Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Packaged or wrapped product – Having consumer oriented diverse utility
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-01
2001-09-18
Bhat, Nina (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Packaged or wrapped product
Having consumer oriented diverse utility
C426S118000, C426S129000, C383S070000, C383S071000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06290998
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a closure or tie, in particular for a cooking bag containing edible food contents.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known in the art of cooking to provide a flexibly adjustable closure for tying a bag shut so that edible food contents therein do not escape therefrom during high heating and boiling steps.
An exemplary prior art closure and bag are shown in
FIGS. 1A-1D
and
2
. As seen in
FIG. 1A
, an 11″×17″ cooking bag
10
made of clear flexible plastic, such as nylon nucleated film, is folded tightly into a two-inch square. In this folded condition, the bag
10
is about one-half inch thick. Each fabricated bag
10
is capable of withstanding a desired force or pressure, for example, holding a minimum of 18″ of water pressure when tested. An adjustable closure
12
, preferably a colored nylon tie, is placed inside the bag
10
prior to the last fold. The bag
10
with the closure
12
inside is then secured in its folded condition by a pressure sensitive label
14
.
The adjustable closure
12
is shown in its flat, laid-out condition in FIG.
1
B. The closure
12
has a shape similar to an arrow with a thin head
12
a,
a long midsection
12
b,
and a wide tail
12
c.
The head
12
a
has a longitudinal slot
12
d
in a widened portion
12
e
which joins the midsection
12
b.
A plurality of identical cutouts
12
f
is punched along a length of the midsection
12
b
to make the closure
12
adjustable to a selected one of the cutouts
12
f.
The tail
12
c
has a noncircular catch
12
g
cut therein.
A top view of the label
14
is shown with two sets of instructions printed thereon in FIG.
1
C. The label
14
has an oblong shape with rounded ends
14
a
and
14
b.
On a main body
14
c,
a first set of instructions
14
d
is printed. A second set of instructions
14
e
is printed on the second rounded end
14
b.
FIG. 1D
illustrates a bottom view of the label
14
. An adhesive
14
f
covers the first rounded end
14
a
and the main body
14
c
while the second rounded end
14
b
has an ungummed portion
14
g.
FIG. 2
depicts the prior art device in use. To assemble the bag into this arrangement, the ungummed portion
14
g
of the second rounded end
14
b
is first gripped by the user and the label
14
is peeled back from the folded bag
10
in the direction of an arrow A. The bag
10
in
FIG. 1A
is then unfolded to its full 11″×17″ size and the closure
12
is removed. The bag
10
in
FIG. 2
is then opened at one end
10
a
opposite to a sealed end
10
b
and, after edible food contents
16
to be baked or otherwise cooked are placed inside the opened bag
10
, the user grabs the bag
10
near to its end
10
a
and bunches up the bag
10
to form a neck
10
c
which is then encircled by the closure
12
. Subsequently, the user threads the thin head
12
a
through the catch
12
g
and pulls the closure
12
tightly therethrough until one of the cutouts
12
f
gets caught in the catch
12
g
and the closure
12
cannot be pulled through any farther.
With this arrangement, the bag
10
is closed as tightly as the user pulls the closure
12
through the catch
12
g.
However, one user may pull the closure
12
more or less tightly than another so that the particular cutout
12
f
which gets caught in the catch
12
g
can vary from user to user. Unfortunately, with this prior art device, sometimes the user does not pull the closure
12
tightly enough and the food contents
16
leak out of the bag
10
. In fact, if the closure is very loose, it can slip off the bag, leaving the bag mouth unfastened. At other times, the user pulls the closure
12
excessively so that the closure
12
either breaks or tears, or the bag
10
bursts during cooking because steam cannot vent therefrom through the one end
10
a.
If steam cannot escape from bag
10
during high temperature cooking, perforations must be provided in the bag to prevent rupture. However, user's may inadvertently fail to perforate bag
10
before cooking.
Thus, it remains a problem in the prior art to provide a closure which will consistently seal a cooking bag so that the open end thereof will be constricted sufficiently to prevent spillage of the food contents therefrom while steam is also allowed to vent from the bag during cooking.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a nonadjustable closure with a single eyelet and a matched pair of notches for engaging the eyelet so that a cooking bag may be sealed to a tightness predetermined by the manufacturer.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a nonadjustable closure for a cooking bag which will sufficiently constrict the bag opening to prevent spillage of food contents but which will also allow steam to vent from the bag.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1945932 (1934-02-01), Caley
patent: 3365753 (1968-01-01), Prenner et al.
patent: 3867249 (1975-02-01), Vitale et al.
patent: 3881023 (1975-04-01), Wilson
patent: 3974960 (1976-08-01), Mitchell
patent: 4077562 (1978-03-01), Ballin
patent: 4477950 (1984-10-01), Cisek et al.
patent: 4510649 (1985-04-01), Yudis et al.
patent: 4881301 (1989-11-01), Sweeney et al.
patent: 4942644 (1990-07-01), Rowley
patent: 5502877 (1996-04-01), Yocum
patent: 5878520 (1999-03-01), Milbrandt et al.
Barbour Janice B.
Layton Larry L.
Minnick Christina K.
Speight Jeanne B.
Toohey Richard D.
Bhat Nina
McCormick & Company, Inc.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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