US3272248A

US3272248A - Closure for flexible receptacles

Info

Publication number: US3272248A
Application number: US452992A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frank J O'farrell
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1965-05-04
Filing date: 1965-05-04
Publication date: 1966-09-13
Anticipated expiration: 1983-09-13

Description

Sept. 13, 1966 J O'FARRELL 3,272,248

CLOSURE FOR FLEXIBLE RECEPTACLES Filed May 4; 1965 1 24mm T. O'IQJEQELL INVEN OQ United States Patent 3,272,248 CLOSURE FOR FLEXIBLE RECEPTACLES Frank J. OFarrell, 10711 Whitburn, Culver City, Calif. Filed May 4, 1965, Ser. No. 452,992 2 Claims. (Cl. 15010) The invention described herein relates to improvements in containers and closures and more particularly to closures for small plastic bags.

Small coin purses have been available on the market for some time comprising two sheets of superimposed flexible plastic material overlying each other and sealed all around the four sides. One of these sheets has a transverse slit extending thereacross substantially from side to side intermediate the top and bottom edges. This slit is normally held substantially closed merely by the tendency of the resilient material to recover from a deformed open position and to return to its original flat condition. However, the material adjacent the slit loses its ability to return to its flat state after the purse has been opened and closed a few dozen times.

One object of the present invention is to provide a closure that will have a longer memory and that will therefore return to its closed position even after long use. This is accomplished by means of stays especially constructed to lie flat, these stays being attached to, or embedded in, the material adjacent the opening in the bag or other container.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such stays so constructed that they will not only have a strong tendency to lie flat but also to flex more readily and easily toward one side of their normal flat plane than toward the other.

A further object is to provide a closure of the type described that will be inexpensive to construct and yet durable.

This invention possesses many other advantages, and has other objects which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of different embodiments thereof. For this purpose, two different embodiments are illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification. These embodiments will now be described in detail, illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that this detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 illustrates one embodiment of the container shown closed in full lines and flexed to an open position in broken lines, the opening being effected by squeezing opposite sides or edges of the container together.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of a container with a stay of a type hereinafter described attached thereto adjacent its non-sealed top edges, and showing in broken lines the original configuration of the sheets before the top edges are turned down over the stays to form flaps that may be heat sealed to the main body of the sheets of which they are individually a part, this sealing being accomplished adjacent the edges of the stays.

FIG. 3 shows the top portion of the container pictured in FIG. 2 after the flaps have been turned down and heat sealed in position around the stays.

FIG. 4 is a section taken substantially on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 4a is a section on the same line on which section 44 is taken, as shown in FIG. 4, but illustrating how the stays may be sealed in position by means of individual strips of plastic material rather than by flaps that are an original integral part of each of the two side pieces from Which the container is fabricated.

FIG. 5 is a view looking down at the top edges of the container, showing in full lines the two sheets of material lying against each other along their unsealed edges, and indicating in broken lines the position of the sides when they are flexed outward from their normal flat plane in order to open the container or receptacle.

FIG. 6 is a section taken substantially on line 66 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a view of one of the resilient stays showing the manner in which it is lightly scored on the side that is to adjoin the opposite superposed stay.

FIG. 8 is an illustration, similar to FIG. 7, but showing a stay that is conditioned for flexing more readily toward one side of its normal flat plane than toward the other by indentations aligned along one surface of the stay; and

FIG. 9 is a section taken substantially on line 9--9 of FIG. 8.

Bags embodying the present invention may be satisfactorily formed from polyethylene sheets or sheets of similar plastic material, although any flexible material may be used. Polyethylene, however, and other similar plastics, have the advantage of being readily heat sealed. As shown in the figures, one embodiment of the invention comprises a pair of substantially

identical sheets

11 and 12 that may be of any convenient configuration, the illustrated form being rectangular. The two sheets are superimposed and attached together along three of their adjoining edges. If the material lends itself to heat sealing, the seal may be readily effected around the edges, such sealing having the added advantage of being substantially air and water tight.

