US2709613A

US2709613A - Sealing means

Info

Publication number: US2709613A
Authority: US
Inventors: Moberg Sigurd Manfred
Original assignee: EJ Brooks Co
Current assignee: EJ Brooks Co
Priority date: 1953-04-07
Filing date: 1953-04-07
Publication date: 1955-05-31
Anticipated expiration: 1972-05-31

Description

S. M. MOBERG SEALING MEANS Mw El, w55

2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed April '7, 1953 JNVENTOR.

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SEALINGMEANS Filed April '7, 195s 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ll Il l Il V12/MWA SEALING MEANS Sigurd Manfred Moberg, Pompton Plains, N. J., assignor to E. l. Brooks Company, Newark, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 7, 1953, Serial No. 347,199

6 Claims. (Cl. 292-325) rlhis invention relates to sealing means adapted to disclose tampering, especially such sealing means used in connection with coin bags.

The present application is a continuation in part of my application Serial No. 269,175, filed January 3l, 1952 (now abandoned).

The sealing means used in connection with bags, such as are used by the Government and banks in shipping coin, consist usually of a deformable sealing element and a shackle, generally of fibrous material. This shackle is threaded and rethreaded through openings in the sealing element to thereby provide bag-encircling loops at one end of said sealing element and a shackle-anchoring loop at the other end of said sealing element. Tamper ing with the sealing means most always takes the form of an attempt to loosen the bag-encircling loops to thereby slip the shackle in the sealing element. If the attempt is successful, it may enable the tamperer to gain access to the bag and, after so doing, retighten the bagencircling loops and recompress the sealing element so that, to outward appearance, the bag, on casual inspec tion, seems to be properly sealed. Frequently, in attempting to loosen the bag-encircling loops, such loops will snap or break which makes it self-evident that the sealing means have been tampered wth. However, in some instances the attempt at tampering is not successful in that the bag-encircling loops are not broken, nor is the shackle slipped sufficiently in the sealing element to gain access to the contents of the bag. In such cases, no evidence is observable that an attempt to tamper with the sealing means has been made.

it is the main object of this invention to provide sealing means adapted to leave evidence of an unsuccessful attempt to tamper with the sealing means. Such evidence is important because it may lead to detection of the person who has attempted the tampering and thereby prevent future, and possibly successful, attempts by such a person or by a group of persons acting in concert.

The invention consists in providing the deformable sealing element with a weakened intermediate transverse Zone which is nonetheless capable of preventing crumpling of the sealing element in response to a pull exerted by the bag-encircling loops when tightening said loops before sealing, and compressing said sealing element, and bending it in said weakened zone to further weaken said .zone to an extent to cause said sealing element to crumple when the bag-encircling loops are subject to tension after the shackle has been sealed. The invention further consists in a deformable sealing element having three transverse Zones, the intermediate one of which is weaker transversely than the others but nonetheless capable of preventing crumpling of the sealing element in response to a pull exerted by the bag-encircling loops when tightening said loops before sealing, and said zone being bendable transversely in the act of sealing to still further weaken it, Other features of the invention will appear as the specification proceeds.

.ln the accompanying drawings:

States Patent O ICC Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a bag with one form of sealing element and shackle in position thereon, the bag-encircling loops being shown tightened but before the sealing element has been deformed;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig, 1 showing the shackle sealed and the sealing element deformed;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Figs. 1 and 2 but showing the effect of placing the bag-encircling loops under tension by means of the insertion of an implement between the bag and the loops;

Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views of modified forms of sealing elements;

Fig. 6 is a face view of a sealing means showing a different mode of threading the shackle through the sealing element; and

Fig. 7 is a face view of a sealing means embodying the invention but showing in addition thereto the use of an intermediate member that may be interposed between the bag and the sealing element.

Referring first to Figs. l to 3 inclusive, 10 indicates the neck portion of a coin bag. The sealing means are composed of a sealing element of deformable material 11 and a shackle 12. Said shackle is threadedand rethreaded through longitudinal openings in the sealing element to thereby provide bagencircling loops 13 at one end of said sealing element and a shackle-anchoring loop 14 at the other end of said sealing element. Sealing element 11 consists of three

