Patent Publication Number: US-2007113453-A1

Title: Tag for supporting a bag on a dispensing apparatus

Description:
The invention relates to a tag for supporting part of a bag on a bag dispensing apparatus and particularly but not exclusively limited to use on bag dispensing apparatus in retail establishments at the point of sale for packaging purchased goods.  
      Stacks of bags are commonly provided in retail establishments at the point of sale to allow a customer to package purchased goods. Such bags are generally made of thin-walled flexible plastics material and are sealed at the base ends and sides leaving the upper end open to form the mouth of a bag. There are various designs of such bags. One common configuration includes two handle members which extend upwardly from the mouth of the bag, one on each side of the bag. Such a configuration is commonly known as a “vest bag” or “vest style bag”.  
      Vest style bags of the type described are often mounted on a dispensing apparatus. A variety of dispensing apparatus are known. One such apparatus comprises a housing which is arranged at the point of sale having two elongate pins which are spaced apart by a distance equal to the distance between the centre lines of the handles of the bag to be supported on the dispensing apparatus. The pins are arranged to extend through holes arranged through the respective handles of the bags to be supported on the dispensing system. A projection extends from the housing, generally midway between the two pins looking in plan and arranged slightly below the pins. The projection extends parallel with the pins and generally has a hook-like formation at its free end. The projection is arranged to extend through a further aperture on the bag so as to support the centre part of the bag. The two pins are longer than the central projection so that the ends of the pins terminate beyond the end of the projection. When the stack of bags is arranged on the dispensing apparatus described above, the pins extend through all of the holes in the respective handles in the bags of the stack and the central projection extends through apertures arranged at the mouth of the bag. The stack of bags is generally arranged so that the rear face of each bag is semi-permanently attached, for example by means of adhesive, by welding or by mechanical attachment, to the front face of the subsequent bag in the stack. When a user comes to package purchased goods, the front bag is pulled so that the front face of the bag clears the hooked end of the projection, allowing the front wall to be pulled forwardly and the bag opened. The handles of the front most bag slide forwardly along the pins but due to the fact that the pins extend for a greater distance than the projection the bag is still supported by the pins. The bag is then retained open on the housing by the pins whilst the user packages the purchased goods. Once the bag is filled, the user can pull the two handle members so that the handle members ride off the pins. The rear face of the bag then clears the hook-like projection which then acts to retain the front face of the subsequent bag with sufficient force to allow further pulling of the front bag to cause the semi-permanent attachment between the rear and front faces of the front most and subsequent bags to fail. At that point the bag is released. In the more preferred arrangement the removal of the front most bag from the dispensing apparatus causes the front wall of the subsequent bag to be pulled forward so that the bag is presented open to the user to receive purchased goods. An example of such an arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,788. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,788, the bags have a tab which projects upwardly of the mouth and the tab is provided with an aperture through which the hook protrusion extends. The tab is connected to the mouth of a bag by means of a perforated line so that pulling of the bag from the dispensing apparatus causes the perforations to fail which leaves the tab hanging on the hook protrusion. That arrangement is undesirable because the leaving of the residue of the body of the bag on the dispensing apparatus after removal of the bag has proven a health and safety hazard, for example because the tab of bag material can find its way on to the floor presenting the risk that a person may slip on the bag material. Accordingly, various solutions have been proposed to address that. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,235, the hook projection extends through an aperture at the mouth of the bag and a perforated line extends from the aperture to the upper edge of the mouth so that pulling of the bag causes the perforated line to fail, leaving no bag material on the hooked projection. A similar arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,841. However, that arrangement results in a tear in the upper edge of the bag and when the bag is heavily loaded the tear can progress and cause the bag to fail. This means that the bag must be made from heavier duty material which increases the bag cost.  
      A further problem arises in the known systems in that the dispensing apparatus requires two pins and a curved projection to correlate with apertures in a stack of individual bags. It is necessary to ensure that the apertures in the individual bags are aligned with other apertures in bags of a stack so as to allow a store operative, more readily to locate the stack on the dispensing apparatus without obstruction from misaligned apertures throughout the depth of the bag stack. A further problem which arises in mounting the mouth part of the bag on the central hooked projection is that the projection must be shorter than the pins in order to effect proper opening of the bag to allow the bag to be loaded and the fact that the projection is shorter limits the maximum numbers of bags which can be mounted on the dispensing apparatus. This decreases the efficiency of the dispensing unit as the dispenser unit needs to be revisited more frequently to replenish it with stacks of bags.  
