Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D85/00—Containers, packaging elements or packages, specially adapted for particular articles or materials
  • B65D85/70—Containers, packaging elements or packages, specially adapted for particular articles or materials for materials not otherwise provided for
  • B65D85/804—Disposable containers or packages with contents which are mixed, infused or dissolved in situ, i.e. without having been previously removed from the package
  • B65D85/808—Disposable containers or packages with contents which are mixed, infused or dissolved in situ, i.e. without having been previously removed from the package for immersion in the liquid to release part or all of their contents, e.g. tea bags
  • B65D85/812—Disposable containers or packages with contents which are mixed, infused or dissolved in situ, i.e. without having been previously removed from the package for immersion in the liquid to release part or all of their contents, e.g. tea bags with features facilitating their manipulation or suspension

Definitions

• This invention relates to a tea bag with a protective cover, more particularly a tea bag having a protective cover, and which protective cover can be used to support 5 the tea bag on the edge of a cup, jug, pitcher or other container and to protect the fingers when removing the tea bag from the cup.
• Tea bags which contain a quantity of tea, 10. some of which are initially packed in a protective cover. The protective cover is then removed from the tea bag with the cover being attached by a string to the tea bag, whereby the tea bag may be easily withdrawn from a cup, teapot or the like.
• other bags ]_5 # have a string and tag attached, while others are simply bags with no cover or string attached.
• Swiss Patent No. 563,756 describes a tea bag which is protected by two cover leaves whereby an edge of the flat tea bag is connected to one edge of one cover leaf,
• the two cover leaves for the protective housing at the opposite.edge are connected with one another.
• the tea bag in one embodiment is connected from the join of the two cover leaves with the cover leaves extending across over the opposite edges of the
• the tea bag is attached to one free end of one of the cover leaves.
• a 30. unit it is difficult if not impossible to use the cover leaves to be repositioned against the tea bag for grasping the bag to squeeze the bag to obtain the last free liquid in the bag before disposal.
• U.S. Patent No. 3,895,118 discloses an infusion bag having a porous-walled container and a strip of non- 5. porous sheet material secured thereto and folded about the container along a line spaced from the top edge of the container to define a portion projecting therefrom as a handle.
• the container is joined to the folded over portion of the strip by a staple passing through both 10. sides of the folded over strip and the top edge of the container. Both sides are folded back and are joined together by engaging means .
• the bag is not supported in the cup and in fact if the bag is too flexible, the strips themselves will be in contact 15. wi'th the water and also no provision is made for removing the-' excess liquid to prevent drips during disposal.
• West German Patent No. 2,264,566 shows a similar unit to U.S. Patent No. 3,895,118, but with the added feature that means are provided in one embodiment to 20. support the infusion container by a flexible portion to hook over the spout of a teapot.
• the bag is supported over the edge of the cup, with one leaf outside and the other turned upwardly. As the bag is attached by a staple passing through 25. both leaves, the bag does not seat firmly on the cup or pitcher rim due to the rigid nature of the stapled portion of the leaves, also there is no cantilever support and the bag tends to fall into the cup or pitcher.
• U.S. Patent No. 2,192,605 describes an infusion package with a sheet of semi-stiff non-porous material crimped to the package in side by side relation to form a handle which is hooked to a container.
• the sheet i_s hinged at both sides and both leaves are folded back to be parallel to form a handle, both leaves being bent back to form a hook, the lower portion of the handle being inserted into the water in the cup. It is difficult then to fold both leaves back to cover the bag to 10. squeeze the last drops from the bag.
• the cover may be on one side only of the bag and also a narrow strip may be used, or can be provided to hook onto the cup rim.
• a tea bag with a protective cover the cover preferably
• the tea bag being attached to one of said leaves adjacent the centre of the sheet whereby said tea bag may be supported from a top edge of a cup or container in which the tea is to be infused, said one leaf extending down the outside
• a method of manufacturing a tea bag and cover, the tea bag having a crimped peripheral flange comprising 10. the steps of providing a sheet of paper to form the cover, stapling or otherwise fixing the tea bag to the sheet of paper at a position below the transverse centre line of the sheet and forming a fold line on the transverse centre line of the sheet to form two leaves to overlie the tea bag.
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the tea bag and cover in an open position
• FIG. 2 is a side elevation in a folded condition
• FIG. 3 shows the tea bag supported on a cup
• FIG. 4 shows a side elevation of the tea bag and cover positioned in the cup
• FIG. 5 is a plan view of FIG. 4.
