EP1508526A1 - Bag with composite drawstring - Google Patents

Abstract

The sack (1), made from two layers of material joined together round their edges, has a sleeve (4) round its upper opening (1d) containing two sliding ties (6a, 6b) accessible through notches (7) in the sack's edge. One of the ties (6a) is sufficiently elastic to allow a certain amount of stretch and retraction, while the other (6b) is non-elastic. The sack (1), made from two layers of material joined together round their edges, has a sleeve (4) round its upper opening (1d) containing two sliding ties (6a, 6b) accessible through notches (7) in the sack's edge. One of the ties (6a) is sufficiently elastic to allow a certain amount of stretch and retraction, while the other (6b) is non-elastic. The non-elastic tie is fastened to the opposite lateral edges (2, 3) of the sack, while the elastic one is connected only to the non-elastic tie by a weld (9) in the zone of a notch (7).

Description

The present invention relates to a bag, particularly in plastic material, in particular a garbage storage bag housewares, of the type called "sliding link", having an opening lined with a sheath in which is arranged a sliding link prehensile from the outside.

Generally, in industrialized countries, waste and garbage, in particular household refuse, are stored in plastic bags. These plastic bags include, generally, two plastic faces connected to each other on their periphery by providing an opening area. These bags have the more often a rectangular shape, although other forms are possible: for example, the bottom of the bag may have a rounded shape. In the rest of the description, for ease of reference, reference will be made to bags of rectangular shape, but it is understood that the bags according to the present invention are not limited to this form.

The bags can be prepared from two sheets rectangular plastic material, by welding three sides of the rectangle and leaving the fourth side open. They can also be prepared from a single sheet of plastic material that is folds, either to form the bottom of the bag, or to form a lateral side of the bag, two of the other sides being heat-welded. In known manner, in the bags, the faces can be connected together by a bellows at the bottom and / or at the side, preferably two lateral sides.

It is also known to manufacture so-called link bags in which the opening of the bag, whatever it is, is lined a sheath in which a link is slidable. The link may consist of a single strand, both ends of the link being fixed between them. It can also consist of two strands, each strand being fixed by each of its ends to the sheath. The link is preferably a plastic tape likely to be heat-sealed.

The sheath is usually prepared by folding the sheet of plastic material parallel to the opening and heat-sealing parallel to the edge of the film. The sheath can be continuous or formed two separate parts. This is particularly the case when bags are formed by thermo-welding of the lateral sides and that the sheath is formed by folding the plastic sheet before heat-sealing lateral sides.

Such sliding link bags made of plastic are described in patents EP-953,511 and EP-1,232,954 belonging to the Applicant.

It has also been proposed in the state of the art, by example in US Pat. No. 5,133,607, in the utility model German DE-201 10 350-U1 and in the international application WO 03/035500, a bag of the sliding link type, in which the link sliding is of elastic or extensible material. This elastic link in closed loop is characterized by the fact that the length of its periphery is less than that of the opening of the bag, so that the user must elastically extend the sliding link to come on the fix around the periphery of a receptacle, for example a trash can. Thus, this sliding link makes it possible to elastically retain the bag on the trash, in a wide range of garbage sizes, all by limiting the risk of the bag slipping inside the trash example because of the weight of the waste inside the bag.

However, the aforementioned elastic sliding link bags have a double disadvantage, because of the presence lateral recesses, relatively deep, which are arranged on the longitudinal edge of the bag opening. The presence of these relatively wide swaths presents on the one hand the disadvantage of do not allow the bag to be completely closed when the links sliding are knotted after filling the bag. Indeed, during the transport or storage of bags filled with waste, waste could escape by these hips. On the other hand, the presence of these relatively wide recesses decreases the length of sheath in contact with the link, and therefore weakens the bag when it is transported full using the elastic sliding link as a handle.

