Patent Application
20050017029
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the elimination of the usual time consuming problems, experienced with opening and occluding conventional flexible plastic bag dispenser outlets, particularly those having reclosable interlocking joints, and tear- to-open sealed outlets, by substituting novel devices, for quick opening, and automatic self-closing the dispenser outlet of conventional pre-manufactured flexible bags, or their integration with newly manufactured thin film flexible plastic bags by using the profile extrusion process.
Plastic bags provided with this novel “QUICK EASY OPENING AND CLOSING DISPENSER OUTLET”, can dispense while in the up-ended position, by manually squeezing its longitudinal outlet using only one hand; by placing its thumb at one end and fingers at the opposing end of said longitudinal outlet, when upon release of the squeeze effort, automatically self closes the plastic bag outlet. This novel device can be made from a flexible, resilient thermoplastic such as Low Density Polyethylene plastic, or equal, as an independent unit, for adding to existing standard thin gauge film flexible plastic bags, or as an integral part of a newly made thin gauge film plastic bag, with or without, another reclosable male and female interlocking joint, the likes of “Zip Loc” or equal, for added security. Depending upon the product stored and its intended market, the desired bag size and opening length will vary, and for this invention, is generally limited to the span between thumb and fingers required for squeezing, approx. 6 inches, however for easy squeeze 4 inches, which further shortens after bag filling causing flat bag edges to taper inwardly, Larger bags can be provided with small bag opening lengths under five inches, to permit dispensing, in any feasible manner at the top, bottom, side, cater-cornering, or instead make the quick easy opening and closing dispenser outlet full length, to match the larger bag length, for a two hand manual dispensing operation However, for easy pouring while holding bag with only one hand, the most practical size appears to be in the smaller sizes under 5 inches in length
This invention relies upon structural design features that enables the inherent memory of the plastic material used, such as Low Density Polyethylene, or its equivalent, to perform this invention's novel squeeze to open and self closing dispenser outlet operation, and retain its ability to flex and seal for several hundred repeated operations.
The ideas for developing this new invention were developed from the experience gained, selling and manufacturing small squeeze-to-open plastic pill boxes, made by thermoforming pre-molded cylindrical plastic vials based on U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,257 granted the applicant of this application. Research for improving the manufacturing, led to the conclusion that the profile extrusion process often used to make plastic bags with thin gauge plastic sheets integrally with “Zip-Loc” or equal, interlocking male and female elements, further led to solving their opening and closing interlocking problems per the following novel structural features.
There are many structural features, that make this invention perform; one of the more important being, the two short thick guide mouth pieces, each attached longitudinally to match the length of their related male and female curved quadrant clamps outlet, which when nested and in contact with one another, said short thick guide mouth pieces form an approximate 90 degree jaw inlet angle, symmetrically aligned crosswise, the full length of the mouth inlet of the nested clamps, which when superimposed for assembly and fastening to the side edges of the plastic bag, said 90 degree jaw inlet angle is compressed into a much smaller angle to form a bulge at the vertical mid section within the chamber of the assembled and sealed thin gauge plastic bag, which gradually tapers laterally to 0 degrees towards the opposing ends of the fastened short thick guide mouth pieces; said bulge within the plastic bag is formed, when the edges of the superimposed bag sheets are joined together, thereby forcing the short thick guide mouth pieces to bend, and form a highly stressed almost elliptical shape, parallel to and across the length of the bag opening, with its inherent plastic memory ready to flex back into said short guide mouth pieces' original flat shape, but instead, exerts its built-in flex pressure within the plastic bag's chamber walls, to keep the curved male and female portions of the longitudinal curved quadrant clamps nested in contact with one another, to form a dust tight seal after each squeeze-to-open operation of the simple longitudinal curved outlet slot, or to any other reclosable male and female interlocking joint that may be added for a tighter seal if preferred. Tests have shown that the thickness of the short guide mouth extension pieces must be approx. {fraction (1/32)} inch for bag openings of between 3 and 5 inches in length to prevent distortion and tendency to flex and bend in unison, thus making it impossible to open and form the desired dispenser outlet. Incidentally, depending upon the bag opening length, there may be enough squeeze power to unlock a “Zip-Loc” type reclosable interlocking joint for dispensing.
