Flexible bags – Bag having means to facilitate opening it by severing bag... – Including means for reclosing the bag
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-24
2001-03-27
Pascua, Jes F. (Department: 3727)
Flexible bags
Bag having means to facilitate opening it by severing bag...
Including means for reclosing the bag
C383S061100, C383S906000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206571
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to packaging for packaging pourable contents such as breakfast cereal, snack food product and the like, and more particularly to a flexible cereal bag provided with a reclosable pour spout.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Packaging of breakfast cereal is customarily effected by sealing the dry cereal product within a plastic bag and storing the filled bag within a suitably sized cardboard box or carton. A disadvantage with this type of packaging is that once the sealed bag is opened, it is difficult to reseal the bag in an airtight manner necessary to maintain freshness of the cereal product.
In order to close a conventional cereal bag after the sealed top end has been opened, the user will typically fold the opened end of the bag over onto it self one or more times. Closing the bag in this way is awkward. Oftentimes, the user will simply stuff the opened end of the bag down into the box without regard to properly sealing the opening. Once opened, the conventional cereal bag is never again airtight. In humid climates, in particular, exposure of the dry cereal product to air quickly compromises the freshness of the cereal product. Furthermore, as additional serving portions of the cereal product are emptied from the bag with each use, it becomes more difficult to effectively seal close the open end of the bag by rolling the bag within the depth of the box or carton.
Another problem with conventional cereal bags is that it is difficult to open the sealed top end of the bag without also ripping or tearing the side panel walls of the bag. An unevenly opened bag often has an overhanging portion that blocks or traps cereal during pouring. In the case where the bag is used as a liner within a box, the overhanging portion of the ripped open bag often also causes spillage of the cereal contents into the crevice space between the bag and the box as the box is returned to the upright position. A flexible bag formed with an easily openable reclosable pour spout that overcomes the above-noted problems of the prior art would be desirable.
Flexible plastic bags or cereal box liners having a reclosable fastener or zipper for packaging cereal are known from the prior art. Examples of prior art flexible plastic bags having a reclosable fastener are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,759,642, 4,946,289, and 5,080,253. In each of the bags disclosed is these patent documents, the reclosable fastener extends transversely across the entire width of the bag. None of these patent documents disclose or teach a bag having a reclosable fastener or associated structure that is configured to form a natural pour spout when the zipper material is opened. Quaker Oats currently markets a cereal bag having a zipper-type reclosable fastener under the trademark ZIP PAK. Like the prior art noted above, the reclosable fastener of the ZIP PAK bag extends across the entire width of the bag. The ZIP PAK bags, like most cereal bags on the market these days, are mass produced from a single web of film material using conventional in-line vertical form, fill and seal (VFFS) packaging equipment. As a result of the VFFS production process, the overlying front and rear panel walls of the bag are joined together by a joining fin seal that runs the longitudinal length of the bag. In the ZIP PAK bags, in particular, the joining fin seal bisects the zipper-type reclosable fastener across the top of the bag. Thus, there is a tendency for the joining fin seal to obstruct zipper closure action as the user applies thumb and finger pressure in a sweeping motion across the length of the zipper-type reclosable fastener. This obstruction often results in the bag not being completely sealed. Difficulty in airtight resealing a bag with such “full width” zip closures is compounded in the case where the bag is also used as a box liner.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,953,708 and 5,060,803 disclose flexible bags that form pour spouts when opened. The bags in these patent documents lack any resealable structure for the pour spouts and they require the sides of the bag to be gussetted which increases the cost of manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,344 discloses a flexible package for enclosing liquid or granular products which includes a tubular plastic bag and a pleated reclosable pour spout that is appended to the side edge of the bag. A bag of this configuration is complex in design and would be extremely expensive and difficult to mass manufacture using conventional VFFS equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,626 discloses a bag with a corner tear-away pour spout opening. This patent teaches to reseal the bag after each use by attaching a separate adhesive patch to cover the corner pour spout opening. A drawback with this resealing approach is that the glue on the adhesive patch tends to loose its effectiveness after repeated uses. Also, since the adhesive patch is separable from the bag, it may become lost through carelessness of the user, thereby leaving the user without a convenient means for resealing the bag.
Accordingly, a bag having a pour spout which includes integral structure or means for resealing the pour spout and which is also easily mass produced using conventional VFFS equipment would constitute a significant advance in the art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide a flexible bag (or box liner) for packaging pourable contents such as dry cereal or snack food product, and wherein the bag is formed with an integral reclosable pour spout that is easy to open, pour cereal from, seal, and close.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a design for a plastic bag (or box liner) having a reclosable pour spout which is simple in construction, low in cost, and well suited for mass production using conventional VFFS techniques.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the invention comprises a four corner bag constructed of flexible thermoplastic sheet or film material having overlying front and rear wall panels and a sealed bottom end. The upper portion of the bag includes a first closure region terminating in a top sealed end, a second closure region disposed inwardly of the top sealed end, and a perforated seal or tear strip extending across the width of the bag and located between the first and second closure regions. The second closure region includes an inner heat seal which extends approximately halfway across the width of the bag and a reclosable fastener which extends the remaining distance across the bag. The inner heat seal is oriented transversely across the bag while the reclosable fastener is upwardly angled so that it forms a natural pour spout during use. The path of the tear strip across the bag width preferably closely parallels the layout of the inner heat seal and reclosable fastener in order to permit convenient access to the reclosable fastener upon removal of the tear strip.
In the case where the bag is to be received within a close fitting carton or box for use as a box liner, the length of the bag is designed to be longer than the depth of the box so that the upper bag portion containing the angled reclosable fastener extends above the opened box top for ease in opening and closing and unobstructed pouring through the naturally formed pour spout.
In accordance with an advantageous aspect of the invention, the partial zipper-type reclosable fastener, by extending across only a portion of the bag width, will require less of the costly reclosable zipper material as compared to the full width zipper fasteners of the prior art bags, thereby achieving a reduction in production costs.
According to another preferred embodiment, the partial zipper-type reclosable fastener is oriented at an upward or downward angle relative to the transversely oriented inner heat seal so as to form a natural pour spout upon opening of the tear strip.
According to another preferred embodiment, both the inner heat seal and partial zipper-type reclosable fastener are colinear and oriented along an upward angle to form a natural pour spout upon o
Pascua Jes F.
Peters Verny Jones & Biksa, LLP
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