US20090169135A1

US20090169135A1 - carrier bag, a stack of carrier bags and a mounting arrangement therefor

Info

Publication number: US20090169135A1
Application number: US12/096,726
Authority: US
Inventors: Adam Dickinson
Original assignee: Euro Packaging Ltd
Current assignee: Euro Packaging Ltd
Priority date: 2005-12-09
Filing date: 2006-12-11
Publication date: 2009-07-02
Also published as: WO2007066139A2; GB2446112A; WO2007066139A3; GB0525097D0; GB0810405D0

Abstract

A carrier bag comprising a body having a closed base, closed sides and an open mouth opposite the base, handles extending from the open mouth away from the base, an attachment means extending from or separably connected to the handles and arranged separably to connect the handles together and two mounting member receiving formations, one on each side of the bag, arranged respectively to receive a mounting member of a mounting arrangement. A carrier bag comprising a body having a closed base, closed sides and an open mouth opposite the base, handles extending from the open mouth away from the base, an attachment means extending from or separably connected to the handles and arranged separably to connect the handles together, the attachment means comprising a loop of flexible material extending through apertures in the handles. A carrier bag comprising a body having a closed base, closed sides and an open mouth opposite the base, handles extending from the open mouth away from the base, two mounting member receiving formations, one on each side of the bag, arranged respectively to receive a mounting member of a mounting arrangement, the mounting member receiving formations each comprising a cut or an aperture at a point on the body between the mouth and the base and being formed so as not to create an area of weakness in the body that may cause a failure upon filling or carrying.

