GB2298632A - Plastic bag dispensing package - Google Patents

Description

BAG DISPENSING ARRANGEMENTS This disclosure concerns arrangements for dispensing bags. The measures proposed here find particular application in the dispensing of thin, flexible plastic film bags, especially the "carriers" having integral handle loops whose use in shops is widespread.

Such bags are used in enormous numbers and provided in stacks. Because adjacent plastic film layers tend to cling to one another, it is difficult to select one bag at a time and difficult to open the mouth of the bag.

various measures exist for coping with this.

"Gluespot" systems use a spot of releasable adhesive sticking a point on each bag wall, near the bag mouth, to a corresponding point on the wall of the adjacent bag of the stack. As each bag is pulled from the stack the glue spot pulls the next bag open. These systems generally require a rack with two horizontal prongs passing through the top of the stack (through small holes in the bag handles) to control the movement of the bags. They also use detachable tags, formed integrally with the bags, engaging at the back of the rack to prevent more than one bag advancing at a time.

These gluespot systems are effective but complicated. They require several modifications to the bags (formation of holes and tags) in addition to the application of the gluespots.

It would be desirable to provide a new and simple arrangement by which bags can be dispensed successively and with separation of the bag walls.

we propose an arrangement in which a pack of bags, stacked face-to-face, is in a retaining enclosure having a restrictive dispensing opening through which successive bags of the pack are withdrawn. A releasable engagement, desirably adhesive, connects the adjacent walls of adjacent bags together, preferably near the bag mouth.

When a first bag is withdrawn from the pack through the dispensing opening the releasable engagement draws part of the next bag through the dispensing opening, separating its walls, before the releasable engagement is broken by the resistance to passage of that next bag through the dispensing opening.

The retaining enclosure may be provided by a package surround e.g. a box or bag of relatively sturdy material, and this may be the pack in which the stack of bags is supplied. Alternatively, the retaining enclosure may be a frame or casing installed at the point of use, and recharged with bags when needed. It is most preferred to use the pack in which the bags are supplied, in which event the restrictive opening may be created by breaking out a part of the pack wall already partially cut out (e.g. die cut) to ensure the correct size, shape and location of the opening.

The opening preferably presents a part of the bag wall - in the undisturbed pack - adjacent but not at the mouth. The mouth may be exposed too, but this is not preferred. Desirably the partial withdrawal of the next bag moves the mouth at least partially through the opening. It is generally desired that after withdrawal of a bag, the separated and partially-withdrawn wall of the next bag remains projecting from the opening so as to be easily grasped by a user. This is most effective if part of the mouth emerges.

The stack of bags may be enclosed in folded condition of the stack to facilitate grasping at least the initial bag.

As the bags of the stack are withdrawn from the enclosure, successive bags are successively further from the opening. Consequently, the bags will be opened to a successively greater degree within the enclosure as they are drawn from the stack towards the opening. If a stack of bags extends sufficiently far from the opening then some bags within the stack will not reach between the next bag and the opening without displacing that next bag. Pulling a mouth portion of such bags through the opening will thus require motion of the next bag. Such factors will mean that the force required to draw successive bags from the enclosure will vary, and usually increase. If this force becomes greater than the strength of the releasable engagement then there is a risk that some bag will be separated from the next bag before that next bag protrudes from the opening.

Accordingly, it is preferred to form the enclosure so that the opening may be widened in the direction of stacking of the bags, so that as the stack of bags is denuded, the opening can be extended towards the remaining bags. For example, the opening may be partly defined by a portion of the enclosure which is separable from the rest of the enclosure (e.g. along a preformed line of weakness). The enclosure may include more than one such detachable portion, so that successive removal of detachable portions incrementally widens the aperture.

Since the dispensing opening desirably presents the (undisturbed) bag stack to the opening face-on, rather than edge-on, it is preferably at a corner or edge of the enclosure so that the user grasps a bent portion of the first exposed bag.

The releasable engagement may be by a hot-melt adhesive, as in conventional "gluespot" systems. One or more spots of adhesive may be used.

It will be noted that since the bags are simply withdrawn from an enclosure, there is no need to provide any special structural features on the bags other than the releasable engagement between the adjacent bags.

