GB2332189A

GB2332189A - Plastic bags dispenser

Info

Publication number: GB2332189A
Application number: GB9726213A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Katia Anna Ivens Boyer; Alexandre Benfadel
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1997-12-10
Filing date: 1997-12-10
Publication date: 1999-06-16
Also published as: GB9726213D0

Abstract

A plastic bags dispenser comprises a strip of plastic bags having a bag mouth at the free end and wound in a roll (6) on a tubular core. A retaining spindle (4) passes through the core and is mounted between opposite walls (2 and 3) of a box which has an externally secured base (1) and a lid (5) with a slot (50) in the same plane as the spindle. A bag (60) from the roll (6) can be pulled through the slot (50) and detached, before or after filling with goods, having drawn the leading edge of the next bag through the slot. The box may have a fixed lid and be supplied with a roll of bags in place on the spindle, or it may have an openable lid and a releasably mounted spindle to allow a fresh roll of bags to be installed. The box may be in the form of a drawer located in the lower part of a bin. Pulling out the drawer gives convenient access to the dispenser lid. In use, the walls of the bin constrain and guide the bag while it is being filled and detached.

Description

1 PLASTIC BAGS DISPENSER 2332189 This invention relates to a dispenser for

plastic bags.

Plastic bags are conventionally supplied in the form of a strip of tubular plastic With transverse seals adjacent to transverse perforations. Tearing the strip along the perforation separates the bottom of one bag from the mouth of the next.

According to the invention in one aspect, a plastic bags dispenser comprises a strip of plastic bags having a bag mouth at the free end and wound as a roll on a tubular core with a lumen of sufficient diameter to accommodate a retaining spindle. The outermost bag on an usused roll preferably has an attached leader for beginning to pull the bag off the roll; each bag before it is detached then successively begins to pull the next off the roll.

The invention is applicable to bags of any size that can be supplied in the form of such a roll. Bags of relatively small size may be used, for example, in the retail sale of vegetables, groceries and confectionery where the customer places the goods in bags which are individually weighed before sale. Bags of medium size may be used in domestic refuse bins, and larger bags are suitable for industrial use.

According to the invention in another aspect, a box for dispensing plastic bags from a strip wound on a tubular core with a bag mouth at the free end has a base which can be externally secured, a spindle which is mounted between opposite sides of the box and adapted to pass through the bag roll core, and a lid which has a slot in the same plane as the spindle and of sufficient length for a plastic bag from the roll to be pulled through it. A bag emerging from the slot may then be pulled away and detached, before or after filling With goods, having drawn the leading edge of the next bag through the slot.

A box according to the invention may be disposable, being supplied with a roll of plastic bags in place on the spindle and having a fixed lid with the end bag or a leader attached to it projecting through the slot. For use, such a box is conveniently secured to a substratum by adhesive means, for example sucker pads, or other temporary or releasable means.

Alternatively the box may be constructed to allow a fresh roll of bags to be Installed. For this purpose the lid is openable and the spindle is releasably mounted between opposite side walls of the box. The lid may be removable or hinged or otherwise fitted to the body of the box in any convenient matter so as not to be accidentally dislodged when closed. The 2 base of the box may be secured to a substratum by conventional means.

The spindle may have flanges adjustable along the spindle between which the tubular core of the roll of plastic bags can be fitted to position the bags beneath the slot. This is desirable if the slot does not extend along the full length of the lid. One or both flanges may, for example, travel along a screw thread on the spindle or be releasably spring- clamped on the spindle.

The box may be located within a bin, whose walls can then constrain a bag dispensed from the box while it is being filled and guide it when it is being detached. The box may for example be secured to the bottom of the bin, or it may be constructed as a drawer held within the lower part of a bin or other larger structure. To replenish or adjust the roll of bags, the drawer is pulled out to give convenient access to the lid.

The box may be made of any material sufficiently rigid to handle bags of the size to be dispensed. A rigid plastic is generally suitable for its. construction.

According to the invention in a further aspect, there is provided a method of packaging things in which a bag from a roll of plastic bags on the spindle of a box as described above is pulled through the slot in the lid of the box, the things to be packaged are placed in the bag, and the bag containing the things is then lifted away and detached from the next bag on the roll after at least the leading edge of the next bag has been pulled through the slot.

drawings.

a roll of bags.

The invention is described by way of example with reference to the accompanying Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a dispenser according to the invention containing Figure 2 is a plan view from above of a dispenser having a releasably mounted spindle and an openable lid with the lid open.

Figure 3) shows the spindle of Figure 2 in more detail.

Figure 4 shows in front view a bin having secured to its base a dispenser of the type shown in Figure 2.

Figures 5 and 6 are front and perspective views respectively of a dispenser constructed as a drawer in the lower part of a bin.

Figure 7 is a side view of an alternative construction to figure 6.

