Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02593258 2007-07-10
PLASTIC MERCHANDISE BAG SUITED FOR PROTECTING
AND SEPARATING BOTTLES
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates generally to plastic merchandise bags and, more
particularly, to plastic bags suited for transporting glass bottles, such as
wine bottles.
BACKGROUND ART
Glass bottles, such as wine bottles, are typically placed in individual paper
bags before being placed in a larger plastic bag in order to prevent glass to
glass
contact as the bottles are carried by the consumer in the plastic bag. The use
of such
individual paper bags add to the packaging costs and time.
SUMMARY
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a new plastic bag
obviating the need for individual paper bags for preventing glass to glass
contact
between the bottles carried in the plastic bag.
In one aspect, there is provided a plastic merchandise bag suited for
transporting bottles, comprising a bag body including a front panel and a back
panel
joined to form a bag having a closed bottom and a top open mouth, a web of
flexible
material joined at opposed ends thereof to the bag body and extending between
the
front and back panels along substantially the entire width thereof, the web of
flexible
material being collapsible in a flattened condition against an interior
surface of one of
said front and back panels to provide full access to an interior space of the
bag body
and separable from the interior surface of the front and back panels between
the
joined opposed ends thereof for allowing bottles to be placed on either side
of the
web of flexible material with the web of flexible material contouring the
bottles.
In a second aspect, there is provided provides a compartimentable plastic
bag comprising first and second superposed bag panels joined along a pair of
sides
and a bottom to form a receptacle space having a top open mouth opposite said
bottom, a cushion strip of flexible material in said receptacle space between
said first
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and second bag panels, said cushion strip having top and bottom free edges and
being
connected at opposed ends thereof to said sides, the cushion strip being
collapsible in
a flattened condition against an interior surface of said bag panels to
provide full
access to said receptacle space and separable therefrom to compartmentalize
said
receptacle space.
In accordance with another general aspect, there is provided a wine bottle
carrier comprising a plastic bag having a closed bottom, opposed bag panels,
an open
top, and a flexible sheet-like bottle separator extending between opposed
first and
second side edges of the bag panels, the flexible sheet-like bottle being
configurable
between a flattened condition wherein the flexible sheet-like bottle separator
lies
against an interior surface of the bag panels to provide full access to an
interior space
of the plastic bag and a deployed condition wherein the flexible sheet-like
bottle
separator divides said interior space and extends in a wavelike fashion across
the
width of the plastic bag around the wine bottles carried therein.
In accordance with another general aspect, there is provided a method of
separating bottles carried in a plastic bag, comprising; serpenting a flexible
separator
between the bottles in the plastic bag.
In accordance with another general aspect, there is provided a method of
manufacturing a compartimentable plastic bag, comprising: a) providing a first
sheet
of plastic having opposed ends and first and second opposed side edges
extending
longitudinally between said opposed ends, said first sheet having a median
axis
midway between said opposed ends, b) superposing a second sheet of plastic on
said
first sheet, the second sheet extending from said first side edge to said
second side
edge of said first sheet and being disposed next to said median axis, c)
folding said
first plastic sheet in two about said median axis to form first and second
overlying
bag panels with said second sheet sandwiched between said first and second bag
panels, and d) and sealing the second sheet and said first and second bag
panels
together along said first and second side edges to form a bag having a closed
bottom
portion provided with an internal divider formed by said second sheet.
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Further details of these and other aspects of the present invention will be
apparent from the detailed description and figures included below.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Reference is now made to the accompanying figures depicting aspects of the
present invention, in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a merchandise plastic bag having a flexible
internal separator serpentined between adjacent bottles placed in the bag;
Figure 2 is a top plan view of the bag illustrating the flexible separator
extending sinuously between the bottles;
Figure 3 is a front view of the bag shown in its flat condition;
Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the bag taken along line 4-4 in Fig. 3;
and
Figures 5 and 6 are schematic views illustrating a manufacturing sequence of
the bag shown in Fig. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Fig. 1 shows a compartmentable plastic bag 10 particularly suited for
transporting glass bottles B, such as wine bottles, and the like. The bag 10
has a
collapsible separator 12 adapted to be serpentined between adjacent bottles B
to
prevent the bottles B from banging against each other in direct glass to glass
contact.
The integrated separator 12 obviates the need to place the bottles in
individual bags,
such as individual paper bags, within the larger plastic bag 10. As will be
seen
hereinafter, the separator 12 can be collapsed against an interior surface of
the bag to
provide full access to the internal receptacle space of the bag and separated
from the
bag interior surface to "compartmentize" the bag receptacle space and act as a
flexible bottle separator or divider, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
More specifically, the bag 10 generally comprises coextensive front and
back panels 14, 16 joined by a bottom gusset 18 (Fig. 4) and sealed together
along
their longitudinally extending side edges to form a bag having a closed bottom
and a
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top open mouth. It is understood that the front and back panels 14 and 16
could be
otherwise joined together. For instance, the front and back panels 14 and 16
could be
integrally connected without any bottom gusset. The bottom of the bag 10
could, for
instance, be formed by a simple fold or even by heat sealing the bottom edges
of
separate front and back panels together.
