Guided clamps for quick easy opening and closing of dispenser outlet

Abstract

This invention relates to a novel device for small, extremely flexible thin film plastic bags having short flat dispenser outlets, thereby making it possible to easily grasp and squeeze it open while shearing off a tack-welded sealed outlet, and when up-ended, can, for some easy-flow products, regulate its flow; all done using only one hand; said device may be inserted within, and bonded therein to the thin film chamber walls of plastic bags having conventional simple reclosable outlets; or incorporated during the original fabrication of the thin film plastic bag, particularly those having “Zip-Loc” or equal interlocking closure joints, with the usual alignment problems; said simple device consists of a pair of nested flexible and resilient plastic curved quadrant clamps with novel guide mouth attachments which makes it possible to squeeze the thin gauge film chamber walls manually for opening and for dispensing when up-ended, which upon release of the squeeze effort, automatically self closes to form a dust tight seal; said nested clamps may be tack-welded at its outlet for protection against pilfering of contents which, upon the initial squeeze-to-open operation by the customer shears for dispensing; novel improvements for making the curved clamps more than dust tight are offered, along with closure outlets that do not require scissor cutting or so-called easy tear sealed closures.

Description

CROSS REFERRENCE TO THE RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application relates to the “Self-Closing Valve With Tamper Evident Lip Seal Tab” Ser. No. 07 / 08 / 88, U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,267 granted Apr. 17, 1990, and to a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 033,640 which is a continuation in part of Ser. No. 09 / 010151, both which will be superceded upon approval of this application.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] This invention pertains to the elimination of the usual time consuming problems, experienced with opening and occluding conventional flexible plastic bag dispenser outlets, particularly those having reclosable interlocking joints, and tear- to-open sealed outlets, by substituting novel devices, for quick opening, and automatic self-closing the dispenser outlet of conventional pre-manufactured flexible bags, or their integration with newly manufactured thin film flexible plastic bags by using the profile extrusion process. [...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0033] This invention promotes the use of the profile extrusion process for manufacturing, rather than the thermoforming practice allowed under U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,267 granted to LAVERDURE for making only the curved quadrant clamps portion of this novel invention which now requires the addition of a guide mouth attachment to said curved quadrant clamps and revisions thereto which includes new sealing joints plus modifications to the “Zip-Loc” interlocking joint for elimination of misalignment problems, thus making it possible to dispense the contents of a plastic bag, with its chamber walls made from very thin film plastic which are unable to transmit the squeeze effort required for opening this invention's “guided clamps for quick easy opening and closing of dispenser outlet.” Furthermore, using the profile extrusion method will speed production, in that the practice of using pre-formed cylindrical plastic items for compressing into curved outlets via thermoforming may be eliminated.

Problems solved by technology

Needless to say it can not be used for free flow discharge of solid material when up-ended for dispensing.

Needless to say, it can not be used for dispensing product from a thin film plastic flexible bag.

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