Reclosable pouch and zipper therefor

A reclosable plastic pouch has a first elongated zipper member having a profile and a flange having a longitudinal perforation therein. The flange is above the profile and attached to one wall of the pouch above and below the perforation line and to the opposite wall of the pouch only above the perforation line. A mating profile is attached only to the opposite wall of the pouch below the perforation line. A notch at an edge of the pouch, aligned with the perforation line, facilitates the plastic to tear along the perforation line so that the portion of the pouch above the perforation line may be readily removed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to reclosable packaging and in particular to 
reclosable packaging that may readily be formed, filled and sealed and yet 
is relatively easy for a consumer to open and reclose. 
Plastic, resealable pouches are gaining in popularity both for storage and 
as primary packaging. Such pouches rely on zipper profiles which mate to 
form a closure that may easily separated by a consumer. For primary 
packaging, it is often important that the packaging be formed on FFS 
(form, fill and seal) equipment at the facility of the food processor. It 
is also important that the packaging be capable of being sealed (not 
merely closed with the zipper closure engaged) to preserve the freshness 
of the food contained therein and be tamper proof or, at least, provide 
evidence of tampering. That is, the package seal must first be opened to 
provide access to the zipper whereafter the zipper may be opened to 
provide access to the bag contents. Thereafter any remaining portion of 
the product can be restored in the original package relying on zipper to 
close the package. 
Removal of the seal requires either that the consumer use a scissor or 
knife to open the pouch above the closure or that the package be provided 
with a tear string or tear strip for that purpose. While it is relatively 
easy to provide such tear strings or strips in pouches in which the zipper 
runs parallel to the running direction of the film from which the pouch is 
formed, it is somewhat more complicated to do so where the zipper runs 
transverse to the running direction of the film as in U.S. Pat. No. 
4,655,862 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,845. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is the principle object of the present invention to provide an improved 
zipper for reclosable packaging and an improved reclosable package 
incorporating such zipper. 
A further object is to provide such a package with tamper evident means for 
sealing and protecting the contents of goods contained therein. 
A still further object is to provide such a package which can readily be 
opened by a consumer without relying on a cutting implement, tear string 
or the like. 
A still further object is to provide a reclosable package wherein the 
zipper profiles may readily be utilized with appropriate FFS equipment so 
that the zipper may be attached parallel to or transverse to the running 
direction of the film from which the package is formed. 
The above and other objects and advantages are attained in accordance with 
the present invention by providing a reclosable package having first and 
second pouch walls having free edges defining the package top. A zipper is 
secured to the package between the pouch walls at the package top. The 
zipper comprises a first zipper member and a second zipper member, the 
zipper members having mating zipper profiles thereon. The first zipper 
member comprises a longitudinally extending profile portion and a flange 
portion disposed above and coextensive with the profile portion. A 
perforation line extends longitudinally along and coextensive with the 
flange portion. The second zipper member comprises a string (i.e. 
flangeless) profile, complementary to the profile of the first zipper 
member. 
The flange portion of the first zipper member is secured to one of the 
pouch walls in a longitudinally extending area disposed above and below 
the perforation line. The flange is also connected to the opposite pouch 
wall but only in an area above the perforation line. The second zipper 
member is also connected to the opposite pouch wall but only in an area 
below the perforation line. A tear notch is provided in a side of the 
package aligned with the perforation line. If desired a peel sealable 
material may be provided extending longitudinally and disposed below the 
perforation line between the flange and opposite pouch wall.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Reference is now made to the drawings and to FIG. 1 in particular wherein a 
package or pouch 10 formed of plastic film or sheet and utilizing a zipper 
in accordance with the present invention is depicted. The pouch 10 
comprises front and back walls 12, 14, a bottom 16, top 18 and sides 20, 
22. Depending on the shape of the plastic sheet and the positioning of the 
seams, one or both of the sides 20, 22 may be made by sealing the front 
and back walls or by folds if the pouch walls are formed from the same 
sheet of plastic film. The bottom 16 may likewise be formed by sealing the 
front and back walls together or by a fold in a common sheet of material, 
again depending upon the orientation of the profiles with respect to the 
film and the seams used to form the packaging. The profiles may extend 
parallel to or transverse to the running direction of the film as it is 
formed into a pouch depending on the nature of the FFS equipment used to 
form the pouch. 