The bag 10 is provided with a top handle portion 18. The handle portion 18
comprises hand-receiving cut-outs 20 defined through the front and back panels
14
and 16. Preferably, a top portion of the front and back panels 14 and 16 is
folded over
inwardly in superimposed relationship with a reinforcing layer 22 and heat
sealed
along a transversal seal line 24 to provide a reinforced multi-layer handle
construction, as best shown in Fig. 4. The reinforcing layer 22 is preferably
cushioned
to provide hand comfort to the carrier. The reinforcing layer 22 can be
provided in the
form of a plastic film, such as a high density polyethylene film, in which air
is
injected to provide a desired degree of cushion.
The separator 12 is also preferably formed from a film or web of high
density polyethylene material injected with air. The air injected in the
separator 12
provides a cushion effect for absorbing impacts and shocks between adjacent
bottles
B in the bag 10, thereby reducing the chances of bottle breakage. The
separator 12 is
provided in the lower half portion of the bag 10 and is preferably disposed to
prevent
shoulder to shoulder and base to base contact between adjacent bottles.
Because of
their often outwardly projecting shape and configuration, the shoulder and the
base of
the wine bottles are more likely to come into contact and as such it is
preferable that
the bottom and top edges 26 an 28 of the separator 12 extend respectively
below and
above the base and the shoulder of the bottles to avoid any glass to glass
contact
between the bottles. However, as shown Fig. 1, the separator 12 could be
disposed to
only cover an intermediate portion of the bottles B between the base and the
shoulder
thereof.
As shown in Fig. 3, the separator 12 has a width equal to the width of the
front and back panels 14 and 16 when the bag 10 is in its flattened condition.
The
separator 12 has first and second opposed ends 30 and 32 heat sealed to
opposed side
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edges of the bag 10. It is understood that the separator 12 could be otherwise
attached
or joined to the bag panels 14 and 16. According to the illustrated
embodiment, the
separator 12 is solely connected to the bag panels by its ends 30 and 32. The
separator 12 is otherwise free to move relative to the front and back panels
14 and 16.
Bottles B can thus be alternately placed on opposed sides of the separator 12
with the
separator 12 waving in a sinuous-like manner between the bottles, as shown in
Fig. 2.
Accordingly, the separator 12 can divide the interior space of the bag 10 in a
number
of compartments corresponding to the number of bottles to be carried, the
number of
compartments being limited by the overall size of the bag 10. However, when
the
user subsequently wishes to re-use the bag 10 to carry other items requiring a
single
compartment defining a greater carrying volume, the separator 12 can be
manually
collapsed in a flattened condition against an interior surface of one of the
bag panels
14 and 16 to provide full access to the interior volume of the bag 10. This
provides
great flexibly in use which cannot be afforded by conventional bags having a
fixed
number of compartments.
Figs. 5 and 6 schematically illustrate the manufacturing process of the bag
10. As shown in Fig. 5, the bag is preferably manufactured from a main roll of
high
polyethylene film 40 and three rolls of air injected polyethylene films 42, 44
and 46.
The films 42, 44 and 46 are unrolled over the main film 40 in unison
therewith. Films
42 and 44 are used to make the reinforced handle portion 18 and correspond to
layer
22 in the assembled bag as shown in Fig. 4. The intermediate air injected film
46 is
used to make the separator 12 in the assembled bag. As shown in Fig. 5, the
intermediate film 46 is disposed next to the median axis 48 of the main film
40. The
median axis 48 corresponds to the fold line about which the main film 40 is
folded in
two to form the front and back panels 14 and 16 of the bag 10. However, before
folding the main film 40 about median axis 48, the opposed lateral end
portions of
the main film 40 are folded over inwardly in superposed relationship with the
films
42 and 44, respectively. As also shown in Fig. 6, the median film is folded on
opposed sides of the mediam axis to for the bottom gusset 18. The hand-
receiving
cut-outs 20 can be punched out before or after [he folding operation. After
having
been folded, the folded lateral end portions are heat sealed to the
reinforcing film 42
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and 44. Thereafter, the main film 40 is folded upon itself about the median
axis 48
with the intermediate film 46 lying between the two haft portions of the main
film 40.
After completing this folding operation, the films 40, 42, 44 and 36 are cut
and heat
sealed along transversal line 50 and sealed along pre-cut edge 52 to form the
sealed
side edges of the bag and simultaneously attaching the intermediate film to
the side
edges of the newly formed bag.
The above description is meant to be exemplary only, and one skilled in the
art will recognize that changes may be made to the embodiments described
without
departing from the scope of the invention disclosed. Modifications which fall
within
the scope of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the
art, in light
of a review of this disclosure, and such modifications are intended to fall
within the
appended claims.
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