Produce bag bundle and belt mounted support therefore

Details Produce bag bundle and belt mounted support therefore Produce bag bundle and belt mounted support therefore

2000-02-16

2002-04-23

Smith, Scott A. (Department: 3721)

Package making

Aids to manual packing

C206S554000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06374577

ABSTRACT:

This invention relates to produce bags used for packaging heads of produce, such as lettuce or cauliflower in the field in a ready to market carton array. More specifically, an improved bag bundle and belt mounted support for the bag bundle is disclosed.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Produce, such as “iceberg” lettuce, is presently picked and trimmed in the field in a ready to market condition. Taking the case of lettuce, the lettuce head is cut from the root system and the outer four to six non-palatable leaves trimmed from the head. When trimmed in the field, the produce is bagged in a ventilated plastic bag, placed in a carton, shipped to a vacuum cooler and cooled, and thereafter express shipped—usually by truck—to market.
This type of picking and packing has many advantages. Specifically, when the outer non-palatable leaves of lettuce are stripped in the field, the weight shipped per carton is reduced. Taking the case of a so-called 24-head carton of iceberg lettuce, shipping weight decreases from 54 pounds to about 44 pounds. Additionally, and over the prior art “naked” pack—where the outer non-palatable lettuce leaves are not stripped away—there is no need for the grocer to trim the lettuce head at the market. Instead, the lettuce can be taken from the carton in the bag to which the lettuce was harvested and sold to the consumer without further processing.
This invention relates to the field wrapping of such produce, and specifically iceberg lettuce. So that the prior art can be completely understood, I first will describe the individual lettuce bags are manufactured. Second, I will set forth how the bags are bundled together so that they may be rapidly filled. Third, I will set forth how such bags are filled with produce, typically lettuce. Fourth and finally, I will set forth the practical problems encountered with this prior art.
The individual produce bags have a front panel, a rear panel, and a bottom gusset, which gusset forms a fold protruding into the bag at the bag bottom. The sides of the individual bags have continuous side seams joining the front and rear panels. The bottom gusset is closed at the sides of the bags by the continuous side seams and thus is fastened protruding into and occupying the bottom of the bag.
The bags have a uniform array of holes permitting cooling of the head of lettuce in a vacuum cooler, preventing spoiling contact of the lettuce head with other heads in the carton when shipped, and finally enabling the consumer to transport the lettuce home. The bag into which the lettuce is initially inserted is the bag from which the lettuce is removed in the kitchen of the consumer.
Two features of the lettuce bags can be described as unusual. First, and with respect to any labels or UPC bar codes placed on the bags, the individual bags are manufactured inside-out! Simply stated, before lettuce is placed in the bags, the bag must be reversed so that what is the inside of the bag as manufactured becomes the outside of the bag when it is filled with produce—preferably lettuce.
Second, the rear panel of such bags extends upward and beyond the front panel of such bags. Although the front panel at the top is parallel to the rear panel at the top, it is in the order of two inches below the top of the rear panel of such bags. As will hereafter be made clear, only the rear panel is utilized in forming such bags into a “wicket” or group of such bags.
The bags are dispensed to the individual pickers in a group. In the prior art, all the bags necessary to form a group are stacked overlying one another with the rear panels registered to one another. Two evenly spaced holes are punched in the rear panels of the bag tops where the tops protrude above the front panels. The evenly spaced holes have sufficient diameter so that they can accommodate a supporting wire. It is this supporting wire which enables the bags to be supported in a group of about fifty bags.
The supporting wire is bent in a “U” shaped configuration. The two sides of the “U” are threaded through the two holes through the rear panels of the group of bags. The bottom medial portion of the “U” faces the inside of the rear panel of the first to be dispensed bag from the bag wicket. The wire ends of the sides of the “U” shaped wire protrude outward from the last bag to be dispensed.
Two cardboard panels are used with each group of bags. At the front of the bag pack held in place by the bottom central portion of the “U” is a cardboard strip, which strip is about the size of the upward protruding rear panel of the bags. On the other side of the bag pack there is provided a second cardboard panel which panel has about the same size and shape as the rear panel of the bags. Finally, two rubber grommets are threaded over the protruding ends of the “U” shaped members. These rubber grommets trap and hold the rear cardboard panel and the bags as a unit on the “U” shaped wire.
The use of the group of bags in the field is not intuitive. First, the protruding ends of the wire is bent downward about 90°. These bent wire ends are then used to maintain the group of bags to the belt of the picker.
In picking and bagging produce—preferably lettuce—the picker first severs the head of lettuce from the root system. Thereafter, the outer non-palatable four to six leaves are trimmed from the head. Taking the case of a right handed picker, the head of lettuce is held in the left hand and trimmed with the right hand. It is after such trimming that the bag is ready to have the lettuce inserted to a bag.
The reader will remember that the bag has literally been manufactured “inside-out.” Assuming that the head is held in the left hand of the picker, the picker pulls open the bag mouth with his right hand. Grasping the bag at the front panel, the bag then forms a continuous band through which the head of lettuce is inserted. When the bag is inserted upward through this interval, the bags is inverted with the label side on the outside. It will be understood that at this juncture the bag is literally upside down but now disposed right side out!
The left hand of the picker thereafter inserts the head of lettuce upwardly into the bag through the lower open mouth of the bag. Continuing the same motion, the bag is severed at its holes in the rear panel from the “U” shaped wire. The picker then hands the bag wrapped head of lettuce for further processing. Such processing may include mounting the bag to a grasping mechanism—usually a split PVC pipe. Finally, taping shut of the bag usually occurs (typically by another worker) followed by placement of the head to a carton for cooling, and shipping.
This rather sophisticated and elaborate prior art has difficulty. First, the “U” shaped wire, the cardboard panels, and the rubber grommets are all discarded in the field. There results in the wake of this operation, trash that is not natural to the field from which the next crop of produce—here lettuce—must be grown.
More importantly, the prior art mounting of such bags has proven other than optimum. First, the cardboard panels often become wet and soggy—especially when the conditions in the field are wet and soggy. In this wet and soggy condition, the cardboard panels no longer are planar. Likewise, the supported group of bags is no longer planar. In the usual case the bags tend to bunch and tangle together. Such bunching and tangling includes the bags “walking” along the bottom “U” shaped section of the wire. The bags at their respective supporting holes come in close contact one with another. The picker then has grave difficulty in singulating the individual bags from the group. More particularly, the large target formed by the back panel of the bag and the front edge of the bag cannot be made. With the lack of sigulation occurring from this bunching along the “U” shaped wire, picking as optimally described above cannot occur.
Finally, wind conditions can also interfere with the bags. In such conditions, the bags again slide together over the supporting wire at outside of the “U” shaped wire. The bags again become a tangled i

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