Another important structural feature of this unique invention, is the curved portion of the clamps, herein specified as, quadrant shaped, should retain its shape when profile extruded, whereas when thermoformed from pre-molded parts, the curved portion of the clamps slightly flattens, due to the tendency of the plastic's memory to return to its original pre-molded shape, enough to lessen its closure sealing ability. This thermoforming tendency was offset by increasing the curve arc lengths of the male and female clamps beyond the 90 degree quadrant to {fraction (13/16)} inch for a ¼ inch contact surface radius for maintaining a dust tight seal between the nested portion of the curved clamps, which for some products may not be sufficient. For these reasons, this invention includes alternate reclosable closure arrangements shown and described under the Brief Description of the Drawings section of this application, which includes the preferred arrangement by inserting the simple dust tight curved quadrant dispenser assembly within an existing pre-manufactured flexible plastic bag having a simple clear line single track seal top seal with short sleeve outlet, made by ELKAY Plastics Co. or equal, that can be tack welded at its mid point to enable the customer to shear off the tack weld, upon the initial squeeze to open dispenser operation, thus giving an additional tighter seal when needed, plus added protection against pilfering product.
As stated before, said profile extrusion process is often used to make plastic bags with thin gauge plastic film sheets integrally extruded with “Zip-Loc” or equal, reclosable male and female interlocking joints, to form two separate ribbons, one ribbon being a male profile assembly, consisting of the plastic bag film, and the curved quadrant clamp with guide mouth extension; the other ribbon being its counterpart female assembly, each ribbon; cut-to suit the bag opening length desired, then superimposed for nesting and alignment of the curved quadrant clamp ends for sealing said ends, and edges of the superimposed plastic sheets along their corresponding edges except at the edge along which is formed the open end of the bag. The aforesaid summarizes the construction of the finished product, and can be made in any manner known to those skilled in the art. For example, along the edges of the superimposed male and female cut ribbon assemblies, the plastic thickness varies in thickness, some which is too thick for conventional hot wire welding and may require special treatment such as possibly heating jaws shaped to the outline of the plastic bag. Consideration can also be given to using self adhesive plastic tape to join the edges of the superimposed ribbons, which has been successfully used for making prototype plastic bag test assemblies.
Prototypes for easy to open self closing plastic bag assemblies, having openings of 3 inches or 4 inches were made for testing performance and reliability of this invention, using the thermoforming process, prior to spending time and money on dies for profile extrusion. The following procedure used for making the prototypes, may be improved upon in any manner known to those skilled in the art for making production facilities based upon this invention, and the use of the profile extrusion method. The following is the manner in which thin gauge LDPE squeeze-to-open self closing 4 inch opening plastic bag prototypes were made:
Cut two 4 inch by 2⅜ inch pieces each {fraction (1/32)} inch thick low density polyethylene plastic; place them facing each other with edges parallel, and fasten the opposing 2⅜ inch wide edges with 2 inch wide self adhesive Scotch tape, or equal; then impulse hot wire weld both sides of the overlapped tape and also at its opposing taped edge; thermoform said assembled pieces for making the curved quadrant clamps and oval shaped guide mouth attachments; insert said thermoformed assembly into a 4 inch 0.006 inch LDPE film flat plastic bag, having a standard lightweight reclosable single track seal until lined up and adjacent to the clamps curved slotted outlet lips, which then may be tack welded at the mid point of the bag's outlet lips to serve as a shipping seal and protection against pilfering product, which may be ripped open by the customer for dispensing; much easier than tearing or scissor cutting full length. Inserting the assembled curved quadrant clamps with its oval shaped guide mouth attachment is done by folding the assembly for insertion within the opened plastic bag, thereby causing the bag to bulge when said assembly is unfolded and form a snug fit at the inside edges of the bag, which requires bonding the assembly to the plastic bag to prevent misalignment; done by hot wire welding full length of bag opening, on both sides of the plastic bag below and adjacent to the mouth inlet of the curved clamps, Flat LDPE plastic tubing may be used instead of plastic bags which will eliminate welding of side edges but will however require bottom seal welding.
