Bag for crushing objects
The invention relates to a plastic bag suitable for crushing and dispensing an object, such as medicinal pill. The bag has an open end, is strong enough to withstand crushing forces, and includes a bottom seal that forms an angle of greater than 90° with the sides of the bag. For example, the bottom seal may be curved and concave toward the open end of the bag. The bag may also include a lip near the opening and formed by one of the bag walls The bag may also include a gripper on any of (1) the interior or exterior surfaces of the lip or (2) the interior or exterior surface of the other wall. The bag may also include an indicator mark, e.g., a colored line near the opening to serve as a visual and/or tactile indicator for the user of the bag.
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The present invention relates to containers used in crushing or otherwise reducing medicine from pill or tablet form to powder form and methods to manufacture such containers. More particularly, it relates to plastic bags used to contain the medicine during the crushing process and a method to manufacture such plastic bags.
It is widely known that many people have difficultly swallowing a pill or tablet regardless of size. As a result, such people often crush pills into a powder to make the medicine easier to take. Once crushed the user may mix the powdered medicine with a liquid, food, or another substance to make the medicine easier to take, or the user may simply consume the powder directly. Although crushing a pill may render medicine easier to ingest, it has disadvantages including losing or contaminating a portion of the dose while crushing the pill To avoid losing or contaminating the medicine while crushing a pill, users often place the pill between two layers of material such as cloth, paper, or plastic before crushing it. For example, the two layers of material can be the sides of a plastic bag. Once the pill is positioned between layers of material, the user may crush the pill by using a hard object to apply pressure to the surface of the pill until the pill breaks into pieces. The user continues applying pressure until the pill is pulverized into sufficiently small granules. Such methods for crushing pills typically cause the user to lose a portion of the pill. For example, some of the pill may be embedded in the layers of material used to contain the pill or lodged in the corner of the plastic bag or other container. During the process of crushing the pill, it may also get contaminated with dirt, bacteria, or other undesirable substances introduced by the material used to contain the pill, the objects used to apply the pressure, or the objects used to retrieve the crushed pill from the materials used to contain the pill. Additional disadvantages include possible injury during the crushing process, and other possible physical hazards stemming from pieces of the crushed object acting as a projectile,
A conventional method of crushing one or more pills involves positioning the pill inside a polyethylene bag having an open end and walls of the same size and shape. When using such a bag to contain a pill for crushing, a portion of the crushed pill typically lodges in the lower corners of the bag and remains difficult to retrieve without significant additional effort. A portion of the crushed pill also adheres to the interior surfaces of the walls of the bag, for example, because of a small static charge that is typically present on the surface of a plastic bag or that can be generated by the crushing process As a result, the entire dose of the pill may not be available for ingestion.
II. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The inventor has developed a bag that addresses the disadvantages described above and minimizes the amount of medicine lost or contaminated when crushing a pill. A bag according to the convention has a front wall and a back wall as depicted in
The bag according to the invention may also incorporate several additional features that facilitate its use. For example, to maximize the proportion of crushed material that can be extracted reliably from the bag, the walls may be made with a material that includes an additive or interior coating that minimizes static charge, reduces friction between the interior walls and the contents of the bag or both. Such anti-static and anti-friction additives are commercially available and known. The free top edge of the back wall may extend beyond the free top edge of the front wall to form a lip that makes the bag easier to open by providing a part of the bag that the user can grasp easily when the bag is closed. This lip may also include a gripper portion defined by features on the interior, exterior, or both surfaces of the lip (or the front and/or back walls near the opening) to assist further the user in opening the bag. For example, gripper portion is illustrated in
The foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and do not restrict the claims directed to the invention. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one embodiment of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
III. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
This application refers in detail below to the exemplary embodiments of the bag according to the invention, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the application uses the same reference numbers throughout the drawings to refer to the same or similar items,
As shown in
The bottom seal 62 illustrated in
Gripper 51 is illustrated on the exterior surface of lip 53 allowing easy handling and opening of the bag. The gripper 51 provides tactile feedback and improve friction between the user's fingers and the lip, which assists the user in opening the bag. While gripper 51 is shown in the exterior surface of the lip 53 on the back wall 58, it may also be located on the interior surface of the lip 53, the interior surface of the front wall 59, the exterior surface of the front wall 59, or any combination of all four surfaces. The gripper is illustrated as two parallel lines, which originated as ridges 31 in the manufacturing process. While the number of ridges 31 affects the functional effectiveness of gripper 51, it is possible for any number of ridges 31 to serve as a gripper. Alternatively, the geometry of the gripper 51 need not be as shown in
The bag shown in
The bag 50 shown also includes a bottom 57 edge, which is typically closed if bag 50 is formed using the system described above. However, bottom edge 57 need not be closed. To assist in aligning, registering, or orienting the bag in a pill crushing device, the bottom edge 57 may extend in a direction away from the opening 54 and beyond the bottom seal 62 to form a flat bottom edge as depicted in
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the embodiments of a bag according to the invention and methods of making such a bag that are described above without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Therefore, other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from their consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed above. The applicant intends that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.