Description

The invention relates to a carrier bag, particularly but not exclusively limited to a carrier bag for use in a retail establishment, a stack of such bag and a mounting arrangement and installation therefor.
Stacks of bags are commonly provided in retail establishments at the point of sale to allow the customer to package purchased goods. Such bags are generally made of thin walled, flexible plastics material and are sealed at the base end and the sides leaving the upper end open to form the mouth of the bag. There are various designs of such bags. However, one common configuration has two handle members extending from the mouth, one on each side of the bag. That configuration is known as a “vest bag” or “vest-style bag”. The present invention is concerned with vest-style bags.
It is a known problem for retailers that the use of specific carrier bag designs and appropriate dispensing fixtures, which have been specifically designed to deliver major benefits in cost savings via either reduced product cost and or improved efficiencies of customer throughput or reduced loading times for the operators. These issues incur increased costs due to the time spent managing the logistics of multiple product lines. Most retail stores globally, have a number of such “bagging” systems dedicated to differing applications or end product groups where the advantage of the bag and dispenser combination is maximised. The impact of the great number of variations of bag design impact on the logistical management and economies of scale of production. Therefore it is advantageous to have a single bag design that will apply to a number of dispensing fixtures so that these criteria can be positively addressed.
An example of a dispensing fixture is a known bag supporting dispenser system which relates to a device having two pins, so spaced as to be greater in width than the handles of the bags to be supported, yet which align with the correlating features of the handles of a vest style bag and a third pin or hook form is provided between the aforementioned pins to cooperate with an advantageously correlating aperture in the open end of the bag adjacent the mouth of the bag. A bag stack, to which each bag is affixed to the following bag by semi-permanent means or detachably permanent means, aids the alignment of the handle and mouth apertures with the correlating pin/hook features of the dispensing system upon mounting of the bag stack on the dispensing device. Manual pulling of the front face of the front most bag of the mounted stack opens the bag, as the rear face is held against the front face of the subsequent bag in the stack by the semi-permanent attachment means. The pins projecting through the advantageously located handle apertures act to hold the bag upright in a weight supporting manner, so that the user does not have to manually support the open bag for filling. Upon completion of the filling of the bag, the frontmost full bag is manually pulled from the dispensing device, whereby the semi-permanent attachment means of the rear face of the front bag to the front face of the subsequent bag remains intact to enable the front face of the subsequent bag to be pulled forward on the dispensing device, thereby acting to open the subsequent newly positioned bag, in a supported manner ready for filling. The manual pulling of the full bag away from the dispenser then acts to break the semi-permanent attachment point between the two bag faces so as to leave the subsequent bag in location on the dispensing device ready for manual filling.
Earlier patent application numbers GB0314518 and GB0405919, both of have inherent features beneficial to one dispensing fixture but not to another.
Differing dispensing fixtures have restraining or mounting features designed to correlate to the appropriate formation on the body or “bar block” of material on the preformed bag. In some cases the width between these features are wider than that of the body of the bag itself therefore requiring the bag, typically the handles, to be deformed by the user to fit this extended dimension. It is a limitation of fitting one specific bag to an inappropriate dispensing fixture as the extended dimension or features dictated by the system may not be achieved on the bag due to limitations in the design of the bag or correlating features provided.
It is an object of the first aspect of the invention to provide an improved carrier bag.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a carrier bag comprising a body having a closed base, closed sides and an open mouth opposite the base, handles extending from the open mouth away from the base, an attachment means extending from or separably connected to the handles and arranged separably to connect the handles together and two mounting member receiving formations, one on each side of the bag, arranged respectively to receive a mounting member of a mounting arrangement.
In that way, the bag can be arranged on a mounting arrangement to be supported by the attachment means or it can be arranged on a mounting arrangement to be supported by mounting members received in the mounting member receiving formations or both could support the bag.
The bag is preferably a preformed flexible film bag produced from a tube or sheet of material whereby the bag can deform and deflect in a predictable or controlled manner to facilitate the loading of the bag onto many differing dispensing mechanisms. The bag body may be formed with folds running parallel with the side edges to produce a return fold or gusset formation, preferably on each side thereof. The bag may be formed from material that is from 4 microns up to 200 microns, but typically 20 microns.
Preferably, the attachment means has a first condition in which it retains the handles a first maximum distance apart and a second condition in which the handles are not retained to said first maximum distance apart. The second condition of the attachment means preferably retains the handles a second maximum distance apart, greater than the first. Alternatively, the second condition does not retain the handles together at all.
