel-shaped inlet channel. The ice cube compartment of the ice cube bag shown in Figure 14 is divided into three perpendicular subsections by two perpendicular line welds 25, corresponding to perpendicular line welds 25 described above with reference to Figures 12 and 13. Each of the three subsections formed by columns, in the bag 10 ^viii ice cube is further divided into six ice cube compartments by means of sets of horizontal point weldings, each set containing in total ten point weldings 22nd

Therefore, the ice cube bag 15 ^viii shown in Fig. 14 serves for the manufacture of 18 ice cubes, which condition the production of larger ice cubes for the same outer film dimensions as the above-described embodiments. The ice cube bag 10 ^viii is used as follows. The water is poured through a funnel formed by line welds 30 'and thus the three columnar subsections are filled with water. After the perforations 52 are torn, two flaps-like portions are formed at the upper end of the bag. The flap-shaped parts are tied into a knot to close the interior of the ice cube bag. The ice cube bag may be frozen to form ice cubes, and then, according to the present invention, the divided ice cube compartment of the interior of the ice cube bag may be converted into an undivided compartment and is further preferably torn by spot welds 22 which are a feature of the present invention. .

The perpendicular line welds shown may be replaced by spot welds, e.g. corresponding to the spot welds 25 described above.

Furthermore, the ice cube bag 10 ^viii shown in Fig. 14 can be easily converted into a self-closing ice cube bag by replacing the film 12 'and the like lying behind the films 12 and 14 described above, the curved portions of these films passing downwardly against the perforations 52. which are omitted. At the same time, the inlet duct 30 'may be adapted to another shape, for example by replacing the inlet duct ~ 30' with a two-part duct whose outermost or first inlet portion has the same slope as the funnel shown in Fig. 14 and the other inlet is formed perpendicular or slightly inward or out of inclined welds.

As mentioned above, Fig. 15 shows a third embodiment of the ice cube bag 10 ^vii shown in Fig. 3 after the ice cube has frozen in the ice cube bag as the bag is handled, i.e., twisted, bent or both, it can either be turned into an ice cube bag that is not partitioned or at other times it can be torn using the tear-off technique of the present invention, using the tearing directions produced by the spot welds 22, 23, 24 and 25 which are features of the present invention. The inner portion or the filling portion shown on the right side of FIG. 15 can advantageously be used after freezing to hold the ice cube bag and therefore to handle the ice cube bag and may further be as described above with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. s • ΦΦ

9949

Φ Φ · ♦ ·

Φ Φ • Φ • Φ Φ ¹

Φ · '

The advantage is used to tear off the top of the ice cube bag in conjunction with removing the ice cubes or pieces of ice from the inside of the ice cube bag.

Fig. 16 shows a third embodiment of the ice cube bag ¹¹ also shown in Figs. 3 and 15 after the ice cube bag after the handling described above with reference to Fig. 15 has been converted from a bag divided into compartments into an ice bag unpartitioned. Fig. 15 shows an ice cube bag lying on a flat support, eg a table top, perforations 44 are formed in the foil on the right side or half of the inner chamber of the ice cube bag as described above, similarly in the left side or half 16 in the opposite film by twisting or twisting the film in the left half in the opposite direction compared to the right portion or half. The point weldings 22 and 24 illustrated in the left half of the bag 12 or ¹¹ ice cube -Cracks therefore contain material from the opposite foil in which the correspondingly formed corresponding to the perforations 44 illustrated in the foil 12 in the right half of the internal space of the ice cube bag .

Fig. 17 shows a tenth embodiment of a bag 10 ^ix ice cube according to the present invention. This tenth embodiment of the ice cube bag is largely similar to the third embodiment of the ice cube bag of the invention shown in Fig. 7a and forms a self-closing bag. The tenth embodiment is composed of two films 12 and 14 described above, of which only one film 12 is shown, these films being welded together by side welds 22, the bottom weld 21 by two welds 21a and 21b. From the upper welds 21a and 21b. the two welds 22 are rounded inwardly of the channel, pass inwards into the ice cube bag and continue as upwardly inclined welds 22 corresponding to the downwardly inclined side welds 27 shown in FIG. 7a. Similar to the side welds 22, the upwardly inclined side welds 27 • 0 ··· * • ·

• V 9 9 ·· ♦ · _ • 0 · Ί ·· ·; ζι 4 t · * · · · · 0 0 0 ·

0 0 ♦ ·

0 · tear for establishing a connection through the welds 36 and 37 to the expansion chambers 42. The interior ice cube compartment of the bag ^1X 22 ice cube is divided into twenty-four individual ice cube compartments by means of the above described point weldings 22 and 24 characteristic of the present invention. As can be seen from FIG. 17, the upper spot weld in the middle row of perpendicular spot welds is made as a larger spot weld 22, this upper spot weld located immediately below the inlet duct being subjected to the greatest water pressure of all spot welds during filling of the ice cube bag. The shape of the inlet duct shown in Fig. 17 serves to accelerate the filling in comparison with the inlet ducts described and illustrated above.

FIG. 18 shows the eleventh embodiment of the ice cube bag which is denoted overall by reference numeral ^X JL2. This eleventh embodiment has a number of features previously described with reference to Figs. 1 to 17, the eleventh embodiment being a self-closing bag as a few of the above-described embodiments with side welds 22 provided with a bottom weld 21 'composed of three semicircular portions for ice cubes in three subsections and upper welds 21a and 21b. The inlet channel of the ice cube bag is produced correspondingly to the inlet channel described above with reference to Fig. 1a, but with the modification of perpendicular line welds 24, which are replaced by the line welds 24 'shown in Figures 12 and 13. Further, this eleventh embodiment shows the same downwardly slanted side welds 27 as described above with associated perforations to form connections to the expansion chambers 40 through channels limited by line welds 36 and 22. The inner ice cube chamber of the ice cube bag is divided into three separate sections of ice cube limited by three sets of perpendicular spot welds, each containing a plurality of spot welds 22, eg eighty-four spot welds. Therefore, with this eleventh embodiment, three large ice cubes or pieces of ice can be produced that can be removed

f.f. a technique which is a feature of the present invention using the spot welds 25 described above.

