Extraction Bag

Abstract

To provide an extraction bag which opens an opening in a true circle or a close state to it by a simple operation of pulling up a pair of holders and locking them to an edge of a cup, and stably maintains the open state.SOLUTION: A notch is formed in a holder as a weak rigid part. The notch 35 is pulled outward to escape. At this time, a vicinity area of the notch is dragged along with a surface part 3a of a bag body 3, the surface part bulges outward in a convex curve shape centered on the notch. When the holder is displaced laterally outward from the center of the holder, a force is applied in a direction crossing a direction in which fingers are pulled, a thick belt-shaped part is positioned there, and the notch 43 is formed to extend in an oblique direction, so it escapes in the same manner as the notch. Therefore, the surface part 3a swells in the convex curve shape centering on the notch. An opening edge 7 of the bag body is substantially circular, and this open state is maintained.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an extraction bag for extracting coffee powder, tea leaves, etc., and more particularly to an extraction bag comprising a bag body and a holder attached to the bag body. [Background technology]

[0002] Extraction bags consisting of a bag body made of a water-permeable material containing coffee powder, tea leaves, etc., and a pair of cardboard holders fixed to the surface of the bag body are widely used. For example, an example of such an extraction bag is described in Patent Document 1. When using this extraction bag, the upper end of the bag body is torn off to form an opening. Next, the pair of holders are raised and engaged with the edge of the cup, so that the bag body is supported by the cup. In this state, a part of the bag body and a part of the holder are inserted into the cup, and the part of the bag body near the opening is supported by the pair of holders, so that the opening is held open. After this state is achieved, hot water or other extraction liquid is poured into the opening to perform extraction.

[0003] Incidentally, in Patent Document 1, the holder has a portion that extends in the left-right direction along the edge of the opening, and is intended to keep the opening of the bag body wide. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2010-110335 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In that case, however, the opening of the bag body will be rectangular. When extracting ground coffee, hot water is poured from the center of the opening outwards in a circular motion, so that the hot water flows evenly around the ground coffee, expanding it into a round shape and steaming it, but this leaves a large amount of unextracted ground coffee in the corners of the bag, resulting in uneven extraction. For this reason, it is best to make the opening perfectly round or close to it. In addition, in response to the demand for convenience, it is desirable to be able to open the opening in a perfect circle or nearly so with the simple action of simply lifting each of a pair of holders and engaging them with the edge of the cup, and to maintain that open state stably.

[0006] The present invention has been made in response to the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its object is to provide a new and useful extraction bag that can be opened to a perfect circle or nearly so with the simple action of simply lifting a pair of holders and engaging them with the edge of a cup, and that can stably maintain that open state. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the invention of claim 1 relates to an extraction bag comprising a flat bag-shaped main body made of a water-permeable material, and a pair of holders fixed to both surfaces of the bag body and engaging with a container such as a cup, the upper end of the bag body being broken to form an opening, and an extraction liquid being poured into the opening. The holder is made of a rigid thin plate and has an upper reinforcing part attached to the edge side of the opening and an engaging part provided below the upper reinforcing part, and the upper edge of the upper reinforcing part has a symmetrical convex shape. The extraction bag has a main vertical weak rigidity portion that extends straight downward from the top of the upper edge to partway along the lower edge, and a pair of diagonal weak rigidity portions that extend diagonally downward in a direction approaching each other from respective lower positions on the left and right of the upper edge to partway along the lower edge, and when the respective engaging portions of the pair of holders are pulled up from the surface and engaged with the edge of the container, the weak rigidity portions are both pulled outward, causing the opening edge to open in a perfect circle or a nearly perfect circle. The invention of claim 2 is an extraction bag as described in claim 1, characterized in that a pair of diagonal weak rigidity portions of the upper reinforcement portion extend diagonally downward from positions respectively lowered on the left and right sides of the upper edge, while being approximately perpendicular to the tangent to the upper edge.

[0008] The invention of claim 3 is an extraction bag as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the upper edge of the upper reinforcement part has a gently sloping edge formed on both the left and right sides of the top, and the gently sloping edge has a pair of vertically reinforcing weakened rigidity parts that extend straight downward from the upper edge to partway down to the lower edge, sandwiching the vertically main weakened rigidity part.

[0009] The invention of claim 4 is an extraction bag according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The upper edge of the upper reinforcing part of the extraction bag is in a range of 45° on both sides of the top.

