DISPOSABLE BAG FOR USE IN THE FREEZING OF MOLDED ITEMS

Abstract: A disposable bag for use in the freezing of molded items, in particular so-called icecubes, and consisting of two plastic sheets locally welded together to form freeze pockets (1) and an inlet (2) in a bag neck portion (5) is, after being filled with liquid, adapted to be firmly closed by rolling-up and folding of the neck and subsequent fixation thereof by insertion into a hole (7) provided in a bag corner field (6) which after being torn up in tear lines (4, 9) may be folded obliquely downards and inwards over the bag body.

Description: Disposable bag for use in the freezing of molded items. This invention relates to a disposable bag for use in the freezing of molded items, in particular so- called icecubes, and consisting of two plastic sheets locally welded together to form freeze pockets lying between the sheets and communicating with each other and with an inlet defined between welds in a neck portion at the top of the bag, said neck portion being firmly closed after the bag has been filled with liquid. Such freezing mold bags are known in which the closing is effected in the way that the inlet neck is tied in a tight knot after the bag has been filled. This, however, implies that the neck portion has a larger length than otherwise necessary, causing a rather considerable waste of the comparatively expensive bag material. Said waste may be eliminated by tightly binding the neck with a thread or a clip, but this actually requires a spare part for each individual bag which should then be delivered together with the bags, thereby making their production more expensive and particularly the packaging thereof in a sales package. Another known possibility of eliminating excess¬ ive lengths is to make the neck integral with the two upper corner fields of the bag and to cut these fields free from the bag body itself so that they form some sort of wings on either side of the neck and may be tied in a knot or loop while constricting the neck itself. This constriction should be very tight in order to result in the required tightness and it cannot be avoid- ed in practice that deformations from the constriction spread somewhat downwards in the bag and have a bad influence on the shape of its upper freeze pockets. The disposable bag according to the invention differs from the above mentioned prior types in that the inlet neck portion is closable by rolling up and fold¬ ing and is subsequently fixable by insertion into a hole provided in a bag corner field connected with the neck and the bag body itself via tear lines which after having been torn up allow said field to be folded obli¬ quely downwards and inwards over the bag body. Neither in this case is an excessive length of the neck portion required and thus of the entire bag, since even a short neck can be tightly sealed by rolling-up or twisting and transverse folding. The pro¬ blem is to stabilize the neck thus closed in a simple manner and without increasing the expenses of produc- tion, packaging and shipping of the bags, but exactly the insertion hole referred to serves this purpose and does not need to imply any increase in cost. A further advantage is that the closing of the bag may be effected under a minimum deformation of the freeze pockets at the upper " end of the bag body itself. An embodiment of the disposable bag according to the invention is illustrated in the drawing showing the upper portion of the freezing mold bag for cushion- shaped icecubes. The illustrated bag consists in an ordinary way of two superposed, transparent, rectangular pieces of plastic sheets welded together in the areas set off by puncturing so as to form a number of freeze pockets 1 and an inlet 2 laterally confined between two welded seams 3 extending in the height direction of the bag. Said two sheets have in parallel with the welded seams 3 a pair of tear lines 4 and 4' whereby the proper neck portion 5 with the inlet 2 may be torn free from the two corner fields 6 and 6* at the top of the bag, one of said fields comprising a punched circular hole 7 in a reinforcing annular weld 8 close to the corner of the bag. The corner fields 6 and 6' are further partly separated from the bag body itself by a pair of tear lines 9 and 9', the latter one of which together with the tear line 4' allow the corner field 6' being com¬ pletely torn off while the corner field 6 after tearing along the lines 4 and 9 may be folded obliquely down¬ wards so that the hole 7 will be located as shown in a dotted line. After the bag has been filled with water or any other liquid to be frozen in order to form a number of cubes that are easily broken free from each other, the inlet 2 is tightly closed which is effected by rolling- up or twisting and folding of the neck portion 5, fol- lowing which this latter is fixed by insertion into the hole 7 in its dotted position. If the corner field 6 has erroneously been entirely torn free, the closing is effected in a quite similar manner, the corner field being then mounted on the neck as a spare part. The folding of the neck portion after its being rolled up or twisted serves as a supplementary securing of the tightness, but the folding may obviously also be carried out prior to the rolling-up or the twisting of the neck.

Claims: PATENT CLAIMS. A disposable bag for use in the freezing of molded items, in particular so-called icecubes, and con¬ sisting of two plastic sheets locally welded together to form freeze pockets (1) lying between the sheets and communicating with each other and with an inlet (2) defined between welds (3) in a neck portion (5) at the top of the bag, said neck portion being firmly closable after the bag has been filled with liquid, characterized in that the inlet neck portion (5) is closable by rolling-up and folding and is subsequently fixable by insertion into a hole (7) provided in a bag corner field (6) connected with the neck and the bag body itself via tear lines (4, 9) which after having been torn up allow said field to be folded obliquely downwards and inwards over the bag body.

Inventors: HANSEN SVEND, HANSEN, SVEND
Applicants: HANSEN SVEND, HANSEN, SVEND
Application year: 1986
Main classification: B65D33
IPC codes: F25C1