NZ217307A

NZ217307A - Hook and loop sealing strip system with peel back feature to avoid delamination from surfaces to which strips are adhered

Info

Publication number: NZ217307A
Application number: NZ217307A
Authority: NZ
Inventors: G A Provost
Original assignee: Actief Nv
Priority date: 1985-10-24
Filing date: 1986-08-21
Publication date: 1988-03-30
Also published as: WO1987002646A1; AU6222786A; EP0244426A4; CA1302973C; ZA865754B; KR870700559A; ES2001567A6; EP0244426A1

Description

<div class="application article clearfix" id="description"> 217307 Priorii/ 2Av" \0 -% *3 Compte'.o Gr:;cifi>:a1.ion Fiie<J. . 2^-86 Class: .. B.fcSOaO/OO^ .0U4&0/CC Publication Data: .... P.O. Journal. No: .. J 306. N.Z. No. NEW ZEALAND Patents Act 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION RECLOSABLE BAG AND SEALING STRIP FOR USE THEREIN We, ACTIEF, N.V., a Netherlands Antilles corporation of 17 Pietermaai, Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a Patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement - 1 - (Followed by 1A) I 2 17307 10 15 20 25 RECLOSABLE BAG AND SEALING STRIP FOR USE THEREIN BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to resealable bags, and, more particularly, to a bag of a flexible, frangible material, including a bottom, opposed spaced sides, and opposed spaced front and rear pieces terminating at the top and front and rear edges respectively, wherein tamperproof reseaLabi I ity is provided by a flap of the flexible, frangible material extending from the rear edge over the front edge and down along the front piece; a strip of adhesive disposed along the bottom edge of the flap to secure it to the front piece; a piece of cording disposed between the flap and the front piece adjacent the top of the adhesive strip with at least one end extending from between the flap and the front piece sufficiently for gripping; and, a pair of strips of a hook and loop fastening system disposed between the flap and the front piece above and adjacent to the cording with one of the pair of strips adhesively attached to the flap and the other of the pair of strips adhesively attached to the front piece whereby when the cording is pulled across the flap, the flap between the pair of strips and the strip of adhesive is fractured and separated along a line close adjacent the lower edge of the strip so that thereafter the one of the pair of strips can be gripped to pull the one of the pair of strips out of attachment to the other of the pair of strips without pulling the flap apart from its adhesive attachment to the one of the pair of stcj-ps. Resealable bags have been known in the art for years. For example, before it became popular to sell previously ground coffee in vacuum packed cans, coffee was sold as whole roasted -I A - 217307 —slO 15 20 25 beans in a bag such as that generally indicated as 10 in Figure 1. The coffee bag 10 had metal tabs 12 extending outward from one side of the top. The two sides of the top were pinched together by folding the sides as at 14. The top of the bag was then rolled down so as to appear as in Figure 2 when viewed in the direction of arrow II in Figure 1. The Metal tabs 12 were then bent around the folded-down top 16 as shown in Figures 2 and 3. When the coffee was purchased, the metal tabs 12 were unfolded, the folded top 16 unrolled, and the beans (not shown) poured out of the bag 10 into a grinder from whence they were directed from a shoot back into the bag 10 which was then resealed in the manner described above. More recently, the sale of "economy size" bags of pet food, and the like, has increased in popularity. Large bags of such materials open at the top are easily spitted and, therefore, there has been a corresponding desirabilty Df providing a tamperproof resealable form for such bags. That is, such bags are normally sealed shut until time of use. At that time, a tear strip is removed allowing the bag to be opened. Thus, the object is to provide resealability for such sealed or tamper-proof bags. A recent attempt at a solution to the problem is shown in Figures 4 - 6. As shown therein the bag 18 is folded over at 20 to provide abutting edges, 22, 24 adjacent the top of the bag. A zipper, generally indicated as 26, of the