Further, the present invention makes it possible to provide ice cube bags with a very large number of separate ice cube compartments as shown in Figs. 19a and 19b, illustrating the thirteenth embodiment of the present invention, denoted by 10 ^xi as a whole. 10 ^xii . Both of these embodiments 12 ^{x 1} and 10. ^xii form self-closing bags limited by the side welds 22, the bottom weld 21 and the top welds 21a and 21b. Furthermore, both embodiments 10 ^xi and 10 ^xii are made with an inlet feed channel corresponding to the one described with shoxa with reference to Fig. 17, which is formed by two inwardly inwardly inlet inlet ducts 30 extending straight downwardly downwardly side welds 27 described above. with reference to FIG. 1a. The perforation lines 52 are formed below the edges 12 and 22, limited by the curved portions 16 and 18 of the films (only one of the curved portions 16 with associated-edges 12 is shown in FIG. 17) both to form the luggage closure as mentioned above, i. thus combining the self-closing and tying closure of the interior of the ice cube bag, alternatively to tear the top of the ice cube bag after freezing the water column contained in the interior of the ice cube bag. The two ice cube bags 10 ^xi and 10 ^xii are divided into a plurality of separate ice cube compartments, limited only by corner spot welds made according to the present invention and of the same shape described with reference to Fig. 1a and designated 23. In Fig. 19a, the spot welds 23 are arranged at the corners or corners of a rectangular pattern, while the spot welds 23 in the thirteenth embodiment 10 ^xii shown in Fig. 19b are disposed in a pattern in which the spot welds are located in horizontal lines in each second they are offset to one side by half the grid or the weld distance to one side, causing the ice cubes or ice pieces produced in the ice cube bag shown in Fig. 19b «4 to be diamond shaped, while ice cubes or ice pieces in the ice cube bag shown in Fig. 19a will be substantially square in shape. An even extremely large number of individual ice cubes or pieces of ice can be produced using the embodiments shown in Figs.

embodiments can to produce more than two hundred individual ice cubes or pieces of ice. In FIG. . 20a is shown fourteenth carrying bag on

ice cubes, denoted as a whole by ^xiii . This fourteenth embodiment comprises a bag of the same type as shown and described above with reference to FIG.

14, 19a and 19b and further comprise an embodiment which, as part of the modified third embodiment of Fig. 1a shown in Fig. 7b, is produced exclusively by spot and welds in the form of straight sections and does not comprise any continuous circumferential welds. Further, this fourteenth embodiment has several features previously described with reference to Figures 1 to 19b. The ice cube bag 10 ^xiii is provided with welds 20! shaped as straight sections forming substantially circumferential welds limiting the ice cube compartment divided into ice cube subdivisions and partially elongated side welds are connected to the upper welds 21a and 21b '. composed of individual parallel line segments. The inlet duct of this ice cube bag is a funnel, also formed by straight sections of individual welds forming rectangular welds diverging from each other to form the aforementioned funnel and connecting the upper welds 21a and 21b of straight sections with the side welds 27 connecting the funnel an inlet channel with side welds formed by straight lines 20 '.

The inner space of the ice cube bag is divided into four perpendicular, compartments by means of spot welds 24 'and 25' _. These four inner perpendicular compartments are again divided into several subsections by means of horizontal welds created by spot welds 22 'and 22'. Spot welds 22 '. 22 ', 24' and 25 'shown

in Fig. 20a correspond to spot welds previously described, however, spot welds 22 'and 24' are preferably formed as longitudinal welds rather than circular welds and the like of welds 22 '. The 23 ', 24' and 22 'may be formed as solid separate welds or may be formed as circumferential welds in which both opposing layers of the ice cube bag film are not bonded inside. Similar to the ice cube bags described above, the interior of the ice cube bag may be formed as an ice cube bag having 16, 20 or preferably 24 compartments.

FIG. 20B embodiment of the ice cube bag modified as compared to the fourteenth embodiment of the ice cube bag of Fig. 2 0a or rather the most lower part of this modified or fifteenth embodiment 10 ^xiv of the bag on the ice cube bag according to the present invention. Similar to the fourteenth embodiment shown in Figure 20a, the fifteenth embodiment shown in Figure 20b is particularly characterized by circumferential welds comprising side welds and bottom welds, which are formed by welds in the form of straight sections. In contrast to the fourteenth embodiment shown in FIG. 20a, in which the welds 22 'formed by the straight sections are positioned perpendicular to the general orientation of the weld and therefore radially or perpendicular to the circumferential welds composed of the welds formed by the straight sections. in the fifteenth embodiment shown in FIG. 20b, they are positioned at an angle i with respect to the general orientation that is in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the ice cube bag. In Fig. 20b, these welds 22 'formed by straight sections are positioned in an inclined direction relative to a perpendicular or horizontal orientation. Further, the fifteenth embodiment of the ice cube bag ^10xiv shown in Fig. 20b has a bottom weld 21 'comprised of a plurality of separate welds formed by straight sections, all of which have the same extent, i. the same length and width, but which may alternatively be of different lengths and widths, these welds formed by straight lines 21 'are located in a total of six parallel rows, two adjacent

* 5 * ·· »

the rows are offset from each other by half the length of the individual welds 21 'in the form of straight sections.

Similar to FIG. 20a, FIG. 20c illustrates a sixteenth embodiment of the ice cube bag of the present invention, and similar to the fourteenth embodiment shown in FIG. 20a, this sixteenth embodiment, denoted by 10 as a whole, constitutes a so-called bag. . Further, the sixteenth embodiment shown in Fig. 20c differs from the fourteenth embodiment shown in Fig. 20a by the welds formed by the line sections shown in Fig. 20a forming the peripheral welds, the side welds 2Ί, the upper welds 21a 'and 21b' and the inlet channel 22 ” smaller welds, located in a tight pattern in the form of a photographic raster pattern, in which the individual spot welds have, compared to the splice spot welds 22 '. 22 ', 24' and 25 'are substantially smaller in size or diameter, typically having a size of less than 50% of the larger dimensions of these spot welds 22', 23 '. 24 'and 25'. The individual spot welds in the weld in the form of a photographic grid pattern formed by spot welds 22 ^iv are located adjacent adjacent welds substantially at a distance corresponding to the diameter of the individual welds 20 ^iv . Of course, within the scope of the present invention, the embodiments shown in Figs. 20a, 20b and 20c may be modified in a manner corresponding to the embodiment described above, and in addition may be combined with alternative side weld, bottom weld, and inlet channel shapes.