The attachment means may have a single cut, fold, frangible line or appropriate formation or a plurality of cuts, folds, frangible lines or appropriate formations to effect the change from the first condition to the second condition.
The attachment means preferably comprises a piece of material separably connected to the handles, the material including at least one zigzag fold therein. In such a case, the bag may initially be arranged in the first condition and the zigzag fold is non-permanently secured in that configuration, for example by gluing.
The attachment means may comprise a series of concertina cuts through the attachment means. The concertina cut attachment means is preferably held in the first condition by small frangible lands of bag material not cut through by the concertina cuts.
A carrier bag according to any preceding claim, in which the attachment means comprises a piece of bag material separably attached at opposite ends thereof to respective handles of the bag.
The attachment means preferably comprises two pieces of bag material, each piece being separably attached at one end to the respective handle and at the opposite end thereof to each other or to an intermediate piece of material. Alternatively, the attachment means may comprise a portion of each handle extending towards the other handle, said handle portion being separably attached to the other handle portion or to an intermediate piece of material.
A tab of material preferably extends from the open mouth from a position intermediate the handles to the attachment means. The tab may comprise the intermediate piece of material.
The attachment means is arranged so as to be suitable to allow the bag to be suspended by the attachment means in order that the attachment means relates to fixture points provided by an intended bag dispensing configuration/installation.
The mounting member receiving formations preferably comprise respective cuts provided adjacent to the sides of the body of the bag and are formed in such a way as to allow the area between the cut and the outer edge of the bag to be deformed in an outward motion to become wider than that of the width of the main body of the bag.
The extent of the width extension is dictated by the width of the intended mounting/dispensing arrangement and facilitated by the length and position of the cut/s and or aperture/s in the bag face. It is intended that the said bag body features are so formed as to allow the weight of the bag and its contents to be hung by the features without initiating a tear or exaggerating any weakness inherent in the bag face. The said features also do not initiate a tear of stretched weakness in any direction other than that between the said cut feature to the adjacent closest side edge of the bag face. The cut/s may be perforated, curved, straight or return inwardly on themselves. Furthermore the cut/s or perforated cut/s may intersect the outer edge of the bag side wall, or be perforated to the edge of the side wall in order to facilitate the intentional fracture of the feature to allow the dispensing features projections to break through the solid body of the bag between the feature and the side wall. This act may be via the manual force of the removal of the first bag from the bag stack being separated from the dispenser via the fracture of the said features through the edge of the bag side wall/s. Each cut/s or aperture/s is so formed as not to create an area of weakness in the body of the bag that may cause a failure in the use of the bag for filling or carrying articles.
The cut/s or aperture/s may be provided through the side gusseted area of the bag face in that they extend through at least 2 layers of material up to a maximum of 16 layers.
A central mounting member receiving formation, such as a cut or aperture, is preferably provided in the attachment means for the correlating location of the means on the associated central hook point of the mounting and dispensing fixture.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a carrier bag comprising a body having a closed base, closed sides and an open mouth opposite the base, handles extending from the open mouth away from the base, an attachment means extending from or separably connected to the handles and arranged separably to connect the handles together, the attachment means comprising a loop of flexible material extending through apertures in the handles.
The flexible material may be formed of elastic, PE, PP, PVC, string, nylon, cotton, wool or other suitably flexible material whereby the bond of the ends of the string like material being adjoined by a knot, adhesive, tie mechanism or other suitable method. The string like material may also be a rigid formation resembling a loop, hoop or continual form that also extends through the cut/s and or aperture/s so provided that the loop or hoop provides the same function of forming a hanging mechanism for the bags to the dispenser.
The bags are detachable from the loop of material via the means of intended areas of weakening being provided on or adjacent to preferably each cut or aperture formed for the purpose of correlating with the loop of material. The areas of weakening being so provided via a perforation, cut, thinning of the material or other suitable method that the loop of material can break through to the nearest edge of the bag body. The breakages not causing any deformation or potential area of weakness that could compromise the strength of the bag when in use by the end user.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a carrier bag comprising a body having a closed base, closed sides and an open mouth opposite the base, handles extending from the open mouth away from the base, two mounting member receiving formations, one on each side of the bag, arranged respectively to receive a mounting member of a mounting arrangement, the mounting member receiving formations each comprising a cut or an aperture at a point on the body between the mouth and the base and being formed so as not to create an area of weakness in the body that may cause a failure upon filling or carrying.
