Gas separation – Flexible or collapsible bag type – Valved – self-closing – or apparatus contained bag closing means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-27
2004-05-11
Pham, Minh-Chau T. (Department: 1724)
Gas separation
Flexible or collapsible bag type
Valved, self-closing, or apparatus contained bag closing means
C055S369000, C055SDIG002, C055SDIG003, C015S347000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06733555
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention finds use in the field of collection bags, such as those used in vacuum cleaners and other debris collection devices and more particularly, this invention relates to a rigid collar which is attached to a vacuum cleaner collection bag which can be sealed by the user upon removal from the output nozzle of the vacuum cleaner.
2. Description of Prior Art Disposable vacuum bags for use in a vacuum cleaner are characteristically provided with collars for attachment to the vacuum outlet nozzle. Recently, some collar designs have included closures such that, when the vacuum bag is removed from the vacuum cleaner after use, the bag may be closed or sealed at the collar to retain therein the dirt and other particulate matter trapped in the bag. While great creativity, time and effort have been directed to the provision of a dependable automatically closable collar—that is, a collar which is reliably self-sealing immediately upon removal from the outlet nozzle pipe of a vacuum cleaner—many disposable vacuum bag users still prefer the certainty of a manually closable collar—that is, a collar which the user himself or herself seals after removal of the vacuum bag from the outlet nozzle.
Over time, a variety of manually closable collars have been designed and placed available on the market. Many designs require the presence of a portion enabling movement of a closure member from one location to another. It has been found that the provision of an easily flexible collar portion results in a complex and hence costly collar. This is particularly true with collars comprised of two or more separate pieces that are bonded to form a complete collar. While most basic vacuum bags may have only a one-ply die cut or a two-ply sandwiched collar, some of the manually closable constructions require additional ply layers, thus increasing the material cost and manufacturing expense of producing such bags. Finally, in the known three-ply collars of manually closable bags not requiring a flexible collar portion, higher production costs are involved. Once the collar has been appropriately folded, the fold between the closure member and another ply of the collar must be cut in order to free the closure member for movement relative to the remainder of the collar. This extra processing step entails additional manufacturing expense as well as the waste of a certain amount of the raw material since a fold between the closure member and another ply must be cut away and discarded.
One-piece, three-ply designs are well known in the art, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,725,620 and 5,772,712 to Perea et al. However, such collars, while improvements over the previous art, still require numerous production punches and cuts to produce the finished piece.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a manually closable collar for a vacuum cleaner bag, which collar is economical to and easy to manufacture, in that a minimal number of post assembly cuts and punches are made and material wasted.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a collar that is simple for the end user to operate.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a collar that adequately seals the filled vacuum cleaner bag such that a minimal amount of collected material is spilt or otherwise lost.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
To attain the objects described above according to this invention, there is provided a collar for a vacuum cleaner bag having a user operated closure. The collar is formed from a blank of relatively rigid material and is folded to define first and second full outer panels, and a middle panel having a fixed raceway element which is adhesively secured to a first outer panel and a second outer panel, each of the outer panels having openings or apertures. A slider element is securely attached to the raceway element during the assembly process by retention bands of collar blank material and has containing an aperture thereon which is aligned with the apertures of the outer panels when in a closed position. The retention bands of collar material are cut through one or both of the outer panels, releasing the slider element such the slider element can be moved by a user from an open position to a closed position causing the apertures of said first and second outer panels to be occluded.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention wherein reference is specifically made to the drawings.
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Pham Minh-Chau T.
Piper Rudnick LLP
Wildwood Industries, Inc.
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