      It is an objection of the invention to provide an improved bag dispensing arrangement.  
      According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a tag for supporting part of a bag on a bag dispensing apparatus, the tag comprising a body having a dispensing apparatus attachment formation at one end to allow attachment of the tag to dispensing apparatus and a bag attachment formation at the other end to allow attachment of a tag to part of a bag.  
      In that way, the central part of the bag can be supported by the tag, which in turn is connected to the dispensing apparatus. Accordingly, no bag residue is left on the dispensing apparatus. Also, because each tag can carry multiple bags, the constraint on the number of bags carried by the dispensing apparatus is removed, enabling more bags to be located on the apparatus.  
      The dispensing apparatus attachment formation preferably comprises an aperture in the tag body to allow a projecting member of the dispensing apparatus to pass therethrough.  
      The projecting member of the dispensing apparatus may comprise a looped projection. In such a case, the aperture in the tag body may include a tongue which is arranged to project into the loop when the projection passes through the aperture. Preferably, the looped projection comprises two substantially parallel spaced arms with a connecting bight portion. The aperture most preferably comprises two arm apertures spaced apart by the same distance as the spaced arms and being dimensioned to allow a respective arm therethrough with a clearance and a slot connecting the two arm apertures together. In that way, a tongue is naturally formed between the two arm apertures. In order to locate the tag on the dispensing apparatus, the projection is pushed through the aperture such that the bight portion deforms the tongue and the arms are received through the arm apertures. The tongue then moves over the bight portion so as to extend into the space between the arms. That configuration aids retention of the tag on the dispensing apparatus as bags are removed therefrom.  
      The bag attachment formation preferably comprises an arrowhead formation at the end of the tag body which can project through an aperture in the bag, whereby the widest point of the arrowhead is wider than the bag aperture. The bag may thus be provided with means to allow the aperture to fail when the bag is pulled from the dispensing apparatus.  
      Alternatively, the arrowhead formation may project through one aperture in the bag and back through another aperture. Still further, a slit may be provided in the body of the tag so that the arrowhead may project through a first bag aperture, back through a second bag aperture and then through the slit in the body of the tab to retain the bags on the tag. Where two bag apertures are provided, a weakened portion may be provided between the apertures to effect failure of that part when the bag is pulled from the dispensing apparatus. The weakened portion may comprise a perforated line.  
      The tag is preferably made from flexible plastics material. The plastics material is selected to be stronger than the bag material, either due to its greater thickness or greater inherent strength.  
      The material is preferably resilient such that the tongue arrangement described above snaps into the space between the arms. The arrowhead arrangement preferably also snaps through the slit in the tag body.  
      That arrangement is preferable because the tongue will cause a positive “click” sound on correct installation onto the dispensing apparatus which ensures that users load the tags correctly.  
      The tag most preferably comprises a dispensing apparatus attachment formation having two arm apertures connected by a slot so as to define a tongue therebetween at one end of the body and a bag attachment formation having an arrowhead and slit combination at the other end of the body.  
      According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a bag comprising a body having a closed base and closed side walls, handle members and an open mouth end, the bag further comprising two apertures adjacent the mouth end of the bag between the handle members and a weakened portion of bag material between the apertures.  
      Preferably, the bag has a tag as described above attached thereto. A stack of bags may be received in that way.  
      According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a stack of bags attached to a tag according to the first aspect or any of the subsistory clauses thereto.  
      According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a dispensing apparatus carrying a stack of bags having a separate tag connecting the stack of bags with the dispensing apparatus. 
    
    
      A tag, a bag and stack of bags in accordance with the invention will now be described in detail by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a plan view of a first tag in accordance with the invention,  
       FIG. 2  is a plan view of a second tag in accordance with the invention,  
       FIG. 3  is a plan view of a third tag in accordance with the invention,  
       FIG. 3   a  is a plan view of a fourth tag in accordance with the invention,  
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the tag of  FIG. 1  supporting a stack of bags on a dispensing apparatus,  
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of part of the tag of  FIG. 1  showing the bag attachment formation, with the bags omitted for clarity,  
       FIG. 6  is a side elevation of the part of the tag of  FIG. 5  shown attached to a stack of bags,  
       FIG. 6   a  is a side elevation of the part of the tag of  FIG. 3   a  shown attached to a stack of bags,  
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of part of the tag of  FIG. 2  on part of a dispensing apparatus,  
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view of part of the tag of  FIG. 3  shown on part of a dispensing apparatus,  
       FIG. 9  is a front view of part of a bag in accordance with the invention,  
       FIG. 10  is a perspective view of an alternative arrangement of tag and bag, and  
       FIG. 11  is a front view of part of the bag of  FIG. 10 . 