type having two sides 28, 30 carrying intermeshing plastic loop teeth 32 is attached to the abutting edges 22, 24 and covered with a sealing strip 34. At time of initial use, the sealing strip 34 - 2 - 21730/f is peeled off of the zipper 26 as indicated by the arrow 36. The zipper 26 can then be opened by pulling the tab 38 and the direction of arrow 40 in the usual wanner of operation for zippers. To close the bag, the tab 38 is pulled in the direction opposite arrow 40, also in the conventional manner. With the zipper 26 in its open position, the abutting edges 22,24 can be pulled apart to provide an entrance into the bag 18 as symbolized by the arrow 42 in Figure 6. The use of a zipper in such applications has numerous drawbacks. The zipper 26, as is typical, is an entity comprising its two sides 28,30 and the tab 38 which must be mounted on the teeth 32 with the teeth 32 in proper meshed relationship. This, of course, adds greatly to the complexity and cost of construction of the bag 18. Moreover as it also well known by anyone who has used zippers, any foreign material becoming lodged in the teeth 32 will prevent proper operation of the zipper 26. The tab 38 may become completely immovable. Additionally, if the zipper 26 is assumed closed, one may find that a piece of the material contained in the bag 18 has become lodged in the teeth 32 preventing proper interneshing . Shortly thereafter, the teeth 32 will come out of engagement and the zipper 26 completely open allowing the contents of the bag 18 to spill. Wherefore, ft is the object of the present invention to provide a reclosable bag of the type described with respect to Figures 4 - 6 but eliminating the problems attendant thereto. - 3 - 217307 suwHtm The foregoing objective has been realized in a bag of flexible, frangible material Including a bottom, opposed spaced sides, and opposed spaced front and rear pieces terminating at the top in front and rear edges respectively, the improvement' to provide tamperproof re sea I abi111y comprising: (a) a flap of the flexible, frangible material extending from the rear edge over the front edge and down along the front piece; (b) a strip of adhesive disposed along the bottom edge of said flap to secure it to the front piece; (c) a pair of elongated strips of a hook and loop fastening system disposed between said flap and front piece above and adjacent to said strip of adhesive with one of said pair of strips adhesively attached across the full width thereof to said flap and the other of said pair of strips adhesively attached across the full width thereof to the front piece, one of said pair of strips including an engaging area along its upper longitudinal edge portion which is narrower than its width, the remaining area along its lower longitudinal edge having no ability for said pair of strips to for* a releasable attachment to one another; and (d) fracturing means disposed for fracturing and splitting said flap adjacent the bottom edge of said pair of strips whereby at initial opening of said fracturing means said flap is fractured and separated along a line close adjacent said lower edge of said strips and thereafter said one of said pair of strips can be laterally rolled back at said remaining area away from the other of said pair of strips, said remaining area being sufficiently wide to be gripped by human fingers to laterally pull said one of said pair of strips out of attachment with said other of ~s?id pair—o.f—_ 217307 * j strips, wherein the initial lateral separation forces are remote from the lower longitudinal edges of the strips so that peeling of said lower longitudinal edges of the strips from said flap or said front piece is prevented thereby avoiding delamination. "The novel hook and loop fastening system employed in the bag of the present invention also has independent use where it is desired to employ a hook and loop strip fastening system adhesively fastened to respective sides of a closure and wherein delamination of the adhesive fastening during repeated opening and closing of the fastening systen 1s desired to be avoided. Figure 1 is a perspective view of a reclosable bag such as used for coffee to permit opening and grinding at the point of sale. Figure 2 is a view of