Patent Publication Number: US-2006017279-A1

Title: Self-adhesive file bag

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a file bag and more particularly, to a self-adhesive file bag that can be completely sealed.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      A self-adhesive sealing tape  13 , as shown in  FIG. 1C , is comprised of a double-sided tape  131  and a strippable strip  132 . This design of sealing tape  13  is extensively used in traditional file bags, called self-adhesive file bag, to close the open side of the file bag. For example, the file bag  1 , as shown in  FIG. 1A , used worldwide for storing many things (such as books magazines{grave over ( )}greetings cards . . . ). Being unable to well protect the storage file is the fatal drawback of the file bag  1 , because the open side  52  of the file bag  1  can&#39;t be sealed completely. As illustrated in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , the file bag  1  is a rectangular plastic bag having three closed sides  11  and an open side  12 . The file bag  1  has a cover flap  121  suspended from the open side  12 , and a self-adhesive sealing tape  13  transversely provided at the inner side of the cover flap  121  remote from the open side  12 . When in use, the file  20  is inserted through the open side  12  into the inside of the file bag  1  (see  FIGS. 2A and 2B ), and then the cover flap  121  is turned inwards and covered over the open side  12  after removing the strippable strip from the double-sided tape  131  (see  FIGS. 2C and 2D ). When sealed, the cover flap  121  prohibits the storage file  20  from falling out of the file bag  1 . However, because two openings  122  are left at two opposite lateral sides after the cover flap  121  has been closed and sealed (see  FIG. 2D ), water or dust can pass through the openings  122  to wet or contaminate the storage file  20 . Therefore, this structure of file bag  1  cannot protect the storage items against dust and water. Because the aforesaid file bag has the fatal drawback of being unable to well protect the storage file, lamination film for copy protection is developed.  
      In order to protect the file (photo, paper document) against dust and moisture, the file may be covered with plastic material by a laminator. As illustrated in  FIGS. 3A, 3B  and  3 C, a plastic film  3  is folded up, and then the file  2  is inserted in between the first half  3   a  and the second half  3   b  of the folded plastic film  3 , and then the first half  3   a  and the second half  3   b  of the folded plastic film  3  are peripherally sealed. As illustrated in  FIGS. 3B and 3C , when laminated, the file  2  is well protected against the contamination of dust and moisture. To the protection of file, lamination technique provides the user with another choice. Therefore, the use of a lamination film becomes an important file protection technique that has been extensively used worldwide. However, the bonding between the lamination film and the file causes a trouble to the user because the lamination film cannot be removed from the file when bonded to the file. Due to this problem, lamination film cannot be used to protect files that must have the outer appearance kept intact.  
      Further, it is not economical to use a laminator, which is expensive to buy and use. Further, when wishing to keep the plastically laminated file  2  in a ring binder, the plastically laminated file  2  must be punched to provide a line of punch holes for installation.  
      As indicated above, the development of lamination technique is just because the file bags cannot completely closed in a watertight status. This is also the common problem of currently commercially available self-adhesive strip type plastic packing bags in the world.  
      Therefore, it is desirable to provide a self-adhesive file bag that eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view.  
      According to one aspect of the present invention, the self-adhesive file bag comprises a rectangular plastic bag body formed of an upper layer and a bottom layer and having three closed sides and one open side between two opposite closed sides of said three closed sides, and a sealing tape provided in the open side and operatable to close/open said open side. The sealing tape is formed of a strippable strip and a double-sided adhesive tape, having two distal ends respectively sealed to the two opposite closed sides of the self-adhesive file bag.  
      By means of the feature that the sealing tape has the two distal ends respectively bonded to the two opposite closed sides of the self-adhesive file bag, the open side of the self-adhesive file bag can be closed completely. Also, by means of the sealing function of the sealing tape, the self-adhesive file bag won&#39;t leave two openings at two opposite lateral sides as traditional self-adhesive file bag.  
      With the step-by-step strippable strip separating and step-by-step air expelling method, the inside air can be smoothly expelled out of the file bag, and therefore the file bag will be kept in a flat manner without inflation, at the same time, the four sides are completely sealed. When the four sides of the file bag are sealed, the storage file is well protected against water and dust.  
      According to another aspect of the present invention, through holes are aligned in the open side of the self-adhesive file bag in front of the sealing tape so that the self-adhesive file bag can be fastened to a ring binder. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1A  illustrates a file bag according to the prior art.  
       FIG. 1B  is a side view in section of the file bag according to the prior art.  
       FIG. 1C  is an enlarged view of a part of  FIG. 1B  showing the structure of the self-adhesive sealing tape.  
       FIG. 2A  corresponds to  FIG. 1A , showing a file inserted into the file bag.  
       FIG. 2B  corresponds to  FIG. 1B , showing the file received inside the file bag.  
       FIG. 2C  is similar to  FIG. 2B  but showing the cover flap covered over the open side and how the openings are formed.  