The protruding features of the dispensing fixture are so for formed as to project through the cut/s or aperture/s with a temporary retention means preferably on the outer most point which allows for easy insertion to the bag stack whilst providing resistance when the bag/s are removed from the protrusion in the opposite direction to that of loading during dispensing by the user. The resistance provided via material type, e.g. rubber and or a flaring of the section of the protrusion, or other suitable means. The protrusions provided preferably not being longer than the depth of the capacity of the dispensing fixture.
The cut/s and or aperture/s being so produced in the bags so that the features are aligned in register with the bag below when the bags are provided in a stack or bundle, therefore as the bags are presented to the dispensing fixture the alignment of the said features allow for easy presentation onto the protrusions, the protrusion retention means retaining the bag stack as many bags stacks are placed onto the protrusions also.
This embodiment being used preferably but not exclusively with any other embodiment or known bar block feature.
It is the intention of the retaining means to provide a restricted movement of the body of the bags against the body of the dispensing fixture. As the first bag in the stack is removed by the user manually either by advantageous selection of a dispensing tab, edge or surface on or near the mouth of the bag, the bulk of the bag stack is retained with little or no movement during dispensing. As the selected bag is pulled away from the dispensing unit the outer most ply of the face of the bag is detached over the resisted retention means, the other ply being retained until such a time that the movement of the bag away from the dispenser demands that the second, third, fourth or consecutive ply of bag material is removed until the bag is completely detached from the dispensing fixture. At any point during the removal of the bag the multiple ply remaining on the retention means of the said dispensing fixture as able to hold the weight of multiple contents being placed into the bag as the body of the bag is retained against the said dispensing fixture. Therefore the effect of the sequential removal of the bag ply over the retention means presents the bag open whilst holding the bag upright ready for loading leaving the hands of the user free.
This feature is distinguished in a single manner from known systems as the arms are presented relative to the capacity of the bag stack, therefore the application of the retention fixtures in the retail environment has a reduced health and safety risk as the current known features project to such an extent that children may be harmed if they run into the features.
A further embodiment is characterised in that any of the said cut/s or said aperture/s may be provided with a preformed secondary component that is inserted at manufacture to assist with the loading of the bags onto the said dispenser for advantageous efficiency of loading. The inserted component remains with the bag stack whilst presented to the dispensing fixture and remains integral to the bag stack until the bag stack is completely depleted by the user removing the bags sequentially from the bag stack/dispensing fixture. The component is so formed as to provide resistance to the removal of the multiple ply of material upon dispensing. The component may be formed as a tube, plate, strip, or loop of suitable material such as injection moulded plastic, PE, PP, paper/card, string, rope, cotton or other suitable material or form.
The dispensing fixture provided with a corresponding formation advantageously provided to hook, pierce, protrude, clip, or attach to the component in a suitable manner as to retain the component (and therefore bag stack) against the dispensing fixture. Provided on the dispensing fixture may be any number of appropriately formed correlating features for the retention of the said components, appropriate to advantageous dispensing as described.
The use of material for the construction of the secondary component may be of similar material to that of the body of the bag to assist effective efficient recycling as the item will be retained to the dispensing fixture after the bag stack has been depleted therefore the retail operator may have to remove this item by hand and discard it in an appropriate manner.
A dispensing fixture/s characterised in that features appropriate in shape and function to the bag stack/s as described herein or prior known marketed bags in a stack can be mounted onto a dispensing fixture that is “retro fitted” to another previously incompatible (to the bag forms and features ) dispensing fixture provided in store. The retro fixture being provided with the intention of it becoming a permanent or intentionally removable, non disposable addition to the present known incompatible (to the known bag) fixture.
One such embodiment is characterised in that a dispensing plate (dispensing adapter) is provided with means of semi-permanent or permanent attachment to the known dispensing fixtures available in store in that the dispensing plate is so advantageously formed as to have correlating features that provide a join between the dispensing plate and the known metal work.
If no correlating mounting features are presented by the known dispensing fixture then the dispensing adapter may be bound to the known system via, adhesive, mechanical fastening or other suitable means preferably without the need to remove the known system from its installed position.
The said dispensing adapter has provided on it a single or plurality of bag attachment points for the application and presentation of a bag stack as described or known as the attachment points correlate to the advantageous dispensing action of providing the bag stack ready for single bag selection, each bag open, or each bag open ready for hands free filling.
The dispensing adapter may be a wire frame construction or fabricated assembly of components for the same intention. The material may be metal, plastic, wood, card or other suitable material.