Zones

15, 16 and 17, the intermediate Zone 16 being weakened transversely as by means of cut-out portions 1S. The sealing means are generally shipped to users thereof with the shackle threaded and rethreaded through the sealing element. When a bag is to be sealed, bag-encircling loops 13 are placed around the neck of the bag and are rmly tightened by pulling on shackle ends 19. Sealing element 11 is then deformed by a suitable tool whereby the material ot'

zones

15 and 17 is compressed about the shackle and, at the same time, said sealing element is bent transversely in weakened zone 16 into the step formation indicated in Fig. 2 to still further weaken said zone. If it thereafter be attempted to loosen the bag-encircling loops by means of an implement such as 20 indicated in Fig. 3, the pull on said bag-encircling loops will be transmitted to shackle-anchoring loop 14 and will cause the seal to be bent still further and to crumple, as indicated in said Fig. 3, thereby giving clear visual evidence of the fact that tampering has been attempted but foiled. Again, if the tamperer attempts first to loosen one of the bagencircling loops, one side of the sealing element will slump and, if he then attempts to loosen the other of the two bag-encircling loops, the other side of the sealing element will slump. In any event, there has not been suicient loosening of the bag-encircling loops to slip the shackle suiciently within the sealing element to gain access to the bag because, when the sealing element slumps or crumples, the shackle will be gripped even more firmly by the sealing element than it was before tampering was attempted.

Zone 16 has been referred to as being weakened but, when tightening the bag-encircling loops before sealing, it is import ant that said weakened zone shall nonetheless be capable of preventing crumpling of the sealing element in response to a pull exerted by the bag-encircling loops when tightening said loops before sealing. llf such crumpling should take place before sealing, the distortion of the parts of the sealing element could give, after sealing has been accomplished, an indication of an attempt to tamper with the seal. Such indication would be false and must be avoided. For this reason, weakened zone 16 must be, as noted above, strong enough to resist the pull exerted by the bag-encircling loops in tightening them around the mouth of the bag before sealing. Many difierentmeans may be used to accomplish this. In the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 3, there is a thin webbing 21 connecting

zones

15 and 17, which webbing constitutes a reinforcing means but which, as will be seen vfrom vFig. 2, `is weakened in-the act of sealing. A further disadvantage of premature crumpling or slumping of the sealing element is that said element will not `iit, or will fit imperfectly, the jaws of the sealing tool. In such case, the seal .may not be .properly closed. Also any design or name to be applied by the sealing tool to the sealing element will be distorted.

In Fig. 4, slot 18h. extends clear across the sealing element but a thin webbing 2lb connects the ymaterial of

zones

15 and 17 of the sealing element. in Fig. 5, a construction very similar to that shown in Fig. 4 is illustrated, but here the cut-out portions 18C are separated by a bridge portion 22 to render the sealing element more stable during shipment before it is used.

In the foregoing gures, the threading and rethreading of the shackle through the sealing element 'have been the same, that is to say, the shackle has been so arranged that shackle-anchoring loop 14 extends between the two outermost longitudinal openings 23 of the sealing element. InFig. 6, the same construction of sealing element as that of `Fig, 1 is shown, but here the shackle is so threaded that shackle-anchoring loop 14 extends between the two innermost longitudinal openings 24 of the sealing element.

If desired, there may be, in addition to the sealing element, an independent member 25 (Fig. 7) interposed between the bag and the sealing element. Such independent member may take many forms but can be of the construction shown and described in Patent No. 2,163,660.

I claim:

l. Sealing means comprising a deformable sealing element having a longitudinal opening, and a shackle threaded through said opening and providing a bagencircling loop at one end of said element; said sealing element having a cut-out portion, in one side face thereof, constituting an intermediate interruption of said opening, the opposite side face of said element having an integral web partially defining said cut-out portion, said web constituting a reinforcement opposing crumpling of said element from force applied longitudinally thereto; and said web, further, being bendable upon seal-pressing of said .element and being further Vbendable, upon the subsequent application of substantial tension to said shackle.

2. Sealing means according to claim l, wherein said sealing element has a plurality of such longitudinal openings, and has a plurality of such cut-out portions intermediately interrupting said openings, and such a web partially defining said cut-out portions.

3. Sealing means according to claim l, said cut-out portion and web being approximately midway of the ends of the sealing element.

4. Sealing means according to claim l, said cutout portion and web extending substantially across the full width of the sealing element.

5. Sealing means according to claim 4, having a plurality of such longitudinal openings and having a longitudinally extending, reinforcing bridge within said cutout portion and between two of said openings.

6. Sealing ymeans according to claim 2, said cut-out portions and said webs being at opposite sides of the sealing element.

,References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS r1,469,703 Stanseld Oct. 2, 1923 r2,163,660 Brooks June 27, 1939 2,170,089 Nelson Aug. 22, 1939