       FIG. 2D  is similar to  FIG. 2A  but showing the cover flap closed and how the openings are formed.  
       FIG. 3A  is a schematic drawing showing a file inserted into a folded plastic film according to the prior art.  
       FIG. 3B  is a front view showing the plastic film sealed to the file according to the prior art.  
       FIG. 3C  is a side view in section of  FIG. 3B .  
       FIG. 4A  is a perspective view of a self-adhesive file bag according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 4B  is a side view of the self-adhesive file bag according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 4C  is a front view in section in an enlarged scale of the file bag according to the present invention, showing the status of the strippable strip before separating from the double-sided adhesive tape.  
       FIG. 4D  is similar to  FIG. 4C  but showing the strippable strip separated from the double-sided adhesive tape and the upper layer is not sealed to the bottom layer yet.  
       FIG. 4E  is an enlarged view of a part of  FIG. 4A , showing how the distal ends of the sealing tape join together with the two opposite closed sides of the file bag.  
       FIG. 5  is a schematic drawing showing the sealing operation of the present invention.  
       FIG. 6A  is a schematic drawing showing the sealing and expelling operation of the present invention (I).  
       FIG. 6B  is a schematic drawing showing the sealing and expelling operation of the present invention (II).  
       FIG. 6C  is a schematic drawing showing the sealing and expelling operation of the present invention (III).  
       FIG. 6D  is a schematic drawing showing the sealing and expelling operation of the present invention (IV).  
       FIG. 7  is similar to  FIG. 4D  but showing the upper layer sealed to the bottom layer.  
       FIG. 8  is a schematic drawing showing the sealing and expelling operation of the present invention.  
       FIG. 9A  illustrates an alternate form of the self-adhesive file bag connectable to a ring binder according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 9B  corresponds to  FIG. 9A , showing the split rings of the ring binder opened.  
       FIG. 9C  corresponds to  FIG. 9B , showing the self-adhesive file bag installed to the ring binder.  
       FIG. 10A  illustrates another alternate form of the self-adhesive file bag connectable to a ring binder according to the present.  
       FIG. 10B  corresponds to  FIG. 10A , showing the self-adhesive file bag installed to the ring binder.  
       FIG. 11A  illustrates still another alternate form (two distal ends cut off) of the self-adhesive file bag connectable to a ring binder with two end clamping lugs according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 11B  corresponds to  FIG. 11A , showing the self-adhesive file bag installed to the ring binder with two end clamping lugs.  
       FIG. 11C  is a schematic drawing showing a second self-adhesive file bag partially inserted into the open side of a first self-adhesive file bag.  
       FIG. 12A  is a plain view of still another alternate form of the present invention, showing the open side of the self-adhesive file bag provided with a tear-off line and a strippable portion.  
       FIG. 12B  corresponds to  FIG. 12A , showing the status of the self-adhesive file bag after removal of the strippable portion. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Referring to  FIG. 4A , the self-adhesive file bag, referenced by  5 , has a rectangular plastic bag body, which is formed of an upper layer  5   b  and a bottom layer  5   a  and has three closed sides  51  and one open side  52 . A sealing tape  53  is provided in the open side  52  and operatable to close/open the open side  52 . The sealing tape  53  is comprised of a strippable strip  532  and a double-sided adhesive tape  531  (see  FIG. 4B ). The strippable strip  532  and the double-sided adhesive tape  531  are transversely affixed to the inside wall of the bottom layer  5   a  corresponding to the open side  52 . The width of the strippable strip  532  is greater than the double-sided adhesive tape  531  so that the user can conveniently separate the strippable strip  532  from the double-sided adhesive tape  531 .  
      As indicated above, after inserting paper documents (not shown) through the open side  52  into the file bag  5 , the user can insert the hand into the inside of the file bag  5  and conveniently separate the strippable strip  532  from the double-sided adhesive tape  531  from one end toward the other (see  FIG. 5 ).  
      At the initial stage, tear one end of the strippable strip  532  from the respective sealing line  511  and turn the broken end  90  angles toward the outside of the file bag  5  (see  FIG. 5 ). At this time, the double-sided adhesive tape  531  is still kept away from the upper layer  5   b.  Then, move the hand over the file bag  5  against a flap surface in the direction from the other close side  51  (the bottom close side) toward the open side  52  to expel air out of the file bag  5  (see  FIG. 6A ). When moving the hand over the self-adhesive file bag  5  to flatten the self-adhesive file bag  5 , the part of the open side  52  where the strippable strip  532  has been separated from the double-sided adhesive tape  531  will be sealed by the double-sided adhesive tape  531  (see  FIG. 6B ). So, the double-sided adhesive tape  531  embedded on the bottom layer  5   a  will be sealed to the upper layer  5   b  to close the open side  52 . Thereafter, repeating the aforesaid procedure to expel air out of the file bag  5  while separating the strippable strip  532  from the file bag  5  (see  FIGS. 6A, 6B , and  6 C). After removing the strippable strip  532  from the file bag  5 , inside air is completely expelled out of the file bag  5 , and the open side  52  is completely sealed by the double-sided adhesive tape  531  (see  FIGS. 6D and 7 ).  