To overcome this drawback, the German utility model DE-202 07 942-U1 provides recesses arranged in the vicinity and away from the side edges of the bag, so that the links elastic sliders remain linked at their lateral ends to lateral edges of the bag, the welds of the elastic links delimiting the length at rest elastic links being accessible at the level said recesses. In such bags, the ends of the links sliders are no longer free, but connected to the lateral edges of the bag.

However, all these elastic slider bags have for common disadvantage the fact that the elastic link may not have sufficient tensile strength to support a weight waste in the bag during transport. In addition, even if the tear resistance is sufficient, if the weight of the waste in the bag is important, the sliding link, which is usually used as a handle by the user when transporting the bag, risk of elastic stretching, which can drag the bag onto the ground, or to bring it down sufficiently for him to obstacles, which is a major inconvenience for the user. All these elastic tie bags also have the common disadvantage of not being able to be completely closed by their elastic link and therefore leave openings through which waste can escape.

The invention therefore aims to propose a bag of the type to elastic sliding link for elastically fixing the periphery of the bag on a receptacle, which makes it possible to avoid or limit the risks of waste outside the bag, after closing the bag with the help of sliding links. The invention also aims to limit the risk of rupture or tear of the elastic sliding link or the risks of elastic deformation of the sliding link during transport of the filled bag including waste.

For this purpose, the subject of the invention is a bag made of two interconnected faces all around their periphery, with the exception of one edge longitudinal, the bag having an opening opening on said edge longitudinally, both sides of the bag being welded to each other along two opposite lateral edges, each face having a sheath bordering said opening and in which is arranged a sliding link, each link being grippable from the outside by at least one lateral recess formed through said sheaths in the vicinity of a side edge of the bag, the ends of the links being fixed to each other at the level of each lateral recess by a so-called weld zone intermediary, so that the links form a closed loop whose length of the periphery is less than that of the longitudinal edge of the bag, characterized in that one of the two links has an elasticity sufficient to allow for its extension with a retracting effect and the other of said links is substantially non-elastic material.

According to a particular embodiment, each Lateral recess is spaced from the side edge adjacent to the bag by a sheath section and at least the ends of the non-elastic sliding link are attached to the side edges of the bag. In a variant, only the non-elastic link is attached to the side edges of the bag, the link being attached only to the non-elastic link, at the level of the lateral recess, by said intermediate weld zone.

In a variant, the two links, elastic and non-elastic, are connected to the lateral edges of the bag, in a similar way to both elastic bonds described in the German utility model DE-202 07 942-U1.

Advantageously, the bag comprises two recesses lateral to the vicinity of each side edge of the bag.

In another variant, the two lateral recesses extend to the center of the bag to form together only one central recess.

In a variant, the bag comprises only one lateral recess, the other ends of the sliding links being fixed to the other edge side of the bag.

According to a particular characteristic of the invention, the bag has another recess in the middle part of each sheath.

According to yet another characteristic, the elastic link is ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and the non-elastic bond is in high density polyethylene (HDPE).

• la figure 1 est une vue en perspective d'un sac selon l'invention partiellement ouvert ;
• la figure 2 est une vue en coupe suivant le plan II-II de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 3 est une vue en élévation d'une variante du sac représenté sur la figure 1, à double embrèvement latéral ; et
• la figure 4 est une vue analogue à la figure 3, selon un autre mode de réalisation de l'invention.

The invention will be better understood, and other objects, details, features and advantages thereof will appear more clearly in the following description of several particular embodiments of the invention, given solely for illustrative and not limiting , with reference to the appended schematic drawings, in which:

• Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bag according to the invention partially open;
• Figure 2 is a sectional view along the plane II-II of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 is an elevational view of a variant of the bag shown in Figure 1, double side recess; and
• Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, according to another embodiment of the invention.

