GB2161138A

GB2161138A - Security bags

Info

Publication number: GB2161138A
Application number: GB08516004A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Robert Barry Scott
Original assignee: GROOM C Ltd
Current assignee: GROOM C Ltd
Priority date: 1984-06-25
Filing date: 1985-06-25
Publication date: 1986-01-08
Also published as: GB8416138D0; GB8516004D0; GB2161138B

Abstract

A security bag (1) made of canvas or other tough material is provided at its upper end with fastening means in the form of two complementary members (3, 4) which are secured to opposite regions of the bag by curved staples and are formed at their ends with tongues (11, 14) and slots (13, 15) which interengage, when the mouth of the bag is closed and folded concertina-wise, to compress the folds and are maintained in interengaging relationship by a sealed locking member (16). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Security bags This invention relates to bags of the kind, hereinafter referred to as "the kind described", made of canvas or other tough material, the mouths of which, after closure, are folded concertina-wise and maintained in that condition by fastening means locked against removal therefrom.

Such bags are widely as security bags for transporting cash and valuables and in order to prevent the unauthorised introduction of a suitable implement into the closed mouth of a bag and the undetected extraction of any of its contents it has already been proposed to pass the fastening means, in the form of a bar, through two rows of apertures provided in the upper ends of the front and rear walls of the bag and brought into register with one another when the closed mouth of the bag has been folded as described.

It has also been proposed to extend one of the walls of such a bag upwardly to form a closure flap and to provide this flap with a further row of apertures which, when the flap is folded over to close the mouth of the bag, registers with the existing rows of apertures to form the passage for the fastening means when the upper part of the bag is folded concertina-wise.

The front and rear walls of the bag are usually secured together at each end of the mouth of the bag either by stitching or by other means. This reduces the width of the mouth relative to the overall width of the bag and prevents direct access to the mouth from opposite ends when the bag is closed and fastened but restricts access to some extent when filling and emptying.

None of the above proposals have been completely successful, however, in preventing the insertion of an object into the mouth of the bag in its closed and locked condition, even when the mouth and flap are stiffened by the incorporation of inserts of a material more rigid than the material of which the bag is made.

It is a principal object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an arrangement which will make such an operation even more difficult and to this end, according to the invention, the mouth of the bag is without apertures and the fastening means is formed in two complementary parts of rigid material which are secured to opposite ends of the bag adjacent its mouth and are so formed that when the mouth of the bag is closed and folded the ends of one part engage and interlock with the associated ends of the other part and can be maintained in interlocking relation by a sealed locking member.

One embodiment of the invention will be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows the closed upper part of a bag prior to locking; Figure 2 is a view of the upper part of the bag in its closed and locked condition; and Figure 3 is a perspective view of the two parts of the fastening means and the staples for securing them to the bag.

Each wall 1, 1 a of a bag 2 is made from two thicknesses of canvas or other tough material and is stiffened at its upper end by a strip (not shown) made of a synthetic plastics or other suitable material of greater rigidity than the bag material and formed at intervals with lines of weakness to permit the mouth of the bag, when closed, to be folded concertinawise, as shown in Fig. 1. The wall 1 is provided at opposite ends adjacent the mouth of the bag with rigid fastening members 3 and 4 made of metal and secured to the material of the bag by staples 5, 6 having complementary curved profiles and provided with tongues 7 which extend through one or both walls of the bag and through apertures 8 in the members 3, 4.The fastening member 3 has its ends 9, 10 bent at right angles out of the plane of the member, the end 9 being provided with a tongue 11 of reduced width formed with a longitudinal slot 1 2 and the end 10 being formed with a transverse slot 1 3. One end of the member 4 is formed with a tongue 14 of reduced width and the other end is plane and formed with a transverse slot 15.

On closure of the bag 2 its mouth is folded in the manner shown in Fig. 1 until it takes up the position shown in Fig. 2 whereupon the tongue 1 4 of the member 4 is engaged in the slot 1 3 in the member 3 and the tongue 11 of the member 3 is passed through the slot 1 5 in the member 4 and secured therein by a bar 1 6 which may be provided with a seal which will be broken on withdrawal from the slot. The mouth of the bag in its folded condition is thus tightly compressed by the members 3 and 4 against the complementarily curved surfaces of the staples 5, 6 and this compression, combined with the stiffening afforded by the aforesaid strips, offers complete resistance to the introduction of an implement.

As a further precaution against penetration of the mouth of the bag one of its walls may be extended above the other to form a flap (not shown) which can be folded downwardly over the other wall before commencing the concertina-wise folding of the bag top.