Giant. 20d is a schematic and planar view of a seventeenth embodiment of an ice cube bag according to the present invention in which the ice cube bag is denoted as a whole by the reference numeral IQ * ^-1 . Similarly to the embodiments described above, FIG. the bag Iq ^ ¹ ice cube composed of two identical plastic foils, preferably LD polyethylene foils of a to the thickness of 25 .mu.m or alternatively HD-polyethylene foils of a to the thickness of 18 pm, one of which foils is designated the reference numeral 12 · Both foils have a folded part. Curved. * · 9

These bent compartment bag

The part 12 is indicated by the reference numeral 16. The parts penetrate inwardly into the inner HP ™ ^{1 of} the ice cube and define the inwardly exposed edges. The foils are of substantially rectangular configuration and are in overlapping positions, the folded parts as described above protruding into the interior of the bag ¹ IO ^ ice cube, as the foils are joined by means of a substantially circumferential joint 2Ώ. ² , two straight line welds extending from each other from a substantially peripheral joint 20 ^iv f disposed at the upper end of the ice cube bag shown in Fig. 20d and the upper straight joints 21a 'and 21b'.

* * 1 ► * * í

I · · ^k

9 *

Between the line connections 21a and 21h, an opening is provided from the surroundings to the interior of the ice cube bag 10 ^xvi . From the above described edge, rectilinear joints 30 ^iv converging to each other and form a funnel-shaped first section of the inlet channel of the ice cube bag. Inner ends of joints, ie. the inlet funnel formed in the constriction, the line connections 30 ^iv converge with each other to another extent in two parallel line connections 33 forming the first constriction in the inlet channel and forming a transition of the first inlet channel portion of the aforementioned ice cube bag and the second inlet channel portion the ice cube bag, wherein the second portion is defined by two oppositely spaced rounded joints 32 connecting the above described parallel line joints 33 to the above described joints 22 forming the two joint reinforcements U forming the second constriction at the end of the inlet channel, i. the transition between the inlet channel and the interior of the ice cube bag, which is divided into several separate compartments as mentioned above. The rounded joints 22 form two convex joints to form a second portion of the inlet duct which, in a view perpendicular to the inlet orientation of the inlet duct, is substantially larger than the first taper formed by the two parallel straight line joints 22 as well as the second taper formed by the two. by connecting reinforcements 33.

♦ »♦ a M M M S S S S S S S S S S S Φ Φ Φ Φ Φ Φ Φ Φ Φ Φ Φ»

In the seventeenth embodiment shown in Fig. 20d, the inwardly exposed edges of the curved portions of the two films extend along the entire length of the first portion of the inlet duct but not into the second portion of the inlet duct and precisely in position against the two parallel line welds 33. positioned at any point along two parallel line connections 32, i.e., at any position within the constriction defined by the two Therefore, said links are located, in the length of the inlet channel, in the middle of the parallel joints. straight joints 33. By placing the curved edges in the center of the inlet channel in combination with the parallel straight lines 22, an ice cube bag is formed which has a safe and reliable self-closing function and utilizes a minimum amount of water to fill the closing pockets formed behind the curved portions as also explained in EP 0 574 496, EP 0 616 948 and EP 0 825 122, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. At the same time, unlike known self-closing bags, two parallel line connections 22 form a tubular constriction region for a self-closing function that was previously not considered possible because two parallel line connections 33 serve another purpose, in addition to the self-closing function formed by constriction, compensating for possible manufacturing variations, when the curved sheets are folded and are joined by joining them to the surrounding sheets. In order to obtain a self-closing function, it is particularly important that the inwardly exposed edges forming the closure pockets within the joints 33 are located below the lower limit of the funnel-shaped first portion of the inlet duct, see Fig. 2d to ensure that the closure pockets are reliably filled with water once the bag on ice cubes when filled with water turns upside down as explained in the above-mentioned European patent.

In the plan view shown in Fig. 20d, the two foils of the ice cube bag lie in plan view with each other,

0000> 11 t • 0 0 0 0 because air may be present between them and form air pockets inside the ice cube bag 10. Fig. 2Od shows a sachet ¹ IO ^ ice cube inlet opening 2_ £ pointing upwards, and the inlet aperture is to be in the performance of the ice cube bag with liquid, especially water, in an upward position. At this stage, it should be noted that the terms up, down, etc. referring to the orientation of the ice cube bag relative to the orientation given by gravity are expressions that serve only the purpose of describing the normal, general orientation of the ice cube bag in use, a smaller portion of the ice cube bag may be angled with respect to the up / down direction, and likewise the ice cube bag 12 as a whole may be held in an inclined position relative to the up / down position.

Giant. 21 is a schematic view of an intermittent manufacturing plant for producing ice cube bags or similar welded bags. In particular, the manufacturing plant corresponds to the manufacturing plant described in DK 172,066 and EP 0 795 393 and consists of an embossing and welding station 74. As will be apparent from the following description, according to the product concerned, the manufacturing plant may also include other stations such as foil unwinding station. cutting and separation station and transport station.

The simultaneous production of ice cube bags at the embossing and welding station 24 includes one embossing and welding operation in which the ice cube bags are manufactured from a two-ply film web 24 so that two ice cube bags are produced in one embossing and welding operation. The embossing and welding operation carried out in the embossing and welding station 74 is performed incoherent or intermittently, the film strips are guided stepwise to the embossing and welding device 70. the embossing and welding operation is carried out by keeping the two double-layer foil strips in stationary position below the embossing and welding device 70. Guide of two two-layer foil • 4

444 ·

4 · 4 · 4

4 ·

♦ · ··

4 • 4 44

4 4 4

4 4 ·

4 4 4 · 4 · step-by-step belts are achieved by rollers or driven by a gear and belt.