As shown in FIG. 3, a zipper 24 is provided at the bag top between the bag 
walls. Zipper 24 comprises a front zipper member 26 and a second zipper 
member 28. Zipper member 26 includes a longitudinally extending profile 
portion 30 and a longitudinally extending flange portion 32. The flange 
portion 32 is positioned above the profile portion 30 and runs to the top 
18 of pouch 10. A perforation line 34 extends longitudinally along the 
flange 32. As shown, the profile portion 30 is in the form of an 
asymmetric arrow head designed to mate with a corresponding female profile 
36 of zipper member 28. Zipper member 28 is a so-called "string" zipper in 
that it has no flange portion above or below the profile. That is, the 
base of the profile attach directly to the pouch film. It should be 
appreciated that the shape of profiles 30 and 36 is immaterial to the 
present invention so long as they are complementary to each other so that 
they can mate with each other. 
A first adhesive or sealant 38 is provided to zipper member 26 in a 
longitudinally extending area disposed both above and below the 
perforation line 34. Sealant 38 serves to join the flange 32 to pouch wall 
12 in an area extending on both sides of the perforation line 34. A second 
longitudinally extending adhesive or sealant 40 is provided on the 
opposite side of flange 32 but in an area that is disposed only above the 
perforation line 34. The second sealant 40 serves to join the flange 32 to 
pouch wall 14. A third longitudinally extending sealant 42 is provided to 
the base of zipper member 28 opposite the profile and serves to join the 
zipper string to pouch wall 14. It should be appreciated that the sealants 
38, 40, and 42 may all be formed of the same material, such as a heat 
activated adhesive or fusible material. It should also be appreciated that 
the sealants 38, 40 and 42 may be formed integral with and comprise the 
same material as profiles 26 and 28 although doing so would make it 
somewhat more difficult to attach the zipper only in the desired 
attachment zones, requiring very precise heating elements for attaching 
the zipper to the pouch walls. Accordingly, the use of sealants separate 
from the zipper members is preferred. This is also true of the sealants of 
the alternate embodiment described below. 
To further protect the contents of package 10 a longitudinally extending 
line of peel seal material 44 may be provided on the same side of flange 
26 as sealant 40 but below the perforation line 34. The material 44 forms 
a peel seal between the flange 26 and pouch wall 14. Such peel seals are 
well known and widely used to form readily openable seals in plastic 
packaging. 
As shown in FIG. 2, free edges 46 and 48 of pouch walls 12 and 14 are 
brought together and joined in a seal with the top of flange 26. The seal 
is formed when sealants 38 and 40 are activated. At this point the package 
is as shown in FIG. 2 with the contents of the package sealed below the 
seal and also below the peel seal, if a peel seal is also used. A notch 50 
is provided in one or both sides of the pouch. The notch is aligned with 
the perforation line 34 and enables a customer wishing to open the package 
for the first time, to start a run of the plastic material. The run will 
naturally proceed along the perforation line 34. As a result, the header 
52 (i.e. the portion of the package above perforation line 34) will be 
detached from the pouch and may be removed. The customer may then continue 
to open the package by pulling the pouch walls 12 and 14 apart which will 
result in the peel seal 44 rupturing as shown in FIG. 4. Thereafter, if 
the consumer continues to pull the bag walls apart the consumer can gain 
access to the package by separating the profiles 30 and 36. Thereafter the 
consumer can reclose the package by re-engaging the profiles. 
In FIG. 5 an alternate construction of a package in accordance with the 
present invention is depicted. In accordance with this embodiment, both 
zipper members 50 and 52 have flanges, although the flange 54 of member 50 
is substantially larger than the flange 56 of zipper member 52. A sealant 
or adhesive strip 58 is provided directly behind the profile 60 of member 
52 and another sealant or adhesive strip 62 is provided at the top of the 
flange 64 of member 52. A series of gripper ribs 66 are provided on flange 
64. Zipper member 50 is substantially the same as zipper member 26 of the 
first embodiment except that gripper ribs 66 are also provided on the 
flange 54. 
Peel seal strips 68 are provided on the inside surfaces of flanges 54 and 
56, aligned with each other and positioned above the gripper ribs 66, but 
below the perforation line 70 of flange 54. Flange 54 is connected to the 
inner surface of pouch wall 14 by sealant or adhesive strip 72 which is 
positioned only above the perforation line 70. A sealant or adhesive strip 
74 connects the flange 54 to the inner surface of pouch wall 12, from the 
top of the flange, above the perforation line, to a point below the peel 
seal 68. The construction and operation of the pouch of this embodiment 
are otherwise as described above, in connection with the first embodiment. 
It should be appreciated that the disclosed zipper is particularly well 
suited for the transverse application to the packaging film since there is 
no tear string or the like which must be severed during application of the 
zipper to the film. Thus, in accordance with the above, the aforementioned 
objects are attained.