Various bags, stacks of bags and bag stack mounting arrangements will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 a to 1 e are schematic partial elevations of existing carrier bags,

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b are schematic partial elevations of a first bag in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b are schematic partial elevations of a second bag in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b are schematic partial elevations of a third bag in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. 5 a and 5 b are schematic partial elevations of a fourth bag in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. 6 a and 6 b are schematic partial elevations of a fifth bag in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. 7 a to 7 c are schematic partial elevations of a sixth bag in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. 8 a and 8 b are schematic partial elevations of a seventh bag in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 9 a is a detail view showing various mounting member receiving formations in their non-extended and extended states,

FIG. 9 b is a detail view showing a further mounting member receiving formation before and after removal of the bag from the mounting member,

FIGS. 10 a to 10 d show an eighth bag in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. 11 a to d show a mounting/dispensing arrangement in accordance with the invention,

FIGS. 12 a and 12 b show another mounting/dispensing arrangement in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of still another mounting/dispensing arrangement in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 14 is a side elevation of the mounting/dispensing arrangement of FIG. 13, and

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the mounting/dispensing arrangement of FIGS. 13 and 14 showing how it can be retrofit to an existing mounting/dispensing arrangement.

In FIGS. 1 a to 1 e various existing carrier bags are shown. All comprise a body 10 having two layers of material closed at the sides 12, 14 and base 16 to define an open mouth end 18. Two handles 20, 22 extend from the open mouth end 18, one on each side of the mouth 24 of the bag. Such bags are generally known as “vest bags”. The bags can include an inward fold at each side thereof to form side gussets 26.
Some bag arrangements have a piece of bag material known as a bar block 28 which extends between the handles at the upper end thereof. The bar block 28 is separably attached by lines of weakening, for example by perforations, to the handles 20, 22.
Simple bag constructions have a single rectangular punch out 30 of material between the handles, bar block and mouth (see FIG. 1 a).
Some bags have a tab of material 32 extending from the mouth to the bar block between the handles and separably attached to the bar block. This tab facilitates pulling of a single bag from a stack and acts as a tie. That arrangement requires two, smaller rectangular punch outs 30 a. In FIG. 1 b, the tab 32 splits the bar block 28 into two parts 28 a,b, one on each side of the tab and both separably attached thereto.
In FIG. 2 a, the bag 34 is similar in many respects to those described in FIG. 1 a. However, the bar block of material is formed with two zigzag folds 36 which, initially are retained in a folded state by known means, for example by gluing at the inner points 38 of the fold. The bag 34 has apertures 40 formed in each handle 20, 22 to receive respective mounting members of a mounting arrangement. When the zigzag fold is in its initial position, the apertures are held a certain maximum distance apart, allowing the bags to be retained on one type of mounting arrangement, where the stack of bags is hung by the bar block.
If the stack of bags is to be arranged upon a mounting arrangement that requires mounting members to be received in the apertures and if the mounting members are spaced further apart than the initial spacing, the user can pull apart the glued zigzag folds to open up the handles, widening the gap between the apertures in the handles (see FIG. 2 b).
The stack of bags in FIGS. 3 a and b functions in a similar manner, however, in FIG. 3 a the bar block is initially formed in a wave form 42 which can be straightened by the user to increase the spacing between apertures 40.
Again, the arrangement of FIGS. 4 a and 4 b is similar, however, whilst the bags of FIGS. 2 a to 3 b used straightening of a folded or curved bar block 28, the bag 44 in FIG. 4 has a bar block 28 with a series of concertina cuts 46, i.e. cuts alternating from one edge to the other toward the centreline of the block. When the user pulls the handles 20, 22 of bag 44 apart, the concertina cuts allow the block to fan out (see FIG. 4 b), allowing the apertures to be moved apart. If desired, small lands of material (not shown) can be retained at the intersection of each cut with the edge of the bar block so as to retain the block in the non-extended state until necessary.