• the cover sheet 1 comprises a first leaf 2 and a second leaf 3, the two leaves in this embodiment being separated by a hinge or fold line 4.
• a tea bag 5 is attached by a staple, adhesive, heat sealing or the like 6 by attaching through the heat sealed or 5. other flange portion 7 of the tea bag so that the tea bag is only attached at this point adjacent to and immediately below the fold line so that the tea bag 5 may be moved and spaced from the first leaf 2 in a hinging manner.
• the leaves 2 and 3 10. may be joined together to seal the tea bag 5 therebetween, and this may be by releasable adhesive joining the edges of the leaves 2 and 3, or by a perforated tear-off portion around the edges of the leaves 2 and 3.
• FIG. 1 shows the tea bag in its opened out form
• FIG. 2 shows the tea bag in its folded form, for example, when the tea bag is removed from the cup.
• the tea bag is inserted into the cup with the first leaf 2 extending downwardly on the outside of the cup, with the second leaf 3 being folded upwardly to be 20. generally vertical or back thus exposing the entire open end of the cup for the pouring of the boiling water.
• the second leaf 3 is folded downwardly over the tea bag as the tea bag is removed from the cup so that it can be squeezed if desired and then can be 25. disposed of.
• the cup rim is in effect wedged between the curved top edge of the bag and the outer leaf 2 of the cover. This wedging thus produces a gripping effect so ensuring that the bag and cover are securely located on the top edge of the cup, the top edge of the bag moving away from the leaf 2 and thus generally conforming to the inside
• contour of the cup The ends of the top edge of the bag separate from the leaf and the bag and cover are supported by being wedged on the one hand by a portion of the sheet on the outside of the cup and below the staple, and on the other
• the cover sheet can be formed of a single piece of any suitable material, for example 80 GSM paper is
• the cover sheet can be formed of a plastics material, a laminated material of paper and plastic or paper and metal foil, or alternatively can be of a corrugated form. It is preferred that the leaves 2 and 3 are joined by a fold line, but this is not essential and the fold line can be omitted. Also 5. the cover sheet 1 may be formed from two separate sheets 2 and 3, these being joined together at the fold line.
• the tea bag has a heat sealed surround or edge, but it is to be realized that the invention can use other forms of tea bags, for example 10. those in which the top of the bag is closed by folding over and stapling. This staple could be used for attachment to the cover sheet of the present invention. Alternatively other forms of tea bag can be used by merely attaching the top to the cover sheet.
• the tea bag and cover is of simple construction and can be easily and economically manufactured by feeding the bags and sheets through * a stapling machine.
• the stapling machine may crease the sheets before or after stapling, or alternatively the
• sheets may be creased to form the fold line prior to feeding into the machine.
• the bag can also be used for containing ground coffee, instant coffee, soups or any other infusable or soluble material as desired in hot or cold liquid.
• the invention has 5. been described with particular reference to use with a cup, it is to be realized that it can also be used with other containers, such as teapots, jugs and the like. In these instances the two leaves can be extended in length and the bag be provided with an extended upper flap or flange, so 10. that the bag would be immersed in the water. The operation in this instance would be similar to that above described.
• the invention can be utilised for cold tea brewing in a pitcher or jug for iced tea with the bag being of larger size, such as for 3 or 4 cups.
• the bag can be of such a size 15. that the bag is inserted in the water in the pitcher.
• the bag When the bag is to be used for brewing in large containers or pitchers, the bag will naturally be of larger size, both in width and length. In these instances, the bag can be attached to the leaf by two spaced staples. In this way the bag and leaf will bend and conform to the rim of the
• the spacing of the staples being thus related to the diameter of the jug or pitcher, so that the wedging effect will take place to hold the bag securely on the rim of the jug or pitcher.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=3770846

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (10)

Families Citing this family (36)

Citations (6)

Family Cites Families (14)

• 1985
  • 1985-11-15 EP EP85905600A patent/EP0201547B1/en not_active Expired
  • 1985-11-15 WO PCT/AU1985/000279 patent/WO1986003176A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1985-11-15 JP JP60505076A patent/JPS62500859A/ja active Pending
  • 1985-11-15 DE DE8585905600T patent/DE3578907D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1985-11-15 US US06/899,224 patent/US4726956A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1985-11-19 IN IN932/MAS/85A patent/IN166524B/en unknown
  • 1985-11-19 GB GB8528464A patent/GB2167380B/en not_active Expired
  • 1985-11-19 NZ NZ214247A patent/NZ214247A/xx unknown
  • 1985-11-19 CA CA000495682A patent/CA1240957A/en not_active Expired
• 1989
  • 1989-02-06 JP JP1989012974U patent/JPH0239971Y2/ja not_active Expired
• 1990
  • 1990-03-08 HK HK176/90A patent/HK17690A/xx not_active IP Right Cessation

Patent Citations (7)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events