The above method of making prototypes may be used for low production demands by small packaging companies.
From the aforegoing, it is obvious, this invention's method of dispensing snacks from an up-ended plastic bag; having a quick easy squeeze-to-open self-closing outlet; employing only one hand may be greatly appreciated, especially by arthritics, and those driving and/or telecommunicating. Therefore, this invention relates to mainly bags, that can be held in one hand for dispensing from outlets ranging 1 to 5 inches in length, made using low density polyethylene or polypropylene thin film plastic ranging in thickness from 0.006 to 0.00075 inches.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is acknowledged that many efforts have been made to facilitate the opening of plastic bags, particularly those having the likes of “Zip-Loc” reclosable interlocking male and female joints suggesting the use of stiffeners and even color coding, to assist and/or identify when said closure is occluded, as per the following briefs from a few patent abstracts:
SCHEIBNER U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,345: “A reclosable container features ridges near the opening of the container to provide improved gripping of the container by the user during the opening and loading of the container”
AUSNIT U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,147 “A pair of stiffener ribs is formed integrally with the bag but of a thermoplastic material more rigid than that from which the bag is formed to provide increased lateral rigidity along the open end of the bag to prevent inadvertent separation of the interlocking elements.”
WILLIAMS U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,321 “An interlocking closure device whereby the closing and opening of the closure is more easily detected by visual inspection” Needless to say the novel quick easy opening self-closing device specified herein solves most of the above problems. The following are briefs of prior patents with comments as to why they differ from the invention patent applied for herein:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,849 (HERZIG) discloses a collapsible tube type container having a flattened bent neck opening part that requires a metal clip fastener to keep the plastic lips in the bent position for discharging the likes of toothpaste and viscous materials by applying pressure to the container. Needless to say it can not be used for free flow discharge of solid material when up-ended for dispensing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,477 (HERZIG) discloses a squeeze bottle having an automatic closure. The automatic closure is the result of forming the end of the container, as by heat sealing. Different embodiments are disclosed, such as reinforcing ribs for the closure, a clip which fits over the container outlet, and nested curves formed in panels at the outlet, designed for expelling liquids only, and also can not discharge solid materials when up-ended.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,257 (HERZIG) discloses a container having a pinch-off fold at an outlet. Discharge of the container requires the use of pressure being applied at its different areas. When the pressure is released, the outlet closes automatically due to internal pressure of the material within the container. The discharge of material requires two hands, with the fingers of one hand applying pressure at a specific area to cause the discharge opening to open and then pressure on the container for discharging the contents Liquids only may be discharged from the apparatus since the internal pressure of the liquids is required to maintain the seal. Also like the above HERZIG patents can not be up-ended to discharge solid materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,686 ( DOUGHERTY) discloses a drop dispenser apparatus with a patent configuration of seal elements or valves at the discharge portion of the apparatus. As with the Herzig U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,257, the apparatus is designed only for discharging liquids, and the apparatus is specifically designed for discharging drops of liquids. The container is deformable, and pressure is applied to the container to discharge the liquid drops only; therefor can not be used for discharge of dry solids.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,663,461 (F. E. BROWN) discloses a small type capsule for dispensing metered quantities of viscous pharmaceutical materials, by applying external pressure or from the dead weight of the material within the container for dispensing through the small orifice at it dispenser lips, and therefor also can not be used for discharge of dry solids.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,312 (T. PARADY) discloses a reservoir that is mountable in each cell of a battery and accordingly maintains the liquid level therein at its proper level depending therefrom upon a generally wedge shaped spout with a narrow opening which depends upon the weight of the liquid therein to provide a metered flow which obviously can not discharge dry solids.