Claims
1. A bag suited for crushing an object and dispensing the crushed object, comprising:
- A. a front wall of a material at least 5 mil thick and defining a front top edge, a front first side edge, a front second side edge, a front bottom edge, a front interior surface, and a front exterior surface;
- B. a back wall of the material of at least 5 mil thick and defining a back top edge, a back first side edge, a back second side edge, a back bottom edge, a back interior surface, and a back exterior surface, in which: i. the front first side edge is connected to the back first side edge to define a first side seal, ii. the front second side edge is connected to the back second side edge to define a second side seal, and iii. the front top edge and the back top edge define a bag opening; and
- C. a bottom seal that: i. connects the front interior surface to the back interior surface, ii. extends from the front first side edge to the front second side edge, and iii. defines: a. a first vertex with the front first side edge defining a first angle α such that 90°<first angle α<180° and b. a second vertex with the front second side edge defining a second angle α such that 90°<second angle α<180°.
2. The bag of claim 1 in which the first side seal and the second side seal are at least 0.125 inches wide.
3. The bag of claim 2 in which the material includes a static reducing agent.
4. The bag of claim 3 in which the material is low density polyethylene.
5. The bag of claim 4, in which the back top edge is located farther from the bottom seal than the front top edge to define a lip portion.
6. The bag of claim 5, further comprising an indicator mark on the bag near the bag opening.
7. The bag of claim 6 in which the indicator mark is a line substantially parallel to the front top edge.
8. The bag of claim 6 in which the indicator mark is printed on the bag.
9. The bag of claim 6, further comprising a gripper on the bag near the bag opening.
10. The bag of claim 9 in which the gripper comprises a protrusion on the surface of the bag.
11. The bag of claim 10 in which the protrusion is substantially linear and of a length substantially equal to the distance between the first side seal and the second side seal.
12. The bag of claim 9 in which:
- A. the front top edge is linear;
- B. the front bottom edge is substantially parallel to the front top edge along at least a portion of the front bottom edge;
- C. the back bottom edge is linear; and
- D. the back bottom edge is substantially parallel to the back top edge along at least a portion of the back bottom edge.
13. The bag of claim 1 in which the material includes a static reducing agent.
14. The bag of claim 1 in which the material is a low density polyethylene.
15. The bag of claim 1 in which the back top edge is located farther from the bottom seal than the front top edge to define a lip portion.
16. The bag of claim 1, further comprising an indicator mark on the bag near the bag opening.
17. The bag of claim 16 in which the indicator mark is a line substantially parallel to the front top edge.
18. The bag of claim 16 in which the indicator mark is printed on the bag.
19. The bag of claim 1, further comprising a gripper on the bag near the bag opening.
20. The bag of claim 19 in which the gripper comprises a protrusion on the surface of the bag.
21. The bag of claim 20 in which the protrusion is substantially linear and of a length substantially equal to the distance between the first side seal and the second side seal.
22. The bag of claim 1 in which:
- A. the front top edge is linear,
- B. the front bottom edge is substantially parallel to the front top edge along at least a portion of the front bottom edge;
- C. the back bottom edge is linear; and
- D. the back bottom edge is substantially parallel to the back top edge along at least a portion of the back bottom edge.
23. A bag suitable for crushing an object and dispensing the crushed object, comprising:
- A. a front wall;
- B. a back wall;
- C. means for sealing the respective side edges of the front wall and the back wall to each other;
- D. means for sealing the respective interior surfaces of the front wall and the back wall near the respective bottom edges of the front wall and the back wall;
- E. means for indicating the open end of the bag; and
- F. means for gripping a surface of the bag.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 16, 2006
Publication Date: May 3, 2007
Applicant: THE BAGCO, INC. (Kennesaw, GA)
Inventor: Nossi Taheri (Atlanta, GA)
Application Number: 11/560,828
International Classification: B65D 30/00 (20060101); B65D 33/00 (20060101); B65D 30/10 (20060101);