In all of the arrangements of FIGS. 2 to 4, the bar block 28 is attached separably to the handles 20, 22.
In FIGS. 5 a and 5 b, another bag arrangement is shown. In many respects it is identical to that of FIG. 4. However, in FIG. 5, the bag has a tab 32 extending from mouth 18 to bar block 28. The tab 32 is connected to the bar block 28 by line of weakening 48. The tab has a glue spot 50 to connect the front face of the next bag in the stack to the rear face of the first bag, and so on.
In FIG. 6, the bag 52 is similar to that shown in FIG. 1 except the bar block has a line of weakening 54 dividing it into two parts 28 a, 28 b, allowing the handles to be pulled apart when the line of weakening fails.
Turning to FIGS. 7 a to 7 c, a further bag design is shown. In FIG. 7 a, the bag 56 is similar to that shown in FIG. 1 b however, where in FIG. 1 b, the bar block 28 is separably attached to the handles by lines of weakening at the interface between block and handle, in FIG. 7 a, the “block” comprises an extended handle portion 58 which extends inwardly from the upper part of the handle toward the centreline of the bag. Both handles have an extended handle portion to form the bar block to secure the handles 20, 22 together. The inner edges of the extended handle portions 58 are attached together along line of weakening 60. The tab 32 is attached to the an extended handle portions 58 along lines of weakening 62.
If it is desired to move the apertures 40 further apart to accommodate the stack on a different mounting arrangement, the user can pull the handles apart, resulting in failure of the lines of weakening 60, 62 allowing the handles free from the constraint of the joining extended handle portions and the tab 32.
That arrangement is advantageous as no bag material is left on the mounting arrangement which has proven to cause problems from a health and safety view. FIG. 7 c provides a more detailed view of the bags of FIGS. 7 a and 7 b.
In FIGS. 8 and 9, the bag includes cut formations 64 beneath the level of the mouth 18. The cut formations 64 are formed close to the side edges 12, 14 of the bag and are designed so that they do not precipitate into a catastrophic tear on filling of the bag or on carrying when loaded. FIG. 9 illustrates various such cut formations. All of the cut formations allow the side walls of the bag to be pulled outwardly to be arranged on a mounting arrangement that is wider than the initial width of the bag.
The bag of FIG. 10 has no bar block. Instead, the handles 20, 22 are held together by a looped retainer 66. The looped retainer is made of string 68 and passes through apertures 70 in the upper parts of the handles 20, 22. Furthermore, the bag has a short spur 72 of material extending upwardly from the mouth 18 which is separably attached to the bag by a line of weakening 74. The spur 72 has an aperture 76 therethrough and the looped retainer 66 passes through that aperture 76 also. FIGS. 10 c and 10 d show the bag arranged on a mounting arrangement 78 and partially pulled off respectively. When all of the bags are removed from the stack by users, the store is left with the looped retainer 66 (FIG. 10 b).
In FIG. 11 a mounting arrangement 80 comprises an elongate base 82 with projecting mounting members 84 extending transversely from the base at each end thereof. The members 84 are intended to project through member receiving apertures 86 in a stack 88 of bags. The members 84 have various alternative tip parts 90 shown in FIG. 11 b. FIGS. 11 c and d show the first bag 92 in the stack 88 being partially removed and held open for filling while the rear face and the rest of the stack are retained by the mounting arrangement 80.
In FIG. 12, the mounting arrangement of FIG. 11 is shown but the stack 88 has inserts 94 arranged in the apertures 86 to facilitate handling and installation. The inserts are preferably made from the same material as the bags so they can be recycled into the same material stream.
FIGS. 13 to 15 illustrate an alternative mounting arrangement 100, in which a conventional rack arm system is integrated with another known bag mounting system. The rack arm system comprises a base 102, a frame 104 upstanding from the base 102 and two pairs of rack arms 106, 108 extending out from the frame. A central hook 110 is arranged on the frame. Integrated with the rack arm system is a further bag mounting arrangement comprising a curved plate 112 having fastening formations 114 at the opposite end edges thereof to enable the part to be fastened to the frame 104. A tongue 116 extends from the plate 112, the plate being wider than the tongue. A retaining tab 118 extends from the plate 112 adjacent the tongue to retain the bar blocks of bags between the tab and the tongue.
In FIG. 16, the reverse retrofit installation is shown whereby the bag hanging installation has a rack arm system retrofit to it. Here a known bag mounting system has the mounting arrangement of FIGS. 11 and 12 secured to it, for example by welding or adhesive.