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,509 (AMNEUS) discloses a narrow curled flexible spout having a flat slotted outlet that tapers away from a flexible metering chamber that discharges liquids when pressure is applied to the tube walls. The curled slotted outlet tapers inwardly which makes it impossible to self close if discharging dry solids were possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,318 (H. S. RUEKBERG) discloses a novel container having a slotted outlet with soft rubber gasket for making a self sealing closure, said closure is defined by a flexible housing having a top wall, an elongated slot in the top wall, the slot terminating at opposite ends and being adapted to form a dispensing opening upon application of opposed forces to the housing adjacent the slot ends, and the dispensing container being of a one piece molded construction, said apparatus discharge outlet slot is limited to the discharge of the likes of pills and possibly candy such as M & Ms etc. and not for discharging the usual bulky items stored in plastic bags such as French Fries, sausage, shredded salads, dried fruit, wrapped candy etc. etc. etc.. Furthermore, the narrow slotted outlet being in the flat portion of the container housing, when standing up-right does not provide access for hand picking product from the container, nor when up ended for dispensing product will restrict flow and conceivably plug the outlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,233 (SOUZA) discloses a narrow flat outlet consisting of two concave curved flexible plastic sheets facing one another and in contact to form the self-closing dispenser outlet designed to discharge viscous material by applying manual pressure to the flexible container body; which upon release of said pressure self closes. As stated in the first paragraph of SOUSA's patent is directed for dispensing only viscous material and therefor not designed to compete with quick opening and self-closing plastic bag outlets, capable of hand picking product when opened in the up-right position or its discharge of solids when up-ended.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,593 (DUER) discloses a valve having nested curved quadrant clamps exactly the same as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,267 granted to me (LAVERDURE) almost 8 years prior to the approval of DUER'S patent, and therefor, may not be considered as a prior art to my patent; and furthermore, upon first observation, seems to be an infringement, but again upon further review appears not to be, for the following reasons. DUER's patent discloses an item used to prevent back flow into city streets from flooded rivers that often contain sewerage, that may be as large as six feet or more in diameter, and therefor not intended to be built as a dispenser outlet from a portable hand held container; furthermore, it is constructed differently without using thermoplastic material such as low density polyethylene, whereas DUER's curved outlet comprises of two lips which are opposed to each other and which are pre-formed to define a curvilinear bill, said lips are preferably of one layer of an unreinforced elastomer material one layer of a reinforced elastomer material and a cover. The lips are preferably pre-formed by vulcanization to form a “C” shaped bill. Needless to say, it can not be used for dispensing product from a thin film plastic flexible bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,267 (LAVERDURE) discloses a cylindrical container having a self-closing valve portion thermoformed and shaped by clamping, heating and compressing the container's elongated discharge outlet nozzle until it outwardly tapers to an adjoining widened, flattened, smooth curved quadrant discharge slot, which when manually squeezed laterally, at its thick walled tapered container outlet, opens for dispensing; and upon release self closes.
Said thermoformed curved quadrant outlet slot as described above, can not be used for dispensing product from a flat flexible thin film plastic bag having its chamber walls ranging from between 0.00075 and 0.006 inches thickness, rather, than from the aforementioned heavy walled cylindrical container. This is mentioned to pin point the major difference between LAVERDURE's original patent and this new application, which is the addition of thick guide mouth attachment pieces adjacent to and below to the mouth portion of the nested curved quadrant clamps to assist the flat plastic bag's flexible film transmit the squeeze power necessary to force the clamps elongated slot outlet to open when manually squeezed for dispensing. Other major differences are; the use of the profile extrusion method rather than the thermoforming process; the addition of the guide mouth attachment pieces to “Zip-Loc” or equal reclosable male and female interlocking elements to keep them in alignment per
It is acknowledged that other types of closures for plastic bags have been made towards eliminating problems of misalignment, opening, closing sealing, shipping seals, tamper proofing, and durability such as “snap-back” of the closures to retain its tightness. About ten years experience of selling and thermoforming a small squeeze-to-open self closing pill box made of low density polyethylene as defined above under U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,267 (LAVERDURE) has experienced that the closure defined herein has satisfactorily performed the quick opening self- closing manual squeezing operation repeatedly for at least several hundred cycles.
