Container With Peelable Seal Assembly and Method of Making

Abstract

A seal assembly is disposed in a seal of a flexible bag. The seal assembly includes a first tab, a second tab, a middle layer of peelable adhesive sandwiched between the first tab and the second tab, a first outside layer of adhesive that adheres to the first side of the bag, and a second outside layer of adhesive that is compatible with the second side of the bag such that second outside layer is heat sealed to the liner. The first tab and the second tab are easily grasped and may be pulled in opposite directions to break the middle layer of peelable adhesive. The middle layer is heat resistant such that the first tab and the second tab do not melt together during the formation of the seal.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 735,452 for a FLEXIBLE BAG WITH PEELABLE SEAL ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF MAKING, filed on Nov. 10, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] A container, particularly a flexible bag with a peelable seal assembly and a method of making the same as disclosed herein. [0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art [0005] Traditionally, containers and more particularly flexible bags are formed from a liner with a first side and a second side folded over the first side. The sides of the bag are heat sealed together to create a seal to enclose and seal contents within the bag. Such flexible bags are used for storing contents for a variety of goods such as for example food products and more specifically ready to eat breakfast cereals packages for crackers, cookies, candies, baking g...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] The current invention is a container and in the preferred embodiment a flexible bag with a seal assembly. The bag includes a first side and a second side folded over the first side. The sides are heat sealed together along seals. The seal assembly is disposed in the seal and includes a first tab, a second tab, a middle layer of peelable adhesive sandwiched between the first tab and the second tab, a first outside layer of adhesive that more securely adheres or more permanently adheres to the first side of the bag, and a second outside layer of adhesive that is compatible with the second side of the bag such that second outside layer is heat sealed to the liner and as with the first outside layer of adhesive to more securely adhere the second tab to the liner. The first tab and the second tab are easily grasped and may be pulled in opposite directions to break the middle layer of peelable adhesive. The middle layer is heat resistant such that the first tab and the second tab do not melt together during the formation of the seal. A resealable peelable adhesive may also be disposed between the first tab and the second tab. The tabs may also be brightly colored or printed upon.

[0010] Accordingly, the tabs are easily grasped and the thickness of the middle layer of peelable adhesive may be easily controlled such that variation in the effort to open various bags is eliminated and the effort required to peel the tabs apart may be controlled at a low effort. Likewise, the bright color or printing on the tabs alerts the user to the easily opened area. Also, the tabs reinforce the flexible liner and act as a pour spout when the contents of the bag are poured out of the bag. Additionally, the resealable peelable adhesive allows the user to reseal the bag along the seal to preserve the freshness of the contents of the bag.

Problems solved by technology

Generally the seals of the bag are difficult to break and the seals may have more integrity than the sides of the bag thereby requiring the user to tear the sides of the bag to access the contents of the bag.

The thickness of the peelable adhesive has an affect on the effort required to break the seal.

However, the coextrusion of the peelable adhesive with the liner is difficult to control thereby making it difficult to consistently create bags with the same low opening effort.

Additionally, the heat sealing process varies and it can be difficult to create identical seals on consecutive bags.

In other words, it is difficult to maintain low tolerances in the process of heat sealing and the seals created by the process may have varying opening efforts.

In addition, the sides of the liner are thin and flexible and are therefore difficult to grasp to tear the seals.

In addition, after the seal has been broken, the thin and flexible bag is wrinkled in the area of the seal and contents of the bag are trapped in the wrinkles when the contents of the bag are poured out of the bag.

Therefore, as the contents of the bag are poured out of the bag the contents may get caught in the wrinkles thereby making it difficult to neatly pour the contents out of the bag.

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