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
  • B65D33/00—Details of, or accessories for, sacks or bags
  • B65D33/004—Information or decoration elements, e.g. level indicators, detachable tabs or coupons
• • 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
  • B65D31/00—Bags or like containers made of paper and having structural provision for thickness of contents
  • B65D31/10—Bags or like containers made of paper and having structural provision for thickness of contents with gusseted sides
• • 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
  • B65D33/00—Details of, or accessories for, sacks or bags
  • B65D33/001—Blocks, stacks or like assemblies of bags
• • 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
  • B65D33/00—Details of, or accessories for, sacks or bags
  • B65D33/06—Handles
  • B65D33/065—Integral handles

Definitions

• the present invention includes a bag having a coupon affixed thereto.
• the bag when in a closed configuration, defines a nonuniform thickness such that the bag has a thickest portion that is thicker than another portion of the bag.
• the bag includes two exterior faces, an open mouth end defined by the exterior faces, a sealed bottom end joining the exterior faces, and a coupon region on an exterior face of the bag.
• the coupon region has a thickness that is less than the thickest portion of the bag.
• the bag also includes a coupon removably affixed at the coupon region such that the thickness of the coupon region of the bag with the coupon affixed is substantially equal to or less than the thickest portion of the bag.
• the present invention includes a stack of a plurality of individual bags having a coupon affixed to at least twenty percent of the individual bags.
• the individual bags when in a closed configuration and in the stack, define a nonuniform thickness and a thickest portion that is thicker than another portion of the bag stack.
• the individual bags of individual bags include two exterior faces, an open mouth end defined by the exterior faces, and a sealed bottom end joining the exterior faces.
• the individual bag also includes a coupon region on an exterior face of an individual bag, and the coupon region has a thickness that is less than the thickest portion of the individual bag.
• the stack further includes coupons removably affixed at the coupon region of at least twenty percent of the individual bags in the stack such that the thickness of the stack at the coupon region with the coupons affixed is substantially equal to or less than the thickest portion of the stack.
• the present invention includes a stack of a plurality of individual bags having a coupon affixed to certain of the individual bags.
• the individual bags when in a closed configuration and in the stack, define a nonuniform thickness and a thickest portion that is thicker than another portion of the bag stack.
• the individual bags include two exterior faces, an open mouth end defined by the exterior faces, and a sealed bottom end joining the exterior faces.
• the bags include a coupon removably affixed on an exterior face of one or more individual bags in the stack wherein such coupons are selectively located on such one or more individual bags such that the thickness of the stack where any coupons are located is substantially equal to or less than the thickest portion of the stack.
• the present invention includes a stack of a plurality of individual bags having a coupon affixed to certain of the individual bags.
• the individual bags when in a closed configuration and in the stack, define a nonuniform thickness and a thickest portion that is thicker than another portion of the bag stack.
• the individual bags include two exterior faces, an open mouth end defined by the exterior faces, and a sealed bottom end joining the exterior faces.
• coupons are removably affixed on respective exterior faces of one or more individual bags in the stack wherein the coupon is selectively located on such individual bags such that the thickness of the stack where any coupon is located is substantially equal to or less than the thickest portion of the stack.
• FIG. 1 is a front view of a bag with a coupon, wherein the bag is shown in a closed configuration, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 2 is an end view of the bag shown Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 A is a front view of the bag in Fig. 1 folded once in the length direction;
• Fig. 3B is a front view of the folded bag of Fig. 3A having cross-hatched sections indicated for reference;
• FIG. 4 is a front view of a bag with a coupon, wherein the bag is shown in a closed configuration and folded once in the length direction, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
• FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of a bag stack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 6 is an end view of a bag stack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 7 is an end view of a bag stack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• Fig. 8A is an end view of a bag with a coupon affixed thereto.
• Fig. 8B is an end view of a bag stack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• FIG. 9 is an expanded perspective view of a bag stack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• Fig. 10 is an expanded perspective view of a bag stack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• bag 100 which is illustrated as a t-shirt bag, is shown. As illustrated, bag 100 has an open mouth end 102 and a sealed bottom end 104 at opposing longitudinal ends. In some embodiments, sealed bottom end 104 may be formed by a heat seal. Bag 100 also includes faces 106 (with a front face shown and a rear face, not shown, on the rear side of the bag). Bag 100 also has laterally-spaced, upwardly extending handle portions 108. Each handle portion 108 may include an aperture portion 110 for mounting a bag or a stack of bags on a dispensing rack system. In addition, bag 100 includes a central tab 112 having a slit or aperture 114 for mounting the bag on a dispensing rack system.
