Bag With Easy Opening Closure and Handle

This application is related to Applicants' copending U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 413,725 filed Sept. 1, 1982, entitled "Container With Resealable Closure", Ser. No. 413,972, filed Sept. 1, 1982, entitled "Bag Resealing Clip", Ser. No. 419,737, filed Sept. 20, 1982, entitled "Bag Having Easy Opening Closure", which applications are incorporated herein by reference.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a bag or container of the type having a sealed flap and folded closing one end of the container with the seal adjacent one end of the flap fold of a reduced bonding strength to facilitate opening the bag, while maintaining a seal prior to opening, provided with a handle formed along the sealed and folded flap to facilitate carrying the bag.

More particularly, the present invention relates to a bag having a flap hingedly coupled at one end of the bag and sealed to one of the bag panels with a portion of the seal adjacent one bag corner having a reduced adhesive bonding strength to facilitate opening of the bag at the flap corner. Additionally, the invention relates to the formation of a handle on the bag by refolding the sealed flap and adjacent bag panel along a lower foldline and tacking the refolded flap to the adjacent bag panel inwardly from the fold ends to form a finger grip therebetween.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Containers or bags formed of heavy weight, multiple ply paper are conventionally employed for containing, storing and shipping flowable, fine powdery materials and small sized granular products, such as starch, food products, chemicals, cement and the like. The flowable nature of these products permit the bags to be filled by inserting a filler spout of a dispensing machine into an opening of the bag and delivering the product from a source through the spout into the bag. The bag construction and filling apparatus for filling bag in this manner are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,574 to Lepisto, which patent is hereby incorporated by reference.

One problem which has plagued bags of this type is the provision of a simple and neat way to open the bags without using tools. Often heavy weight bags have no provision to facilitate opening and require the use of a sharp instrument to cut an opening in the bag. Such opening procedure is inconvenient and dangerous. Additionally, opening the bag using a sharp instrument often results in tearing of the bag preventing proper resealing for storing any remaining bag contents and preventing controlled dispensing of the contents.

Hand opening of heavyweight bags sealed with hot melt adhesive is extremely difficult due to the strength of the bag material and the seal. Force applied to the closing flap will tear the bag since the bond between the adhesive and paper is stronger than the paper itself. Thus, hand opening of such bags is difficult, forms a poor dispensing spout, causes spilling of the contents, and prevents resealing of the bag.

Special mechanisms for opening bags have involved the use of strings, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 2,203,924 to Pletscher and U.S. Pat. No. 2,151,523 to Orr, the inclusion of a glued tab, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,081,930 to Owens and the use of tape, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 243,829, filed Mar. 16, 1981, entitled "Easy Open Valve Bag".

The previously tried closure opening mechanisms have suffered from numerous deficiencies, including a high failure rate difficult and expensive manufacturing, adverse effects on the sealing of the bag and difficult operation. The string often fails by becoming loose from the bag without tearing the bag material and is difficult and expensive to install due to the precise gluing necessary. The thick material of the bag often makes the tab and tape mechanisms difficult to open. Additionally, such opening mechanisms provide a relatively large opening making controlled dispensing of the contents and resealing of the bag difficult.

Thus, previous systems for opening heavyweight bags for powder and granular substances have not been effective since they are difficult and expensive to manufacture, have a high failure rate, are difficult to operate and do not form a neat pouring spout for accurately dispensing the bag contents. Additionally, these systems make it extremely difficult or impossible to reseal the bag to properly store any unused contents in the bag.

It has now been discovered and disclosed in the copending related applications identified above, that the disadvantages associated with conventional systems for opening containers closed by a sealed flap can be eliminated by a container seal extending the entire width of the flap and including first and second portions longitudinally spaced along the seal with the first portion having a bond strength significantly less than that of the second portion. The container has a body portion, an opening in the body portion providing access to the container interior, and a fold over flap for extending over and closing the opening. The flap is attachable to the body portion by the seal extending adjacent to and generally along the opening.

In this manner, the flap at the first portion of the seal can be easily separated from the body portion to facilitate opening the container, while forming an adequate seal at the first portion prior to opening. Additionally, containers formed with seals according to the present invention are simple and inexpensive to manufacture, have a low failure rate, form neat pouring spouts for accurate dispensing and are resealable. The treatment of the seal first portion can be accomplished simply and quickly without adding hardware to the bag itself or substantially modifying the container forming machinery.

Preferably, the container is in the form of a bag having a plurality of panels hingedly coupled along fold lines, an opening on one end of the bag, and a flap hingedly coupled to one of the panels along a fold line for overlapping a portion of an opposite panel and closing the opening. A hot melt adhesive layer extends across the entire width of the flap for adhering the flap to the opposite panel and sealing the opening. The adhesive bonding strength of a first portion of the hot melt adhesive layer is reduced by providing a spot coating of abherent (abhesive) comprising kaolin clay on the opposite panel portion corresponding to the first portion of the adhesive layer. When the flap is folded and sealed in the conventional manner, the spot coating of abherent reduces, without eliminating, the adhesive bond strength of the seal between the flap and opposite panel at the first portion adjacent one corner of the bag to permit the flap to be easily separated from the opposite panel portion. At the seal first portion, separation occurs between the spot coating and the bag panel, rather than at an interface with the hot melt adhesive.

