Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi – Container making – Pliable container
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-07
2001-07-03
Gerrity, Stephen F. (Department: 3721)
Manufacturing container or tube from paper; or other manufacturi
Container making
Pliable container
C493S239000, C493S287000, C383S066000, C383S211000, C383S204000, C053S133300, C053S412000, C053S451000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254519
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a pillow type bag sealed with a tape adhered to any portion of a surface of the bag, and easily openable by taking an end of the tape with fingers and pulling it, and a method for producing the same. In particular, the present invention relates to a pillow type bag laterally openable in the vicinity of a laterally fused area of the bag.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-76354, the present inventor has proposed a bag in which both side portions of a film thermally fusible in both faces thereof are arranged close to each other, and covered with a separation tape which is fused with outer faces of both side portions of the film to form a cylindrical tube. Both end portions of the tube are then laterally fused. This bag can be easily opened by grasping an end of the tape with fingers and pulling it.
However, according to the above-mentioned technique, the resulting bag is longitudinally opened. Bags are preferably longitudinally opened in some cases, and preferably laterally opened in the other cases, depending on the contents thereof. When the lateral opening is preferred, the above-mentioned technique can not achieve the desired results.
Recently, automatic filling and closing machines have gained wide usage for producing a flexible package. In particular, a film is supplied while being longitudinally fused, and the respective steps of filling the longitudinally fused film with the contents, laterally fusing the film and cutting the laterally fused area are performed in sequence. There is one longitudinally fused area on the back of the resulting bag and no longitudinally fused area on a surface of the bag, and both the upper and lower ends are laterally fused. This is a so-called pillow type bag, and has widely prevailed.
If this pillow type bag could be opened at its upper portion in a direction approximately parallel with the laterally fused area by pulling the tape, such bag would demonstrate both desirable sealing performance and ease of opening. However, it was heretofore difficult to produce such a bag even by the technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-76354.
Moreover, for the contents, it is generally desirable to laterally open the sealed bag from one end thereof in the longitudinal direction in many cases. Accordingly, a bag has been desired which can be easily opened in parallel with a laterally fused area by pulling an opening fusing tape.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method for producing a tape-sealed bag by an automatic filling and closing process for a flexible package in which a film is supplied while being longitudinally fused, and the respective steps of filling the longitudinally fused film with the contents, laterally fusing the film and cutting the laterally fused area are performed, comprising intermittently forming a slit or a hole in the supplied film at a site from unwinding of the film to the longitudinal fusing during interruption of the supply of the film in the steps of lateral fusing and cutting, and placing an opening fusing tape over said slit or hole to weld around the circumference of said slit or hole. The invention further provides an easily openable tape-sealed bag produced by this method.
In a vertical type automatic filling and closing machine for flexible package used in the present invention, the bag forming speed is usually 40 to 45 bags/minute, and up to about 60 bags/minute, and the supply of the film is interrupted in the steps of lateral fusing and cutting. Utilizing this interruption, the slit or the hole is formed in the lateral direction of the film, and this opening portion is covered with the opening fusing tape to weld around the perimeter thereof in the next interruption. The present inventor has confirmed that such processing can be performed over a short period of 1 second or less, thus completing the present invention.
The film in which the slit or the hole is formed, and with which the opening fusing tape covering the slit or the hole is fused, is supplied as such to a usual automatic filling and closing machine for a flexible package, thereby obtaining the tape-sealed bag of the present invention. The tape-sealed bag of the present invention is unique in that the slit and the tape are provided in a direction running approximately parallel, i.e. codirectional, with the laterally fused area of the pillow type bag. Conventionally, a slit in parallel with a longitudinally fused area could be formed. In this case, however, a horizontal type automatic filling and closing machine for a flexible package had to be used, resulting in poor efficiency.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3098601 (1963-07-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 4709399 (1987-11-01), Sanders
patent: 5318818 (1994-06-01), Sjostrom
patent: 5459978 (1995-10-01), Weiss et al.
patent: 7-76354 (1995-03-01), None
Desai Hemant M
Gerrity Stephen F.
Jordan and Hamburg LLP
Kabushiki Kaisha Hoseki Planning
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