• central tab 112 may be integral to bag 100 while in other embodiments central tab 112 may be detachably connected to bag 100, such as by way of a perforation line or an aperture that separates central tab 112 from bag 100 upon tearing.
• bag 100 also includes gussets 116, which have an inner gusset point 116'. Bag 100 is shown in a closed configuration in which the bag is not opened, i.e., front and rear faces 106 are back-to-back and the gussets are not open.
• bag 100 also has coupon 118 removably affixed to face 106.
• the coupon may be a voucher for a discount, an advertisement, promotional material, material for a game contest, or any other externally mounted attachment.
• Coupon 118 may be made of any material, such as plastic, paper, or other suitable materials, including combinations thereof. Coupons may be affixed to bags of the present invention using any conventional techniques known in the art, such as adhesion.
• coupons of the present invention may be a single sheet or have a single layer in some embodiments. In other embodiments, coupons may have multiple layers or may be arranged in a fan-fold, or accordion, format. Coupons may optionally include tab 119, which may aid in removing a coupon from the face of a bag.
• a coupon may be selectively positioned in a coupon region of a bag such that the coupon does not increase or, alternatively, substantially increase the maximum thickness of the bag when the bag is closed as compared to a bag without the coupon attached thereto.
• the area between gussets 116 of the bag 100 has a thickness of two plies, and the gusseted areas have a thickness of four plies each.
• the void area above the two-ply region as compared with the adjacent four-ply regions forms coupon region 120 (shown as the area demarcated by the dashed line in Fig. 2).
• a coupon that is less than or substantially equal to two plies of thickness may be placed in coupon region 120 such that the coupon region 120, after a coupon is applied, is not thicker, or in some embodiments not substantially thicker, than any other portion of the bag.
• the thickness of the coupon can be "hidden" with respect to the overall thickness of a bag.
• a bag such as the T-shirt bag shown in Fig. 1, may be folded in the length direction, as shown in Fig. 3 A, such as for packaging the bags in cartons or for storing the bags.
• folded bag 100 has non-uniform thickness, including region A with eight plies, region B with four plies, region C with four plies, and region D with two plies (not including the coupon itself).
• region A represents the thickest portion of the bag.
• region B and/or C may serve as a coupon region for a coupon having a thickness substantially equal to or less than the thickness of four plies
• region D may serve as a coupon region for a coupon having a thickness substantially equal to or less than the thickness of six plies.
• a coupon may extend over an entire coupon region, whereas in other embodiments, as shown in Fig. 3A, a coupon may only extend over a portion of a coupon region.
• a coupon may overlap two regions of a bag.
• coupon 118 may be selectively placed such that coupon 118 is partially overlapped by tab 112 of a folded T-shirt bag.
• coupon 118 may have a thickness that is substantially equal to or less than four plies of the exemplary bag such that the area in which the coupon is affixed does not exceed the maximum thickness of the bag at any other location without the coupon.
• an exemplary bag of the present invention may have dimensions measuring about as follows:
• the thickness of a film layer of the bag may be at least about 0.0005 inches or at least l/6th of the coupon thickness.
• the bag may have folded dimensions of about 12 inches wide and about 11 inches long in some embodiments.
• a coupon may have a total thickness of about 0.003 inches. In some embodiments, the coupon size may be approximately 3.5 inches wide x 2.5 inches tall. In some embodiments, a coupon may be positioned in a coupon region of a bag such that the bottom edge of the coupon is about 2 inches above the bottom seal. In some embodiments, a coupon may be positioned with its bottom edge at least 0.5 inches above the bottom seal of a bag. [0028] In addition to individual bags, embodiments of the present invention include bag stacks, also called bag packs, in which a plurality of bags are joined, such as the exemplary bag stack 101 shown in Fig. 5. Bag stacks may be formed, by way of example and without limitation, as set forth in U.S. Patent No.
• Bag stacks may contain any number of bags and, in some exemplary embodiments, a bag stack may contain 50 bags or 100 bags. In some embodiments of the present invention, some or all of the bags in a bag stack may have a coupon thereon. In some embodiments, each bag in a bag stack may have a coupon thereon as described above. In alternative embodiments, every other bag or every third bag or every fourth bag in a bag stack may have a coupon affixed thereon as described above. In some embodiments, at least 20% of the bags in the bag stack have a coupon affixed. Bags in a bag stack of the present invention may have identical or varied coupons affixed thereto and different types of coupons maybe be employed on individual bags in the same stack.
• a plurality of adjacent (and, possibly, releasably interconnected as by way of a score line) bags of the present invention may be provided as a roll of bags, wherein some or all of the bags have a coupon affixed thereon as described above.
• a stack of bags may be formed by adjacent bags wherein some or all bags have a coupon selectively located in a coupon region.
