Patent ID: 8550717

Claim:
A resin bag for use with automatic bag filling equipment, the bag comprising: a closed bottom end and first and second side walls which are thermally bonded to one another along two opposed side edge portions along vertically extending seams, wherein the first side wall is formed from an open mesh material and a reinforcing strip that is thermally bonded to the open mesh material along a horizontally extending seam, the reinforcing strip being formed of a resin film material, the open mesh material has an upper edge, the reinforcing strip has inner and outer faces, opposed side edges, a lower edge, and an upper edge, the upper edge of the reinforcing strip is located sufficiently above the upper edge of the open mesh material to form an extension at least a portion of which faces the second side wall, the lower edge of the reinforcing strip is located beneath the upper edge of the open mesh material, at least substantially an entire portion of the first side wall that extends from the bottom edge of the reinforcing strip to the top of the portion of extension of the reinforcing strip that faces the second side wall can lie flat against the second side wall, and wherein the opposed side edges of the reinforcing strip are thermally bonded directly to a resin film material of the second side wall along seams including a film-to-film bond extending at least the majority of the width of the portion of the extension of the reinforcing strip that faces the second side wall, wherein the film-to-film bond formed between the protruding portion of the reinforcing strip and the second side wall is sufficiently strong to at least substantially reduce side seam failure during automated bag filling and subsequent handling.