[0010] The invention of claim 5 is an extraction bag according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The extraction bag is characterized in that the upper reinforcing portion has a shape similar to a circular arc.

[0011] The invention of claim 6 is an extraction bag as described in claim 5, characterized in that the left and right sides of the upper reinforcement portion are further connected outward in the left-right direction to form an outer reinforcement portion having an overall arc-like shape, and when the holder is superimposed on the bag body, the outer edge of the outer reinforcement portion forms part of the outer contour of the holder.

[0012] The invention of claim 7 is an extraction bag as described in claim 6, characterized in that the outer reinforcement part is band-shaped, and a central reinforcement part is provided below the left-right center of the outer reinforcement part and extends in the vertical direction, and both are attached to the bag body.

[0013] The invention of claim 8 is an extraction bag as described in claim 7, characterized in that the upper reinforcement portion has a thick band-shaped portion with a large width dimension, and a diagonal weak rigidity portion is provided therein.

[0014] The invention of claim 9 is an extraction bag as described in claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the holder is formed of a single rigid thin plate connected together, and the engagement portions extend upward from both the left and right sides with the lower side of the central reinforcement portion as its base end, bend at the top, wrap around to the left and right sides respectively, and connect at the bottom, and are raised in an inverted V shape.

[0015] The invention of claim 10 is an extraction bag as described in claim 9, characterized in that the engaging portion is separated from the outer reinforcement portion and the central reinforcement portion by a slit-shaped cut and is configured to be liftable.

[0016] The invention of claim 11 is an extraction bag according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the weak rigidity portion is formed by a slit-shaped or V-shaped or U-shaped cut in the rigid thin plate of the holder. Effect of the Invention

[0017] According to the extraction bag of the present invention, the opening can be opened in a perfect circle or nearly so by the simple action of simply lifting each of the pair of holders and engaging them with the edge of the cup, and this open state can be stably maintained. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the extraction bag according to the embodiment of the present invention before it is opened. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a reinforcing portion extracted from the holder in FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the extraction bag of FIG. 1 after it has been opened. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the extraction bag of FIG. 1 set in a cup. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is an image diagram of the open state of FIG. 4. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] An extraction bag 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In Figures 1 and 2, reference numeral 3 denotes the bag body, which is made of a water-permeable material, such as a nonwoven fabric made of polyethylene fibers. The bag body 3 is formed by folding a rectangular sheet in half to form a fold, and then sealing the three sides other than the bottom side where the fold is formed to form a rectangular flat bag. A perforation 5 is provided at the top of the bag body 3 as an easily breakable part, parallel to the upper edge. When the top end side is broken at the perforation 5 to open the bag, the bag body 3 opens as shown in Figure 3. Therefore, the location of the perforation 5 becomes the opening edge 7. Coffee powder (not shown) is enclosed in the bag body 3.

[0020] A pair of holders 9, 9 are fixed to both surface portions 3a, 3a of the bag body 3. The holder 9 is made of a rigid thin plate. The rigid thin plate can be made of paper, plastic, etc., but in this embodiment, it is made of cardboard. The outer contour of the holder 9 is formed by punching, and the inside of the holder 9 is separated by slit-like cuts to form multiple parts. Therefore, there is no planar missing part in the cardboard on the inside. Furthermore, the parts are connected to each other. The holder 9 is configured symmetrically and is fixed below the perforation 5 with its center line (L) aligned with the center line of the surface portion 3a of the bag body 3 in the left-right direction. The configuration of each part of the holder 9 will now be described.

[0021] Reference numeral 11 denotes an outer reinforcing portion. The outer reinforcing portion 11 has an outer edge 13 that runs from the lower left to the upper to the lower right, forming a shape similar to an arc of more than 3 / 4 of a circle. The top of this outer edge 13 and the area to the left and right of the top form a convex upper edge 13a. The top of this upper edge 13a and its vicinity form a gently changing edge 13b that slopes more gently than the outer side in the left-right direction, i.e., has a large radius of curvature. The left and right sides of the outer reinforcement portion 11 are formed in a curved band shape, and inner edges 15, 15 are formed in a shape that is approximately similar to the outer edge 13. The outer edge 13 and the inner edge 15 are connected via a convex curved edge 17 that is convex outward. Of the inner edges 15, 15, the lower edges 15a, 15a are formed by the inner edges 15, 15 that are located inside the similar shape of the upper edge 13a.