As shown in FIG. 21, the embossing and welding apparatus 28 comprises a lower backing plate 130 provided with two vertical upwardly extending rods 132 and 124 which are otherwise connected by an upper rod 136 and a cross member 128 which together with the backing plate 130 hold the rods 122, 134 in a vertical and parallel position. The transverse member 138 supports two sets of working rollers 140 142 and 144, 148, which are actuated via the pressurized fluid supply hoses connected thereto and preferably are in the form of a pressurized air cylinder. Two sets of working rolls 140 142 and 144, 146 are intended as embossing and welding devices in a two-stage process. In the first stage, the embossing and welding dies 148 and 150 contained in the heated embossing and welding devices remain raised at an initial position at a maximum distance above the web of the two film layers that pass through the embossing and welding station to prevent melting of the foil material by radiation heat from the embossing and welding and in a second stage, the punching and welding dies 148 and 150 are moved from a raised position from a certain distance above the bilayer sheet to an operating position in which they are pressed down into the bilayer sheet as described below by operating the rollers 142 and 146 in operation. . Therefore, the two working rollers 140 and 144 are designed to bring the embossing and welding punches to either an initial position or an operating position, and by actuating the working rollers 142 and 146, the embossing and welding punches are lowered toward the bilayer film strips. The embossing and welding punches 148 and 150 are provided with bottom surfaces comprising protrusions, i.e. downwardly projecting protrusions, corresponding to the desired embossed marks and welds on the ice cube bag that is punched and welded by the embossing and welding apparatus 70 in the embossing and welding station .

• ·

• • • * t t f f f f

The embossing and welding dies 148 and 150 are electrically heated and therefore comprise a plurality of electrical heating units to which power is supplied by a series of connecting cables, two of which are designated by reference numerals 152 and 154. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, thermally controllable ie stamping and welding dies are kept at a specified temperature by means of a thermostat. The embossing and welding dies hinges are cooled by the water supplied and discharged by the inlet and outlet hoses 156 and 157. In addition to the water cooling arrangement of the embossing and welding dies hinges 148 and 150, the manufacturing plant shown in Fig. 2a is provided with a ULS hose. for air cooling, mounted - seen in the direction of the direction of the sheet of the two-layer foil - downstream of the complementary stamping and welding dies, through the air cooling hose cooling air from a series of air inlets formed in the air inlet tube 160.

As can be seen from FIG. 21, the bilayer film web is formed puts under vertically movable stamping and welding dies 148 and 150. but which do not come into direct contact with the sheet surfaces of the two-layer film or the two heat-resistant and heat-transfer films 162 and 164 are sandwiched between the upper surface of the two-layer film 148 and 150 and the undersurface of the two double-layer films and the silicone rubber ribbon film of the resiliently supported support plate 130. The heat transfer films 162 and 164 form closed loops in the form of loops. The upper closed loop formed by the heat transfer film 152. is provided with a total of four intermediate rollers 168. 170, 172 and 174, and similarly the closed closed loop formed by the heat transfer heat transfer film 164 is provided with four intermediate rollers 176. 178. 180 and 182.

The punching and welding station is controlled by a central control unit (not shown in the figure) which further controls the temperature controllers of the heating units in the

999

99 i

embossing and welding dies, eg embossing and welding dies 148 and 150, compressed air supply volume, etc. In the embossing and welding station, the two-layer foil web is guided in one step, after which the embossing and welding dies are actuated by working rolls 140 and 144 and 148 and 150 are lowered onto two bilayer sheets supported by the support plate 130, while the bilayer sheet is maintained in a stationary position, the bilayer sheet is pressed together between the two heat transfer films 162 and 164, which resist high temperatures. The heat transfer heat resistant films, which are preferably woven Teflon films, are designed to transfer heat to the top and bottom surfaces of a bilayer sheet during the embossing and welding process to form bilayer sheets with embossments and welds corresponding to embossments formed on embossing dies. without creating weak stamping and welds, and without cutting the sheets due to excessive local overheating of the area.

By pressing together a sandwich consisting of two Teflon strips 162 and 164 and a two-layer film web between them, the woven Teflon strips are pressed down and fused into the molten bilayer film strips, thereby joining the woven Teflon strips 162 and 164 with partially melted, compressed and welded strips of two-layer foil. It is surprising and important that, due to the compression operation, the bonded woven Teflon strips 162 and 164 to the embossed and welded bilayer film strips are not deformed in the subsequent operation of guiding the bilayer film strip after the stamping and welding dies 148 and 150 have been lifted The guiding operation, guiding the strip of the welded two-layer foil is performed at a distance exactly corresponding to the width of the embossed and welded ice cube bags. Therefore, Fig. 21 is a schematic view of a station where the bilayer film web moves from a completed embossing and welding operation to form an ice cube bag not shown in the figure, and Fig. 21 illustrates additional ice cube bags 186 and 188 w5W35 ^ s5Ě ^^^^^^ »^! <wíwr- ^ 5t55sa« sí3? S! c? ssaigs ^ 15sgtssg | ®8SSS5®?

··· «»

made in the two previous stamping and welding operations.

When guiding punched and welded ice cube bags, e.g., bags 186 and 188. woven teflon strips 162 and 164 support the molten and softened film material adhere to the surface of the woven teflon strips, cooling air supplied from the air supply tube 160 cools the heated foil strips and causes that the partially melted foil material solidifies in the embossments and welds of the ice cube bag. Upon release of the bilayer sheet from the embossing and welding operation, the top teflon strip 162 is removed from the top surface of the welded ice cube bags, eg, ice cube bag 186, wherein the bottom woven teflon belt 164 is not removed from the welded bilayer sheets, i.e. with an ice cube bag, eg an ice cube bag 188, before the next operation is performed.

