BAG AND THE LIKE FOR CHILDREN, PRODUCED BY MOLDING

Abstract: A bag and the like for children, produced by molding, having a main body consisting of a front side portion (1) and a rear side portion (2), which are made by molding, respectively, said front side portion (1) suitably and precisely representing a complicated tridimensional shape such as a face of an animal, e.g. a panda, said rear side portion (2) being connected at a half portion thereof, which is closer to the bottom, to said front side portion (1) for forming a vacant space to receive articles, and an upper half of said rear side portion (2) constituting a lid (10) largely openable and closable on a hinge portion (4) integrally formed on said rear side portion (2). The lid (10), when closed with respect to the front side portion (1), can allow the main body of the bag to form a box construction having a satisfactory strength, so that the articles contained in the interior thereof can be protected safely.

Description: The present invention relates to a bag for children such as a satchel or school bag, a rucksack and a shoulder bag. There are many types of bags for children known in the art. Some of these are shown in Figures 4 to 8 in which Figures 4 and 5 represent a rucksack or knapsack to be carried on the back of a child; Figure 7 represents a satchel or school bag also carried on the back; Figure 8 illustrates a shoulder bag to be hung on a shoulder and Figure 6 shows a bag to be carried either by hand or on a shoulder. There are also handbags or pocket-books and "pochettes" to be hung on a waist belt, though not shown in the drawings. These bags are usually made by a manufacturing process including cutting and sewing fabrics of synthetic or natural fibres, or natural or artificial leather, and providing a metallic lock. Some bags are provided with zip fasteners around the openings so as to improve their aesthetic appearance and render them easily usable. In general, many of these bags are made of soft materials so that they can hardly support their tridimensional shapes by themselves. Though some of these handbags have improved stiffness by incorporating reinforcing members in the main body of the bag, there are few bags of the prior art which are found to be satisfactory in respect of the structural strength and stiffness. The main body in which articles are accommodated in the prior art bags generally has very simple and plain surface configurations which are remote from complicated tridimensional shapes having uneven and irregular contours of, for example, a face of an animal, and very few have designs resembling a real animal. So, some measures have been adopted, including attaching to the bags adhesive backed paper on which pictures are painted, or printing pictures directly on the lids, so as to suit children's tastes and try to win their favour. Moreover, the lids of the prior art bags serve merely to cover the openings and are not suited to form a reinforcing structure in combination with the main body of the bag. Thus, children's bags of the prior art have many deficiencies as enumerated below: (1) They are generally of simple and conventional design and lack uniqueness and variety. In view of the materials and methods utilized heretofore for making children's bags, it is very difficult to manufacture bags of character and/or complicated contours which are precisely defined. Selection of the design of a bag is thus restricted within narrow limits. (2) As the lid of the prior art bag cannot constitute a dynamically rigid, box-like structure in combination with the main body of the bag, the bag is so unstable that, upon being pressed from the outside, articles accommodated therein are easily bent or fractured. Since the bag of the prior art is unstable and easily deformable, an opening of the bag can be made only so large without reducing the strength and stiffness of the bag. To achieve shape retentivity of the bag of the prior art necessitates special consideration as to the size of the bag, thickness and density of the materials used to from the main body of the bag, and reinforcing materials to improve the stiffness of the bag. (3) Amongst the lids of the children's bags of the prior art are those which are folded or hinged through an angle ranging from 180° to 360° to open. The lids of this type degrade at their regions which are frequently folded, and consequently crack and virtually fracture. Another type of lid utilizes zip fasteners which often bite into articles contained in the bag and, when used for long periods of time weaken at their fabric border where sewn to the bag. A further type of lid of the prior art children's bags includes metal detents attached to the top of the main body which are twisted for locking and opening the bag. Locking means of this type is not suited to large bags, and in addition, it is deformed and loosened by creeping after long use. Another children's bag of the prior art is featured in US-A-4088252 which generally discloses a moulded front half portion and a rear half portion together forming a main body of the bag, the front half portion having a moulded tridimensional contour. More particularly, the rear half portion is constituted by a bag member of a soft pliable light-weight material which is attached to the moulded front half portion by the engagement of pushers on the bag member with press buttons on the inside of the moulded front half portion. In accordance with the present invention as claimed, the aforesaid generally disclosed children's bag of the aforementioned US-A-4088252 is characterized in that the rear half portion constitutes a moulding, the front half portion and the rear half portion have respective structures for lapping over or engaging with each other at their circumferential edges, the front half portion and the rear half portion are non-movably connected to each other through a portion of the circumferential edges, the rear half portion constitutes a lid in an area not non-movably connected to the front half portion, the lid is openable and closable through a hinge integrally moulded with the rear half portion, and the lid, when closed and locked on the top of the bag, permits the main body of the bag to form a box construction to accommodate articles. A children's