[0022] The upper reinforcement part 19 extends in a band shape in the left-right direction along the opening edge 7 side at the portion of the outer reinforcement part 11 with the upper edge 13a and the lower edges 15a, 15a as upper and lower edges, and has both ends lowered. A central reinforcement part 21 extending in the up-down direction is connected to the lower left-right center of the upper reinforcement part 19. In other words, the lower edges 15a, 15a of the upper reinforcement part 19 are divided by this central reinforcement part 21. The central reinforcement part 21 tapers downward until it is narrowed at the narrowed point, then widens downward. Therefore, the part connecting the upper reinforcement part 19 to the central reinforcement part 21 forms an inverted triangular region 23 having a certain area of ​​an inverted triangle. The lower edge 15a of the upper reinforcement part 19 and the vertical edge 21a of the central reinforcement part 21 are connected to each other so as to form a concave curve. Furthermore, on the left and right outer sides of the gradually changing edge 13b, there are thick band-shaped parts 25 where the width dimension of the band-shaped part is slightly larger. The outer reinforcing portion 11 and the central reinforcing portion 21 are entirely attached to the bag body 3, including the boundary between them.

[0023] The lower end of the central reinforcing part 21 extends in the left-right direction to form an inverted T shape, and the left and right protruding parts are connected to the locking part 27. The locking part 27 is composed of a pair of arm pieces 29, 29, a pair of locking pieces 31, 31, and a knob part 33. The locking portion 27 is in a serpentine belt shape, with one end continuing to the left extension portion 21b of the lower end of the central reinforcement portion 21, extending upward, then changing direction to wrap around to the left outside, extending downward, then changing direction again to extend laterally to the right, and passing the left-right center line (L). It is also configured in a symmetrical shape on the right side, with the other end continuing to the right extension portion 21c of the lower end of the central reinforcement portion 21. The portions extending upward from the left and right extension portions 21b, 21c of the lower end of the central reinforcement portion 21 respectively correspond to the arm pieces 29, 29, the portions that wrap around to the left and right outside and extend downward correspond to the locking pieces 31, 31, and the portion continuing in the horizontal direction corresponds to the knob portion 33.

[0024] The arm piece 29 and the locking piece 31 are inserted between the central reinforcement part 21 and the outer reinforcement part 11, and are separated from each other via a slit-like cut. Therefore, when the holder 9 is placed on the surface part 3a of the bag body 3, the outer edge 13 of the outer reinforcement part 11, the convex curved edges 17, 17 and the outer edge 33a of the tab 33 form the outer contour of the holder 9. In addition, with the above-mentioned configuration, the locking part 27 is located below the upper reinforcement part 19. Since the locking portion 27 is not attached to the surface portion 3a of the bag body 3, when the knobs 33, 33 of each holder 9, 9 are pinched with fingers and pulled outward, the locking piece 31 and the arm piece 29 are pulled upward as shown in FIG. 3, and the arm piece 29 and the locking piece 31 open in an inverted V shape.

[0025] The holder 9 is constructed as described above, and the weak rigidity portion is formed therein by a slit-like cut. Reference numeral 35 denotes a cut constituting the main vertical weakening rigidity portion, and this cut 35 extends straight downward from the apex of the upper edge 13a, that is, toward the lower apex angle of the inverted triangular region 23. The innermost end 35a of the cut 35 is located very close to the imaginary line (A) smoothly connecting the lower edges 15a and 15a, and the wide central reinforcing portion 21 faces from below. A tangent to the upper edge 13a that straddles the notch 35 is substantially perpendicular to the direction extending up and down of the notch 35. In other words, if the notch 35 is taken as the center line in the left-right direction, the neighboring regions 37 on both the left and right sides and below the notch 35 are substantially symmetrical.

[0026] Reference numeral 39 denotes a cut constituting the vertical stiffening portion, and this cut 39 extends straight downward from the loosely-changing edge 13b. Therefore, the cut 39 and the cut 35 extend parallel to each other. The length of the cut 39 is about half the length of the cut 35. The cut 39 is formed in the thick band-shaped portion 25, but its inner end 39a is sufficiently above the lower edge 15a. In addition, the tangent line of the loosely-changing edge 13b across the cut 39 is almost perpendicular to the vertical extension of the cut 39. In other words, if the cut 39 is taken as the center line in the horizontal direction, the left and right sides of the cut 39 and the neighboring area 41 below are almost symmetrical. A pair of cuts 39 are provided symmetrically on the left and right.

