Flexible bags – Tamper indicating
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-26
2001-03-06
Shoap, Allan N. (Department: 3727)
Flexible bags
Tamper indicating
C383S066000, C383S084000, C383S042000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06196716
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
Tamper indicating bags are used to transfer valuable or sensitive contents. These are usually plastic bags which provide some type of indication if the bag has been opened in transit. Thus, from the point of sealing to the point of delivery, no one should be able to access the bag and remove its contents without being discovered.
There are many different tamper indicating bags. Most of these have openings in the top edge of the bag with an upper flap which can be folded over and adhere to the bag closing the opening. Exemplary bags are disclosed in Whelan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,018, Sack et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,196, Sack, U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,621, Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,940, Voto, U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,547, Edelman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,196, Makrauer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,256.
Generally the adhesive on the upper flap has some type of printing beneath it. Thus, if someone tries to pull the flap from the bag, frequently using refrigerants to make the adhesive brittle, it will pull the printing off and be detectable.
Frequently these flaps are separately formed and welded to the upper portion of the bag. Alternately the bag itself can be formed with a flap portion which is subsequently coated with an adhesive. These separately formed flaps are expensive relative to the cost of the bag.
Further, a thief can frequently access the contents of a bag through a very small opening that might remain at the very top. Thus, with top-opening bags, if the bag is not properly sealed, it will not be tamper-proof.
A side seal bag is disclosed in WO-91/15406 entitled Security Bag Sealed by Silicone Rubber Adhesive. This reference discloses a side seal bag which is formed by folding a sheet of plastic on itself to form a front side and a rear side. The rear side is longer than the front side and provides an upper flap. A slit is formed in the front side below the top edge to form a side opening bag. Adhesive on the flap is designed to cover the opening. There is also a layer of printing immediately below where the adhesive would contact the pouch. Thus if someone were to use solvent to access the contents, they would dissolve a portion of the printing, thereby being detected.
This reference fails to disclose any method of manufacturing the bag. Further there is no disclosure of forming any indicia over the opening itself where the adhesive would bond to the bag. This is quite critical but is obviously problematic with a side seal bag where the adhesive is designed to cover both above and below the opening. The bag disclosed in this reference would fail to detect a refrigerant used to disable the adhesive.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is premised upon the realization that a side seal bag can be formed by folding a sheet of plastic onto itself and forming two side seals and an upper seal with a flap portion remaining above the upper seal. A perforation is formed on the same side of the sheet as the flap slightly below the top seal. The flap portion as well as the area around the opening is not treated with an electrostatic discharge or other adhesion promoting process whereas the remaining portion of the bag is. Indicia or ink is applied to the upper flap and around the perforated opening and adhesive applied to the upper flap.
To use the bag the perforated opening is pulled apart to provide an opening and items are placed in the bag. A protective strip is removed from the adhesive and the flap folded over the opening sealing the bag. If anyone attempts to open the bag using refrigerants, solvents or the like, they will disturb the indicia on both the upper flap and from around the opening.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3717244 (1973-02-01), Smith
patent: 3942713 (1976-03-01), Olson et al.
patent: 4483018 (1984-11-01), Whelan
patent: 4509196 (1985-04-01), Sak et al.
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patent: 5056930 (1991-10-01), Mestetsky
patent: 5103979 (1992-04-01), Hustad
patent: 5135313 (1992-08-01), Bowman
patent: 5167455 (1992-12-01), Forman
patent: 5287960 (1994-02-01), Kalb et al.
patent: 5348400 (1994-09-01), Haiss et al.
patent: 5908243 (1999-06-01), Hanning
patent: B-17066/92 (1992-12-01), None
patent: 302144 (1989-02-01), None
patent: 2238291 (1991-05-01), None
patent: 2243143 (1991-10-01), None
patent: 2265883 (1993-10-01), None
patent: 91/041999 (1991-04-01), None
patent: WO91/15406 (1991-10-01), None
Audit Secutiry Bags, Inc. Catalog, Tracer Bags on p. 7, 1998.
Amko Plastics Inc.
Hylton Robin
Shoap Allan N.
Wood Herron & Evans LLP
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