    
    
      In  FIG. 1 a  tag  10  comprises an elongate tag body  12  which is substantially rectangular. At one end  14  of the body  12  is a dispensing apparatus attachment formation  16 . The dispensing apparatus attachment formation  16  comprises two circular apertures  18 ,  20  formed through the body  12  of the tag  10 . The apertures  18 ,  20  are spaced apart and are connected by a slot  22 , again formed through the body  12  of the tag  10 . The slot  22  is formed offset from a line connecting the centre points of the apertures  18 ,  20  so as to define a tongue  24 . At the other end  26  of the body  12 , a bag attachment formation  28  is provided. The bag attachment formation  28  comprises an arrowhead formation  30  and a slit  32  formed through the body  12  of the tag  10 . The arrowhead formation  30  comprises a tapered portion  34  which tapers inwardly from the end  26  of the rectangular tag body  12  and an arrowhead shaped portion  36  extending from the tapered portion  34  so as to define two barb-like projections  38 , 40  on opposite edges of the arrowhead  36 .  
      The slit  32  runs perpendicular to the long dimension of the rectangular body  12  and is formed in line with the end  26  of the rectangular part of the body  12 . The slit  32  is slightly smaller in length than the distance between the tips of the barbed members  38 ,  40 .  
      In  FIG. 2 a  tag  42  is substantially similar to the tag shown in  FIG. 1  and parts corresponding to parts in  FIG. 1  carry the same reference numerals. Again, the tag comprises a substantially rectangular body  12  with opposite ends  14 ,  26 . The bag attachment formation  28  is identical to that shown in  FIG. 1 . The dispensing apparatus attachment formation in  FIG. 2  comprises a single circular aperture  44  arranged adjacent the end  14  of the tag  42 .  
      In  FIG. 3 a  tag  46  is substantially identical to tags of  FIGS. 1 and 2  and parts corresponding to parts in  FIGS. 1 and 2  carry the same reference numerals.  
      Again, the tag  46  comprises an elongate rectangular body  12  having ends  14 ,  26 . Again, the bag attachment formation  28  is identical to that shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . In  FIG. 3 , the dispensing apparatus attachment formation  16  is substantially similar to the bag attachment apparatus formation  28 .  
      In  FIG. 3   a  a tag  49  is similar to tags of  FIGS. 1, 2 , and  3  and parts corresponding to parts in  FIGS. 1, 2 , and  3  carry the same reference numerals.  
      The tag  49  comprises an elongate tag body  12  with an end  14  and end  26 . The end  26  is curved, and end  14  has rounded corners  15 . The tag body  12  is tapered from end  14  to end  26 . End  14  has a dispensing apparatus attachment formation  16 . The dispensing apparatus attachment formation  16  comprises two circular apertures  18 ,  20 , and two further apertures  19 , 21  formed through the body  12  of the tag  10 , the apertures  18 ,  20  being spaced apart with the two further apertures  19 , 21  positioned therebetween. Apertures  18 , 20  are connected by a slit  23 , again formed through the body  12  of the tag  10 , which also passes through apertures  19 , 21 . The dispensing apparatus attachment formation  16  comprises an additional aperture  25  with radial slits  27  extending therefrom located between end  14  and end  26 . Apertures  18 , 20 , further apertures  19 , 21 , and additional aperture  25 , provide three different attachment formations enabling the tag  49  to be attachable to different dispensing apparatus (see below).  
      At the other end  26  of the body  12 , a bag attachment formation  28  is provided. The bag attachment formation  28  comprises a lower protrusion in the form of a hook  29  extending from the body- 12  of the tag  49 , and an upper protrusion  31  extending from the body  12  of the tag  49  above the hook  29 . The hook  29  decreases in thickness as it extends from the body  12  of the tag  49  such that a lower part  33  of the hook  29  has a thickness which is substantially thicker than an upper part  35  of the hook  29 . The thickness of the upper protrusion  31  is substantially the same as the thickness of the upper part  35  of the hook  29 .  