In contrast to the method described in the aforementioned Danish Patent No. 172 066 and the corresponding European Patent No. 0 795 393, an embodiment of the ice cube bag 186 and 188 as an ice cube bag in which not only the splice connections but also the peripheral connections are made as spot welds, it is possible to leave the ice cube bags unsupported immediately after the embossing and welding operation, as in the embodiment having the spot welds not only in split joints but also in peripheral joints, an ice cube bag construction is obtained in which areas they are not melted directly during embossing and welding and therefore form a coherent, unmelted and only partially heated sheet of the two-layer film. In addition, the design of the ice cube bags 186 and 188 with spot welds forming the splice joints as well as the peripheral joints allows the ice cube bags to fit close together and therefore, unlike the illustration in Fig. 21 in which the bags 186 are and 188 are shown separately for greater clarity, they can also be placed directly adjacent to each other or with each other φ · φ · φ · φ · φ · ♦ ♦

φφ φ>

φ φ φ «φ>

Φ overlapping, wherein the circumference or edge joint of one ice cube bag, eg the left side edge connection of the ice cube bag 186, coincides with or is coherent with the opposite side edge connection, i.e., the right side edge connection of the bag 188 on ice cubes.

Fig. 22 shows a second embodiment of a manufacturing plant for producing ice bags or corresponding welded bags, this plant being different from the manufacturing plant described above with reference to Fig. 21 in that the ice cube bags or similar welded bags are produced continuously in the manufacturing plant. 22, while the embossing and welding operations per se as in the manufacturing plant described with reference to FIG. 21 are performed intermittently as described above. Furthermore, the manufacturing plant shown in Fig. 22 differs from the manufacturing plant described above with reference to Fig. 21 in that the ice cube bags are made from two separate films 73 and 75 and not from a bilayer film web as shown in Figs. The second embodiment of the manufacturing plant of the invention shown in Fig. 22 has been designated 74 'and comprises, similarly to the manufacturing plant described above with reference to Fig. 21, preferably also a film unwinding station and a cutting and separating station.

As described above, the bilayer sheet 76 'comprised of the bands 73 and 75 moves the embossing and welding station 74' at a constant or unchanged speed and not at an intermittent speed as in the manufacturing plant described above with reference to Figure 21. and the welding apparatus 70 of the embossing and welding station 74 'comprises two rotary cylinders 157 and 159 which are driven by the same motor 145 through an exchange or transmission 147 and the cylinder 157 forms a true embossing and welding cylinder, the cylinder 159 constituting the feed roller. On its outer surface, the welding cylinder 157 is provided with curved, heated stamping and welding dies. FIG. 22 shows three punching and welding dies 167 pertaining thereto

The punch and weld punches 167 are similar to the punch and weld punches 148 and 150 described above with reference to FIG. 21, the punch and weld punches 167 are electrically heated and are powered by an electrical cable 153. The electrical power is via respective sliding contacts 161 fed to the heating units which are provided with embossing and welding rolls 151.

As in the manufacturing plant described above with reference to FIG. 21, the embossing and welding station 74 'shown in FIG. 22 is provided with woven Teflon bands 162 and 164. The Teflon bands form two opposed closed loops and are designed to transfer uniform embossing and welding pressures. from rollers 157 and 159 to the double-layer film web 76 interposed between the two horizontal Teflon webs 162 and 164. but also serve as support films which, when pressed down and adhering the Teflon webs to the melted areas of the embossed and welded two-layer film web, the film material did not stretch when the finished bilayer film web was pulled out of the embossing and welding station 74 '. essentially as described above with reference to FIG. 21.

The embossing and welding of the bilayer film strips in a continuous embossing and welding operation in the production of ice cube bags performed at the embossing and welding station 14 'results in an interconnected ice cube bag strip comprising regions corresponding to the individual finished ice cube bags 193, 195 and 197. Similar to the manufacturing plant 74 described above with reference to FIG. 21, the plant 74 'shown in FIG. 22 differs from the aforementioned Danish patent and the aforementioned European patent application in that the upper Teflon web 162 is only in contact with the bilayer web. foil 76 during the embossing and welding operation and therefore does not support the double-layer foil strip 76 'after the embossing and welding operation because the bags 193, 195 and 197 produced, similar to the bags

186 and 188, shown in FIG. 21, form cube bags »9999

• 99

9 • 9 9 9 9 9 ice, in which the splice joints as well as the peripheral joints are formed by spot welds, which increase the mechanical strength and resistance of instantly formed ice cube bags to expansion or deformation due to softened plastic material compared to conventional bags ice cubes in which circumferential welds form coherent line welds.

Fig. 23 shows an eighteenth embodiment of a self-closing ice cube bag according to the present invention. This eighteenth embodiment is designated as a whole by IQ * ⁷¹¹ and differs from the above-described seventeenth embodiment shown in FIG. defining the second portion of the inlet channel are formed by two straight line connections diverging from two parallel line links 33 '. which, in relation to the curved edges 12, are symmetrically inverted relative to the joints 22 ^v , which correspond to the joints 30 ^iv shown in Fig. 20d and form a funnel-shaped first part of the inlet duct. The inlet channel constituted by the joints 22 ^v, 33 'and 22 in the embodiment shown in Fig. 23 forms a pattern that is symmetrically inverted along the longitudinal axis as well as the central axis of the inlet channel corresponding to the curved edge 17.

It should be noted that the eighteenth embodiment shown in Fig. 23 differs from the seventeenth embodiment shown in Fig. 20d in that the welds 20, 21a, 21b, 30 ⁱⁿ . 21 'and 22 all form a coherent weld line as opposed to the peripheral welds shown in FIG. Furthermore, the ice cube bag 10 ^xvii differs from the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 20d in that the dividing welds form hexagonal ice cube sections positioned in honeycomb shape as opposed to the square ice cube sections in the previously described embodiments. The hexagonal ice cube sections shown in Fig. 23 are delimited by a series of spot welds 23 and 24, each side edge of the hexagonal section sections being delimited by four separate weld points.

♦ »♦ ···· are with ·· · *.

• * · 2 Σ · ··· • · «. · ··

Although the ice cube bags described above are preferably intended for freezing water to form pieces or ice cubes, the ice cube bag as such can be used to freeze other materials such as food or stocks to be frozen in individual portions.

Preferably, the ice cube bags described above are manufactured in industry using continuous or intermittent welding techniques as described in Danish Patent No. 172,066 or corresponding European Published Publication No. 0 795 3 93, the two publications of which are incorporated herein by reference. are intended to be included in the present disclosure in the references.

