Abstract:
A recloseable plastic bag having mating reformed profiles which are easy to open and easy to close. The bag further includes a flap marked with a indicia to enable a user to readily see where the bag is to be grasped to open the bag. The double flap strengthens the mouth of the bag to permit repeated use, and also forms a pocket into which the user can insert her finger to open or separate the profiles or pull the bag off of a mounting stack.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to the type of plastic bag generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,586 also issued to Edward C. Bruno, the same inventor herein. Pat. No. 4,46,586 discloses the concept of making a bag with a folded portion adjacent to the mouth of the bag. The folded portion enables a user such as a packer on a product packing line to easily and conveniently pull a bag for use from a bag mounting stack by inserting her finger in the pocket formed between the folded portion. Further, the folded portion strengthens the bag opening or mouth to permit repeated use without tearing. The present invention is also related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,884 issued to Edward C. Bruno which discloses a plastic bag having mating profiles which are specifically made with a section of the profiles being re-formed to be in a non-engageable condition, and hence the profiles do not engage or lock in this reformed section. The non-engaging section enables the remaining major portions of the profiles to be more readily disengaged to open the mouth of the bag by initiating a separating action starting at the non-engaging section. Also, the non-engaging section permits any air in the bag to escape as the sides of the bag are pressed together to close.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    A recloseable plastic bag having a band along the mouth of the bag and profiles having a reformed section which makes the mating profiles easy to open and easy to close. The mating profiles are reformed at one section to inhibit the profiles to engage and close at that section to enable easy opening of the bag and also to enable any air in said bag to escape. A fold adjacent the mouth of the bag forms a double thickness flap marked with indicia to enable a user to readily see where the bag is to be grasped to open the bag. A stripe formed on the flap parallel to the mouth of the bag enable a user to conveniently and easily see the flap to open the mouth of the bag. The bag also includes profiles having guide arms to enable a user to conveniently and easily align the profiles with one another to permit convenient and easy closure of the profiles.  
           [0003]    The foregoing features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of the invention. The accompanying drawings, listed herein below, are useful in explaining the invention. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0004]    [0004]FIG. 1 is a front view of the inventive bag:  
         [0005]    [0005]FIG. 2 is an isometric view showing a profile strip affixed to the interior of the folded film from which the bag is made;  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 3 shows the separator or opening bar which is employed when bags with open profiles are provided to the user;  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 4 shows a user inserting her finger into the pocket to grasp the flap to pull a bag off of a stack;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 5A shows a cross section of one type of engaged profiles, and FIG. 5B shows a cross section view of a reformed section of one of the profiles to indicate that the reformed section of the profiles cannot engage with each other;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 6 is an embodiment of the invention wherein the profiles include guiding arms to enable convenient alignment of the profiles to provide the easy closing feature. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 shows the inventive recloseable bag  11  formed such of polyethylene film  15  comprising two side panels  12  and  14 . The bag  11  is formed from a folded film  15 , as depicted in FIG. 2, to provide the two panels  12  and  14  of the bag. The folded end of the film  15  forms the bottom  17  of the bag and the free edge of the film forms the mouth or bag opening  19 . The side edges  16  and  18  of the bag  11  are formed by periodically fusing the film along vertical lines, as indicated in FIG. 3, and as is well known in the art. The mating profiles or ribs  20  and  21  which provide the opening and closing features of the bag, as are well known, are formed or fused to a flat surface of the strip or ribbon  22 ; the ribbon  22  is subsequently fused to the inner side of the folded film parallel to the open edge of the film to provide the recloseable feature of the bag  11 . Note that the invention is applicable for use with other types of profiles such as the “spaghetti” or string profiles, and also with profiles which are made integrally with the film, i.e., extruded with the film.  
         [0011]    It has been found that strips  22  of profiles  20  and  21  are conveniently available in rolls, and equipment for joining the strip  22  to the film is well known and commercially available. The profiles  20  and  21  are normally mated or closed when applied to the film, as is indicated in FIG. 2. Note that the strip  22  is affixed to the two panels concurrently so that the profiles are closed in exact alignment when applied to the film  19 .  
