Reclosable bag with tear open feature

Abstract

A reclosable back-seam bag having a top seal and a bottom seal, and a front wall and a back wall is disclosed. The front wall is joined to the back wall at the top seal and the bottom seal. The reclosable back-seam bag includes a reclosable fastener that includes two ends, a first continuous elongated profile strip having a front wall connecting flange and a second continuous elongated profile strip having a back wall connecting flange. The first continuous elongated profile strip includes a male interlocking profile having at least one male interlocking member, and the second continuous elongated profile strip includes a female interlocking profile having at least one female interlocking member. The male interlocking member is configured so as to cause the male interlocking profile to be separated from the female interlocking profile with a substantially equal opening force when being separated in a direction toward said top seal as when separated in a direction toward said bottom seal. At least one frangible access portion disposed substantially parallel to said reclosable fastener assembly may be provided to expose the releasable fastener assembly and / or the contents of the bag.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Ser. No. 10 / 788,093, which was filed on Feb. 26, 2004, which is a division of application Ser. No. 09 / 660,210, filed on Sep. 12, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,612, which is a division of application Ser. No. 09 / 257,560, filed on Feb. 25, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,117,060, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09 / 118,575, filed on Jul. 17, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,369. This application is also a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Ser. No. 10 / 831,989, which was filed on Apr. 26, 2004, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09 / 415,696 filed on Oct. 12, 1999. The content of these applications are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]This present invention generally relates to reclosable plastic bags, and a method of their manufacture that is more efficient and economical than conventional methods and devices, and in...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]A seal is provided at each end of the reclosable fastener assembly. The reclosable bag is further provided with a first continuous elongated profile strip that has a front wall connecting flange and a gripping flange. Both the front wall connecting flange and the gripping flange have a width greater than a width of the first continuous elongated profile strip to assist in positioning and sealing of the reclosable fastener to web stock. The front wall-connecting flange is sealed to the front wall of the bag.

[0012]In one example, a reclosable back-seam bag includes a gripping flange that includes a continuous rib disposed at a distal end of the gripping flange and / or a plurality of continuous, substantially parallel ribs disposed on the gripping flange. The ribs and the gripping flange provide a user with ease of opening of the reclosable fastener once the frangible access has been opened.

[0016]In another example, a first continuous elongated profile strip having a male interlocking profile includes at least one male interlocking member. Also provided is a second continuous elongated profile strip having a female interlocking profile that includes at least one female interlocking member. The first continuous elongated profile strip can be releasably connected to the second continuous elongated profile strip by engaging the male interlocking member with the female interlocking member. However, in a preferred embodiment, the male interlocking member is provided in an open disengaged position in the bag when the bag is sealed. Thus, the bag may be easily opened by pinching the front and back walls of the bag and separating the walls until the top seal is ruptured or peeled open. The open configuration of the fasteners facilitates such opening. Subsequently, easy access is permitted from either the top of the bag, or from rupturing the frangible access portion located above the bottom seal, and then, separating the fastener profile.

Problems solved by technology

A particular problem with the Ramsey '122 technique is that a greater amount of force is required to open the reclosable fasteners from outside the bag than the amount of force required to tear open the bag from the middle.

Such disproportionate amount of force may damage the reclosable bag or even the contents of the reclosable bag when a user opens the bag.

Hence, the user will have to become accustomed to an unfamiliar or uncomfortable manner in which to open a bag.

Since the fastener, most likely, is not closed at the ends of the fastener, the possibility of contamination exists.

To overcome this contamination potential, users of this method add a great deal more cost and complexity to create a sealed, sealable “patch”, or some other means of eliminating this contamination risk.

The same problem occurs, if the package must be hermetically sealed.

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