3 Figures 8 and 9 are perspective views of a disposable dispenser.

ReferrIng to Figure 1, the base 1 of the box is secured to a substratum (not shown). The front wall of the box is notionally removed in order to depict the interior. Between the side walls 2 and 3 a spindle 4 is secured by mountings 21 and 3 Ion the side walls. The lid 5 of the box is shown in the closed position. The spindle passes through the lumen In the central core of a roll 6 of plastic bags, held on the spindle between flanges 7 and 8. Through a slot 50 in the lid 5, the first bag 60 on the roll, preceded by a leader 6 1, protrudes and when pulled fully through the slot is ready to be filled with goods. The slot 50 is in the same vertical plane as the spindle 4, and flanges 7 and 8 position the roll beneath the slot.

In Figure 2, a box with an openable lid 5 is shown with thelid in the open position. The lid is hinged along one long edge by hinges 9 to the top of one of the long walls of the box. One member 14 of a magnetic clasp for the lid is on the opposite long wall of the box and the co- operating member 15 of the magnetic clasp is on the free long edge of the lid. The spindle 4 is releasably secured by mountings 21 and 3 1 on the side walls in known manner, for example as used conventionally in toilet roll holders.

Figure 3 shows the spindle 4 with flanges 7 and 8 to position the tubular core of a roll of bags (not shown), as well as a spring-loaded projection 40 to engage the spindle releasably in the mounting 21 on the side wall (not shown in this drawing) of the box. One end of the spindle has a threaded region 47 bearing the flange 7 which is internally threaded (not shown) and whose position is thus adjustable along the spindle.

Figure 4 shows in front view a bin 90 with a box of the type described in Figure 2 inside the bin and secured to the bottom of the bin. The near wall of the bin is notionally removed to show the base 1, side walls 2 and 3 and lid 5 of the box as well as the first bag 60 on the roll of bags (not shown) emerging through the slot (not shown) in the lid and preceded by a leader 6 1.

Figure 5 shows in front view a box according to the invention constructed as a drawer 100 bearing an external handle 10 1, the drawer being located inside the lower part of the bin 90. The near wall of the bin above the drawer is notionally removed to show a bag 60 preceded by a leader 61 emerging from a slot in a lid (not shown) parallel with the front of the drawer.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the bin and drawer shown in Figure 5, With the 4 drawer 100 pulled out from the bin 90 and with the hinged lid 5 partly open to show the spindle 4 held by the mounting 21 to one side wall 2 of the drawer and released from the mounting 31 on the other side wall 3 of the drawer.

Figure 7 shows in side view a bin 90 and drawer 110, having the spindle 4 and roll of bags 6 mounted between the front and rear walls of the drawer. In this construction, the slot (not shown) in the lid 5 of the drawer is perpendicular to the hinged edge 99 of the lid and not parallel to it as shown for the lid 5 in Figures 2 and 6.

Figure 8 shows a disposable box with the base 1 secured to a substratum (not shown). The near side and end walls of the box are notionally removed to show a roll of bags 6 mounted on the end walls at 21 and 3 1. A leader 61 on the first bag 60 on the roll projects through the slot 50 in a fixed lid 5 of the box.

Figure 9 shows the box of Figure 8 in a different perspective with the end wall 2 at the bottom. The base 1 has an adhesive patch 10 for securing the box to a substratum. The adhesive patch before use is covered with release foil 11 and leader 12.

The substratum to which the box is secured is not necessily horizontal. If desired, the box may be mounted on the side of a larger structure to dispense bags sideways in a vertical plane (as suggested in Figure 9) or in a horizontal plane.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A plastic bags dispenser comprising a strip of plastic bags with

a bag mouth at the free end wound in a roll on a tubular core with a lumen of sufficient diameter to accommodate a retaining spindle.
2. A dispenser for plastic bags from a roll as claimed in claim I comprising a box which has a base which can be externally secured, a spindle which is mounted between opposite walls of the box and adapted to pass through the bag roll core, and a lid which has a slot in the same plane as the spindle and of sufficient length for a plastic bag from the roll to be pulled through it. 2. A dispenser as claimed in claim 2 which has a fixed lid and which has a roll of plastic bags as claimed in claim 1 in place on the spindle and the end bag or a leader attached to it projecting through the slot in the lid.
A dispenser as claimed in claim 2 constructed to allow a fresh roll of bags to be installed, in which the lid is openable and the spindle is releasably mounted between opposite walls of the box.
4. A dispenser as claimed in claim 3 in which the spindle has flanges adjustable along the spindle between which the tubular core of the roll of plastic bags can be fitted.
A dispenser as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4 which is inside a bin and secured to its bottom.
6. A dispenser as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4 constructed as a drawer held within the lower part of a bin or other larger structure in such manner that the drawer may be reversibly disengaged to give convenient access to the lid of the dispenser.
7. A method of packaging things in which a bag from a roll of plastic bags held on the spindle of a dispenser as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 6 is pulled through the slot in the lid of the box, the things to be packaged are placed in the bag, and the bag containing the things is then lifted away and detached from the next bag on the roll after at least the leading edge of the next bag has been pulled through the slot.