The strength of the releasable engagement needs to be determined in relation to the force required to separate the bag walls and also the resistance offered to withdrawal by the restrictive dispensing opening. This is easily determined by trial and error. Typically the dispensing opening will be substantially smaller than both the width and depth of the bag. Additionally or alternatively, some supplementary means may be provided to act on the exposed bags to provide resistance to their withdrawal, but this is not preferred since the same effect is easily provided by the opening itself.

The type of bags involved is not critical.

Generally the arrangement is most useful for bags which are difficult to separate or open. We particularly envisage use with the so called "vest carriers": bags made entirely from heat-sealed flexible plastics film, typically less than 50um, more usually less than 30um and frequently about 20wm in thickness. These may be of any suitable material. High density polyethylene (HDPE) is conventional. The bags also desirably have side gussets to increase their capacity.

Embodiments of these general proposals are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first dispensing bag pack according to the invention with one wall removed for purposes of illustration; Figure 2 is a face-on view of a vest carrier; Figure 3 is a side view of a number of vest carriers stacked together, illustrating the wall-separation effect of a glue spot; Figure 4 shows in schematic views (a) to (d) the withdrawal of a bag from an arrangement as in Fig. 1; and Figure 5 shows in perspective view a second dispensing bag pack according to the invention, with one wall removed for purposes of illustration, views (a) to (c) indicating how panels of the pack are successively detached as bags are withdrawn.

Fig. 1 shows a cardboard box pack 1 containing stacked vest carriers 3. The box pack 1 is a flat cardboard box with taped-down lid flaps 11,12, of a kind conventionally used for supply of vest carriers. It is shown with one end wall removed, to reveal the carriers 3 within.

For present purposes, the lid flaps 11,12 of the box 1 are not opened. Rather, a dispensing opening is created by removing a region 15 of the box wall, extending around a front edge of the box to occupy part of one top flap 11 and part of the adjacent side wall 13.

In this embodiment, the region 15 occupies only a part about one third - of the length of the box. It is predetermined by a die cut line 16 created in the box blank, enabling the region 15 to be removed by pushing a finger through an access slot 17, itself defined by a die cut boundary, and pulling outwardly.

The carriers 3 are positioned in the box 1 as a folded stack. The number of bags per stack is determined as a maximum permitting convenient folding. In this embodiment each stack contains 100 bags and the box is shown containing two stacks. This disposition of bags within stacks and of stacks within boxes can vary widely according to the shape, size, material and number of the bags involved. There might typically be from 50 to 150 bags per folded stack, and from two to fifteen stacks in the box.

Referring ahead to Figs. 2 and 3, each bag has (in a conventional way) front and back main walls 31, expandable side gussets 32 existing as a flat re-entrant fold in the flat condition in the bag, and side loop handles 33 at each side of the top edge of the main wall.

A spot 36 of hot-melt adhesive is provided centrally on the main wall 31 exterior of each bag, nearer to the mouth 35 than to the bottom of the bag, and sticks the front wall of each bag to the rear wall of the adjacent bag as seen in Fig. 3. The adhesive strength of the glue spot 36 is greater than the local cohesive attachment between the front and back walls of a given bag, so that when (as seen in Fig. 3) a bag is pulled away from the others, the pull on one bag separates the front and rear walls of the next. This is the principle on which previous glue spot systems have operated. The adhesive may be other than hot-melt, e.g. a latex adhesive. More than one spot may be applied, e.g. two spots laterally spaced as is already known.

In the present embodiment, the folded stacks are positioned with the bag handles 33 and mouth 35 (as indicated by dotted lines) uppermost and with the stack fold presented to the region 15. The bag mouth 35 lies somewhat beyond the region 15, the glue spots 36 just within it.

We do not describe here in detail how to make the bags 3, since their plastic substrates can be entirely conventional as can the hot-melt adhesive spot and its mode of application.