• ten bags having the same structure are adjacent in bag stack 101.
• bag stack 101 is not thicker at the location of the coupon in bag stack as compared with any other point in the bag stack.
• coupons 118 may only be applied to some bags in a bag stack.
• Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which bag stack 101 has ten bags 100 adjacent in the stack. In that depicted embodiment, coupons 118 are affixed in a coupon region of only two individual bags 100 in bag stack 101 (representing coupons on 20% of bags 100 in bag stack 101).
• a coupon may be placed on a greater or smaller percentage of bags in a stack.
• a coupon is selectively placed in the coupon region of a bag or the coupon region of a bag stack on at least about 50% of the bags in a stack.
• a coupon may be placed on every other bag or every third bag in a bag stack.
• a coupon may be placed in this manner on at least about 20%>, 25%, 30%, and 33% of individual bags in a bag stack.
• a coupon that is thicker than a coupon region for an individual bag may be selectively located in a bag stack such that the entire bag stack at the location of the affixed coupons does not have a thickness that is greater than the maximum thickness of the bag stack at any other point.
• Fig. 8 A illustrates bag 100 having coupon 118 that is thicker than the void space of coupon region 120 of bag 100.
• Fig. 8B illustrates bag stack 102 having a plurality of bags 100.
• five bags have a coupon affixed that is thicker than the coupon region for the individual bag to which the coupon is attached (as illustrated in Fig. 8A for a single bag).
• bag stack 101 is not thicker at the location of coupons 118 than the thickest portion of bag stack 101.
• coupons may have a thickness that is greater than the coupon region of a single bag and still not increase the thickness of a bag stack.
• Fig. 9 illustrates an exemplary exploded view of a stack of three bags 10. As shown in Fig. 9, coupons 118 are located in a staggered orientation on adjacent bags. In this regard, the selective placement of coupons 118 on bags 100 may allow for coupons that are thicker than a coupon region for an individual bag without increasing the overall thickness of a bag stack. In particular, in the embodiment shown in Fig.
• the thickness of the coupons in the bag stack is alternated instead of being located in the same portion of each bag in the bag stack, thereby relatively reducing the overall thickness of the bag stack at the locations of the coupons as compared with a bag stack without a staggered orientation of coupons.
• more than two staggered coupon placement locations may exist for bags within a bag stack.
• coupons are staggered in two, three, or four coupon locations.
• coupons may be staggered in other patterns, such as shown the alternating pattern shown in Fig. 10.
• coupons may be located on less than all of the bags in the bag stack, such as discussed above.
• bags may be folded in the length direction, such as for shipping and packaging.
• bags may be joined together in a bag stack, and then the bag stack may be folded over in the length direction.
• the thickness of coupon regions for individual bags in the bag stack may be increased for certain bags, such as t-shirt bags, as previously discussed for an individual bag with reference to Fig. 3A and Fig. 3B.
• Bags of the present invention may be manufactured by processes known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such as those described in U.S. Patent No. 5,562,580, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto. Bags of the present invention may be comprised of any suitable materials, including polyethylene, paper, or other materials that would be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• Coupons may be applied to bags of the present invention by any suitable process known in the industry.
• a coupon may be applied by peeling or removing a label from a lining and then rolling or blowing the coupon onto the bag surface.
• an adhesive may be applied to a coupon and/or a bag prior to affixing a coupon.
• the coupon may be applied directly to the bag in some embodiments, and in other embodiments the coupon may be placed on a liner on the bag.
• the present invention also includes embodiments for a plurality of bag stacks arranged in a carton.
• bag stacks of the present invention may be folded in half and stored in a carton, such as a box, for shipping or storage.
• such bag stacks may be alternated (such as with one folded bag stack having its mouth end facing in one direction and an adjacent folded bag stack having its mouth end facing in the opposite direction).
• some bag stacks may have increased thickness at the location of a heat seal, such that such an alternating pattern may create additional space between bag stacks to "hide" a thicker area of a bag stack at which one or more coupons are applied to bags.
• such an arrangement may alleviate or reduce within the plurality of bag stacks any extra thickness of an individual bag stack that is formed by one or more coupons with the individual bag stack.
• the alternating arrangement of bag stacks in a carton may "hide" the bump.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Bag Frames (AREA)
• Purses, Travelling Bags, Baskets, Or Suitcases (AREA)

Priority Applications (2)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

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Citations (4)

Family Cites Families (9)

• 2013
  • 2013-03-15 US US13/836,712 patent/US20140144806A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2013-11-26 MX MX2015006655A patent/MX2015006655A/es unknown
  • 2013-11-26 CA CA2892668A patent/CA2892668A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2013-11-26 WO PCT/US2013/072041 patent/WO2014082084A1/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (4)

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