Dispensers for bags

Abstract

A dispenser for dispensing individual pre-formed bags from a stack of such bags, the dispenser comprising a base, a body part, a stack support member attached to the body part and stack retention means attached to the stack support member. In one embodiment, the stack support member may comprise a planar region inclined upwards from back to front with respect to the base, wherein the arrangement is such that, in use, the stack of bags are engaged by the stack retention means in such a manner that the handles of the bags are supported by the planar region of the stack support means and a portion of the bags in the region of the mouth of the bags is disposed on a front edge of the stack support member with the body of the bags depending therefrom, such that a first bag of the stack may conveniently be grasped by a user to remove a single bag in a partially open condition from the stack.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is claims priority of United Kingdom Patent Application No. 0302334.8, filed Feb. 1, 2003, and United Kingdom Patent Application No. 0325563.5, filed Nov. 1, 2003, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to dispensers for dispensing individual pre-formed bags from a stack of such bags. [0003] Dispensers of this type are commonly provided in retail outlets, particularly supermarkets, to dispense pre-formed bags (e.g. plastic bags). It is desirable that when a bag is taken from the dispenser it should at least partially open, facilitating filling of the bag. [0004] GB-A-2334944 describes such a dispenser, which comprises a body part and an anchor means for the stack disposed on the body part, the anchor means comprising catch means for engaging a stack of pre-formed bags whereby the stack depends from the catch means for being grasped for removal...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] According to the present invention there is provided a dispenser for dispensing individual pre-formed bags from a stack of such bags, the dispenser comprising a base, a body part, a stack support member attached to the body part and stack retention means attached to the stack support member, the stack support member comprising a planar region inclined upwards from back to front with respect to the base, wherein the arrangement is such that, in use, the stack of bags are engaged by the stack retention means in such a manner that the handles of the bags are supported by the planar region of the stack support means and a portion of the bags in the region of the mouth of the bags is disposed on a front edge of the stack support member with the body of the bags depending therefrom, such that a first bag of the stack may conveniently be grasped by a user to remove a single bag in a partially open condition from the stack.

[0009] This arrangement has been shown to be surprisingly effective in dispensing a single bag, in an open condition, from a stack of bags. The arrangement of the planar region is such that a user is presented with a curved surface at the mouth of the bags. This encourages the user to pull the top bag of the stack in such a manner that the front wall of the bag slides over the back wall of the bag thus opening the bag as it is removed from the dispenser. Rather than pinching the bag between thumb and forefinger or pulling the bag from the bottom, as is required by other dispensers, the user is presented with the stack of bags with the mouth region located folded over the front edge of the stack support member.

Problems solved by technology

The particular dispensers described in GB-A-2334944 function satisfactorily, but have the drawback that at least one region of adhesion (e.g. a glue spot) is required between each adjacent pair of bags in the stack.

This increases the manufacturing cost of the stack.

Moreover, the dispenser allows users to grasp and pull the lower ends of the stack, which may result in the inadvertent removal of more than one bag, and unsatisfactory opening of the bag upon removal.

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