Claims

1-41. (canceled)

42. A carrier bag comprising a body having a closed base, closed sides and an open mouth opposite the base, handles extending from the open mouth away from the base, an attachment means extending from or separably connected to the handles and arranged separably to connect the handles together and two mounting member receiving formations, one on each side of the bag, arranged respectively to receive a mounting member of a mounting arrangement.

43. A carrier bag according to claim 42, in which the attachment means has a first condition in which it retains the handles a first maximum distance apart and a second condition in which the handles are not retained said first maximum distance apart.

44. A carrier bag according to claim 42, in which the attachment means has a first condition in which it retains the handles a first maximum distance apart and a second condition in which it retains the handles a second maximum distance apart, greater than the first.

45. A carrier bag according to claim 42, in which, the attachment means has a first condition in which it retains the handles a first maximum distance apart and a second condition in which it does not retain the handles together.

46. A carrier bag according to claim 44, in which the attachment means has a single cut, fold, frangible line or appropriate formation or a plurality of cuts, folds, frangible lines or appropriate formations to effect the change from the first condition to the second condition.

47. A carrier bag according to claim 44, in which the attachment means comprises a piece of material separably connected to the handles, the material including at least one zigzag fold therein.

48. A carrier bag according to claim 47, in which the bag is initially arranged in the first condition and the zigzag fold is non-permanently secured in that configuration, for example by gluing.

49. A carrier bag according to claim 44, in which the attachment means comprises a series of concertina cuts through the attachment means.

50. A carrier bag according to claim 49, in which the concertina cut attachment means is held in the first condition by small frangible lands of bag material not cut through by the concertina cuts.

51. A carrier bag according to claim 42, in which the attachment means comprises a piece of bag material separably attached at opposite ends thereof to respective handles of the bag.

52. A carrier bag according to claim 42, in which the attachment means comprises two pieces of bag material, each piece being separably attached at one end to the respective handle and at the opposite end thereof to each other or to an intermediate piece of material.

53. A carrier bag according to claim 42 in which the attachment means comprises a portion of each handle extending towards the other handle, said handle portion being separably attached to the other handle portion or to an intermediate piece of material.

54. A carrier bag according to claim 42, in which a tab of material extends from the open mouth from a position intermediate the handles to the attachment means.

55. A carrier bag according to claim 54 and where the attachment means comprises two pieces of bag material, each piece being separably attached at one end to the respective handle and at the opposite end thereof to each other or to an intermediate piece of material, or where the attachment means comprises a portion of each handle extending towards the other handle, said handle portion being separably attached to the other handle portion or to an intermediate piece of material in which, the tab comprises the intermediate piece of material.

56. A carrier bag according to claim 42, in which the mounting member receiving formations comprise respective mounting member receiving cuts provided adjacent to the sides of the body of the bag and are formed in such a way as to allow the area between the cut and the outer edge of the bag to be deformed in an outward motion to become wider than that of the width of the main body of the bag.

57. A carrier bag according to claim 56, in which the mounting member receiving cuts are formed so as not to initiate a tear of stretched weakness in any direction other than that between the said mounting member receiving cut feature to the adjacent closest side edge of the bag face.

58. A carrier bag according to claim 56, in which the mounting member receiving cut/s are perforated, curved, straight or return inwardly on themselves.

59. A carrier bag according to claim 56 in which the mounting member receiving cut/s or perforated cut/s intersect the outer edge of the bag side wall, or are perforated to the edge of the side wall in order to facilitate the intentional fracture of the feature to allow the mounting members to break through the solid body of the bag between the feature and the side wall.

60. A carrier bag according to claim 56 in which the bag has gusset formations extending along the side edges thereof and the mounting member receiving cuts are formed through the gussetted portions.

61. A carrier bag according to claim 42, in which a central mounting member receiving formation, such as a cut or aperture, is provided in the attachment means for the correlating location of the means on the associated central hook mounting of a common mounting and dispensing fixture.