the bag of Figure ! as it would appear in the direction of arrow II when the top is rolled down and the tabs folded over in the locked position. Figure 3 is a top view of one end of Figure 2. Figure A is a front view of a prior art approach to a resealable bag employing a zipper therein. Figure 5 is a cutaway view of the bag of Figure A in the Plane V-V. Figure 6 shows the bag of Figure A in the Plane V-V as it would appear with the zipper opened and the bag opened for use. Figure 7 is a cutaway side elevation through the top flap portion of a bag according to the present invention. Figure 8 shows the bag portion of Figure 8 in the area of DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 5 JANls-.o 21730 the resealable closing strips as the flap is being fractured by pulling of the cording. figure 9 shows the bag of Figure 7 following the initial opening of Figure 8 with the sealing strip released and the flap being raised for access to the bag. Figure 10 is a detailed drawing in the area designated as X In Figure 8 showing the details of the unique loop and hook fastening system of the present invention. Figure 11 is a drawing showing the delamination problem solved by the strip fastening system of the present invention. Figure 12 is a drawing similar to that of Figure 7 showing an alternate embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Figure 7 shows the top of a bag 44 incorporating the present invention in its preferred embodiment. Bag 44, while possible to manufacture as a tubular construction with a sewn bottom, can generally be described as having a bottom (not shown), opposed spaced sides 46, and opposed spaced front and rear pieces 48,50, respectively, terminating at the top 52 in front and rear edges 54 and 5 6, respectively. Bag 44 is of a flexible, frangible material, typically multi-layer coated paper. According to the present invention, a flap 58 of the same flexible, frangible material extends from the rear edge 56 over the front edge 54 and down along the front piece 48. A strip of adhesive 60 is disposed along the bottom edge-62 of the flap 58 to secure it to the front piece 48. Various forms of adhesive can be used at 60, however, adhesive of the hot melt - 6 - 1 VuU variety is preferred for ease of manufacture. A piece of cording 64 is disposed between the flap 58 and the front piece 48 adjacent the top of the adhesive strip 60 with at least one end thereof extending from between the flap 58 and the front piece 48 sufficiently for gripping. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, cording, string, tape, or the like, as thus positioned can be used to fracture the flap 58 which in its originally secured position as just described acts as a tamperproof closing for the bag 44 prior to initial opening. As will also be recognized by those skilled in the art, other ■eans for fracturing the flap 58 could be employed within the scope of the present invention such as providing a perforated tear strip within the flap 58 itself. A pair of strips 66 and 68 of a hook and loop fastening system generally indicated as 70 is disposed between the flap 58 and the front piece 48 above and adjacent to the cording 64 with strip 66 adhesively attached to the flap 58 and strip 68 adhesively attached to the front piece 48. Again, for ease of manufacture, it is preferred that the strips 66,68 be adhesively attached to the flap 58 and front piece 48 by a hot melt adhesive (however, pressure sensitive adhesives, for example, could also be used). The hook and loop fastening system 70, comprising strips 66,68, is of a ty*pe generally weLl known to those skilled in the art and, particular, sold by the assignee of this application under the-\a radema rk VELCRO. The preferred embodiment of the present N 1988 m invention as being described incorporates a new and novel w %j6d o d ■ >od1ment of the hook and loop fastening system 70 which will be described in greater detail shortly. 