         [0012]    As depicted in FIG. 3, the film  15  is periodically fused along a line  24  extending normal to the longitudinal travel of the film (indicated by the arrow line) to form the edges of the panels  12  and  14 , thus forming a series of individual bags  11 . The bags  11  can be made with the mouth  15  of the bag open or closed in the bag making process. If bags with open mouths are desired, a separator bar  26 , as indicated in FIG. 3 is provided to separate the profiles; if bags with closed mouths are desired the separator bar is omitted.  
         [0013]    The top edge  31  of the film  15  is folded outwardly on itself, as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3, to form a flap  31  at the top of panel  12  when the bag is made, see FIGS. 1 and 2. The folded top edge of panel  12  thus comprises a double thickness of film. The flap  31  is fused to panel  21  at line  24  when the edges of the bag  11  are fused as mentioned above. Flap  31  thus forms an open pocket  33  between the flap and the panel  12 , see FIGS. 2, 3 and  4 . The flap provides a reinforced mouth edge for enabling improved extended use without tearing. Further, the flap provides pocket  33  for enabling a user to insert her finger into the pocket to conveniently open the profiles. Also as depicted in FIG. 4, the pocket  33  permits a user to insert her finger in to the pocket to conveniently and quickly pull a bag  11  off of a stack  36  of bags mounted on a dispenser  38 .  
         [0014]    A colored stripe  34  applied to the edge of the flap  31  enables a user to see and note the flap to conveniently grasp the edge of the flap to pull the profiles apart, or to pull the bag  11  from stack  36 , as described above. The stripe can also be a glued material or the like. It should be appreciated that other indicia such as perforations, or stamped marks, or oversized dots can be formed on the edge of the flap to indicate the edge of the fold. However, a colored stripe  34  has been found to be readily noticed, and is convenient to apply. A center arrow or other indicia  39  may be formed adjacent to and perpendicular to the colored stripe; and in the area of the reformed section  40  (to be esplained) to thereby indicate to the user to grasp the flap  19  at that point, to conveniently make use of the easy open feature.  
         [0015]    Refer now to FIGS. 5A and 5B. FIG. 5A show a cross section of a normally engaged profile. To enable a user to easily open the bag  11  and to provide a means of conveniently withdrawing air from the bag, such as when storing foodstuff in a refrigerator, a section of the profiles is reformed. One, or both, of the profiles are reformed, as at section  40 , by pressing the contour of the profile down and out to prevent engagement of the profiles at that section, as indicated in FIG. 5B. An advantage of such construction will now be explained. When using prior art bags and it is desired to place foodstuff in a bag for storing in a refrigerator the bag should be closed. In such instances, the sides panels of prior art bags have to be carefully pressed together as the zipper is being closed. Otherwise an unwanted an air pocket remains within the ballooned bag. In the present invention any unwanted air within the bag escapes through the reformed section  40  as the bag  11  is being closed, and even after the bag is closed.  
         [0016]    Another feature of another embodiment of the invention will now be explained. It has been found that it is frustrating and inconvenient to close the profiles of prior art bags. As is known, most recloseable profiles for plastic bags in normal usage are quite small. When a user of prior art bags places product in a bag and then wants to close the profiles it is necessary to first align the profiles relative to one another before they can be properly pressed together to engage. Since the profiles are small it is quite frustrating to properly align the profiles. As depicted in FIG. 6, one embodiment of the inventive bag  11  includes readily aligned profiles. The profile strip  19 A includes profiles  20 A and  20 B which include guide flanges or guide arms  42  and  44  that align and guide the mating profiles into proper relation to engage. As shown in FIG. 6, guide flanges  42  and  44  are formed parallel to the male engaging profile  12 . Guide flanges  42  and  44  define a recess  46  with a relatively wide opening  48 . The angled flanges  42  and  44  narrow inwardly toward the base of the profile  20 . Thus the guide flanges  42  and  44  receive the female profile  21 A at the relative wide opening  48  and guide the profile  21 A into engagement with profile  20 A. The embodiment of FIG. 7 provides at least twice the lead-in width or spacing at opening  48  to enable the user to initially align the profiles, and thereby conveniently facilitates engaging the profiles.  
         [0017]    While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.