Fast food bag with tear away portions

Abstract

A tear away food bag includes tear seams, or other features, providing controlled tearing away of portions of the bags. The food bag is suitable for use as a lunch bag, a picnic bag, or a take out food bag. A bottom portion of the bag may be torn away from the food bag to provide a food holder and top portions maybe torn away from the food bag to provide place mats.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to food bags and in particular a food bag with tear away portions providing additional uses.

Food bags are generally used to carrying meals from a preparation area to a consumption area. The bags are generally disposed of after the food is removed, and have no further use.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing a tear away food bag which includes tear seams, or other features, providing controlled tearing away of portions of the bags. The food bag is suitable for use as a lunch bag, a picnic bag, or a take out food bag. A top portion tears away along the tear seams to provide a food holder. The top portion may further include tear seams to provide place mats.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a tear away food bag according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the tear away food bag according to the present invention before joining seems to form the useable food bag.

FIG. 3 shows a food holder torn from the tear away food bag according to the present invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show place mats torn from the tear away food bag according to the present invention.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing one or more preferred embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims.

Where the terms “about” or “generally” are associated with an element of the invention, it is intended to describe a feature's appearance to the human eye or human perception, and not a precise measurement, or typically within 10 percent of a stated value.

A tear away food bag 10 according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. The tear away food bag 10 may be a lunch or picnic bag purchased empty for use by consumer, or carry out bag provided by restaurants or take out fast food establishments. The tear away food bag 10 includes a bottom 16, four sides 18 and commonly, but not required, an open top 20. The tear away food bag 10 is preferably made from paper material.

The tear away food bag 10 tears along a bottom circumferential tear seam 12a and a top circumferential tear seam 12b, and vertical tear seams 12c, and folds along lines 14 (see FIG. 2) and includes tear away place mats 20a and 20b, and a tear away food holder 30. The tear seams 12a, 12b, and 12c are preferably perforations but those skilled in the art will recognize that other tear seams, and a tear away food bag with any form of tear seam is intended to come within the scope of the present invention. For example, a tear seam may be a very thin seam in the paper or a layer of thin tapes over a cut in the paper.

An example of a flat tear away food bag 10a before assembling the useable tear away food bag 10 is shown in FIG. 2. The tear seams 12a, 12b, and 12c are shown as dotted lines and the fold lines 14 are shown as dashed lines. Those skilled in the art will recognize that various flat forms may be assembled to construct a food bag, and a tear away food bag constructed from any flat form is intended to come within the scope of the present invention.

A food holder 30 torn from the tear away food bag 10 is shown in FIG. 3 and place mats 20a and 20b torn from the tear away food bag 10 are shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. The place mats 20a and 20b and food holder 30 provide further use of the tear away food bag 10. The food holder 30 has a height H which is generally fixed around the food bag 10 circumference.

The place mats 20a and 20b have an overall length L1, a center portion length L2, end portion lengths L3, and a width W1. The food holder 30 portion has a length L4, a width W2 and the height H. The length L1 is preferably between 8 and 13 inches. The length L2 is preferably between 3.25 and 8.5 inches. The width W1 is preferably between 8 and 9.5 inches. The length L4 is preferably between 3.25 and 8.5 inches. The width W2 between 3.25 and 4.75 inches. The height H is preferably between 1 and 6 inches, and more preferably between 1.5 and 2.5 inches, and is most preferrably about 2 inches.

While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.

Claims

1. A food bag comprising: a paper material;a bag bottom;four sides reaching up from the bottom;a bottom circumferential tear seam around the four side and above the bag bottom; anda bottom portion of the food bag separable from the food bag at the bottom circumferential tear seam to provide a food holder, andfurther including: a top circumferential tear seam proximal to a bag top;at least one vertical tear seam in one of the four sides, extending between the bottom circumferential tear seam and the top circumferential tear seam; andthe food bag tearable along the vertical tear seam, the bottom circumferential tear seam, and the top circumferential tear seam to provide a place mat.

2. The food bag of claim 1, wherein the bottom circumferential tear seam is between 1 and 6 inches above the bag bottom.

3. The food bag of claim 2, wherein the bottom circumferential tear seam is a generally fixed height H above the bag bottom.

4. The food bag of claim 3, wherein the bottom circumferential tear seam is between 1.5 and 2.5 inches above the bag bottom.

5. The food bag of claim 4, wherein the bottom circumferential tear seam is about 2 inches above the bag bottom.

6. The food bag of claim 1, wherein the tear seam is formed by perforations in the paper material.

7. The food bag of claim 1, wherein the bag bottom is closed.

8. The food bag of claim 1, further including an open top.

9. The food bag of claim 1, wherein: the at least one vertical tear seam is two vertical tear seams; andthe food bag tearable along the vertical tear seams, the bottom circumferential tear seam, and the top circumferential tear seam to provide two of the place mats.

10. The food bag of claim 9, wherein the two vertical tear seams are on opposite side of the food bag.

11. A food bag comprising: a paper material;a closed bag bottom;four sides reaching up from the bottom;a bottom circumferential tear seam formed by first perforations in the paper material and around the four sides and above the bag bottom and a height between 1 and 6 inches above the bag bottom;a bottom portion of the food bag separable from the food bag at the bottom circumferential tear seam to provide a food holder;a top circumferential tear seam formed by second perforations proximal to a bag top;two vertical tear seams formed by third perforations in the paper material, on opposite sides of the food bag, extending between the bottom circumferential tear seam and the top circumferential tear seam; andthe food bag separable along the vertical tear seam, the bottom circumferential tear seam, and the top circumferential tear seam to provide two place mats.

12. A method for converting a food bag into a comprising: providing the food bag made of a paper material, the food bag comprising: a closed bag bottom;four sides reaching up from the bottom; anda bottom circumferential tear seam formed by first perforations around the four side and between 1 and 6 inches above the bag bottom;a top circumferential tear seam formed by second perforations proximal to a bag top; andtwo vertical tear seams formed by third perforations in the paper material, on opposite sides of the food bag, extending between the bottom circumferential tear seam and the top circumferential tear seam;tearing the food bag along the bottom circumferential tear seam to form a food holder; andtearing the food bag along the vertical tear seam, the bottom and the top circumferential tear seam to provide two place mats.