Flexible bags – Lifting or suspending element – Hanging element
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-02
2001-12-11
Garbe, Stephen P. (Department: 3727)
Flexible bags
Lifting or suspending element
Hanging element
C206S287000, C383S064000, C383S087000, C383S103000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06328469
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to storage bags which are especially adapted for use with conventional clothes hangers.
The prior art has developed a variety of clothing or storage bags for use in protecting clothing, linens or the like from dust, insects, and other environmental factors during storage. See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,129,857, 3,776,372, 3,782,622, 3,834,497, and 5,065,864. These patents disclose garment storage bags and containers that can be suspended from a suitable hook or closet rod by a hanger device attached at the top of the bag. The disclosure of these publications and of all other publications referred to herein are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
However, when clothes hangers are used to suspend the storage bags, they usually extend through a hole at or near the top of the bag, thereby exposing the clothing to some aspects of the environment during storage. Even when the clothing is hermetically sealed during storage, prior art designs have not provided convenient attachments to conventional type hangers. Some prevent the bags from being stored without a hanger when not being used. As a result, the bags take up more space when folded or otherwise stored away, and the hanger cannot be used in a conventional manner for other purposes.
Further, some of the better hangable prior art storage bags have an undesirably high cost of manufacture. Still others mount the hanger in a position that requires the bag entry to be inconveniently low, or unnecessarily elongate the design.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved hangable storage bags.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one aspect, the invention provides a storage bag. It has a flexible envelope with a top and a bottom bounded by sidewalls. The sidewalls are preferably made of a thermoplastic film and define a cavity. The top has a mouth allowing access to the cavity, and there is a closure mechanism extendable along the mouth for opening and closing the envelope.
There is also a side flap having a top, a bottom and sides (also preferably made of a thermoplastic film). The flap is joined to an outside surface of one of the envelope sidewalls along the top and sides of the flap to define an inverted pocket sized to be able to receive a clothes hanger. The pocket has a bottom opening for permitting the insertion of the clothes hanger in the inverted pocket and a top opening of lesser extent for receiving a hook of the clothes hanger without allowing the clothes hanger to pass through the top of the inverted pocket. When the hanger has been inserted in the pocket, the bag can be suspended by the hanger with the envelope sealed off from outside air in one embodiment, or in another embodiment with the envelope contents controllably exposed to desired vapors.
In preferred forms the closure mechanism is a zipper, a hook and loop fastener, has at least one button fastener, or has opposing fastener strips with interlocking projections. In an especially preferred form, the closure mechanism can have a slider capable of applying an inward force to the opposing fastener strips when sliding in one direction, so as to thereby couple the interlocking projections, and applying an outward force to the fastener strips when sliding in an opposite direction, so as to thereby disengage the interlocking projections. In other forms of the invention a sidewall of the envelope includes perforations adjacent to the side flap so as to allow air to enter the cavity from a space between the side flap and the sidewall. Entry of air into this space can be controlled by a second closure mechanism extendable along the bottom opening of the inverted pocket. The second closure mechanism preferably has opposing fastener strips with interlocking projections and can form a hermetic seal.
The bag can be made in various ways. For example, the sidewalls can be made from separate panels having top, bottom and side edges, with the bottom and side edges being joined together, and where the side flap is a separately formed panel of lesser dimension joined to the outside surface of a sidewall at the top and side edges. Alternatively, the bag can be formed from a single continuous thermoplastic sheet that has been folded to form the sidewalls and side flap. The bag is typically combined with a clothes hanger disposed within the inverted pocket, but can be used without a hanger if desired.
The invention also provides a method of making such plastic storage bags involving joining two generally rectangular panels of thermoplastic film at their side and bottom edges to form an envelope having a mouth at its top. One affixes a closure mechanism along the mouth of the envelope for opening and closing the envelope, cuts a notch proximate the center of a top edge of a flap suitable to receive a hook of a clothes hanger, and attaches the flap to an outside surface of one of the panels with the notch adjacent to the mouth of the envelope so as to thereby form an inverted pocket having an open bottom.
The invention also provides another method of making such plastic storage bags. One folds a single plastic sheet along a first line to form first and second sidewalls sharing a bottom at the first line, the first sidewall being longer than the second sidewall to define a flap area. One joins the first and second sidewalls at opposing side edges to define an envelope having a mouth at the top, affixes a closure mechanism along the mouth of the envelope for opening and closing the envelope, cuts a hook opening in the flap area suitable for receiving a hook of a clothes hanger, and folds the flap along a second line at the mouth of the envelope so that the flap is positioned adjacent to the first sidewall. One joins a top and sides of the flap to the first sidewall to define an inverted pocket.
In still another form the invention provides methods of using such plastic storage bags. One opens the closure mechanism at the mouth of the storage bag, positions stored items in the storage bag through the mouth, and then fastens the closure mechanism at the mouth of the storage bag. One then inserts a clothes hanger through a hanger opening at a bottom of the inverted pocket so a hook of the clothes hanger extends through the top opening, and suspends the storage bag by the hook of the clothes hanger.
It should be appreciated from this disclosure that a conventional hanger can be inserted into the pocket so that the storage bag can be hung from a conventional closet hanging bar or many other types of conventional hooks (e.g. those found in luggage). When desired the storage bag will be hermetically sealed to store a wide variety of natural and synthetic fabrics (e.g., clothing, bedding, draperies), as well as other storable items. On the other hand, if it is desired that air be permitted into and out of the bag for some time period, this can be achieved through one or more holes adjacent the inverted hanger pocket. Thereafter, the “breathing” system can be closed off.
These and still other advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the description of the preferred embodiments which follows. It should be appreciated that the following embodiments are merely the preferred embodiments. Thus, the claims should be looked to in order to judge the full scope of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2129857 (1938-09-01), Metzger
patent: 3776372 (1973-12-01), Lemelson
patent: 3782622 (1974-01-01), Montgomery
patent: 3834497 (1974-09-01), Furst
patent: 4000768 (1977-01-01), Siegel
patent: 4332347 (1982-06-01), Clayton
patent: 4580667 (1986-04-01), Herwood
patent: 4590610 (1986-05-01), Rhyne
patent: 5065864 (1991-11-01), Schmitt
patent: 5809621 (1998-09-01), McCree et al.
patent: 5836056 (1998-11-01), Porchia et al.
Garbe Stephen P.
S. C. Johnson Home Storage Inc.
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