Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TEA BAG WITH INNER TAG
BI-~~I~GI~OITI~~h OF THE Il~~EI~1TI0I'~T
[O1] There are many products or packages which provide hidden items or
indicia. The
hidden items or indicia are either hidden inside the product or appear on a
surface of the
product upon activation. Examples include toys in cereal boxes, fortunes in
fortune cookies,
or words which appear by rubbing, providing heat, water, etc., to a surface of
a product.
[OZ] In the case of tea bags, standard external tags have had indicia, such as
words, quotes
or logos applied to them. In U.S. Patent No. 3,989,279 to Levy, similar hidden
indicia is
placed on an outer surface of the tea bag itself. Thus, for example, when the
surface of the
bag gets stained by brewing tea, words or symbols appear. However, the hidden
indicia
disposed on the surface of the bag may get rubbed-off or worn-off prior to
use,.which would
result in only partial words or symbols being displayed to a user upon
activation. A non-
toxic, durable, heat resistant, water-resistant, inexpensive ink that changes
from invisible to
visible from tea stain though common tea preparation techniques, would
probably be very
challenging at best.
[03] It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a bag,
such as a tea bag,
that provides a visible message to a user from a tag within the bag upon
submersing the bag
in a liquid.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[04] In an illustrative, non-limiting implementation of the present invention,
a tea bag is
provided. The tea bag includes a sealed pouch, an internal tag, and dried tea
leaves disposed
inside the sealed pouch along with the internal tag. The tag may alternatively
be placed
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internallybetween the lobes of a multiple-lobed tea bag. The internal tag has
text, which may
include letters, words, symbols, images or other indicia, imprinted on it, or
cut into it, for
example, by a punching method, or applied by any other method, so that when
the sealed
pouch becomes wet and translucent, the hidden text is exposed to the user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[05] Aspects of illustrative, non-limiting embodiments of the present
invention will
become more apparent by describing in detail embodiments thereof with
reference to the
attached drawings in which:
[06] Figure 1 shows a front view of a tea bag in accordance with a non-
limiting
embodiment of the present invention with the internal tag hidden;
[07] Figure 2 shows a front view of a tea bag in accordance with a non-
limiting
embodiment of the present invention with the internal tag exposed;
[0~] Figure 3 shows a front view of a string-free tea bag in accordance with a
non-limiting
embodiment of the present invention having an internal tag.
[09] Figure 4 shows a front view of a non-limiting embodiment of the present
invention
with the multiple-lobed tea bag with the internal tag exposed.
[10] Figure 5 shows a side view of a non-limiting embodiment of the present
invention
with the multiple-lobed tea bag with the internal tag exposed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[1I] The following description of illustrative non-limiting embodiments of the
invention
discloses specific configurations and components. However, the embodiments are
merely
exemplary of the present invention, and thus, the specific features described
below are merely
used to more easily describe such embodiments and to provide an overall
understanding of
the present invention.
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[12] As shown in Fig. 1, tea bag 1 includes a sealed pouch 30 containing a
dried substance,
such as dried tea leaves 70. The tea bag 1 further contains an external
gripping tag 10 which
connects to a hidden internal tag 50 by means of a string 40, which extends
through an
unsealed portion 20 of the sealed pouch 30.
[13] The sealed pouch 30 can be made, for example, of any material currently
used to
manufacture tea bags, or any material having similar properties of a tea bag.
Specifically,
the material should be fairly opaque when dry and translucent when wet.
Examples of
materials suitable for the pouch include a non-woven fiber fabric, a non-woven
cellulose
material, and unbleached paper. In addition, the sealed pouch 30 can be made
larger than a
standard tea bag if so desired. Also, dried substances, other than dried tea
leaves 70, may be
disposed inside the sealed pouch 30. An example of such a dried substance is
ground coffee.
[14] The external tag 10 can be made of virtually any material, including
material currently
used for tags, either on tea bags or other products. The tag material must be
durable enough
to allow a user to grip and pull the tea bag 1 from a container of liquid
without the tag
breaking or tearing. The external tag 10 can also be any desired size. In an
alternate
embodiment, no external tag is provided and the user pulls the bag from a
container of liquid
by pulling the end of string 40.
[15] The internal tag 50 should preferably be made of a suitable material on
which printing
can be applied (printing will be discussed in more detail below). Since the
internal tag 50 is
submerged along with the sealed pouch 30, it may be preferable to provide a
water-resistant
coating or laminate over the internal tag 50 either before or after a printing
process in order to
protect the printing from being damaged. As shown, the internal tag 50 is
rectangular,
however, the internal tag 50 can be formed in any desired shape or size to fit
inside the sealed
pouch 30.