bag in accordance with the invention may be manufactured by: (a) preparing a model pattern of the main body of the bag which may have rather complex shapes, (b) fabricating metallic, wooden or plastic moulds for producing the main body of the bag on the basis of the aforementioned pattern, (c) moulding a front half portion and a rear half portion of the main body of the bag with the aforementioned moulds by utilizing thermoplastic or thermosetting resins or high molecular fibrous materials including synthetic fibres, wood, or paper through an appropriate technique such as injection moulding, stamp moulding, blow moulding, pour moulding and so on, and (d) combining the front half portion and the rear half portion of the main body of the bag by closely fitting or engaging the overall circumferential edges of the front and rear halves, respectively, thereby to produce a bag having rather complicated tridimensional design and appearance. The main body of the bag can be produced having various contours, with tridimensional configurations, resembling various animals, other living, non-living, imaged or created animals, or the characters in stories or animations, without any substantial limitations. Bags in accordance with the present invention may be easily and precisely produced having complicated contours, which previously have been considered impossible or difficult to manufacture in view of designing restrictions. If necessary, the moulded bags produced in accordance with the present invention can have laminations or covering materials such as woven or knitted fabrics or non-woven fabrics applied thereon during or after moulding. As one of the characteristics, the mould employed may have a bead portion or portions in the area corresponding to the central portion of the rear half portion of the main body for making the hinge structure on the rear half portion of the bag. Preferably, with this mould, the rear half portion of the bag may be moulded from polypropylene to form the plastic hinge structure integrally with the main body of the bag. The plastic hinge may be located in a region corresponding to from 80% to 20% of the longitudinal length (height) of the inside space of the bag for easy insertion and removal of articles, although it should preferably be located substantially in the middle portion of the height. The front half portion and the rear half portion, upon moulding, are mated to each other with their concave portions opposed, and combined together to form a box-like construction by means of adhesive or heating at their circumferential edges of the lower portions below the plastic hinge, with the upper portion being openable and closable. On the lid portion above the bendable plastic hinge of the rear half portion, a lock means may be provided which may be fixed on the top portion of the front half portion of the main body. The circumferential edge of the lid of the rear half portion is lapped over or engaged with the circumferential edge of the front half portion thereby to form a stable, box-like structure. Any animals, persons or characters represented on the bag of the present invention may have eyes and/or a mouth differently coloured or tinted, or prepared or processed separately so as to exhibit stereographical effects. Various tridimensionally shaped children's bags in accordance with the invention of excellent design, including satchels or school bags, shoulder bags, handbags or pocket-books, and "pochettes" can be easily manufactured. In order that the invention may be well understood there will now be described a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a moulded children's bag produced in accordance with the present invention imitating a face of an animal, particularly a panda. Figure 2 is a perspective view taken from the rear side of the bag shown in Figure 1 with a lid thereof slightly opened; Figure 3 is a central vertical sectional view of the bag shown in Figures 1 and 2 with lock means thereof omitted; and Figures 4 to 8 illustrate the hereinbefore discussed various conventional bags for children. Referring to Figures 1 to 3, there is shown a moulded children's bag representing a panda face just like a real one, and having complicated tridimensional contours, which could not be readily produced by the discussed prior art methods. Of course, in accordance with the present invention not only animal faces, but also any other complicated contour on a bag mouldable from plastic, including the face of leading characters in popular animations, popular actors or actresses, or model combat cars, rockets and other toys, can be fashioned with lifelike preciseness. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited in any sense to the panda face bag sown in the drawings. In a method of producing a bag in accordance with the present invention, an overall design of a bag is first determined and a model pattern for that design is fabricated of, for example, wood. In Figures 1 and 2, the design has been determined as the face of a panda, and a wooden model representing that design has been fabricated as a master model. On the basis of the wooden master model, metallic moulds for injection moulding are prepared comprising front mould halves for a front half portion 1 and rear mould halves for a rear half portion 2 of the panda face. Using these mould halves, the front half 1 of the bag can be moulded from, for example, ABS resin, and the rear half 2 can be moulded from, for example, polypropylene. Needless to say, these plastic materials and moulding techniques are merely illustrative and not limitative since they can be selected from a wide variety of possible alternatives in accordance with the particular use and purpose of the bags. As a characteristic feature, an inner half of the rear mould halves for moulding the rear half portion 2 of the bag should be provided with at least one bead portion protruding outwardly, preferably at its central region so as to produce at least one notched or thinned portion in the rear half 2 of the bag, as shown in Figure 3 which constitutes a plastic hinge structure 4 integral with the main body of the bag. This bead portion may be located at a position in the range of from 80% to 20% of the height H (Figure 3) from the bottom of the bag. In an