Disposable Decorating Bag Tip With Cut-to-Size Clog Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing decorating bags require multiple pieces and frequent reassembly for different discharge openings, and lack effective handling of clogs, leading to unsatisfactory material dispensing and flow control.
Innovation Solution
A one-piece, fully disposable Easy Fill Bag with a flexible, conical discharge orifice featuring inward protrusions or serrations that can be cut to various sizes, allowing for elastic expansion or compression to pass clogs, ensuring consistent material treatment and flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a multi-piece construction with rigid tips is used to achieve different discharge opening sizes, then the discharge opening size can be changed, but the device complexity increases and requires frequent disassembly and reassembly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the bag and tip into a single integrated disposable unit, eliminating the need for separate tips, couplers, and collars. This merging reduces the number of parts while maintaining the ability to change discharge opening sizes by simply replacing the entire unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a disposable tip that is discarded after use, eliminating the need for cleaning and storage of rigid tips. This disposable approach reduces device complexity and maintenance requirements while allowing easy change of discharge opening sizes by replacing the entire tip unit.
2Strength
If a rigid tip is used to maintain structural integrity, then the tip can support material discharge, but it cannot expand to pass clogs or lumps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flexible tip made of material such as silicone rubber or thermoplastic elastomer that can expand and contract. This flexibility allows the tip to pass clogs and lumps by expanding around them while maintaining sufficient structural integrity to support material discharge under normal conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The tip transitions from a static rigid structure to a dynamic flexible structure that can change its shape and size. The tip expands when encountering clogs to allow passage, then returns to its original shape, providing adaptive response to operational conditions while maintaining structural integrity.
3Ease of manufacture
If a disposable construction is used to reduce cleaning and storage requirements, then the apparatus can be discarded after use, but the cost per use increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a disposable tip made from relatively inexpensive materials such as silicone rubber or thermoplastic elastomer. The tip is designed for single-use and discarded after use, eliminating cleaning and storage requirements. The low material cost of the disposable tip offsets the loss of material, making the overall process economically viable.
4Ease of operation
If the orifice is made elastic to allow expansion for clogs, then clogs can pass through, but the precision of material treatment may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible tip dynamically adapts to clogs by expanding only when necessary to allow passage, then returning to its original precise configuration. This dynamic behavior allows the tip to maintain manufacturing precision for normal material treatment while providing clog passage capability when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible tip is designed with inherent elasticity that allows it to temporarily deform under pressure from clogs and then recover its original shape. This prior cushioning through elastic deformation allows the tip to handle clogs while maintaining precision for subsequent material treatment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables easy size adjustment and effective handling of clogs without disassembly, providing controlled dispensing and treatment of food materials, enhancing usability and convenience in baking and cooking applications.
Implementation Method 1
the orifice is made of a material so that it is capable of being cut at any point along its longitudinal dimension or along its conical axis to yield an exit opening or hole with a desired size or cross-sectional dimension. Regardless of the point of cut, i.e., regardless of the size of the hole or opening or the cross-sectional dimension, the inwardly extending serrations or ridges that remain insure that the material is 'treated' as it is expelled from the bag through the orifice. While the orifice at the end of an EFB apparatus is capable of 'treating' the material as it is discharged from the bag, the orifice is also either: (a) elastic or flexible enough in order to allow the hole or opening in the orifice to expand to pass 'clogs' or 'lumps' and then return to its original shape
Implementation Method 2
or (b) supple or deformable enough in order to allow the orifice to be compressed or collapsed 'upstream' of the hole or opening so that the 'clogs' or 'lumps' can be broken up and then passed through the hole or opening when the orifice returns to its original shape
Data Source
AI summary
A completely disposable cooking apparatus used for filling and decorating of foods, that is a one-piece disposable construction, comprising a one-piece, funnel-shaped bag with a soft side wall, having an open first end at the “top” or wider end of the funnel through which food material can be inserted into the bag and a closed second end at the “bottom” or narrow end of the funnel, with an integral, malleable, conical shaped, discharge orifice (also sometimes referred to as a nozzle or a tip). The orifice has serrations or ridges extending inwardly from the internal wall of the orifice, running longitudinally or parallel to the cone axis for all or a part of the length of the orifice. The orifice can either be initially closed or manufactured with a small opening or hole. The orifice is made of a material so that it is capable of being cut at any point along its longitudinal axis to yield an exit opening or hole with a desired size. Regardless of the point of cut, i.e., regardless of the size of the hole or opening, the inwardly extending serrations or ridges that remain after the cut insure that the material is “treated” as it is expelled from the bag through the orifice. While the orifice is capable of “treating” the material as it is discharged from the bag, the orifice is also either: (a) elastic or flexible enough in order to allow the hole or opening in the orifice to expand to pass “clogs” or “lumps” and then return to its original shape; or (b) supple or deformable enough in order to allow the orifice to be compressed or collapsed “upstream” of the hole or opening so that the “clogs” or “lumps” can be broken up and then passed through the hole or opening when the orifice returns to its original shape.