The manner of preparing the stays that hold the two sides of the bag closely together at their adjacent unsealed edges is important to assure fairly tight closing. If the bag is made of suitable material, such as stainless steel or certain plastics that are resilient and quick to return to their original fabricated form, the ability to lie flat and to flex more readily in one direction than the other may be imparted to the material by slightly upsetting one of the surfaces, as by punching the surface at spaced intervals as shown in FIG. 8 or by scoring or slightly deforming the surface in substantially parallel lines as shown in FIG. 7.

Stays that have been thus formed are attached or imbedded in the superposed sheets of material so that the strips themselves are superposed with their scored or indented sides facing each other as indicated in FIGS. 6 and 9. In FIG. 6 it will be observed that the scored sides of the

strips

13 and 14 overlie the

side pieces

11 and 12 respectively of the bag. The surfaces of the stays bearing the scoring 15, indicated by the small V-shaped configurations in FIG. 6, each face the similar surface of the opposite stay.

FIG. 9, illustrating indented stays disposed with their indented sides in opposition, shows indentations at 16.

Stays that have been conditioned for flexing in one direction in either of these ways, tend to bend in the direction of the surface with the interruptions. Consequently when these surfaces face each other they will tend to lie closely together if the two strips :are so mounted on or in the material that the scored or punched sides are held together at their adjoining ends by rivets, fasteners, stitching, heat sealing or other equivalent means, or merely by confining them in juxtaposition.

Any method of attaching the stays to the opposite sides of the bag adjacent the sides or edges that are to form the opening, is of course satisfactory. The stays may be riveted, stapled, sewed or attached to the sheets in any of numerous ways well known in the art. Heat sealing, however, is a very inexpensive and satisfactory manner of attaching them to plastic materials of the type hereinbefore described.

If the two sheets forming the opposite sides of the bag are each provided with a flap 18, as indicated in FIG. 2, such flap may be folded down over the stay and then sealed to the sides of the bag proper by heat sealing the flap to the bag along the sides of the stay, as indicated at 19 and 20, in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Individual strips of material similar or identical to that of which the bag is formed may he used for attaching the stays, as indicated in FIG. 4a 'where

parallel strips

22 and 23 are placed over the stays 13' and 14' with enough of the strips extending beyond the edges of the stays to permit them to be heat sealed to the material of the bag around the stays in the manner indicated. Various modifications may of course be made in the construction of the containers and in the manner-of preparing and mounting the stays without departing from the broad spirit of the invention as succinctly set forth in the appended claims.

Theinventor claims:

1. In a bag that is completely closed excepting for an elongated knob formed by superimposing adjacent edge portions of the material of the bag a pair of stays so positioned and attached to said material that it is superimposed over the stay along the edge of the month, each of said stays so formed of resilient material that it is inherently spring-loaded to lie fiat, the surfaces of the stays that face each other having relatively small pit-like indentations therein. I

2. In a bag that is completely closed excepting for an elongated knob formed by superimposing adjacent edge portions of the material of the bag a pair of stays so positioned and attached to said material that it is superimposed over the stay along the edge of the month, each of said stays so formed of resilient material that it is inherently spring-loaded to lie flat, the surfaces of the stays that face each other having groove-like scoring lines thereacross.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,008,314 7/1935 Russell l50-42X JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner. FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Examiner.

Claims

1. IN A BAG THAT IS COMPLETELY CLOSED EXCEPTING FOR AN ELONGATED KNOB FORMED BY SUPERIMPOSING ADJACENT EDGE PORTIONS OF THE MATERIAL OF THE BAG A PAIR OF STAYS SO POSITIONED AND ATTACHED TO SAID MATERIAL THAT IT IS SUPERIMPOSED OVER THE STAY ALONG THE EDGE OF THE MOUTH, EACH