[0027] Reference numeral 43 denotes a cut constituting the diagonal weak rigidity portion, and this cut 43 extends diagonally downward from the upper edge 13a at a position lowered on the left-right outer side of the gently changing edge 13b so as to approach the left-right center line (L). The inclination angle (θ) is about 30°. The length of the cut 43 is slightly longer than the length of the cut 39, but since it is formed in the thick band-shaped portion 25, its inner end 43a is sufficiently above the lower edge 15a. In addition, the tangent line of the upper edge 13a across the cut 43 is approximately perpendicular to the diagonal extension direction of the cut 43. In other words, if the cut 43 is taken as the left-right center line, the neighboring regions 45 on both the left and right sides and below are approximately symmetrical. A pair of cuts 43 are provided symmetrically on the left and right.

[0028] The notches 35, 39, 39, 43, 43 are formed in the holder 9 as described above. This extraction bag 1 is opened by breaking the perforation 5, so that the arm piece 29 and the locking piece 31 of the locking portion 27 of the holder 9 can be raised in an inverted V shape as shown in FIG. Therefore, when the knobs 33, 33 of the pair of holders 9, 9 are pinched with the fingers and pulled outward, the locking pieces 31, 31 and the arm pieces 29, 29 are raised and the locking pieces 31, 31 are locked onto the edge of the cup C, resulting in the state shown in Figure 4, in which the holder 9 is pulled. The springiness of the arm pieces 29 and the locking pieces 31 allows them to fit onto the edge of the cup C.

[0029] The slit 35 is the part that receives the force of pulling by the fingers, and is pulled outward and escapes widely. At that time, the area 37 near the slit 35 is dragged along with the surface portion 3a of the bag body 3. Therefore, the surface portion 3a bulges outward in a convex shape centered on the slit 35. If the slit 35 is made longer, i.e., deeper, the escape distance can be increased, but the slit 35 forms an acute angle. For this purpose, a pair of cuts 39, 39 are provided. The cut 39 is shorter than the cut 35, but the surface portion 3a bulges outward in a convex shape centered on the cut 39. Since the escape direction is almost the same as that of the cut 35, the cooperation of the cut 35 and the cuts 39, 39 realizes the formation of a single convex curved surface in the pulling direction of the cut 35.

[0030] Furthermore, if holder 9 is displaced outward in the left-right direction from the center, a force is applied in a direction intersecting the direction in which it is pulled by the finger, but since thick band-shaped portion 25 is located there and cut 43 is formed to extend in an oblique direction, it is possible for the force to escape outward in the same manner as cut 35. Therefore, surface portion 3a bulges in a convex shape with cut 43 as the center. In the extraction bag 1, each cut is optimally designed to provide a clearance distance and a degree of bulging of the convex curved surface corresponding to each position so that the opening edge 7 opens in an almost perfect circle, and as shown in the image of Figure 5, the opening edge 7 is almost a perfect circle.

[0031] By making the notch 35, the rigidity of the opening edge 7 side of the holder 9 is weakened, i.e., the stiffness becomes softer, but the rigidity of the holder 9 as a whole is sufficiently ensured, so that this open state is stably maintained while standing on the cup C.

[0032] This extraction bag 1 is designed so that the opening edge 7 opens in a substantially perfect circle when used in the cup shown in FIG. Since the degree of force applied varies from part to part depending on the shape and size of the cup, the shape and size of the holder paper, as well as the pitch, depth and angle of the cuts are used as adjustment parameters to design an optimal weak rigidity section so that the opening edge opens in an almost perfect circle to accommodate the cup that is expected to be used.

[0033] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and the invention also includes design changes within the scope of the present invention without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the weak rigidity portion is formed by a slit-shaped cut, but it may be formed by a perforated cut. Also, it is possible to form the weak rigidity portion by a V-shaped or U-shaped cut instead of the slit-shaped cut. Furthermore, it is also possible to increase the number of weak rigidity parts. Also, it is possible to configure weak rigidity parts by partially reducing the thickness of the material that constitutes the holder 9.

