IE41758B1 - Bags wicketed on a flexible binding - Google Patents

Abstract

1528134 Filing papers UNION CARBIDE CORP 17 Oct 1975 [18 Oct 1974] 42582/75 Heading B6E [Also in Division B8] A package comprises a stack 6 of sheets or bags each having two wicket holes 9 therethrough, an elongate (plastics) flexible binding member 10 extending through the holes to form a curved hand grippable loop, and shanks extending from each of the holes in the bottom sheet, and engaged by means (a friction washer) to retain the sheets on the binding member. The member may be either tubular or solid.

Description

This invention relates to a' package, particularly to a package of stacked, flexible sheet articles such as packaging bags made of plastics or the like material, of the type customarily used in the meat packaging industry in conjunction with automatic and semiautomatic packaging apparatus.

Packaging operations in industry, particularly in the meat packing industry, involve the use of flexible plastics packaging sheets or bags held on wickets passing through wicket holes in the stacked sheet or bag supply for one at a time removal and utilization at a packaging station.

The modes of automatic and semiautomatic packaging which utilize such sheet materials and bags, and the criteria for such usages are discussed in U.S. Patent-Specification No. 3,738,482.

The packaging, handling, shipping, unpacking, and mounting for utilization of these sheets and bags, because of their slippery surfaces, present many problems. The ensuing discussion refers only to bags for purposes of simplification, but the discussion in general also applies to sheets. Polyethylene bags for such use, for instance, when shipped, as they customarily are, in loose bulk quantities, tend to slide into disorderly piles and are extremely difficult to handle. These problems may be reduced to some extent by providing a pre-wicketed bag stack but that solution-presupposes a packaging station having wicket sockets to accept the wicket which comes with the pre-wicketed bag stack.

The desiderata of flattened, stacked wicket holed, flexible, plastics, slippery packing bags then is that they be held in a neatly stacked bundle, with their wicket holes in registration, as a unitary package, during packing, shipping, unpacking, and installation at a packing station, and that the arrangement to accomplish these ends be optimally flexible to accomodate various modes of installation and mounting at different packaging stations.

According to the present invention a package comprises, in combination, a stack of flattened flexible packaging sheets, each sheet having two - 2 41758 wicket holes therethrough, said wicket holes being in substantial registration with the wicket holes in respectively contiguous sheets in the stack; an elongate flexible binding member extending through the wicket holes in the stacked sheets to form a curved hand grippable loop between the wicket holes of the topmost sheet of the stack and having a shank extending from each of the wicket holes in the bottommost sheet of the stack; and means engaged over each shank to retain the sheets on the binding member.

One embodiment of the package comprises a stack of two-ply flattened, closed base, open mouthed packaging-bags.

The elongate flexible binding member is preferably a length of plastics tubing, and the. means on the shanks to retain the sheets or bags on the binding member are preferably friction washers.

Thus, there is provided a unitary stack or bundle of flexible, plastics packaging bags or sheets with wicket holes all held in registration and alignment by means of a flexible binding member.

The flexible binding member holding the assembly of bags or sheets may, in some instances, also be utilized as a carrying handle.

Further, the flexible binding member holding the bags may be severed at its carrying handle portion and utilized as a pair of wicket legs.

An advantageous feature of the invention is in its provision of a binding which securely holds the stacked bags during shipping and handling and readily permits their transfer to various other wicketing means.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view, looking from above, of a stack of bags held on a flexible binding member according to the present invention and Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective view, looking from below, of the stack of bags of Figure 1.

With reference to the drawings, there is shown generally a bundle or stack 6 of flattened flexible plastics packaging bags 4 each having - 3 417 5 8 a closed base end 5, an open mouth end 7, and wicket holes 9 through the flattened plies. The wicket holes 9 through the bags 4 are in substantial registration throughout the stack 6. An elongate flexible binding member 10, preferably a length of plastics tubing, is threaded through the wicket holes 9 as shown to form a hand grippable loop 11 between the wicket holes of the topmost bag of the stack. Shank portions 12 of the flexible binding member 10 are shown in place in the wicket holes 9, with shank extensions 14 extending from the bottommost bag 4 of the bag stack 6. The bags are held on the flexible binding member 10 by means of friction washers 16, one on each shank extension 14, slid up snugly against the underside of the bottommost bag of the stack as shown in Figure 2 of the drawings.