Regarding shipping seals and protection against pilfering of contents many attempts have been made which could succeed if one had the strength to tear open such devices, which more often requires cutting with a pair of scissors. The squeeze-to-open self closing plastic bag herein defines a simple way of protecting bag contents against pilfering by simply providing the squeeze-to-open self-closing outlet with a standard conventional item referred to in the trade as a clear line single track seal which is reclosable, and when located at the tip of the curved clamp outlet may be opened along with the opening of the curved outlet per the usual squeezing effort initially, thereafter depending upon the customer's wish which would require hand pressing along the single track seal. For protection against pilfering contents, the outer lip sleeve portion of the seal track may tack welded at its mid point for a simple tear for easy discharge of products as defined under the making of 4 inch wide plastic bag prototype
This invention promotes the use of the profile extrusion process for manufacturing, rather than the thermoforming practice allowed under U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,267 granted to LAVERDURE for making only the curved quadrant clamps portion of this novel invention which now requires the addition of a guide mouth attachment to said curved quadrant clamps and revisions thereto which includes new sealing joints plus modifications to the “Zip-Loc” interlocking joint for elimination of misalignment problems, thus making it possible to dispense the contents of a plastic bag, with its chamber walls made from very thin film plastic which are unable to transmit the squeeze effort required for opening this invention's “guided clamps for quick easy opening and closing of dispenser outlet.” Furthermore, using the profile extrusion method will speed production, in that the practice of using pre-formed cylindrical plastic items for compressing into curved outlets via thermoforming may be eliminated.
The following is a brief summary of the proposed profile extrusion method for integrating quick easy opening and closing devices with plastic bag film for the making of a complete squeeze-to-open self-closing plastic bag dispenser, which those familiar in the profile extrusion art may modify:
Extrude two ribbon assemblies;
For improving the dispensing of product from thin film plastic bags that are presently being manufactured and distributed, only the above listed Item 1, “the curved quadrant clamp with guide mouth attachment” need be profile extruded for its fastening to presently made plastic bags. Furthermore, depending upon whether the plastic bag of choice has a reclosable outlet, only the “guide mouth attachment” need be profile extruded for its fastening to the presently made reclosable portion of the plastic bag.
For short production runs, taping and hot wire welding a portion of the curved quadrant clamps and guide mouth attachment for thermoforming may be preferred as outlined in the making of 4 inch prototypes.
As stated above those familiar with the art of making profile extrusion dies may want to consider the likes of a die used for integrally forming an interlocking joint with a plastic bag per U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,147 (AUSNIT)
This novel invention expects to ease the task of opening small up-ended plastic bags using only one hand for direct feeding to one's mouth for quick access to snacks, candy the likes of jelly beans and pills by busy individuals away from home, in offices, telecommuticating or while driving a car, and most of all, by arthritics or handicapped
The following embodiments describe novel ways to eliminate problems with opening and reclosing dispenser outlets of flexible thin film plastic bags, particularly those having “Zip-Loc”, or equal reclosable male and female interlockijng joints. Depending upon the contents to be stored within the flexible plastic bag most preferred embodiment appears to be
This application relates to the “Self-Closing Valve With Tamper Evident Lip Seal Tab” Ser. No. 07/08/88, U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,267 granted Apr. 17, 1990, and to a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/033,640 which is a continuation in part of Ser. No. 09/010151, both which will be superceded upon approval of this application.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10033640 | Jan 2002 | US |
| Child | 10384233 | May 2003 | US |
| Parent | 09010151 | Jan 1998 | US |
| Child | 10033640 | Jan 2002 | US |