[0034] The weak rigidity parts may be provided symmetrically on the left and right of the holder 9, and there is no particular limit to the number. For example, there may be three in total, one in the center and one pair on the left and right, or seven in total, one in the center and three pairs on the left and right. In this way, the weak rigidity parts can be arranged in any way. In addition, as described above, the weak rigidity portion can be arranged in any manner, so that the opening edge can be configured to open in a perfect circle or a nearly perfect circle even if the shape of the holder 9 is changed. For example, it is possible to configure the outer reinforcement portion 11 separately from the rest, or to make the convex shape of the upper edge of the holder 9 curved only on the left and right sides without curving the entirety. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 1... Extraction bag 3... Bag body 3a... Surface portion 5... Perforation 7... Opening edge 9... holder 11... outer reinforcement portion 13... outer edge 13a... upper edge 13b... gently changing edge 15...inner edge 15a...lower edge 17...convex curved edge 19...upper reinforcement portion 21...Central reinforcement part 21a...Vertical edge 21b, 21c...Extension part 23...Inverted triangular area 25: thick band-shaped portion 27: locking portion 29: arm piece 31: locking piece 33: gripping portion; 33a: outer edge; 35: notch; 35a: inner end; 37: adjacent region 39...cut 39a...end 41...adjacent region 43...cut 43a: inner end 45: adjacent area L: Left-right center line of holder A: Imaginary line α: Range of upper reinforcement part θ…Inclination angle of cut C…Cup

Claims

1. An extraction bag comprising a flat bag-shaped bag body made of a water-permeable material and a pair of holders fixed to both surfaces of the bag body and adapted to be engaged with a container such as a cup, the bag body being configured to have an opening formed by breaking an upper end of the bag body and an extraction liquid poured into the opening, The holder is formed of a rigid thin plate and includes an upper reinforcing portion attached to an edge side of the opening and a locking portion provided below the upper reinforcing portion, The upper reinforcement portion has an upper edge having a symmetrical convex shape, and is provided with a vertical direction main weakened rigidity portion that extends straight downward from the apex of the upper edge to partway to the lower edge, and a pair of diagonal weakened rigidity portions that extend diagonally downward in directions approaching each other from positions respectively lowered in the horizontal direction of the upper edge to partway to the lower edge, An extraction bag characterized in that when each of the engaging portions of the pair of holders is raised from the surface and engaged with the edge of the container, the weak rigidity portions are pulled outward together, causing the opening edge to open in a perfect circle or a nearly perfect circle.

2. The extraction bag according to claim 1, An extraction bag, characterized in that the pair of diagonal weak rigidity portions of the upper reinforcing portion extend diagonally downward from positions lowered on the left and right directions of the upper edge and substantially perpendicular to a tangent line of the upper edge.

3. The extraction bag according to claim 1 or 2, The upper edge of the upper reinforcement part has a gradually changing edge on both the left and right sides of the top, The extraction bag is characterized in that the gently changing edge is provided with a pair of vertically-reinforced weakened rigidity parts that extend straight down from the upper edge to partway down to the lower edge, sandwiching a vertically-main weakened rigidity part therebetween.

4. The extraction bag according to any one of claims 1 to 3, An extraction bag characterized in that the upper edge of the upper reinforcing part is in a range of 45° on both sides of the top.

5. The extraction bag according to any one of claims 1 to 4, 1. An extraction bag, wherein the upper reinforcing portion has a shape similar to a circular arc.

6. The extraction bag according to claim 5, The left and right sides of the upper reinforcing portion are further connected outward in the left-right direction to form an outer reinforcing portion having an arc-like shape as a whole, and when the holder is superimposed on the bag body, the outer edge of the outer reinforcing portion forms part of the outer contour of the holder.

7. The extraction bag according to claim 6, The extraction bag is characterized in that the outer reinforcement portion is band-shaped, and a central reinforcement portion is provided below the left-right center of the outer reinforcement portion and extending in the vertical direction, and both are affixed to the bag body.

8. The extraction bag according to claim 7, The extraction bag is characterized in that the upper reinforcing portion has a thick band-like portion with a large width dimension, and a diagonally weak rigidity portion is provided in the thick band-like portion.

9. The extraction bag according to claim 7 or 8, The holder is made of a single rigid thin plate. The extraction bag is characterized in that the locking parts extend upward from both the left and right sides with the lower side of the central reinforcing part as a base end, bend at the top, wrap around to the left and right outside, and connect at the bottom, so as to be raised in an inverted V shape.

10. The extraction bag according to claim 9, 1. An extraction bag, comprising: an outer reinforcing portion and a central reinforcing portion, and a fastening portion is separated by a slit-like cut so as to be liftable relative to the outer reinforcing portion and the central reinforcing portion.

11. The extraction bag according to any one of claims 1 to 10, 1. An extraction bag according to claim 1, wherein the weak rigidity portion is formed by a slit or a V- or U-shaped cut in the rigid thin plate of the holder.

Images