A line of perforations can be formed in the flap extending from the juncture of the adhesive layer first portion and the remainder of the adhesive layer to the flap fold line. This permits the multiple plies of paper forming the bag and the flap to be easily separated in a neat and simple manner providing a pouring spout from which the bag contents can be accurately dispensed. The first portion can be located adjacent the corner of the bag opposite the filling valve means such that the formation of the easy opening system does not interfere with the formation and operation of the filling mechanism.

The spot coating can be printed, sprayed or brushed on the bag during its manufacture. In this manner, the reduced bond strength of the seal first portion is automatically formed during the conventional bag sealing process.

The type of bag described is used for cement, dog food, fertilizer, bird seed, etc., which is heavy, usually in the 15-30 lb. range. For these uses, a handle on the bag would be a great convenience.

A primary problem in designing a handle for a bag of the type described, is the method of attaching it to the bag. The outside ply of the bag is not strong enough to resist a rapid or uneven application of force so that patching a handle to the bag is not practical. The preferred method is to design a handle that will distribute the applied forces over as large an area as possible, concentrate it in the thickest (largest number of plies) area and if possible construct it so it is an integral part of the bag itself, e.g. not an attachment or appendage.

A second problem is that although the bag provided with a handle will have a certain added sales appeal, the increase in monetary value will not be great enough to justify complicated additional equipment or expensive materials for the provision and/or formation of the handle.

In accordance with the invention, a handle has been devised which meets both of these objectives.

The bag for containing the flowable product comprises a plurality of panels hingedly coupled along fold lines, an opening at one end of the bag, and a flap hingedly coupled to one panel along a fold line for overlapping an opposite panel and closing the opening. An adhesive layer extends across the entire width of the flap to seal the flap to the opposite panel. The adhesive layer seal has a reduced bonding strength adjacent one end of the flap seal to facilitate opening of the flap at the reduced bond strength section. The flap after being sealed to the opposite panel, is reversely bent 180.degree. along with the sealed opposite panel about a lower fold line and portions of the fold extending inwardly from opposed ends of the bag fold are either adhesively tacked or stapled to the one panel to form a finger grip handle therebetween for carrying the bag and its contents. The first portion of the flap having the reduced bonding strength may be torn along a cut line separating it from the finger grip handle or second portion so that the first portion may be readily unfolded, which is facilitated by the reduced bond, and the interior layers of the bag separated, to form a pouring spout for the contents.

Further objects and advantages will become more apparent from the following description and claims, and from the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bag formed in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are partial, enlarged perspective views of the top of the bag of FIG. 1 illustrating the manner of folding the top portion to form a handle on the bag and the manner of opening the bag to form a pouring spout;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along the plane indicated by line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 to 4, the bag 10 of the present invention is primarily intended to contain flowable matter comprising powdery or granular products, such as starch, food products, chemicals, cement and the like.

The bag comprises a plurality of panels which are hingedly coupled along fold lines. Specifically, the bag has parallel front and back panels 12 and 14 joined at each side thereof by a pair of hingedly coupled side panels 16 and 18. A flap 20 is hingedly coupled to the one edge of back panel 14 along fold line 22. When folded over and adhered to front panel 12 as shown by arrow A (FIG. 2) flap 20 closes and seals the opening in bag 10 between the front, back and side panels at one end. A similar flap is provided at the opposite end of bag 10 to close the other opening of the bag. Flap 20 and front panel 12, after flap 20 is sealed to front panel 12, is reversely bent 180.degree. about a fold line 21 in direction of arrow B (FIG. 2) and as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 stapled at spaced locations 23 and 25, or adhesively connected to back panel 14 to form a finger grip handle 50 therebetween.

Flap 20 is adhered and sealed to panel 12 by a layer 24 of conventional hot melt adhesive formed on the inner surface of the flap adjacent its distal edge, i.e., remote from fold line 22. Layer 24 extends the entire width of flap 22 in order to completely seal the bag.

A spot coating 26 of suitable abhesive material is formed on the exposed surface of front panel 12. The material of coating 26 upon being heat sealed to the hot melt adhesive layer 24 will reduce the adhesion of the hot melt adhesive coated flap to the abhesive coated panel at a first portion thereof which is co-extensive with spot coating 26. Although the spot coating reduces the bond strength at the location thereof, it does not totally eliminate the bond strength so as to provide a seal thereat.