The bag stack package according to the invention and as herein described and illustrated can be readily lifted by the loop 11 for placing into and removal from a shipping carton, for carrying to a packaging station for installation in a bag dispensing apparatus, and for any other necessary handling.

Bags bundled and bound on flexible tubing according to the invention can be readily transferred to rigid U shaped wickets used in many automatic and semi-automatic packaging techniques. To effect such a transfer to a selected rigid U shaped wicket, the friction washers 16 are removed from the shank extensions 14, the rigid wicket legs are slid into the open ends of the tubular binding member 10, the tubing and the wicket legs are pulled up through the aligned wicket holes 9 in the bag stack 6 until the rigid wicket legs extend beyond the uppermost bag of the stack, and the tubular binding member is slid off the wicket legs, leaving the bag stack aligned as before, but now on a rigid wicket. Transfers to rigid tubular wickets, where necessary, are accomplished in a similar manner but may be effected with either a solid or a tubular plastics binding member, the member in the former case being slid into the rigid tubular wicket legs and in the latter case being slipped either into or over such wicket legs. - 4 41758 The package according to the invention is more advantageously used however in connection with bag holding platens having either wicket holes into which the shank extensions 14 are inserted or wicket posts over which the shank extensions 14 are slipped. In such arrangements, the flexible binding member 10 is severed at the midpoint of the hand grippable loop 11 and the severed sections serve as wicket posts holding the bags in readiness for one at a time removal from the stack.

In connection with such applications, the present invention is particularly and most advantageously used in conjunction with the invention of U.S.

Patent Specification No. 3,918,539. It is to be appreciated however that this invention is not limited to use only with the invention of this U.S. Patent Specification.

EXAMPLE A typical bundle of bags according to the present invention was made up of 200 bags of 0.04mm thick polyvinyldichloride tubular plastics film, cut and base sealed into flush cut bags, each of 41 cm. flatwidth by 76 cm. length, with 12.5 mm wicket hole apertures spaced on 25 cm. centres adjacent the mouth ends of the bags. A 40cm. length of 0.95 cm. 0.0. by 0.63 cm.

I.D. flexible polyethylene tubing was threaded through the aligned wicket hole apertures and the bags were secured onto the tubing with 10 mm. friction washers disposed to leave about 3 cm. length shank extensions. Bundles so made were tested and found consistently easy to handle in the processes of j carton packaging, unpackaging, dispensing station installations, and ultimate utilization of the bags, without any bundle breakage, spills, or other malfunctions.

Claims (6)

1. A package comprising, in combination, a stack of flattened flexible packaging sheets, each sheet having two wicket holes therethrough, said wicket holes being in substantial registration with the wicket holes £5 ' : in respectively contiguous sheets in the stack; an elongate flexible binding member extending through the wicket holes in the stacked sheets so as to form a curved hand grippable loop between the wicket holes of the topmost sheet of the stack and having a shank extending from each of the wicket holes in the bottommost sheet of the io ,. stack; and means engaged over each shank to retain the sheets on the binding member.

2. A package as claimed in claim 1,wherein the sheets in the stack comprise two-ply flattened closed base, open mouthed, packaging bags. 15

3. a package as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the elongate flexible binding member is a length of plastics tubing.

4. A package as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the means engaged over each shank to retain the sheets on the binding member is a friction washer. 20

5. a package comprising, in combination, a stack of flattened, flexible packaging bags, each bag having two wicket holes therethrough, said wicket holes being in substantial registration with the wicket holes in respectively contiguous bags in the stack; an elongate flexible tubing member extending through the wicket holes in 25 the stacked bags so as to form a curved hand grippable loop between the wicket holes of the topmost bag of the stack and having a shank extending from each of the wicket holes in the bottommost bag of the stack; and a friction washer engaged over each shank to retain the bags on the 10 ί· flexible tubing member. - 6 41758

6. A package constructed substantially as herein particularly described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.