In use, the detachable region 15 is removed to create a dispensing opening 15' exposing the curve of the folded bag stack. Fig. 4 shows the withdrawal operation, with the stack reduced to two bags for ease of illustration. The user grasps the exposed bag X and pulls in direction A. The exposed bag X starts to slide out as seen in Fig. 4(b). Because the opening 15' is substantially smaller than the bag's height and width, a significant pull is needed to withdraw it. After a predetermined degree of withdrawal the glue spot engagement 36 between the exposed bag X and the next bag Y starts to draw the top layer (and only the top layer) of the next bag Y towards and through the opening 15', as seen in Fig. 4(c).This brings the top layer part of the mouth 35 of the bag Y out through the opening 15', but not its handles 33 which lie further away from and beyond the sides of the opening 15' as seen in Fig. 1. Soon after the mouth top layer of bag Y is brought out through the opening 15' the resistance to drawing more of the bag Y out through the opening becomes greater than the strength of the glue engagement 36 which then breaks, leaving glue residues 36' on each bag wall and the upper layer of the mouth ready separated and exposed at the opening 15' as seen in Fig. 4(d).

The scheme of Fig. 4(a) to (d) applies to the first bag in the stack. For every remaining bag in the stack, the commencement position is the same as that of Fig.

4(d), making the grasping of each (already opened) bag very easy.

Turning to Figure 5, a second embodiment of a bag dispensing pack 5 according to the invention is shown, again with a side wall removed. As shown in Fig. 5(a), the box includes a plurality of detachable panel areas 41,42,43,44 defined by preformed lines of weakness.

As shown in Fig. 5(b), removal of the panel 41 creates an opening in the box. Part of the mouth of a top sheet 45 can be drawn through the opening.

Successive bags may then be withdrawn from the stack as described above with reference to Fig. 4. As these bags are withdrawn, the top of the stack moves further from the opening, so that the bags must open to differing extents within the box. To prevent this, further panels 42,43,44 can be successively removed, to widen the panel towards the bottom of the stack. All panels have approximately the same extension transverse to the stacking direction, so that the width of the opening, and thus the resistance to passage of bags there through, does not change. Fig. 5(c) shows the pack after removal of panels 42,43, with a mouth 49 of a bag 47 protruding from the extended opening.

Claims (14)

CLAIMS:

1. A bag dispensing pack comprising a plurality of bags stacked face-to-face within a retaining enclosure which defines a restrictive dispensing opening, adjacent bags being connected by a releasable engagement, whereby when a first bag is withdrawn through the dispensing opening the releasable engagement draws part of the next bag through the opening, separating its walls, before the releasable engagement between the first bag and the next bag is broken by resistance to passage of that next bag through the opening.

2. A bag dispensing pack according to claim 1 in which the opening is at a corner or edge of the enclosure.

3. A bag dispensing pack according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the opening is closed by a detachable closure element.

4. A bag dispensing pack according to claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3 in which the opening is partly defined by one or more detachable panels, whereby the opening can be extended by detachment of the panel or panels.

5. A bag dispensing pack according to claim 4 in which the closure element and the one or more detachable panels are located on the enclosure at different respective distances along the stacking direction with the closure element furthermost towards the first bag.

6. A bag dispensing pack according to claim 5 in which the closure element and detachable panels have substantially the same extension transverse to the stacking direction.

7. A bag dispensing pack according to any preceding claim in which the stack of bags is folded.

8. A bag dispensing pack according to any preceding claim in which the releasable engagement is by an adhesive, such as a hot-melt adhesive.

9. A bag dispensing pack according to any preceding claim in which the thickness of each wall of the bag is less than sour.

10. A bag dispensing pack according to claim 9 in which the thickness of each wall of the bags is less than 30um.

11. A bag dispensing pack according to any preceding claim in which each bag is formed with gussets and/or handles.

12. A bag dispensing pack comprising a pack of plastic film bags stacked in a cardboard box having a restricted dispensing opening, adjacent bags in the stack being connected to one another by localised adhesive engagements adjacent their mouths whereby when a first bag is withdrawn through the dispensing opening then the adhesive engagement draws the next bag partially through the dispensing opening separating its walls, resistance to passage of the next bag through the opening then breaking the adhesive engagement to release the first bag.

13. A bag dispensing pack according to claim 12 in which the wall of the cardboard box has a preformed line of weakness whereby a predetermined area thereof can be broken away to provide the dispensing opening.

14. A bag dispensing pack substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 to 4, or to Figure 5.