Example

The prototype of the preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag according to the invention shown in Figs. 1a, 1b and 2 was made of 25-µd thick LD-polyethylene films. Each of the 25 μπι LD polyethylene films 12 and 14 has a width of 18 cm and a total length of 38.5 cm, each of the curved portions 16 and 18. forming curved portions 4.5 cm long from each of the layers 12 and 14, a total of 38 , 5 cm. Therefore, the total length of the ice cube bag was 34 cm. Each of the ice cube compartments, a total of 24 ice cube compartments, had a width of 4.5 cm and a length of 4.8 cm. The splice spot welds 22 and 24 were circular spot welds with a diameter of 0.9 mm, the spot welds 23 and 25 also being circular spot welds having a diameter of 1.1 mm.

In testing this prototype of a preferred embodiment of the ice cube bag according to the invention, it has been found that the ice cube bag has shown the correct function with the intended device in use.

These tests have shown that the prototype of an ice cube bag performed in accordance with the present invention achieves the desired tear-off function and further determines the conversion of the ice cube bag into a cube bag. • · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · k · k · k · k · k · k · k · k · k k k k k k k k k k on partitions.

During further tests carried out in the laboratory on the other embodiments described above, corresponding excellent properties in terms of peeling function and the possibility of converting the ice cube bag from split to non-split into compartments were obtained. In particular, these tests have shown that ice cube bags made of six horizontal and perpendicular spot welds corresponding to the third embodiment of the ice cube bag of the present invention shown in Fig. 7a were able to withstand a 0.9 m water column pressure, in other features identical to the embodiment shown in Fig. 7a and with eight perpendicular and horizontal spot welds in each set to withstand an internal pressure of 1.3 m of water column. On the other hand, an ice cube bag having five or seven spot welds in each set was unable to withstand such pressures. The inventor considers this to be evidence that the distance of the foil in the center of the individual sets of horizontal and perpendicular spot welds during filling of the ice cube bag creates the maximum so exactly imaginary dividing line between the ice cubes at that center and therefore an odd number of spot welds in the set of horizontal and perpendicular spot welds make the spot welds of the individual sets that are most centrally exposed to this maximum force or maximum thrust effect, which does not occur if the number of spot welds in the horizontal and perpendicular sets is even and therefore the aforementioned force concentration or maximum thrust it is divided into two spot welds instead of a single spot weld as in the case of an odd number of spot welds.

While the invention has been described with reference to several preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications and modifications can be made within the scope of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

• · · · ·

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In particular, it should be noted that the above-described embodiments may be combined in such a way that the features of the disclosed embodiment can be combined with another particular disclosed embodiment, and likewise the compartmentalized embodiments described in conjunction with a number of different self-closing ice cube bags can similarly be used as non-self-closing ice cube bags, eg luggage bags of the type generally described in the aforementioned US patent. Similarly, the principles of the invention are not limited to self-closing bags or luggage bags, but may be used in conjunction with other ice cube bags having a different type of closure.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to welding plastic sheets, but the performance of the tear joints that characterize the present invention can be achieved by gluing the plastic sheets. Irrespective of the use of adhesive bonding or foil welding, it has been shown that, in comparison with conventional ice cube bags in which coherent separating welds are used between individual sections of the ice cube bag, the design of the section forming welds as spot welds is essential. better use of materials measured in the form of a larger net volume of ice cubes made from an area of the ice cube bag as the area defined by the outer contour of the ice cube bag. Furthermore, due to the precise design of the final product, the use of gluing or welding as an alternative manufacturing technique, it allows the individual bags to be placed on the ice cubes during the manufacturing process so that they are closely adjacent to each other and hence better use of the raw materials used compared to conventional manufacturing techniques. In addition, individual ice cube bags may be provided with bag tear instructions that may be affixed by gluing or welding as explained above with reference to Figs. 9, 10, 12 and 1, as further using the gluing technique or welding technique used. , the instructions can be executed _t 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 On the foil material in the form of a tear-off direction or as an instruction for the intended use of the ice cube bag.

It should further be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned type of foils, LDPE and HDPE or the above-mentioned foil thickness, since any polymer or foil of plastics material of a thickness which can be glued or welded e.g. less than the above 18 μη, e.g. up to 12 µm or less, and the like, two films of the same or different type and / or two films of the same or different thickness may be used for the bags. Furthermore, coextruded and laminated films can be used in conjunction with the ice cube bags of the present invention.

Claims (45)