62. A carrier bag comprising a body having a closed base, closed sides and an open mouth opposite the base, handles extending from the open mouth away from the base, an attachment means extending from or separably connected to the handles and arranged separably to connect the handles together, the attachment means comprising a loop of flexible material extending through apertures in the handles.

63. A carrier bag according to claim 62, in which the mouth of the bag has a piece of material detachable from the rest of the bag wherein is provided a cut/s or aperture/s through which the loop of material extends.

64. A carrier bag comprising a body having a closed base, closed sides and an open mouth opposite the base, handles extending from the open mouth away from the base, two mounting member receiving formations, one on each side of the bag, arranged respectively to receive a mounting member of a mounting arrangement, the mounting member receiving formations each comprising a cut or an aperture at a point on the body between the mouth and the base and being formed so as not to create an area of weakness in the body that may cause a failure upon filling or carrying.

65. A carrier bag according to claim 64 having no other bag mounting features or formations.

66. A mounting/dispensing arrangement for the carrier bag of claim 64, in which the mounting/dispensing arrangement comprises protruding features so formed as to project through the cut/s or aperture/s with a temporary retention means.

67. A mounting/dispensing arrangement according to claim 66, in which the protrusions are not longer than the depth of the capacity of the mounting/dispensing arrangement.

68. A mounting/dispensing arrangement according to claim 66, in which as the selected bag is pulled away from the mounting/dispensing arrangement, the outermost face of the bag is detached over the retention means, the innermost face is retained until such a time that the movement of the bag away from the dispenser demands that the bag material is removed until the bag is completely detached from the mounting/dispensing arrangement.

69. A stack of bags comprising a plurality of carrier bags in accordance of claim 42.

70. A stack of bags comprising a plurality of carrier bags in accordance with claim 62.

71. A stack of bags comprising a plurality of carrier bags in accordance with claim 64.

72. A stack of bags according to claim 71, in which an insert is arranged through each of the cuts or apertures to facilitate handling and loading of the bags.

73. A stack of bags according to claim 72, in which the insert remains with the bag stack whilst presented to the mounting/dispensing arrangement and remains integral to the bag stack until the bag stack is completely depleted by the user removing the bags sequentially from the mounting/dispensing arrangement.

74. A stack of bags according to claim 72, in which the insert is formed as one of a tube, plate, strip, or loop of suitable material such as injection moulded plastic, PE, PP, paper/card, string, rope, cotton or other suitable material or form.

75. A carrier bag stack mounting arrangement for a stack of bags comprising a frame, a pair of mounting members extending from the frame and arranged to be received in respective mounting member receiving formations in a stack of bags to be mounted on the mounting arrangement, the mounting members being spaced apart by a first width, a curved plate arranged between the mounting members and a mounting tongue extending from the plate and having a second width, less than the first width.

76. A carrier bag stack mounting arrangement according to claim 75, in which a further pair of mounting members is provided extending from the frame, the further pair being spaced apart by a third width, greater than the second width.

77. A carrier bag stack mounting arrangement according to claim 76, in which the first and third widths are substantially equal.

78. A carrier bag stack mounting arrangement according to claim 76, in which the first and third widths are approximately equal to the width of the bags to be mounted.

79. A carrier bag stack mounting arrangement according to claim 75, in which the tongue is formed in two parts, spaced apart from each other.

80. A carrier bag stack mounting arrangement according to claim 79, in which the space between the tongue parts is sufficiently wide to allow a tab of material on each bag, which extends from the open mouth position intermediate the handles to the attachments means, therebetween.

81. A retrofitting part for a carrier bag stack mounting arrangement, the part comprising a curved plate having a fastening formation at one edge thereof to enable the part to be fastened to an existing carrier bag stack mounting arrangement and a tongue extending from the plate, the plate being wider than the tongue.

82. A retrofitting part for a carrier bag stack mounting arrangement, the part comprising an elongate body having mounting members extending transversely from opposite ends thereof.