1. A bag of the kind described in which the mouth portion is formed without apertures and the fastening means comprises two complementary members of rigid material which are secured to opposite ends of the bag adjacent its mouth and are so formed that

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. SPECIFICATION Security bags This invention relates to bags of the kind, hereinafter referred to as "the kind described", made of canvas or other tough material, the mouths of which, after closure, are folded concertina-wise and maintained in that condition by fastening means locked against removal therefrom. Such bags are widely as security bags for transporting cash and valuables and in order to prevent the unauthorised introduction of a suitable implement into the closed mouth of a bag and the undetected extraction of any of its contents it has already been proposed to pass the fastening means, in the form of a bar, through two rows of apertures provided in the upper ends of the front and rear walls of the bag and brought into register with one another when the closed mouth of the bag has been folded as described. It has also been proposed to extend one of the walls of such a bag upwardly to form a closure flap and to provide this flap with a further row of apertures which, when the flap is folded over to close the mouth of the bag, registers with the existing rows of apertures to form the passage for the fastening means when the upper part of the bag is folded concertina-wise. The front and rear walls of the bag are usually secured together at each end of the mouth of the bag either by stitching or by other means. This reduces the width of the mouth relative to the overall width of the bag and prevents direct access to the mouth from opposite ends when the bag is closed and fastened but restricts access to some extent when filling and emptying. None of the above proposals have been completely successful, however, in preventing the insertion of an object into the mouth of the bag in its closed and locked condition, even when the mouth and flap are stiffened by the incorporation of inserts of a material more rigid than the material of which the bag is made. It is a principal object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an arrangement which will make such an operation even more difficult and to this end, according to the invention, the mouth of the bag is without apertures and the fastening means is formed in two complementary parts of rigid material which are secured to opposite ends of the bag adjacent its mouth and are so formed that when the mouth of the bag is closed and folded the ends of one part engage and interlock with the associated ends of the other part and can be maintained in interlocking relation by a sealed locking member. One embodiment of the invention will be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows the closed upper part of a bag prior to locking; Figure 2 is a view of the upper part of the bag in its closed and locked condition; and Figure 3 is a perspective view of the two parts of the fastening means and the staples for securing them to the bag. Each wall 1, 1 a of a bag 2 is made from two thicknesses of canvas or other tough material and is stiffened at its upper end by a strip (not shown) made of a synthetic plastics or other suitable material of greater rigidity than the bag material and formed at intervals with lines of weakness to permit the mouth of the bag, when closed, to be folded concertinawise, as shown in Fig. 1. The wall 1 is provided at opposite ends adjacent the mouth of the bag with rigid fastening members 3 and 4 made of metal and secured to the material of the bag by staples 5, 6 having complementary curved profiles and provided with tongues 7 which extend through one or both walls of the bag and through apertures 8 in the members 3, 4.The fastening member 3 has its ends 9, 10 bent at right angles out of the plane of the member, the end 9 being provided with a tongue 11 of reduced width formed with a longitudinal slot 1 2 and the end 10 being formed with a transverse slot 1 3. One end of the member 4 is formed with a tongue 14 of reduced width and the other end is plane and formed with a transverse slot 15. On closure of the bag 2 its mouth is folded in the manner shown in Fig. 1 until it takes up the position shown in Fig. 2 whereupon the tongue 1 4 of the member 4 is engaged in the slot 1 3 in the member 3 and the tongue 11 of the member 3 is passed through the slot 1 5 in the member 4 and secured therein by a bar 1 6 which may be provided with a seal which will be broken on withdrawal from the slot. The mouth of the bag in its folded condition is thus tightly compressed by the members 3 and 4 against the complementarily curved surfaces of the staples 5, 6 and this compression, combined with the stiffening afforded by the aforesaid strips, offers complete resistance to the introduction of an implement. As a further precaution against penetration of the mouth of the bag one of its walls may be extended above the other to form a flap (not shown) which can be folded downwardly over the other wall before commencing the concertina-wise folding of the bag top. CLAIMS

1. A bag of the kind described in which the mouth portion is formed without apertures and the fastening means comprises two complementary members of rigid material which are secured to opposite ends of the bag adjacent its mouth and are so formed that when the mouth of the bag is closed and folded the ends of one member engage and interlock with the associated ends of the other member and can be maintained in interlocking relation by a sealed locking member.

2. A bag according to claim 1, wherein both fastening members are secured to the same wall of the bag and serve in their locked condition to squeeze the folded upper end of the bag between them.

3. A bag according to claim 2, wherein both fastening members are secured to the material of the bag by staples, the web portions of which are curved in complementary fashion to exert additional closing pressure on the folds of the bag in its locked condition.

4. A bag according to any preceding claim, wherein one fastening member is of Ushape, having one of its parallel arms terminating in a tongue which is adapted to pass through a slot adjacent one end of the other fastening member and is itself formed with a slot to receive the locking member and its other arm formed with a slot to receive a tongue at the other end of the other fastening member.

5. A bag according to claim 4, wherein the other fastening member is a mainly straight bar and the tongue thereon forms a reduced width extension thereof.

6. A bag according to any preceding claim, wherein said fastening members are made of metal.

7. A secuirity bag substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.