In the first embodiment illustrated in FIGS. and 2, it can be seen that the bag 1 according to the invention consists of two faces substantially parallel la, 1b rectangular, faces la, 1b being made of the same plastic sheet which is folded for forming the bottom 1c of the bag, this bottom 1c being rounded when the bag is in portage position, as shown in Figure 2. In the storage position, the faces la and 1b are brought against each other and are connected at the bottom 1c by a flat fold, as shown in Figure 1. On their side edges 2 and 3, the faces 1a and 1b are interconnected by corresponding welds 2a and 3a. These welds 2a and 3a extend substantially over the entire height of the bag 1 and form a vertical line, but these welds may not be linear but extend over the entire marginal area of the bag.

On the opposite side to the bottom 1c, the periphery of the bag comprises an opening zone 1d defined along the longitudinal edge of each face 1a and 1b, the longitudinal edge of each face 1a and 1b is extending, at the opening zone 1d, by an internal fold 4, one end of which is welded to the corresponding side of the bag by a longitudinal weld 4a. This fold 4 extends beyond the weld longitudinal 4a by a skirt 4b, which can be free or itself welded to the corresponding side of the bag.

The longitudinal weld 4a is preferably continuous on the entire length of the bag. It can also be non-continuous, in lines interrupted or dotted.

Each welded fold 4 defines a sheath whose housing interior 5 receives a strand 6a or 6b of the sliding link 6. The strand 6a of the link slider 6 is, for example, made of a strip of elastic material and the strand 6b of a band of non-elastic material, the two bands being of different color from the color of the leaf constitutive of the faces the and 1b and the two strands can themselves be distinguished by colors different. The sliding links 6 are welded at one end to the bag 1 at the side edge 3, simultaneously with the thermo-welding of the welding line 3a. At the other end, each sliding link 6 is accessible from the outside, thanks to a lateral recess 7 practiced in the walls of each sheath 4, along the free edge of the opening zone 1d from the bag. By way of example, each recess 7 is obtained by cutting, in a semicircle shape, the two walls of each fold 4. Of course, the recesses 7 may have a shape any, for example rectangular or other.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the bag 1 is of the type with only one lateral recess 7, but in FIG. represented a bag 21 having two lateral recesses 7.

The lateral recess 7 is formed through the sheaths 4, in the vicinity of the side edge 2 of the bag, but away from it, in order to provide a section of sheath 8 between the lateral edge 2 and lateral recess 7.

The sliding link is called composite or bi-material because each strand is made of different material, one of elastic material and the other of substantially non-elastic material. For example, strand 6a is in an elastic material, for example ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or thermo-plastic rubber, or elastomeric polyolefin, or else a mixture of elastomeric rubber and polyethylene low density, as indicated for example in US Patent 5,133,607. The other strand 6b is, for example, made of plastic material, for example high density polyethylene.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the two strands 6a and 6b are welded at one end with the side edge 3 of the bag along the transversal weld 3a, while the opposite ends of the two strands 6a and 6b are welded together along a so-called transverse weld 9 intermediate at the level of the lateral recesses 7. The distance L2 between the transverse weld 9 and the weld 3 a on the opposite lateral edge is substantially less than the length L1 between the welds 2a and 3a two lateral edges 2 and 3 of the bag, so that the sliding link 6 define a closed loop whose periphery is of length less than that of the longitudinal edge of the bag.

Both strands 6a and 6b extend beyond the weld transverse 9 by two link portions 9a and 9b respectively, whose ends are connected to the opposite side edge 2 of the bag, simultaneously with the transverse weld 2a. As better visible on the 1, the links 9a and 9b of the link are partially housed in the 8 sheath section on each side of the bag.

Since one of the two strands is made of elastic, it can stretch elastically to maintain elastically the bag on the periphery of a trash.

