Closure clip for snack food bags and the like

A simple and efficient clip structure and method for fastening snack food bags closed is provided which allows an opened bag to be tightly reclosed. The closure clip is preferably integral and has three elongated, side-by-side laterally spaced apart bag-engaging members (a pair of adjacent long members and a single, outer short member). In use, the flattened upper end of a bag is inserted between the long members, and the clip is rotated axially to form a coil; at this point, the clip is partially withdrawn from the coil until the short member is clear of the bag, whereupon the clip is pushed back towards its original position, but with the short member located outside of the coil for locking the bag against uncoiling. Snack foods or the like can thus be stored in a previously opened bag secured by the closure clip without the food losing its freshness, palatability or nutritional value.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a clip structure and corresponding method for 
fastening closed previously opened snack food bags and the like. More 
particularly, it is concerned with a closure clip having at least three 
elongated, juxtaposed, spaced apart members interconnected at a common end 
and designed for use in a simple operation to wrap the opened end of a 
snack food bag or the like into a tight, secured coil that will not 
unravel during storage. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Snack foods purchased from retail stores are typically sealed in airtight 
bags to preserve the food in a fresh condition. Once the bag is opened, 
however, the bag cannot be resealed by merely rolling up the open end of 
the bag, since the bag will not remain in a coiled form without an 
appropriate fastener. It is not entirely practical to close a snack food 
bag with a conventional wire tie fastener, since the stiff construction of 
typical snack food bags make it difficult to gather the opened end of the 
bag into a narrow funiculus-like closure that is nearly airtight. 
Moreover, wire tires become brittle and break after repeated flexing. In 
any event, the use of a standard wire tie to fasten close a snack food bag 
will often damage the fragile contents of the bag, is unsightly, and 
results in the bag being formed in a shape difficult to store. Without an 
airtight or nearly airtight seal, the contents of a bag will become soggy, 
stale and unpleasing to the palate and will often lose some of its 
nutritional value. 
A closure attachment for the depending spout of a flexible hopper bag is 
disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,533. The closure attachment, however, is 
unsuitable for the closing of a snack food bag or the like because, among 
other reasons, the three elongated members of the closure attachment are 
of equal or nearly equal length. A number of clips have been proposed in 
the past for purposes other than sealing closed a bag. None of these 
clips, however, are suitable for the closing of a snack food bag or the 
like. Patents illustrating these prior clips include U.S. Pat. Nos. 
51,186; 416,588; 2,590,166; 2,927,359; 3,568,687; D-144,079; D-159,576; 
D-194,785; D-228,520; and D-245,748. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The problem of closing a bag in a manner that will preserve the freshness 
of the contents of the bag is in large part solved by the closure clip in 
accordance with the present invention. That is to say, the closure clip 
hereof is of simple yet sturdy construction and provides a means for 
quickly, easily and tightly closing a snack food bag. 
A closure clip in accordance with the present invention broadly includes at 
least three elongated juxtaposed, spaced apart members interconnected at a 
common end. In preferred forms, the members of the clip are three in 
number and include one short member and two adjacent long members of equal 
length, the short member being approximately 40% to 70% of the length of 
the long members; moreover, the ratio of the length of the longest member 
to the width of the clip at its widest point is preferably not less than 
about 3 to 1. 
The method of fastening a bag closed in accordance with the invention 
broadly includes the steps of providing a clip in accordance with the 
invention, inserting a flattened portion of the bag between a pair of 
adjacent members of the clip, rotating the clip about its longitudinal 
axis so as to form a coil from th flattened portion of the bag, 
withdrawing the clip from the coil far enough to expose the free end of 
the short member of the clip, and shifting the clip back toward the coil 
while the member whose free end was exposed slips onto and along the 
outside of the coil and the remaining two members of the clip fit into the 
interior of the coil.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawing, a closure clip 10 in accordance with the 
invention broadly includes three elongated, juxtaposed, spaced apart 
members 12, 14, 16 and a means or body 18 interconnecting the members 12, 
14, 16 adjacent a common end thereof. 
In more detail, the closure clip 10 is of integral construction and is 
preferably formed of a sturdy synthetic resin material. The clip 10 
includes a short member 12 and two adjacent long members 14,16 of equal 
length. The short member 12 is preferably from about 40% to 70% the length 
of the longer members 14,16. The three members lie in substantially a 
single plane and are interconnected at one end by the body 18. The ends of 
the members 12, 14, 16 remote from the body 18 are free and not 
interconnected. The length of members 14,16 is advantageously equal to or 
slightly shorter than the width of a bag 20 to be closed. 
The detailed structure of the closure clip can best be understood through a 
study of FIGS. 6-8. The body 18 of the clip 10 has two opposed, spaced 
apart, generally planar faces 22,24 and a smooth, continuous arcuate 
sidewall 25. 
The members 12, 14, 16 extend outwardly from the body 18, are integral 
therewith, and are laterally spaced apart and have a relative length and 
disposition as described above. The generally rectangularly columnar shape 
of the members 12, 14, 16 can best be seen in FIG. 6. Further, (FIG. 7) 
the free ends 26, 28, 30 of the members 12, 14, 16 are rounded to present 
generally arcuate faces. 
FIGS. 1-5 demonstrate the use of the closure clip 10 in fastening closed 
snack food bag 20. In FIG. 1 the closure clip 10 is aligned to receive a 
flattened marginal portion 32 of the bag 20 between the two longest 
members 14,16 thereof. FIG. 2 depicts the flattened portion 32 of the bag 
received between the two longer members 14,16 of the clip 10. In FIG. 3 
the portion 32 of the bag 20 is shown coiled about the members 12, 14, 16 
of the closure clip 10, the clip 10 having been axially rotated to form a 
coil 34. FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3, but illustrates clip 10 partially 
retracted from the coil 34, so as to expose the leading edge 26 of the 
shorter member 12. In FIG. 5 the closure clip 10 is shown shifted back 
within the coil 34, but with the shorter member 12 located exteriorly of 
the coil 34 and the members 14,16 located within the coil 34. This 
operation may sometimes involve axial rotation of clip 10 in its partially 
withdrawn (FIG. 4) condition until the member 12 is oriented for passage 
outside of the coil 34 and is free from interference with the remainder of 
bag 20. As can best be seen in FIG. 9, the operation described above 
securely fastens closed the bag 20, the exterior member 12 serving to lock 
the coil 34 against unintended unravelling. When it is desired to reopen 
the bag 20, it is only necessary to withdraw clip 10 entirely from coil 
34, thereby permitting access to the bag's contents. 
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this simple means for 
fastening closed a snack food bag will allow for the storage of the bag's 
contents in a manner which retains the freshness, palatability and 
nutritional value of the contents. They will also appreciate that the 
closure clip of the present invention is not limited to use with bags or 
sacks only, but instead may find significant utility in connection, for 
example, with tubular, viscous product dispensers, such as tooth paste 
"tubes," and other containers.