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[16] The string 40 can be any type of string, including string currently used
in the
manufacture of tea bags. The string 40 may be slidably coupled to the sealed
pouch 30 at the
unsealed portion 20. In other words, the string 40 can freely move in an
upward direction
when pulled by the user. Such pulling action slides the internal tag 50 in an
upward direction
inside the sealed pouch 30. In an alternate embodiment, the unsealed portion
20 can be
omitted, so that sealed pouch 30 is sealed on all sides. In this embodiment,
the string 40 is
attached to the sealed pouch 30 during manufacturing and the string 40 would
not be capable
of sliding relative to the sealed pouch when the string is pulled. The
internal tag 50 remains
attached to string 40 in an upper portion of sealed pouch 30 at all times.
[17] Fig. 2 shows tea bag 1 with the internal tag 50 exposed, for example,
after it has been
pulled out of the tea leaves 70. As shown, "text" 60 is imprinted on the
internal tag 50. This
printing can be performed by using a standard printing process. The text 60
can include
logos, messages, questions, quotes, jokes, answers to jokes, different colors,
drawings or
other information based on a manufacturer's preference. Since the internal tag
50 will be
submerged in water along with the tea bag 1, for example, when making tea, the
text 60 must
be safe and non-toxic. For example, the text can be imprinted using dye-based
ink which is
fade resistant, water resistant and bleed resistant. Such types of ink are
well known and
easily accessible by those skilled in the art. In an alternate embodiment, the
text 60 can be a
punch design or cut-out design using a standard punch press method or laser-
cut method.
[I~] Refernng again to Fig. 1, the internal tag 50 is buried in the tea leaves
70. Since the
tea bag 1 is dry and fairly opaque, the text 60 on the internal tag 50 is
hidden from view of
the user. When the tea bag 1 is placed in a liquid, for instance water, to
make tea, the sealed
pouch 30 becomes translucent, and the tea leaves 70 tend to settle to the
bottom of the sealed
pouch 30. Since the string 40 is slidably coupled to the sealed pouch 30, a
user is able to pull
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the string 40 upward by the external tag 10 to slide the internal tag 50 to
the upper portion of
the sealed pouch 30, as shown in Fig. 2. This enables a user to read the
hidden text 60
imprinted on the internal tag 50 through the now translucent tea bag 1.
According to
additional embodiments, a question, beginning of a quote, a joke or riddle is
provided on the
external tag 10, with the ending or answer being provided on the hidden
internal tag 50.
Therefore, in accordance with certain embodiments, each tea bag 1 contains a
hidden surprise
to the delight and entertainment of the user or others in their company.
[l9] Fig. 3 shows another non-limiting embodiment of the present invention. In
this
embodiment, tea bag 2 does not have a string attached to it and has a circular
shaped sealed
pouch 90. Similar to the previous embodiments,, where a string is attached,
when the circular
shaped pouch 90 is wet, it becomes translucent and the wet tea leaves 70 tend
to settle to the
bottom of the pouch 90, as shown in Fig. 3. When a user manually pulls tea bag
2 out of the
cup of tea, the internal tag 80 containing the hidden text 60 will be revealed
since internal tag
80 does not travel to the bottom of the pouch 90 along with the tea leaves 70.
Similar to
previous embodiments, the internal tag 80 can contain text 60, defined as any
type of
information or image depending on a manufacturer's preference and can be made
in any
shape or size on at least one side of the tag.
[20] Fig. 4 shows a front view of a further non-limiting embodiment of the
present
invention. In this embodiment, tea bag 3 is comprised of multiple lobes, two
lobes (31a, 31b;
Fig. 5), in this example, containing a dried substance such as tea leaves 70.
The tag SO is
attached with a mechanism such as a staple 100 between the lobes adjacent to
the upper
portion of these lobes such that the text 60 is readable when the sealed pouch
30 becomes wet
and the tea leaves 70 settle to the bottom of the lobes.
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[21] Fig. 5 shows a side view of the embodiment of Fig. 4 having a tea bag 3
with the
configuration of two Iobes 31a, 31b more clearly apparent, such as is
sometimes used with
existing tea bag designs. alternatively, at least tag 50 can be placed inside
the lobes 31a, 31b
with the tea leaves 70 depending on the manufacturer's preference and text 60
space
requirements.
[22] 'The descriptions of the preferred embodiments set forth herein are
provided to enable
a person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. IiZoreover,
various
modifications to those embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled
in the art. It will
be appreciated that the above descriptions are intended only to serve as
examples, and that
many other embodiments are possible within the spirit and scope of the
invention.
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