      The tag  49  further includes a ledge  37  extending from the body  12 , the ledge  37  being positioned approximately half-way between the additional aperture  25  and the bag attachment formation  28 .  
      In  FIG. 4  the tag  10  of  FIG. 1  is shown connected to a stack of bags  48  and mounted on a dispensing apparatus  50 .  
      Each bag in the stack  48  comprises a substantially rectangular body  52  having closed sides and a closed base (not shown) and an open mouth end  54 . Handles  56 ,  58  extend upwardly from the mouth end  54 . Each handle  56 ,  58  has a hole  60 ,  62  punched therethrough towards the upper edge thereof. Each bag of the stack  52  shown in  FIG. 4  has two spaced parallel slits  64 ,  66  (see also  FIG. 9 ). The slits  64 ,  66  are arranged parallel with the mouth  54  of the bag and are spaced slightly downwardly of the body of the bag from the mouth  54 . As shown in  FIG. 9 , slits  64 ,  66  have a weakened portion  68  of bag material arranged therebetween. The weakened portion is preferably effected by cutting a perforated line  70  perpendicular to the slit  64 ,  66  at the mid point of the slits.  
      The tag  10  is attached to the stack of bags  48  as shown in  FIGS. 4-6 . The attachment of the tag  10  to the stack  48  is effected by inserting the arrowhead  36  of the bag attachment formation  28  of the tag  10  through the lower slit  66  in the stack of bags from the back of stack  48  to the front and then bending over the tag body so as to insert the arrowhead  36  back through the slit  64  from the front of stack  48  to the back thereof. The arrowhead  36  is then pushed through the slit  32  in the tag body  12  until the barbs  38 ,  40  snaph through the slit  32  in resilient fashion. In that way, the bags are retained on the tag and pulling of the arrowhead  36  back through the slit  32  is restrained by abutment of the barbs  38 ,  40  on the body of the tag  12  on either side of the slit  32 . That arrangement is best shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 .  
      A conventional dispensing apparatus, as described above is provided. Part of the dispensing apparatus  72  is shown in  FIG. 4 . The dispensing apparatus  72  has two elongate pins  74 ,  76  which are spaced apart by the same distance as the distance between the apertures  60 ,  62  in the handles  56 ,  58  of the bags  52  of the stack  48 .  
      The stack  48  is thus supported on the dispenser apparatus  72  by pushing the handles  56 ,  58  onto the pins  74 ,  76  by inserting the pins  74 ,  76  through the apertures  60 ,  62 .  
      A central hooked projection  78  is provided. The projection  78  comprises two elongate wires  80 ,  82  with a connecting bight portion  84 . The bight portion  84  is curved upwardly to form a hook-like formation. In order to attach the tag  10  to the projection  78 , the projection  78  is pushed through the dispensing apparatus attachment formation  16 . In so doing, the tongue  24  flexes resiliently by a sufficient amount to allow the bight portion  84  to pass through the slot  22 . The apertures  18 ,  20  are dimensioned to accommodate the wires  80 ,  82  with a small clearance and once the bight portion  84  has passed through the slot  22 , the tongue  24  snaps back resiliently into the space between the wires  80 ,  82  which serves to retain the tag on the projection  78 .  
      When a user wishes to package purchased goods in a bag using the present arrangement, the front face of the front bag on the stack  48  is pulled forwardly which causes the perforated portion  70  between the slits  64 ,  66  to fail allowing the front face to be pulled forward. The handles  56 ,  58  of the front bag slide along the pins  74 ,  76 . Only part of the pins  14 ,  76  are shown in  FIG. 4  and, as described above, they extend beyond the end of the central projection  78 . That allows the user to open the bag while the rear face of the bag is retained by the bag attachment formation  28  of the tag  10 . Once the user has completed filling the bag, the handles can be pulled off the pins  74 ,  76  which, in turn causes the perforated portion  70  between the slits  64 ,  66  in the rear wall of the front most bag to fail.  
      In a preferred embodiment, the rear wall of the front most bag is attached in a semi-permanent manner to the front wall of the subsequent bag so as to pull the front wall forward.  
