GB2330821A

GB2330821A - A waste bag

Info

Publication number: GB2330821A
Application number: GB9902528A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Raymond Wheeler
Original assignee: Guardline Disposables Ltd
Current assignee: Guardline Disposables Ltd
Priority date: 1995-08-17
Filing date: 1996-08-15
Publication date: 1999-05-05
Anticipated expiration: 2016-08-15
Also published as: GB2330821B; GB2330822A; GB2330822B; GB9902532D0; GB9902528D0

Abstract

A bag 10, for use when disposing of waste, has a layer of adhesive 26 around at least half of the inside surface of the mouth 24 of the bag. The adhesive is initially applied to the outer surface (14, fig 3a) a short distance below the edge upper edge, and the upper edges are then turned inwards so that the adhesive is located on the inside of the mouth. Preferably, the adhesive 26 extends around more than half of the circumference of the mouth 24. A peel-off strip may be used to protect the adhesive 26 until it is required. The bag be made from a sheet of plastics laminate (12, fig.1) comprising a layer of fluid-proof plastics material (14, fig.1) and a layer of liquid-absorbent plastics material (16, fig.1).

Description

A waste bag The present invention relates to a waste bag.

One previously proposed such waste bag is described in EP-B-O 317 047. A problem encountered with that waste bag is that even when the mouth of the bag is carefully gathered and tied, it does not form an adequate seal against the escape of fluids from within the bag.

The present invention seeks to provide a remedy to this problem.

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a waste bag having an adhesive layer which extends around at least half of the inside of the mouth of the bag, to enable the mouth to be sealed readily after waste matter has been inserted in the bag.

It is desirable for the adhesive layer to extend around slightly more than half of the inside of the mouth of the bag to create a secure seal when the adhesive is used.

Preferably the adhesive layer is protected by a peeloff strip.

An example of a waste bag made in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a cross-section through a laminate from which the bag is made; Figure 2 shows an elevation of an intermediate stage in the manufacture of such a bag; Figures 3a and 3b show elevations of respective opposite sides of the bag in a subsequent stage of the manufacture; Figure 4 shows an elevational view of the finished bag; and Figure 5 shows the interior of the mouth of the bag with the latter widened to reveal the various parts thereof.

The waste bag 10 shown as a finished article in Figure 4 is made from a plastics laminate 12, as shown in Figure 1. It comprises a generally fluid-proof plastics sheet 14 made of polyethylene laminated to a lining 16 of non-woven liquid-absorbent filamentary polypropylene material.

A generally 110cm square sheet of the laminate material shown in Figure 1 is folded on to itself along a fold 18 with the lining 16 at this stage on the outside and the polyethylene layer 14 on the inside. An ultrasonic welder is then used to weld the regions of polyethylene material 14 which are now in contact with one another along lines 20 and 22. The line 20 runs adjacent to the edges of the sheet which have been brought together as a result of the folding of the laminate on to itself, to create a seam 20 along an opposite side edge of the bag to that of the fold 18, all the way from the intended top of the bag to the bottom. The seam 22 extends along an intended bottom of the bag at an opposite end thereof to the intended mouth 24 of the bag, all the way across, so that the seams 20 and 22 cross one another and a complete seal at the intended lower end of the bag and all the way around the sides of the bag is created.

The intermediate stage of the bag shown in Figure 2 is then turned inside out so that the polyethylene layer 14 is now on the outside of the bag. A strip of the polyethylene layer 14 extending immediately below the intended mouth of the bag 24 is coated with a layer of adhesive 26 and, as shown in Figure 3b, this strip extends around the other side of the bag 10 beyond both side edges 18 and 20. This coating of adhesive material is covered by a protective peel-off strip 28.

The bag is completed by folding the mouth end of the bag inwardly on to itself to the line 24 so that the adhesive cover 26 and the peel-off strip 28 are just on the inside of the mouth of the bag 10, as shown in Figure 4 and perhaps more clearly in Figure 5.

When the bag is used, waste material, such as discarded medical equipment which may still have body fluid in it, is dropped into the open bag, as shown in Figure 5, the peel-off strip 28 is removed, and thumb and finger pressure is exerted along the top of the bag at the mouth 24 thereof to press the adhesive layer 26 against the opposite side of the mouth of the bag. This forms a fluid-tight seal even if the bag is accidentally turned upside down. Indeed, the fact that the laminate has been turned in on itself at the mouth of the bag tends to result in fluid and equipment falling into one or other of the pockets created by the inwardly turned mouth, but in the event that any equipment or fluid does find its way between the in-turned sides of the mouth, the seal formed by the adhesive layer 26 is sufficient to prevent leakage, especially because it extends all the way and beyond the side edges of the bag 18 and 20 even before sealing occurs.

Numerous variations and modifications to the illustrated bag may readily occur to a reader of ordinary skill in the art without taking the bag outside the scope of the present invention in one or other of its aspects.

For example, the manufacture of the bag may be from a tubular sheet of laminate , and an ultrasonic seal may be formed along the bottom thereof. Indeed, it would be possible to make a bag from a tubular sheet in which both ends may be sealed in the manner in which the mouth only of the bag 10 in the illustrated embodiment is sealed. The bag may be made in various different sizes.

Claims

Claims: 1. A waste bag having an adhesive layer which extends around at least half of the inside of the mouth of the bag, to enable the mouth to be sealed readily after waste matter has been inserted in the bag.
2. A waste bag according to claim 1, in which the adhesive layer extends around more than half of the inside of the mouth of the bag to create a secure seal when the adhesive is used.
3. A waste bag according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the adhesive layer is protected by a peel-off strip.