1. Ice cube bag containing: two planar film layers (12, 14; 12 ', 14') having the same geometric shapes and defining an outer circumference, a peripheral joint (20, 21, 21a, 21b) extending along most of the periphery of the film layers (12,14; 12); 14 ') with the exception of the peripheral area forming the inlet opening of the ice cube bag (10), wherein the peripheral joint connects the film layers, in particular overlapping each other, defining an inner chamber in the inner space of the bag (10) and partitioned; a plurality of ice cubes defined by separate welds (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) of the film layers, an inlet channel defined by the film layer joints (30, 32, 34, 35) and extending from the inlet opening to the inner chamber to allow access from the environment to the inner chamber of the bag through an inlet channel, characterized in that each of the separate connections (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) defining two adjacent ice cube compartments relative to each other is formed by several individual the joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) and each of the individual joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) forms a bond between two sheet films (12, 14; 12 ', 14') with such strength the joint and with such a limited area of area that the individual joint is not broken when the film layers (12, 14; 12 ', 14') are exposed to a separating force, but provides tearing or perforation (44) in one of the film layers (12, 14; 12 ', 14') along the perimeter of poison connections. Ice cube bag according to claim 1, characterized in that the individual joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) are spaced apart so that one of the (12, 14; 12 ', 14' ) formed individual foil layers perforated (44), foil layers line. or ties in one of the (12,14; 12 ', 14') directions for the perforation Ice cube bag according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the coefficient calculated as the area of one of the individual joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) expressed in square millimeters divided by the circumference or the length of the closed curve of that joint measured in millimeters. of the same joint lies in the range of 0.025 to 0.5 mm, preferably between 0.125 mm and 0.375 mm, such as approximately 0.25 mm. Ice cube bag according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that each of the individual joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) has a surface extension corresponding to an area of a circle having a diameter between 0.1 mm to 5 mm, such as 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm, preferably between 0.9 mm to 1.0 mm, such as between 0.5 mm to 0.8 mm, between 0.8 mm to 1 mm, between 1 mm up to 1.2 mm or between 1.2 mm to 1.5 mm. Ice cube bag according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the peripheral connection (20, 21, 21a, 21b), the joints (30, 32, 34, 35) defining the inlet channel and the individual joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 26) are all glued or preferably welded. Ice cube bag according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the individual joints are in the form of circles, ellipses, straight sections, triangles, rectangles, polygons, any convex or concave contours forming shapes or combinations of any of the above shapes. Ice cube bag according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the ice cube bag is a self-closing bag in which the two sheet films (12, 14) have an elongation forming two valve flaps located in the inlet channel and passing from the inlet channel and into the interior of the bag towards the inner chamber of the bag along the inner channel and which are connected by an inlet channel defined by the joints (30, 32, 34, 35) so that the two sealing pockets are opened towards the inner chamber of the bag . Ice cube bag according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the ice cube bag forms a bag having a luggage closure, the foil sheets (12 ', 14') outside the inlet channel defined by the joints (30, 32, 34). 35) are provided with perforations or cut-outs allowing the film material to be bound on both sides of the inlet channel to form a closing node closing the inlet channel. Ice cube bag according to one of Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the foil sheets (12, 14; 12 ', 14') of the ice cube bag are made of polyethylene, preferably LDPE or HDPE, or one of the sealable or a sealable film material, preferably a plastic or polymeric film material or an aluminum film material, or a combination thereof. Ice cube bag according to one of Claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the number of compartments of the ice cube bag in the inner chamber of the ice cube bag is greater than 2, preferably 6, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 30, 36, or 48, preferably 24. The ice cube bag according to claim 10, wherein the ice cube bag compartments in the inner chamber of the ice cube bag are grouped into separate sub-compartments. Ice cube bag according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the number of individual joints (22, 23, 24, 25, 29) defining two adjacent ice cube compartments relative to each other is an odd number or preferably an even number . The ice cube bag according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the two sheet films (12, 14; 12 ', 14') are substantially rectangular. Ice cube bag according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that a connection or connections are made from the inner chamber of the ice cube bag to the expansion chamber (40, 40 ', 40) located on one or both sides of the inlet channel. Ice cube bag according to one of Claims 1 to 14, characterized in that tear-off perforations are provided in the foil sheets (12, 14; 12 ', 14') for the tearing direction of the ice cube bag. 16. Ice cube bag containing: two planar foil layers having substantially identical geometric shapes and defining an outer periphery of the peripheral joint extending along most of the outer periphery of the film layers except for the peripheral area forming the bag inlet where the peripheral joints of the film layers mainly overlap and define the inner chamber of the inner wherein the inner chamber comprises at least one ice cube compartment and preferably a plurality of ice cube compartments interconnected and delimited by separate sheet film joints, an inlet channel defined by separate sheet film joints and extending from the inner compartment of the bag to the inlet opening to allow access from the surroundings into the inner chamber of the bag through the inlet channel, two shut-off valve flaps connected to the foil layers at the inlet opening and extending from the inlet opening to the inner space of the bag towards the v the inner bag chambers along the inlet duct, the shut-off valve flaps being joined to each other and joined to the sheets by separate joints defining the inlet duct to form two closure pockets that are open toward the inner chamber of the bag, the inlet duct comprising first and second portions, wherein the first portion is formed immediately behind the inlet opening and the second portion connects the first portion to the ice cube compartment or compartments, the first portion having a shape particularly tapering towards the ice cube compartment or compartments, a taper is formed at the transition between the first and second portions and an inlet duct defining a first direction forming the longitudinal direction of the duct and a second direction in a plane parallel to the two films and perpendicular to the first direction, characterized in that the shut-off valve flaps extend from the inlet opening along the entire length; constriction running between the first and second portions of the inlet channel, but not behind the narrowing and into the second portion of the inlet channel. An ice cube bag according to claim 16, characterized in that the taper of the transition between the first and second portions of the inlet channel is provided with joints (33) comprising no geometrical interruptions and forming elongations of the joints (30) delimiting the first portion of the inlet channel. and connections (32) defining a second portion of the inlet channel. The ice cube bag according to claim 17, characterized in that the shut-off valve flaps (16, 18) extend to a central position relative to the constriction defined by the joint (33). An ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that the constrictions defining the constriction, viewed from the interior of the constriction, define a convex or concave constriction or alternatively the constriction is defined by straight, parallel connections (33). • 9 # »·» 9 99 · 9 • 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 • 99 99 9999 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 ·· Ice cube bag according to one of Claims 16 to 19, characterized in that the separate constrictions (33) defining the constriction have a length equal to 0.25 to 1.2, for example 0.3 to 0.8, preferably 0.5 times the maximum width of the tapered joints (33). An ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that the first and second portions of the inlet duct have substantially the same length in the first direction. An ice cube bag according to claim 21, characterized in that it is three-dimensional. the middle taper in the second direction. wherein the inlet channel has a substantially symmetrical shape according to An ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 22, characterized in that the inlet channel has a substantially symmetrical shape along its longitudinal axis. An ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 23, characterized in that the shut-off valve flaps (16, 18) are formed by curved portions of the sheet of sheet film (12, 14). Ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 24, characterized in that the second part comprises a chamber which is defined by joints adjacent to the constriction and diverging substantially in the second direction and which is # connected by lateral joints to other joints adjacent to the ice cube compartment (s) and converging in the other direction to the at least one channel leading into the interior of the ice cube bag. An ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 25, wherein the second portion has maximum dimensions in the second direction and is at least twice the constriction dimension in the same direction to form a liquid or water reservoir from which the liquid can JLILIÍI LH! U 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 999 9 9 9 9 9 9 99 9 99 99 to flow freely towards the inlet through the constriction after the ice cube bag (10) has been filled with liquid or water through the inlet (26) in the first position in which the inlet is rotated upwards and after the bag ( 10) on the ice cubes rotated to a second position in which the inlet opening (26) is rotated downward. An ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 26, characterized in that the constriction in the transition between the first and second portions is designed to produce a venturi effect, thereby causing a relative pressure drop to close the channel in the constriction, as soon as the liquid flows through the constriction from the second part towards the first part and thus a self-closing effect occurs. Ice cube bag according to one of Claims 16 to 27, characterized in that the maximum dimension of the second portion in the second direction of the inlet channel is 2 to 7 times the taper dimension, preferably 2.4 to 5 times the taper dimension, for example 2.6 up to 3.4 times the funnel dimension. An ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 28, wherein the dimension of the first channel portion along the second portion of the inlet channel in the inlet opening is approximately twice the size of the constriction in the second direction. An ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 29, characterized in that the first channel part is delimited by joints (28) forming straight lines or curved lines that form both the convex and the concave first channel part. An ice cube bag according to any one of claims 16 to 30, characterized in that the second part is limited by joints (32) forming partially straight lines and partially curved lines such as segments of a circle defining a second part having a convex or concave shape. • · • fcfcfc A method of making ice cube bags or corresponding bags of welded plastic film, comprising: i) bringing two or more plastic like plastic film layers lying one above the other from the plastic film store; (ii) bonding the plastic film to at least one web of material having a high heat resistance such as Teflon, preferably the webs are made by weaving or nonwoven Teflon (iii) bringing the sandwich to a punching or welding station in which the sandwich is subjected to a punching or welding operation; the sandwich is subjected to a punching or welding operation; a welding operation by means of punching or welding tools supplying pressure and heat to their outer faces facing the surface of the high heat-resistant material web in those regions corresponding to the respective embossed and welded regions of the finished ice cube bag or corresponding bag, wherein the sheet of high heat resistance material serves as a supply of pressure and heat causing at least partial melting of the surfaces in certain regions of the plastic films facing each other, and in these same regions, compression and bonding of the plastic film strips is formed; The embossing and welding station, the strip of high heat-resistant material is held in position with the plastic films to support the softened and partially melted plastic films to prevent the plastic films from being stretched during this guidance. (v) tearing off the strip of high temperature resistant material from the bonding to the plastic sheets after the plastic sheets have been cooled to a suitable temperature at which the plastic sheets are not subjected to deformation during the plastic sheet guide; and (Vi) cutting off the cooled and finished ice cube bag or the corresponding bag from the cooled plastic foil, characterized by performing an embossing or welding operation, during wherein the designated embossed or welded regions of the finished ice cube bag or the corresponding ice cube bag exhibit welds formed as individual point welds or welds in the form of straight sections, in which the non-welded material between the welds formed as points and the straight sections form coherent areas of uncooked material and wherein tearing off the strip of high heat-resistant material from the bonding to the piass film according to (v) is carried out immediately after the embossing or welding operation. 33. The method of claim 32, wherein the sandwich of (iii) is pressed against the support during the embossing and welding operation, the embossing and welding tools being pressed against the web of material having a high heat resistance from the sandwich side facing the support. Method according to claim 32 or 33, characterized in that two strips of high-temperature-resistant material are used according to point (ii), between which plastic foils are inserted and a sandwich is formed having the uppermost and lowest layers consisting of two strips of high heat resistance and middle layers consisting of plastic films, two strips of high heat-resistant material according to (iii) are pressed and bonded to opposite sides of the plastic films to keep the two strips of high-heat-resistant material according to point (iv) kept connected to opposite sides of plastic films for supporting the softened and at least partially fused plastic films from opposite sides of the plastic films and for the two strips of the high-temperature-resistant material of (v) to break from the connection with the plastic films either simultaneously or sequentially. ·· Method according to any one of claims 32 to 34, characterized in that the sandwich line to the embossing and welding station and the sandwich line from the embossing and welding station are carried out continuously. 36. The method of claim 35, wherein the embossing and welding tools in the embossing and welding station comprise one or more rotatable embossing and welding rolls. 37. The method of claim 6, wherein the embossing and welding tools comprise two opposing and rotating embossing and welding rolls. Method according to claim 32 or 33, characterized in that the conveying of the sandwich to the embossing and welding station and the conveying of the sandwich from the embossing and welding station is carried out intermittently, the embossing and welding operation being carried out in the embossing and welding station at rest. 39. The method of claim 38, wherein the embossing and welding tools comprise perpendicularly movable embossing and welding plungers having embossing and welding dies having contours corresponding to the designated embossed and welded areas of the finished ice cube bag or corresponding bag. 40. The method of claim 39, wherein the embossing and clamping tools further comprise stationary or perpendicularly movable embossing and welding dies provided with contours forming a mirror image of the contours of the embossing and welding dies of the perpendicularly movable embossing and welding plunger. Method according to one of Claims 32 to 40, characterized in that the strip (s) of high-temperature-resistant material form closed loops which are »44 • 4 4. 4 4 4 • 4 99 4999 • 4 · 4 * 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 44 are conveyed by plastic foils during sandwich guidance to the embossing and welding station and during sandwich guidance from the embossing and welding station. Method according to one of Claims 32 to 41, characterized in that the plastic foils consist of two foil layers of the same or other polyolefins, preferably the same polyolefin as polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, preferably LDPE or HDPE. * 7 c · y z. Ii two plastic films have curved closure pockets in a cube bag type. and parts of the ice by forming a self-closing Method according to any one of claims 32 to 43, characterized in that the plastic films are formed from homogeneous plastic films or co-extruded plastic films or plastic films, the surface of which has an aluminum coating. 45. The method of claim 44, wherein on the faces facing each other, the plastic films are provided with a surface coating of a meltable material having a lower melting point than the supporting film of the plastic films. A method according to any one of claims 32 to 45, characterized in that the embossing and welding tools are heated to a temperature of between 150 to 2000 ° C, such as 160 to 1900 ° C, with about 1700 ° C for LDPE films and about 180 to 1900 ° C for HDPE films.