RECLOSABLE FLEXIBLE PACKAGING HAVING HEADER WITH CUSTOMER TAKEAWAY
A package is provided of the type with a tear-away header which is separated from the product contents of the package by a zipper sealed to the interior of the package walls. The space within the header is used to package and an item such as a toy, game card, game token, coupon, or punched foam strip which can be used as a promotional or gift item. In this way, the item packaged within the header is kept separate from the product contents of the package.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of provisional application Ser. No. 61/083,832 filed on Jul. 25, 2008, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a reclosable package or bag with a tear-away header, wherein an object such as, but not limited to, a prize, a toy, a coupon or similar item is packaged within the header and available to the consumer after the header has been removed from the package or bag.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art of reclosable packages or bags, the use of a tear-away header is well-established. Representative examples of reclosable packages with tear-away headers are disclosed in U.S. patent application publication 2004/0058039, entitled “Reclosable Bag for Filing with Food Product(s) and Method” to Strand et al., published on Mar. 25, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,234 entitled “Process for Attaching Slider-Operated Closure on Form-Fill-Seal Packaging Machinery”, issued on Jul. 19, 2005 to Thomas et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,939,041, entitled “Fastener Closure Arrangement for Flexible Packages”, issued on Sep. 6, 2005 to Kinigakis et al.
In such packages, the header protects the zipper profile and provides tamper evidence.
Moreover, it is known in the prior art that certain consumer packaged goods have included various small novelty items used to entice a consumer into purchasing the packaged product. Examples include small toys in cereal or candy boxes, including Cracker Jacks boxes. Similarly, it is known to print a coupon on the exterior of a header of a package, so that the coupon is visible to the consumer prior to purchase and prior to the removal of the header.
However, placing such a toy or other customer take-away into the contents of a reclosable package or bag may not be practical if the reclosable package or bag includes such products as cheese or other oily or powdery products. This could even result in the customer perception that the contents had been contaminated.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a customer takeaway, such as, but not limited to, a toy, a prize, or a coupon, within a reclosable package or bag without the customer takeaway being placed into the product contents of the reclosable package or bag.
This and other objects are attained by providing a reclosable package or bag with a tear-away header, wherein the customer takeaway is provided within the tear-away header. With this configuration, the customer takeaway can be readily visible to the potential purchaser, thereby possibly even increasing sales of the product.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and from the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals indicate like elements throughout the several views, one sees that
Package 10 is typically manufactured by a form fill and seal (FFS) process although other processes may be used. Packages can be made using methods commonly referred to as machine direction applied zipper, or transversely applied zipper. Transversely applied zipper methods including, but not limited to, the commercially available Inno-Lok® process may be used. Typically, the various promotional items can be placed into the header compartment 60 during manufacture of the package 10 by inserting discrete promotional items into the header area where the promotional items are affixed. Alternatively, a promotional item can be affixed to the packaging material while it is in a flat state and the item incorporated into the package header as the package 10 is formed.
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Thus the several aforementioned objects and advantages are most effectively attained. Although preferred embodiments of the invention have 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 package including:
- a first wall and a second wall, the first and second walls joined to each other along sides thereof,
- a closure connected to an interior of the first and second walls, thereby forming a header above the closure and dividing an interior of the package into a product compartment and a header compartment; and
- the header compartment including a promotional item, separate from the product compartment.
2. The package of claim 1 wherein the closure is a zipper.
3. The package of claim 2 wherein the zipper includes first and second profiles with respective first and second flanges and wherein the first and second flanges are sealed to the respective first and second walls along respective first and second flange seal lines.
4. The package of claim 3 further including lines of weakness in the first and second walls above the respective first and second flange seal lines, thereby allowing the header to be torn from the package.
5. The package of claim 2 further including a slider on the zipper.
6. The package of claim 1 wherein a hard seal between the first and second wall above the closure divides the package into the product compartment and the header compartment.
7. The package of claim 1 wherein the promotional item is chosen from the group consisting of a coupon printed on an interior wall of the header, a coupon on material separate from the header, a toy, a game token, and a foam strip with at least one toy punched therefrom.
8. A package comprising:
- a front wall and a rear wall joined to each other along sides thereof;
- a first hard seal between the front wall and the rear wall, thereby separating the package into a product portion and a header portion; and
- a zipper attached to the front wall thereby providing access to the product portion.
9. The package of claim 8 wherein the first hard seal is separate from a hard seal between a second zipper flange and the rear wall.
10. The package of claim 8 wherein the front wall, the rear wall and the header portion are formed from a single sheet of web.
11. The package of claim 8 wherein the second zipper flange, the rear wall and the header portion are joined at the first hard seal.
12. The package of claim 8 wherein the front wall and rear wall are formed from a single sheet of web.
13. The package of claim 8 wherein said header portion is provided with a promotional item chosen from the group consisting of a coupon printed on an interior wall of the header, a coupon on material separate from that of the header, a toy, a game token, and a foam strip with at least one toy punched therefrom.
14. The package of claim 8 further including a slider on the zipper.
15. The package of claim 8 wherein the zipper includes first and second profiles with respective first and second flanges.
16. The package of claim 8 wherein the first flange is attached to the front wall and the second flange is attached to the rear wall.
17. The package of claim 8 wherein the header portion includes lines of weakness for access to the header portion.
18. A package comprising:
- a front wall and a rear wall joined to each other along sides thereof;
- a zipper joining the front wall and the rear wall thereby providing access to the product portion; and
- the rear wall extending above the zipper and being folded and sealed to itself so as to form a header portion.
19. The package of claim 18 wherein the header portion is provided with a promotional item chosen from the group consisting of a coupon printed on an interior wall of the header, a coupon on material separate from that of the header, a toy, a game token, and a foam strip with at least one toy punched therefrom.
20. The package of claim 18 wherein the header portion includes at least one line of weakness for access to the header portion.
21. The package of claim 18 further including a slider on the zipper.
22. The package of claim 18 wherein the front wall and rear wall are formed from a single sheet of web.
23. The package of claim 18 wherein the zipper includes first and second profiles with respective first and second flanges, and wherein the first flange is attached to the front wall and the second flange is attached to the rear wall.
24. The package of claim 18 wherein the header portion can be detached from the package along a line of weakness.
25. The package of claim 18 wherein the rear wall is folded and attached to itself at a location of attachment of the second flange to the rear wall.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 18, 2009
Publication Date: Jan 28, 2010
Inventors: Eric Plourde (Frankfort, IL), Steven Ausnit (New York, NY)
Application Number: 12/486,974
International Classification: B65D 33/00 (20060101);