217307 * 5 y 10 15 20 25 As shown in Figure 8, as the cording 64 is pulled outwardly In the direction of arrow 72, the flap 58 is fractured and separated close adjacent the bottom edge 74 of the strips 66,68. By so doing, the strip 66 adhesively attached to the flap 58 can be gripped to pull it from its engagement from strip 68 without a delaminating problem depicted in Figure 11 which would otherwise take place. As seen in Figure 11, if the flap 58 were allowed to extend beyond the strip 66 and the peeling or separating force were applied 1n the direction of arrow 76, there is a good chance that, at least after several openings and closings, the flap 58 would delaminate at the adhesive from the strip 66 at the point indicated by arrow 78. Shortly, flap 58 would then completely separate from strip 66 and the reclosabi I ity feature would be lost. By being able to grip strip 66 directly and apply the initial peeling force thereto, the delaminating problem of Figure 11 is substantially avoided. Once the strips 66, 68 have been separated, the flap 58 can be lifted as indicated by the arrow 80 in Figure 9 and front edge 54 pulled outward in the direction of arrow 82 to provide entrance to the bag 44. Closure and resealing is, of course, a reverse of the above-described procedure. The front and rear edges 54,56 are pressed together and the flap 58 pulled down o/er the front edge 54 until the strips 66,68 can be pressed together into releasable attachment with one another. Turning now with particular lity to Figure 10, the novel construction of the hook and loop fastening system 70 of the present invention will now be described 1n"TnftVfT. As will be1 appreciated by those skilled in the art, the 8 r 18 JAN 1988 2173 10 15 20 25 fastening 70 provides benefits of delamination resistance for other uses besides bags as hereinbefore described when it is desired to apply the strip 66, 68 with an adhesive such as hot melt', or otherwise. In the usual manner, one loop strip (in this case strip 66) comprises a backing material 84 such as polypropylene adapted to adhere to the adhesive 86 and covered with a loop material 88. The other strip (in this case strip 68) also has a backing 84 to which adhesive 86 will adhere with resiliently flexible "J" or "T" hooks 90 extending therefrom. To accomplish the purposes desired, an area at 92 is provided where the strips 66,68 will not adhere to one another. This is most easily accomplished by eliminating the hooks 90 in that area. In the preferred embodiment, the hooks 90 are disposed in longitudinal rows and to provide the area 92 at least one row, and preferably two or three, is eliminated. As a consequence, if outward pressure is exerted within the area 92 as symbolized by the arrow 94, strip 66 (in combination with the bottom of flap 58) can be rolle<^ back sufficiently to allow the bottom edge of the strip 66 to|* gripped securely such that the strips 66,68 can be pulled out of their entangled engagement with one another wherein the hooks 90 are entangled into the loop material 88. The unique hook and loop fastening system 70 as thus described can also be incorporated into an alternate embodiment of the bag of the present invention as shown in Figure 12. In this embodiment, the bag is of substant ia I ly-t-he same construction as bag 44 of the preferred embod-iwant. The hook and loop fastening system 70, however, is moved to a: point - 9 - 18 JAN!?3<r 217o07 wherein one strip is attached to the front edge 54 and the other to the rear edge 56 with the above described area 92 a* the top 52. The flap 58 is attached with the adhesive 60 as previously described and with separation means such as the cording 64 adjacent thereto. Once opened, the flap is not resealable in this embodiment but the top 52 *s resealable at the front and rear edges 54,56 by means of the fastening system 70 disposed therein. Because of the unique construction of the fastening system 70 as described above and the area 92 for gripping provided thereby, the strip 66 and front edge 54 can be securely gripped to pull them out of engagement with the strip 68 without causing the delamination problen of the adhesive previously described. Wherefore, having thus described my Invention, it can be seen that the present Invention not only provides a reclosable-bag with improved sealing means as desired* but additionally provides an improved hook and loop fastening system for use in adhesively applied applications where delamination of the glue adhesion is avoided despite repeated openings and closings. </div>