      From the illustration of  FIGS. 6A, 6B , and  6 C, it is clear that the inside air can be completely expelled out of the file bag  5  by separating the strippable strip  532  from the sealing tape  53  and moving the hand over the file bag  5  to flatten the file bag  5  step by step. Because the sealing tape  53  has two distal ends connected to the sealing lines  511  at the two opposite closed sides  51 , see  FIG. 5 , the file bag  5  can be sealed in a good sealing status, see  FIG. 7 , to well protect the storage paper documents against water or dust, unlike traditional file bag  1  shown in  FIG. 2D , which has two openings  122  left at two opposite lateral sides through which water or dust can pass to wet or contaminate the storage file  20  after the cover flap  121  has been closed and sealed.  
       FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view taken in an enlarged scale along the open side of the file bag  5 . As indicated, the double-sided adhesive tape  531  seals the open side  52  of the file bag  5 . Working with the sealing effect of the sealing lines  511 , the double-sided adhesive tape  531  effectively seals the file bag  5  in a watertight status.  
       FIG. 8  is a schematic drawing showing the sealing operation of the present invention.  
       FIGS. 9A, 9B , and  9 C show an alternate form of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the self-adhesive file bag  5  is made in the form of a loose-leaf sheet member, having a plurality of through holes  60  transversely aligned in a line along the open side  52  for fastening to a ring binder  6 . The ring binder  6  comprises a ring clamp  63  loose-leaf sheet members or the like. The ring clamp  63  comprises a plurality of split rings  64 , and two switching levers  62  operatable to open the split rings  64 . After the file  2  has been sealed in the self-adhesive file bag  5 , the split rings  64  are opened, and then the self-adhesive file bag  5  is put in the ring binder  6  to couple the through holes  60  to the split rings  64 , and then the split rings  64  are closed to secure the self-adhesive file bag  5  to the ring binder  6 .  
       FIGS. 10A and 10B  show another alternate form of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the self-adhesive file bag  5  has a plurality of peripheral holes  60  transversely aligned in a line along the open side  52  for fastening to a ring binder  6 . Each of the peripheral holes  60  has a small part extended to the peripheral edge of the open side  52  of the self-adhesive file bag  5  so that the user can directly engage the split rings  64  into the peripheral holes  60  without opening the split rings  64 .  
       FIGS. 11A and 11B  show still another alternate form of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the open side  52  of the self-adhesive file bag  5  has a part of each of the two distal ends cut off corresponding to the two end clamping lugs  65  of a ring binder  63 . Therefore, the end clamping lugs  65  do not hinder installation of the self-adhesive file bag  5  in the ring binder  63 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 11C , when wishing to use the self-adhesive file bag  5  repeatedly after removing the strippable strip, the open side  52  of the self-adhesive file bag  5  is opened, and then a second self-adhesive file bag  5  is partially inserted into the open side  52  of the first self-adhesive file bag  5 , and then the file  2  is inserted through the open side  52  of the first self-adhesive file bag  5  over the second self-adhesive file bag  5  into the inside of the first self-adhesive file bag  5 , and then the second self-adhesive file bag  5  is removed from the first self-adhesive file bag  5 , and then the open side of the first self-adhesive file bag  5  is sealed again.  
       FIG. 12A  shows still another alternate form of the present invention. According to this embodiment, a tear-off line  54  is provided at an outer side of the sealing tape  53 , defining a strippable portion  55  at the open side  52 . Through the tear-off line  54 , the strippable portion  55  can easily be separated from the self-adhesive file bag  5 , and the self-adhesive file bag  5  can be used for holding a photo or the like, and the sealing tape  53  can be sealed to close the self-adhesive file bag  5  after the storage item has been received in the self-adhesive file bag  5  (see  FIG. 12B ), keeping the storage item well protected against outside wet air.  
      As indicated above, the invention has the following advantages:  
      1. The open side of the self-adhesive file bag can be completely sealed to well protect the storage file against water and dust.  
      2. The self-adhesive file bag can be used anywhere when desired to well protect the storage file against water and dust instead of the use of a laminator.  
      3. The application of the present invention does not damage the storage file, and it keeps the storage file intact.  
      4. The self-adhesive file bag is repeatedly usable.  
      5. By means of separating the strippable strip from the sealing tape and moving the hand over the self-adhesive file bag to flatten the self-adhesive file bag step by step, air can be completely expelled out of the self-adhesive file bag. Thus it keeps the self-adhesive file bag in a flat status to be easily carried with the storage file.  
      Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.