Patent Application
20240262551
The present invention relates to multi-compartment sealable bags.
The problem with household vacuum sealers is when drawing vacuum on a bag containing liquid marinade and food, the liquid marinade will be drawn out along with the air inside the bag. However, generally, it is only the meat component (or solid food component) of the mixture that is required to be vacuum sealed for preservation.
What is required is an improved heat sealable household bag that can store both vacuum sealed ingredients and non-vacuum sealed ingredients.
The various embodiments of the present invention may but do not necessarily, achieve one or more of the following advantages:
These and other advantages may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification, claims, and abstract.
In one embodiment, there is provided multi-compartment heat-sealable bag. The bag may comprise a first compartment having a first open end on a first edge for receiving a first material into the first compartment. The bag may also comprise a second compartment adjacent the first compartment and comprising a second open end on a second edge opposite the first edge for receiving a second material into the second compartment. An at least partially frangible seal may be provided between the first compartment and the second compartment that can be broken to allow mixing of the first material and the second material within the bag.
In one embodiment, there is provided a method for storing foodstuffs within a heat-sealable bag. The method may comprise providing a first foodstuff into a first compartment of the bag and providing a second foodstuff into a second compartment of the bag. The second compartment may be adjacent the first compartment and separated from the first compartment by an at least partially frangible seal. The method may comprise heat sealing the first compartment and the second compartment.
In one embodiment, there is provided a multi-compartment heat-sealable bag. The bag may comprise first compartment means for storing a first material. The first compartment means may comprise a first open means on a first edge for receiving a first material into the first compartment means. The bag may comprise second compartment means for storing a second material. The second compartment means may comprise a second open means on a second edge opposite the first edge for receiving a second material into the second compartment means. Frangible seal means for dividing the first compartment means from the second compartment means may be provided. The frangible seal means can be broken to allow mixing of the first material and the second material within the bag.
The above description sets forth, rather broadly, a summary of one embodiment of the present invention so that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and contributions of the present invention to the art may be better appreciated. Some of the embodiments of the present invention may not include all of the features or characteristics listed in the above summary. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and will form the subject matter of claims. In this respect, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or as illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The present inventors have realized that household food storage systems do not necessarily require all ingredients of a mixture to be vacuum sealed. Generally, meat or other solid foodstuffs require vacuum sealing so that bacteria and similar within the foodstuff cannot multiply and lead to spoilage. Other foodstuffs, particularly liquid marinades and the like, may have preservatives (natural or added) and may have been cooked or mixed in a way that naturally kills most of the bacteria that could lead to spoilage. However, it is difficult to vacuum seal marinated meats and the like using conventional household vacuum sealings systems and bags because the liquid component can be extracted into the sealing area of the bag, effecting the quality of the seal and also potentially causing damage or contamination within the vacuum sealing apparatus.
Furthermore, the present inventors have realized that meats do not require marinading for their entire shelf life, but may be combined closer to the time of consumption, typically within approximately 24 hours. However, there is currently no household heat sealable bag available that allows different food components to be stored separately and later combined.
Further still, if dried or semi-dried meats are used in combination with vacuum sealing, it may be possible to extend the shelf life even longer.
With these realizations in mind, there will be described herein a two compartment vacuum sealable bag for food storage that allows separation of different foodstuffs, particular wet and dry ingredients, and later mixture of the ingredients within the bag. As shown in
In one embodiment, a multi-compartment bag 100 may be utilized to store foodstuffs. For example, a meat product may be stored in compartment 102 and a marinade for the meat product may be stored in compartment 104. The marinade may be filled through the open end 118 and sealed shut with minimal amount of air bubbles. The compartment 102 filled with the meat or food product that is to be marinaded may be vacuum heat sealed for long preservation and shelf life. When the user desires to use the product, the user may break the frangible seal 126 to allow that marinade and meat product to mix.
In an alternative example, the first compartment may be filled with a dry product, in particular a crunchy product while the second compartment may be filled with a wet product. The compartments may be combined just prior to serving by breaking the frangible seal, thereby allowing the food product to remain crunchy up to the time of consumption.
The bag 100 may be configured for use with a vacuum sealing machine such as the range of FoodSaver™ machines provided by Newell Brands™. These machines typically include a heat sealing bar that when pressed down upon the open end of a plastic bag will heat seal the two layers of the bag to each other. The machines can typically be operated in a heat sealing only mode, a vacuum mode only or a combined vacuum and heat sealing mode.
