Reclosable bag with header

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9511911-B1
Application number	US-201615011194-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 29, 2016
Priority date	Jan 29, 2016
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

A bag has a bag body that defines an interior and opening. A reclosable closure is configured for repeatably and nondestructively closing and opening the opening. A covering flap is connected to the bag body, extends away from the bag opening, and has a zone of weakness. The covering flap can be attached to the bag body while covering the closure. To access the closure, the covering flap is torn along its zone of weakness. The bag can also have a removable panel, which can be attached to the removable panels of other bags to form a header pack. The bag body and covering flap can be removed from the header pack by being torn along another zone of weakness between the covering flap and removable panel that has a lower tear strength that the zone of weakness of the covering flap.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A bag comprising:
a bag body having a top edge margin, a bottom edge margin, and opposite first and second side margins, the bag body comprising front and rear panels joined together at the bottom edge margin and the opposite first and second side edge margins to define a bag interior and a bag opening at the top edge margin of the bag body;
a reclosable closure at the top edge margin of the bag body configured to repeatably and nondestructively close and open the bag opening; and
a header having a first side margin and a second side margin and extending upward from the rear panel at the top edge margin of the bag body to a top edge margin of the header, the header including a covering flap and a removable panel separated by a separation line, the covering flap extending between the top edge margin of the bag body and the separation line and the removable panel extending between the separation line and the top edge margin of the header, the header including a first zone of weakness extending between the first and second side margins of the header generally at the separation line and a second zone of weakness extending between the first and second side margins of the header positioned on the covering flap between the top edge margin of the bag body and the separation line, the second zone of weakness having a higher tear strength than the first zone of weakness whereby the bag body and covering flap can be torn away from the removable panel without tearing the covering flap through the second zone of weakness.

2. A bag as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first zone of weakness includes a tear initiator formed in the header at the first side margin thereof.

3. A bag as set forth in claim 2 wherein the first zone of weakness further includes another tear initiator formed in the header at the second side margin thereof.

4. A bag as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first zone of weakness includes at least one tear initiator formed in the header and the second zone of weakness includes fewer tear initiators than the first zone of weakness.

5. A bag as set forth in claim 4 wherein the second zone of weakness is free of tear initiators.

6. A bag as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first and second zones of weakness comprise perforations.

7. A bag as set forth in claim 6 wherein a density of the perforations of the first zone of weakness is greater than a density of the perforations of the second zone of weakness.

8. A bag as set forth in claim 1 wherein the second zone of weakness comprises first and second lines of weakness extending between the first and second side margins of the header, the second line of weakness being spaced apart from the first line of weakness toward the top edge margin of the bag body to define a removable tear strip between the first and second lines of weakness.

9. A bag as set forth in claim 1 wherein the reclosable closure comprises selectively interlockable front and rear zipper profiles and a slider.

10. A bag as set forth in claim 1 wherein the covering flap is configured to be folded over the reclosable closure and attached to the front panel to at least partially cover the reclosable closure after the removable panel has been removed.

11. A header pack comprising a plurality of bags as set forth in claim 1 , the removable panels of said bags being attached to one another to form the header pack.

12. A header pack comprising:
a plurality of bags, each of the bags comprising:
a bag body having a top edge margin, a bottom edge margin, and opposite first and second side margins, the bag body comprising front and rear panels joined together at the bottom edge margin and the opposite first and second side edge margins to define a bag interior and a bag opening at the top edge margin of the bag body;
a reclosable closure at the top edge margin of the bag body configured to repeatably and nondestructively close and open the bag opening; and
a header having a first side margin and a second side margin and extending upward from the rear panel at the top edge margin of the bag body to a top edge margin of the header, the header including a covering flap and a removable panel separated by a separation line, the covering flap extending between the top edge margin of the bag body and the separation line and the removable panel extending between the separation line and the top edge margin of the header, the covering flap including a zone of weakness extending between the first and second side margins of the header at a location spaced apart between the top edge margin of the bag body and the separation line;

the removable panels of the plurality of bags being attached to one another to form the header pack.

13. A header pack as set forth in claim 12 wherein each of the bags is configured to be torn along the separation line to remove the bag from the header pack, the removable panel of each bag remaining attached to the header bag after the bag is removed.

14. A header pack as set forth in claim 12 wherein the zone of weakness of each bag comprises first and second lines of weakness extending between the first and second side margins of the header, the second line of weakness being spaced apart from the first line of weakness toward the top edge margin of the bag body to define a removable tear strip therebetween.

15. A header pack as set forth in claim 12 wherein perforations are formed in each header at the separation line and the zone of weakness.

16. A header pack as set forth in claim 15 wherein a density of the perforations formed in each header at the separation line is greater than a density of the perforations formed in each header at the zone of weakness.

17. A header pack as set forth in claim 12 wherein each header includes a tear initiator formed in at least one of the first and second side margins thereof at the separation line.

Assignees

• Inteplast Group Ltd
• Inteplast Group Corp

Inventors

• Chang Li-Yung
• Li Hsiaolei

Classifications

• B65D33/14

  Suspension means (handles B65D33/06) · CPC title

• B65D33/001

  Blocks, stacks or like assemblies of bags · CPC title

• B65D51/245 Primary

  provided with decoration, information or contents indicating devices, labels (B65D81/366 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65D33/2591

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B65D33/34 Primary

  with special means for indicating unauthorised opening {(B65D33/2516, B65D33/2585 take precedence)} · CPC title