Advantageously, provision is made for another recess median 12, per semicircular example, allowing access to each strand 6a and 6b of the sliding link, to facilitate the gripping of both strands for transport and / or tying of links. Since link 6 is attached to the sheath on both side edges of the bag, it is easier to pull on the link 6 from the recess 12, to cause the closing the bag 1, causing the sheath to fold at the level of the opening 1d of the bag. As strand 6b is made of non-elastic material, and that strand 6b is bonded at both ends to the side edges of the bag, the link 6a will not be able to lengthen elastically during transport, whatever the size or weight of the bag. We will see that the recess 12 extends only over part of the height of the link sliding 6, unlike the recess 7 which must extend over any the height of the sliding link 6, in order to release at the level of the recess 7 the link 6 of the sheath.

In Figure 2, reference numeral 1 is indicated by inside the bag, in the open position.

As a variant, the section 9a of the elastic strand 6a can be deleted or cut, because the essential lies in the presence of section 9b non-elastic link, which ensures the mechanical strength of the link sliding during transport. In addition, this portion 9a of the elastic strand does not participate in the elastic deformation of the sliding link, during the mounting the bag on a receptacle.

In the embodiments illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, the same reference numerals will designate identical or like.

The bag 21 of Figure 3 is essentially different from the bag of FIG. 1 in that the lateral recess 7 is provided for each side of the bag, so that the length at rest L3, ie in a state not stretched elastic link, is still less than the length L2 on the Figure 1. Of course, the ratio of the two lengths L1 and L2 or L1 and L3 is determined according to the elasticity of the material, its resistance at break, and the holding force that one wishes to obtain on the receptacle.

In FIG. 4, the bag 31 is essentially different from the bag 21 by the fact that the recess 37 extends substantially from a border to the other of the bag, revealing the sliding link 6 over its entire length between transverse welds 9.

Although the invention has been described in connection with several particular embodiments, it is obvious that it is not in no way limited and that it includes all the technical equivalents of means described and their combinations if they fall within framework of the invention.

Claims (9)

Bag (1, 21, 31) consisting of two faces (1a, 1b) interconnected over their entire periphery, with the exception of a longitudinal edge, the bag having an opening (1d) opening on said longitudinal edge, the two sides of the bag being welded to each other along two opposite lateral edges (2, 3), each face comprising a sheath (4) bordering said opening and in which is arranged a sliding link (6, 6a, 6b), each link being grippable from the outside by at least one lateral recess (7, 37) formed through said sheaths in the vicinity of a lateral edge of the bag, the ends of the links being fixed to each other at each lateral recess by a so-called intermediate weld zone (9), so that the links form a closed loop whose length (L2, L3) of the periphery is less than that (L1) of the longitudinal edge of the bag, characterized by the fact that one (6a) of the two links has a sufficient elasticity to allow its extension then a certain retraction and the other (6b) of said links is substantially non-elastic material. Bag according to claim 1, characterized in that each lateral recess (7, 37) is spaced from the adjacent lateral edge (2, 3) of the bag (1, 21 31) by a sheath section (8) and at least the ends (9b) of the non-elastic sliding link (6b) are attached to the lateral edges of the bag. Bag according to claim 2, characterized in that only the non-elastic link (6b) is attached to the lateral edges (2, 3) of the bag, the elastic link (6a) being fixed only to the non-elastic link, at the level of the lateral recess (7), by said intermediate welding zone (9). Bag according to claim 2, characterized in that the two links, elastic (6a) and non-elastic (6b), are connected to the lateral edges (2, 3) of the bag. Bag according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the bag (21) has two lateral recesses (7) in the vicinity of each side edge (2, 3) of the bag. Bag according to claim 5, characterized in that the two lateral recesses extend to the center of the bag (31) to form together only one central recess (37). Bag according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the bag (1) has a single lateral recess (7), the other ends of the sliding links being fixed to the other side edge (3) of the bag. Bag according to one of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7, characterized in that the bag (1, 21) has another recess (12) in the middle part of each sheath (4). Bag according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the elastic link (6a) is ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and the non-elastic link (6b) is high density polyethylene (HDPE).

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