Bag top with sealed appearance for a slider

Abstract

The disclosure pertains to a reclosable bag wherein the web or film is folded to form a top folded edge. This fold further creates the front wall and an upper portion of the rear wall. A zipper is sealed within the upper fold to the front wall and the upper portion of the rear wall. A bottom folded edge is formed thereby forming the lower portion of the rear wall. The upper and lower portions of the rear wall are joined by a fin seal. The upper folded edge gives the appearance of a seal, particularly if a sealing bar is used to seal portions of the front wall and the upper rear wall immediately adjacent to the top folded edge.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains to a reclosable plastic bag wherein the top is folded over to create the appearance of the sealing of two separate sheets of web to each other. This invention is particularly applicable when creating a shrouded appearance by inserting a slider and clip into the fold of a base web material.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In the prior art, it is well known to create reclosable bags from sheets of film or web which are sealed together around the edges. This sealing around the edges has become, to at least some extent, expected by the consumer and is considered to be aesthetically pleasing.

However, there are many advantages to a “zipper-in-the-fold” configuration which are disclosed in many patent references. Examples of such prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,439 entitled “Methods of Making Slide-Zippered Reclosable Packages on Horizontal Form-Fill-Seal Machines”, issued on Oct. 31, 2000 to McMahon et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,437 entitled “Zipper and Zipper Arrangements and Methods of Manufacturing the Same”, issued on Feb. 19, 2002 to Provan. In particular, in some applications and configurations, the “zipper-in-the-fold” embodiments are somewhat easier to control through the manufacturing machinery. However, heretofore, the “zipper-in-the-fold” configurations have had the web looped over the zipper without the aesthetically pleasing appearance of a seal above the zipper.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a reclosable plastic bag which achieves the advantages of a “zipper-in-the-fold” configuration while maintaining an appearance similar to that of a top seal.

This and other objects are attained by providing a reclosable bag wherein the base web is folded to form the top edge of the reclosable bag. A zipper, typically with a slider, is inserted and sealed into the fold, and apparent or “false” seal is formed at the fold. The resulting structure is fed into a wrapper wherein the product, such as foodstuffs, is introduced and the side seals and rear fin seal are formed. Typically, the side seals stop below the profiles, thereby eliminating the need for seal bar modifications to enable the seal bars to seal over the profile. This results in an aesthetically pleasing package which is easier to control through the manufacturing machinery.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and from the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a reclosable bag of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along plane 2-2 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals refer to like elements throughout the several views, one sees that FIG. 1 is a front view of reclosable bag 10 of the present invention while FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view.

A single sheet of web or film 12 is folded or creased so as to form the top folded edge 14 of reclosable bag 10 and further forming front wall 16 and upper rear wall 18. Zipper 20, typically with interlocking profiles 22, 24 and slider 26 is inserted near or proximate to the top folded edge 14 and flanges 28, 30 of interlocking profiles 18, 20 are sealed to front wall 16 and upper rear wall 18 thereby forming transverse flange seals 40, 42. Profiles 22, 24 of zipper 20 typically terminate in end stops to prevent slider 26 from running off the ends of the zipper 20. Additionally, top folded edge 14 can be impressed with seal bars to seal front wall 16 to upper rear wall 18 to form sealed area 44 immediately adjacent to top folded edge 14 which gives the further appearance of a seal. One or more lines of weakness, such as by perforations, laser scoring or other methods known to those skilled in the art, can be formed between sealed area 44 and transverse flange seals 40, 42 and parallel thereto to allow the user to remove a header-type structure for access to the zipper 20.

Typically using a wrapper (not shown), contents (not shown) such as foodstuffs are placed into reclosable bag 10 and front wall 16 is then folded so as to form lower folded edge 46 and lower rear wall 48. The edge of lower rear wall 48 is then sealed to the edge of upper rear wall 18 thereby forming rear fin seal 50. Seal bars (not shown) then form side seals 60, 62 by joining the lateral edges of front wall 16 to lateral edges of upper and lower rear walls 18, 48. Typically, side seals 60, 62 stop at transverse flange seals 40, 42, below the profiles 22, 24, thereby eliminating the need for seal bar modifications to enable the seal bars to seal over the profiles 22, 24.

Thus the several aforementioned objects and advantages are most effectively attained. Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed and described in detail herein, it should be understood that this invention is in no sense limited thereby and its scope is to be determined by that of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A reclosable bag comprising:

a section of web which is folded to form a top folded edge of the reclosable bag and further forming a front wall of the reclosable bag and an upper portion of a rear wall of the reclosable bag;

a zipper with first and second interlocking profiles, a portion of said first interlocking profile being sealed to said front wall proximate to said top folded edge and a portion of said second interlocking profile being sealed to said upper portion of said rear wall proximate to said top folded edge;

said section of web being further folded to form a lower folded edge and a lower rear wall of the reclosable bag;

a rear seal joining said lower rear wall of said reclosable bag to said upper rear wall of said reclosable bag; and

side seals joining lateral edges of said front wall to lateral edges of said upper and lower rear walls.

2. The reclosable bag of claim 1 wherein portions of said front wall immediately adjacent to said top folded edge are sealed to portions of said upper rear wall immediately adjacent to said top folded edge.

3. The reclosable bag of claim 1 wherein said rear seal is a fin seal.

4. The reclosable bag of claim 1 wherein said first and second interlocking profiles include first and second flanges, respectively, which are sealed to said front wall and said upper portion of said rear wall, respectively, thereby forming first and second flange seals, respectively.

5. The reclosable bag of claim 4 wherein side seals meet said first and second flange seals but do not extend to said interlocking profiles.

6. A method of forming a reclosable bag comprising the steps of:

folding a section of web to form a top folded edge of the reclosable bag and further forming a front wall of the reclosable bag and an upper portion of a rear wall of the reclosable bag;

providing a zipper with first and second interlocking profiles;

sealing a portion of said first interlocking profile said front wall adjacent to said top folded edge;

sealing a portion of said second interlocking profile to said upper portion of said rear wall adjacent to said top folded edge;

folding said section of web being to form a lower folded edge and a lower rear wall of the reclosable bag;

sealing said lower rear wall of said reclosable bag to said upper rear wall of said reclosable bag thereby forming a rear seal; and

sealing lateral edges of said front wall to lateral edges of said upper and lower rear walls thereby forming side seals.

7. The method of forming a reclosable bag of claim 6 further including the step of sealing a portion of said front wall immediately adjacent to said top folded edge to a portion of said upper rear wall immediately adjacent to said top folded edge.

8. The method of forming a reclosable bag of claim 6 wherein said rear seal is a fin seal.

9. The method of forming a reclosable bag of claim 6 wherein first and second interlocking profiles include respective first and second flanges and wherein said steps of sealing said first and second interlocking profiles include sealing said first and second flanges to said front and rear walls thereby forming respective first and second flange seals.

10. The method of forming a reclosable bag of claim 9 wherein side seals meet said first and second flange seals but do not extend to said interlocking profiles.

11. The method of forming a reclosable bag of claim 6 further including the step of loading product into said reclosable bag prior to the step of folding said section of web to form a lower folded edge and a lower rear wall of the reclosable bag.