The frangible seal may be formed in a variety of ways. In one embodiment, the frangible seal may be made by printing an adhesive on to the inner surface of the film during manufacturing. The pattern and density of printed adhesive determines how strong the seal is. The printing could be done with a dot matrix printer, wheel, screen (like a silk screen), spray, etc.
In one embodiment, the frangible seal may be formed by creating voids in the standard strong heat seal. As shown in
In one embodiment, the frangible seal may be formed using high and low areas in a seal bar. Higher points on the seal bar would create stronger seal while the lower points on the seal bar would create weaker seal, thereby producing a frangible characteristic. By varying the pattern, depth of highs and lows, percentage of high areas and shapes of the high areas different frangible characteristics can be created.
In one embodiment, the frangible seal is made by using different sealing parameters than the non-frangible seals. The parameters may include temperature, pressure and exposure time. For example, a seal bar with a lower temperature is applied to the frangible area with less pressure and time than is applied to the non-frangible areas (edge seams) or strong seal portions of the compartment seals.
In one embodiment, the plastic film may include a layer of weaker material for the frangible seal. Specifically, a polybutene material may be used. In one specific embodiment, polybutene/polyester or any two or more blends of polyolefin may be used to create a peelable film.
The frangible seal may be broken by a force applied to the seal. In one example, the opposite layers of the bag may be grabbed by the user and pulled apart. The frangible seal, being the weakest point, should rupture first thereby allowing the contents of the first and second compartments to mix. The strength of the frangible seal may be designed so that a typical user would be able to rupture the frangible seal in this manner.
In an alternative example, the frangible seal may be broken by squeezing one or both of the compartments to increase the pressure within that compartment. In particular, a compartment containing a liquid may be squeezed to increase the liquid pressure until the frangible seal ruptures, causing the contents of the two compartments to mix.
A particular example described above is to include relatively dry, solid, or particulate material into one compartment of the bag and to provide a wet material into the other compartment of the bag. The bag may be specifically designed and labelled for this purpose such that one of the compartments is a designated dry compartment and the other is a designated wet compartment. In one embodiment, the inner surfaces of the open edge of the dry compartment may be embossed with one or more grooves that facilitates vacuum sealing of this edge. However, the inner surfaces of the wet compartment may remain unembossed as such grooves can cause liquid to be drawn out of the bag and into the vacuum sealing machinery during vacuum sealing. The liquid can also be caught in the seal area and adversely affect the sealing operation.
In one embodiment, not illustrated, embossing may extend into the second compartment, e.g. the entire layer may embossed which may simplify manufacture. However, the second compartment, intended for liquid contents without vacuum sealing will undergo only a heat sealing operation from the vacuum sealing machine. Because of the configuration of the compartments, i.e. with openings at opposite edges of the bag, the heat sealing of the second compartment is a distinct and separate operation to the vacuum sealing of the first compartment. The embossing will therefore have minimal effect on the heat sealing of the second compartment.
While a two compartment bag is shown, the person skilled in the art will recognize that a greater number of compartments may be formed with frangible seals separating any or two or more of the adjacent compartments.
A method for using the multi-compartment bag is illustrated in
With both compartments 102, 104 sealed, the bag may be stored until required, with refrigeration or freezing if necessary. To access the contents of the bag 100, the bag may be thawed if frozen until the contents of the liquid compartment 104 are again liquid. The bag may be manipulated to break the frangible seam 120. For example, the two layers of the bag may be pulled apart in the region of the seam 120 to break the frangible portion 126 of the seam. Alternatively, the liquid compartment 104 may be squeezed until the pressure forces the frangible seal 126 to rupture. Once the frangible seam is broken, the vacuum in the dry compartment 102 will draw liquid from the liquid compartment 104 as the two compartments equalize. The bag may be shaken or otherwise manipulated to mix the contents of the two compartments. Once sufficient mixing has been achieved and, optionally, sufficient marination time has elapsed, the user may open one or more of the outer edges 112, 114, 116, 118 of the bag to access the mixed contents within. One or more of the outer edges may be provided with a destructive peel seal or a tearable edge, as is known in the art, to facilitate opening of the bag.
Although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the embodiments of this invention. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents rather than by the examples given.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/443,638 filed 6 Feb. 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63443638 | Feb 2023 | US |