Preferably, the abhesive material of coating 26 should have a fine particle size providing a large surface area capable of reducing the effectiveness of the hot melt adhesive and should have a laminated plate structure, as opposed to a crystal structure such as calcium carbonate. Additionally, the abhesive should be capable of being printed in combination with other materials by flexography and should be inert and/or of food grade material such that the bag can be used to contain food. Also, the abhesive should have very weak adhesion such that it will have enough dry integrity to resist dusting, but will split from the cellulose bag material. Finally, the abhesive material should have easily controlled release characteristics, i.e., relatively large changes in the quantity of material applied will have a relatively minor effect on the release qualities of the coating. The preferred abhesive of the present invention comprises kaolin clay. Kaolin is generally known and used in the paper-making industry as "China Clay". Kaolin has a laminated plate-like particle form, which gives it unparalleled coating properties in aqueous slurries. Its universal abundance in supply, its historical general usage in the paper-making and paper-converting industries and its low cost make it an ideal material. There are many other materials of a mineral nature which can be used instead of and matched against kaolin clays as the standard of perfection. Other types of particulate materials of the necessary abhesive properties are deemed equivalents of kaolin. The abhesive material, preferably kaolin, should be applied in combination with a viscosity modifier, thickener or the like. Bentonite is preferred for such purpose. The addition of such material will reduce settling and facilitate application of the material by flexoprinting.

Other materials which may be used for abhesive coating 26 include, for example, silicones, fluro chemicals and finally ground pearl starch. Although the silicons and fluro chemicals function excellently to reduce the adhesion of the hot melt adhesive-coated flap to the abhesive-coated panel, such materials are disadvantageous due to their high cost.

A line of perforations 28 is formed in fold-over flap 20 such that it extends perpendicularly from and between the distal edge of flap 20 and fold line 22. The perforations are spaced from the adjacent end of the bag fold a distance equal to the length of spot coating 26. As will be explained in greater detail hereinafter, the line of perforations extends along fold line 22 to facilitate tearing of the flap to form a neat pouring spout 70 for dispensing the bag contents.

The bag is formed from multiple plies of paper in a conventional manner. In the illustrated embodiment, each panel has three plies. Additionally, a ply formed of a film of synthetic plastic material can be provided as an innermost ply which is suitably adhered to the innermost paper ply as required depending on the intended contents of the bag. The ends of the plies forming flap 20 are staggered or shingled as illustrated. Thus, the flap includes an outer back ply 30, a middle back ply 32 and an inner back ply 34. The top portion of front panel 12, at least adjacent the end of the fold extends above fold line 22. Front panel 12 is defined by the shingled plies including an outer front ply 36, a middle front ply 38 and an inner front ply 40. Access to the bag interior is obtained by separating inner plies 34 and 40. Since the top portion of upper panel 12 extends above fold line 22 and is partially coated by adhesive layer 24, the bag is securely sealed upon closing and sealing of flap 20 such that the bag contents will not sift or otherwise escape from the bag.

The bag of the present invention is basically formed in a conventional manner from a plurality of paper plies with a layer of adhesive 24 formed on the inner surface of flap 20 at its distal edge. Additionally, a line 28 of perforations is formed in flap 20 along fold line 22 a distance (approximately) 3 to 4 inches) from one corner of the bag, i.e. the end of the bag fold, as illustrated in FIG. 3. A spot coating 26 is printed, sprayed or brushed on front panel 12 adjacent the same corner from the edge of the front panel for a distance corresponding to the spacing of the line 28 from the corner. The spot coating is spaced below fold line 22 a distance corresponding to the spacing of adhesive layer 24 therefrom such that layer 24 and coating 26 will overlap upon folding of flap 20 about line 22. Thus, except for the formation of perforation line 28 and spot coating 26, bag 10 of the present invention is formed in a conventional manner.

Upon adhering flap 20 to panel 12, a highly effective seal is provided for the bag. The bag can be easily opened by hand by gripping the corner of flap 20 adjacent its distal edge and coating 26. The reduced bond strength of the hot melt adhesive resulting from the provision of coating 26 causes the flap to separate easily from panel 12 along the spot coating. The flap is then torn along the line of perforations to form the configuration illustrated in FIG. 3. By separating inner plies 34 and 40 and extending the folded-in side panels 16 and 18, a neat and highly effective spout 70 is formed from which the bag contents can be accurately dispensed. Since a neat, small opening is formed in the bag, it may be reclosed by refolding the raised portion of flap 20 such that the remaining contents in the bag can be safely stored.

The flap 20 after being sealed to the front panel 12 can be reversely bent 180.degree. along with the sealed front panel 12, as shown in FIG. 3, about a lower fold line 21 and portions of the fold extending inwardly from opposed distal ends of the fold are either adhesively tacked or stapled, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, at spaced locations, to the back panel to form a finger grip handle 50 therebetween for carrying the bag 10 and its contents. The end of the flap having the reduced bonding strength may be torn along a perforated line 52, shown in FIG. 3 contiguous with perforation 28 separating the fold end portion from the finger grip handle so that the fold end may be readily unfolded.