Claims

<div class="application article clearfix printTableText" id="claims"> -11 - 217307 WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. In a hook and loop strip fastening system, the Improvement to permit adhesive fastening of two elongated interactive strips across the full width thereof to flexible surfaces while avoiding delamination of the adhesive during lateral separation of the strips compris i ng: longitudinal edge portion of one of the strips which is sufficiently narrower than the width of said one strip, the remaining area along the lower longitudinal edge of taid one strip being lacking in the ability to form a releasable attachment to the adjacent area of the other strip, that said area along the lower longitudinal edge can be laterally rolled away from said other strip to be gripped sufficiently by human fingers to laterally pull said one strip out of attachment with said other strip, whereby the initial lateral separation forces are remote from the lower longitudinal edges of the strips so that peeling of said lower longitudinal edges of the strips from the flexible surfaces is prevented thereby avoiding said delamination.

2. The improvement to a hook and loop fastening system of claim 1 wherein: (a) said other of the strips is covered with a loop material; Cb) said one of the strips is covered with longitudinal rows of resiliently flexible hooks for releasably intermeshing with said loops; and of the strips where at least one said row of said hooks adjacent said longitudinal edge is missing. providing an engaging area along an upper (c> said area comprises a portion of said one

3. A strip fastening system of the hook and loop type particularly adapted for adhesive fastening across the full width thereof to flexible surfaces while ■voiding delamination of the adhesive during lateral separation of the strips comprising: backing covered on one side with a loop material and adapted on the opposite side for adhesion to an adhesive; and backing adapted on one side for adhesion to an adhesive and on the opposite side carrying resiliently flexible hooks, for releasably intermeshing with said loop ■aterial, on an engaging area along its upper longitudinal edge portion which is sufficiently narrower than its width, said hooks not being disposed in the remaining area along the lower longitudinal edge thereof, whereby said remaining area does not form a releasable attachment to said loop material when said strips are pressed together and said remaining area can be laterally rolled away from the other of said strips to be gripped by human fingers sufficiently to Laterally pull said one of said strips out of attachment with the other of said strips, the initial lateral separation forces being remote from the lower longitudinal edges of the strips so that peeling of said lower longitudinal edges of the strips from the flexible surfaces is prevented thereby avoiding said delamination t*.

The strip "fastening system of claim 3 wherein: said hooks are disposed in longitudinal rows and at least one complete row adjacent said Longitudinal (a) a first elongated strip comprising a (b) a second elongated strip comprising a 217307 - 13 - edge is missing whereby said area for gripping extends along the entire edge of said strip .

5. In a bag of a flexible, frangible material including a bottom, opposed spaced sides, and opposed 5 spaced front artd rear pieces terminating at the top in front and rear edges respectively, the improvement to provide tamperproof reseaIabiIity comprising: (a) a flap of the flexible, frangible material extending from the rear edge over the front edge and v 10 down along the front piece; (b) a strip of adhesive disposed along the bottom edge of said flap to secure it to the front piece; (c) a pair of elongated strips of a hook and loop fastening system disposed between said flap and 15 front piece above and adjacent to said strip of adhesive with one of said pair of strips adhesively attached across the full width thereof to said flap and the other of said pair of strips adhesively attached across the full width thereof to the front piece, one of said pair 20 of strips including an engaging area along its upper longitudinal edge portion which is narrower than its width, the remaining area along its lower longitudinal edge having no ability for said pair of strips to form a releasable attachment to one another; and 25 Cd) fracturing means disposed for fracturing and splitting said flap adjacent the bottom edge of said pair of strips whereby at initial opening of said ^ fracturing means said flap is fractured and separated 'v-' along a line close adjacent said lower edge of said 30 strips and thereafter said one of said pair of strips can be laterally rolled back at said remaining area away from the other of said pair of strips, said remaining area being sufficiently wide to be gripped by human fingers to laterally pull said one of said pair of 35 strips out of attachment with said other of said pair of 217307 - u - strips, wherein the initial lateral separation forces are remote from the lower longitudinal edges of the strips so that peeling of said lower longitudinal edges of the strips from said flap or said front piece is prevented thereby avoiding delamination.

6. The resealability improvement to a bag of claim 5 wh e re in : (a) one of said pair of strips is covered with a loop Material; (b) the other of said pair of strips is covered with longitudinal rows of resiliently flexible hooks for releasably irtermeshing with said loop material; and (c) said area comprises having at least said one row of said hooks adjacent said longitudinal lower edge missing.

7. The resealability improvement to a bag of claim 5 wherein said fracturing means comprises: a piece of cording disposed between said flap and the front piece adjacent the top of of said adhesive strip with at least one end extending from between said flap and the front piece sufficiently for gripping.

8. A hook and loop fastening according to claim 1 substantially as herein described with reference to figures 7 to 12 of the accompanying drawings.

9. A bag according to claim 5 substantially as herein described with reference to Figures / to 12 of the accompanying drawings. ' 18 JAN W88- -■ v . , O/ ACTIEF N.V., By Their Attorneys HENRY HUGHES LIMITED </div>