      If, during the course of a bag removal operation the tag  10  should slide along the central projection  78 , the tongue  24  will abut the bight  84  to prevent the tag from being pulled off the central projection. When the stack of bags is exhausted, the tag  10  is left attached to the central projection  78 . This is a better arrangement than the prior dispensing arrangements as the tag is positively located onto the central projection using the resilience of the tongue  24  which prevents the tag from being inadvertently removed from the central projection  78 . A positive removal action is required. Also, because only the tag is attached to the central projection  78  and the central projection  78  is considerably shorter than the pin  74 ,  76 , the prior systems were limited in the number of bags that could be mounted on the dispensing apparatus because they could only mount stacks of bags of equivalent thickness to the length of the central projection. In the present situation, multiple stacks of bags can be loaded because the thickness of the stack of bags does not affect the amount of stacks that can be loaded on the central projection  78 .  
       FIG. 7  illustrates the mounting of the tag of  FIG. 2  onto an alternative form of central projection which simply comprises a pin  86  having a hook-like formation  88  at the end thereof.  
       FIG. 8  illustrates the attachment of the tag of  FIG. 3  to an alternative form of central projection  90  which simply comprises a U-shaped loop of material around which the arrowhead formation  30  can be looped back on itself through the slit  32  in the tag body. That arrangement is less preferable since only one stack of bags can be located but may be applicable where space is limited.  
       FIG. 6   a  illustrates the attachment of the tag  49  of  FIG. 3   a  onto a dispenser  50  identical to that of  FIG. 4 . The tag  49  of  FIG. 3   a  is shown connected to a stack of bags  48  identical to those shown in  FIG. 4 .  
      The tag  49  is attached to the stack of bags  48  by manipulating the tag  49  such that the hook  29  passes through slits  64 , 66  of the bags as shown in  FIG. 6   a . When manipulating the bags onto the hook  29 , the ledge  37  abuts against the mouth end  54  of the bags so as to locate the hook  29  relative to the slits  64 , 66 . The inherent shape of the hook  29  prevents the bags from being pulled of the tag  49 . It can be seen that the bags are supported by the lower part  33  of the hook  29 , i.e. the part of greater thickness, and therefore the hook is less likely to fail due to the weight of the bags.  
      In order to attach the tag  49  to the dispensing apparatus  50 , the wires  80 ,  82  pass through apertures  18 , 20  in the same way as in with the tag of  FIG. 1 . The provision of the slit  23  allows the dispensing apparatus to pass through the body  12  of the tag  49 . As described above, the provision of further holes  19 , 21 , and additional hole  25  allows the tag  49  to be attached to alternative dispensing apparatus.  
      In  FIGS. 10 and 11  an alternative form of bag attachment is shown in which one slit  92  is provided at the same point as the slit  64  in the bag shown in  FIG. 4 . In this case, the arrowhead  36  of the arrowhead formation  30  of the bag attachment formation  28  is inserted through the slit  92  and the slit  92  is provided with a controlled failure mechanism at each end thereof, as shown in  FIG. 11  whereby perforated lines  94 ,  96  are cut from each end of the slit  92 .  
      In that embodiment, pulling of the front face of the bag causes the barb portions  38 ,  40  to engage with the perforated lines  94 ,  96  which will cause those perforations to fail. The slot  92  is shorter in length than the distance between the barbed portions  38 ,  40  but when enlarged by failure of the perforated portions  94 ,  96  the barbs  38 ,  40  can clear the ends of the slit allowing the bag to be removed from the tag  10 .  
      The tag is preferably made from flexible plastics material although the material chosen is preferably more rigid than the material from which the bags are made. Material is selected to provided sufficient resilience such that the tongue formation  24  of the tag  10  of  FIG. 1  will flex appropriately when loaded onto the central projection  78  and the barb formation  38 ,  40  will flex sufficiently inwardly when inserted through the slots  64 ,  66  and  92  and the slit  32  in the body of the tag  10 .  
      Advertising indicia or bag removal instructions could be printed on the body  12  of the tag which will be visible to the user, in use.  
      The above described arrangements are advantageous for the reasons described and in particular because stacks of bags can be provided with the tags pre-attached which simplifies the loading of stacks of bags on to the dispensing apparatus, saving staff time for retail establishments. Also, more stacks of bags can be located on conventional dispensing apparatus than are presently possible which, again, increases staff efficiency. The fact that the tag must be removed in a positive removal step rather than inadvertently results in improvements in the health and safety of operatives in stores.