example shown in Figure 3, this bead portion (accordingly, the hinge 4) is located at a position corresponding to about 45% of the height H, so that an upper half portion 10 of the rear half 2 can be opened and closed as a lid. The front half 1 and rear half 2 moulded as mentioned above are assembled as shown in Figure 3 wherein the circumferential edge 5 of the front half 1 is lapped over the circumferential edge 6 of the rear half 2 at a lapping area 7 as indicated by the cross-hatching. The lapping area 7 is subjected to electromagnetic induction heating to form a rigid bond. The lid 10, of course, is not bonded to the front half portion 1. To make the bond at the lapping area 7, an appropriate means such as adhesive and high-frequency heating or ultrasonic heating may be utilized in accordance with the plastic materials used. On the top of the lid 10 is provided a metallic or plastic locking male member 3, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, which can be engaged with a locking female member 9 provided on the front half 1 of the bag to securely close the lid 10. Ears of the animal, if they are of sufficient thickness or volume to be split, may be dividedly moulded as an immobile front half and an openable rear half with a plastic hinge in the same fashion as the front and rear half of the main body. Assembled front and rear halves of the ears may be attached at their bottom to the top of the main body as by screws or the like so as to be utilized as pockets for receiving small articles. Where the ears of any selected models are thin and unsuitable for accommodating any articles, the dividedly moulded front half and rear half of the ears may be bonded together around the entire circumferential edges. Alternatively, ears of the animals may be produced by blow moulding. Further, the ears, mouth and nose may be made of soft materials such as urethane and vinyl chloride and attached to the main body of the bag by any suitable means. In addition, the animal's eyes can be injection moulded from acrylic resin, then dyed black on the inside surface, and attached to selected locations as by adhesives. The bag comprised of moulded and assembled front and rear halves may have two straps attached at its rear half portion 2 to form a satchel or knapsack, or a relatively long strap at its lateral sides to form a shoulder bag. The outside surface of either or both of the front and rear halves of the bag may be coloured by commingling pigments into plastic materials or being painted after moulding. By the process described above, in accordance with the present invention, children's bags of various types having complicated designs and contours, especially tridimensional shapes can easily be made with dynamically sufficient stiffness and rigidity due to the box-like construction. Moreover, the lid, easily openable and closable through the integrally formed plastic hinge, has durability and a pleasing appearance, contributing to augmenting the rigidity of the main body. Thus, children's bags manufactured as described are publicly favoured, acceptable to children, stable in structure and precisely manufactured. As the bag is dividedly moulded into the front half and the rear half using separate moulds prepared respectively for the front and the rear half of the bag, relatively complicated designs of tridimensional shapes can be freely and widely represented on the bag surface. The separately moulded front half and rear half of the bag can be assembled together at their circumferential edges to form the strong, box-like construction, and the openable lid, integrally moulded and connected through the plastic hinge with the rear half portion of the bag, can also contribute to form the stable, box-like construction when closed and locked on the front half portion. By virtue of the structural strength attributed by the lid, the bag can have a relatively large opening through which articles can easily be inserted into and removed from the inside of the bag. The plastic hinge provided integrally with the rear half portion of the bag is slim in appearance and smooth, yet structurally strong, so that it does not affect the overall strength and rigidity of the bag and so assures a sufficient long term durability of the bag.

Claims: A children's bag comprising a moulded front half portion (1) and a rear half portion (2) together forming a main body of the bag, the front half portion (1) having a moulded tridimensional contour, characterized in that the rear half portion (2) also constitutes a moulding, the front half portion (1) and the rear half portion (2) have respective structures for lapping over or engaging with each other at their circumferential edges (5, 6), the front half portion (1) and the rear half portion (2) are non-movably connected to each other through a portion (7) of the circumferential edges (5, 6), the rear half portion (2) constitutes a lid (10) in an area not non-movably connected to the front half portion (1), the lid (10) is openable and closable through a hinge (4) integrally moulded with the rear half portion (2), and the lid (10), when closed and locked on the top of the bag, permits the main body of the bag to form a box construction safely to accommodate articles. A bag as claimed in claim 1, wherein the portion (7) of the circumferential edges (5, 6) connected to each other lies within a range of from 80% to 20% of the height from the bottom of the main body in which articles are accommodated. A bag as claimed in claim 2, wherein the portion (7) of the circumferential edges (5, 6) connected to each other lies within a range of from 55% to 45% of the height from the bottom of the main body in which articles are accommodated. A bag as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the tridimensional contour is a face of a panda. A bag as claimed in claim 4, further comprising ears provided on the main body for receiving small articles. A bag as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the tridimensional contour is a face of a favoured character.

Inventors: GOTO FUMIO, KASAHARA YASUMASA, GOTO, FUMIO, KASAHARA, YASUMASA
Applicants: NAMBA PRESS KOGYO KK, NAMBA PRESS WORKS CO., LTD.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: A45C3
IPC codes: A45C13, A45F3, A45C3, A45C5