PACKAGE WITH A RESEALABLE CLOSURE
A package having a resealable closure is disclosed and comprises a body, a frame, a door and apparatus. The body is a bag in which is disposed a product and has an inner surface defining the inner surface of said package. The frame defines an opening and has a surface attached to the inner surface of said package. The door has one edge connected to the frame for swinging movement of said door between a closed position, whereat the door occludes said opening to contain said product, and an open position, whereat the door is orientated to permit access to said product. The apparatus releasably secures the door in its closed position. The material forming the bag can overlie the door and be perforated to define a frangible portion of said material that call be removed or pulled away to permit operation of the door.
This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/079,191 filed Jul. 9, 2008, which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to the field of reclosable packaging. More particularly, the present invention relates to a package having a rescalable closure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONResealable packages are common in the food industry. Such resealable packages are typically formed from folded and sealed packaging material and represent a convenience to consumers.
In such packages, the feature of resealability is typically provided via the use of a fastener such as a zipper, either of the type which can be releasably closed by pressure or via the use of an auxiliary slider mechanism.
A problem associated with zippers is that bag openings fitted with zippers can be inconvenient to fill and require special machinery for filling.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA resealable closure for a package forms one aspect of the invention. The closure comprises: a frame defining an opening, said frame having a surface attached in use to the inner surface of said package; a door having one edge connected to said frame for swinging movement of said door between an closed position, whereat the door occludes said opening, and an open position, whereat the door is orientated to permit access to said opening; and apparatus for releasably securing said door in said closed position. In use, the door can be opened, to provide access to tie contents of said package, and closed, to contain the contents of said package.
According to another aspect of the invention, the door can be connected to said frame by a tongue and groove hinge.
According to another aspect of the invention, the door can be formed integrally with said frame and connected thereto by a living hinge formed integrally with the frame and door.
According to another aspect of the invention, the apparatus for releasably securing said door in said closed position can comprise a first mating structure disposed on an inner surface of said door and a second mating structure disposed on said frame, said first mating structure and said second mating structure being configured to mate with each other in frictionally engaged relation to releasably secure said door in said closed position.
According to another aspect of the invention, said first mating structure can be defined by one or more plugs and said second mating structure can be defined by one or more sockets, said plugs being configured to nest within and frictionally engage said sockets.
According to another aspect of the invention, the door can have a projection therein, in an edge other than the edge of the door which is connected to the frame; and the frame can have an indentation therein to permit a user to insert one or more digits beneath the projection to facilitate movement of the door from the closed position towards the open position.
According to another aspect of the invention, the frame can be adapted to be heat sealed to the material which forms the inner surface of said package in use.
According to another aspect of the invention, the frame can be provided with a ledge upon which the door rests when the door is in the closed position.
According to another aspect of the invention, the door can be connected to the frame by a hinge which is hidden from view when said door is in said closed position and said resealable closure is viewed toward said outer edge.
According to another aspect of the invention, when the door is in the closed position, the outer surface of the door can be substantially flush with the surface of the frame which is attached in use to the inner surface of said package.
A package having a resealable closure forms another aspect of the invention. This package comprises: a body containing a product, said body having an inner surface defining the inner surface of said package; a frame defining an opening, said frame having a surface attached to the inner surface of said package; a door having one edge connected to said frame for swinging movement of said door between a closed position, whereat the door occludes said opening, and an open position, whereat the door is orientated to permit access to said opening; and apparatus for releasably securing said door in said closed position.
According to another aspect of the invention, the door can swing outwardly from the closed to the open position.
According to another aspect of the invention, the body can include a frangible portion overlying the opening of the resealable closure to provide access to and operation of the door.
According to another aspect of the invention, the frangible portion can be defined and bounded by a perforation through said body.
According to another aspect of the invention, the package can have a substantially flat bottom.
According to another aspect of the invention, the body can include microperforations which allow air exchange while preventing entry of insects or larvae thereof.
According to another aspect of the invention, the opening in the closure can define a pour spout for the package contents.
A method of constructing a blank for a package having a resealable closure forms another aspect of the invention. This method comprises the steps of: providing a bag having an open end and an inner surface which defines the inner surface of the package in use; and inserting a closure according to the invention into the open end of the bag and operatively sealing the closure to the inner surface of the bag.
A method of constructing a package having a resealable closure forms another aspect of the invention. This method comprises the steps of: providing the blank of tie invention; filling the blank with a product; and closing the open end of the bag.
Apparatus for constructing a package having a resealable closure forms another aspect of the invention. This apparatus comprises: apparatus for forming the blank of the present invention; apparatus for filling the blank with a product; and apparatus for closing the open end of the bag.
According to one embodiment of the invention, there is shown a resealable closure 10 with a door 12 in the open position in
The hinge 16 is connected to one side of the door 12 and provides for reversible swinging movement of the door 12 between the open position shown in
The door 12 is equipped with a facility for opening the door which, in the illustrated embodiment, is shown as a projection 24 which is integrally formed on the side of the door 12 opposite the side to which the hinge 16 is attached, and an indentation 26 disposed below the projection 24 when the door 12 is closed. This permits a user to insert one or more digits into the indentation 26 beneath the projection 24, to urge the door 12 away from the closed position towards the open position. In the illustrated embodiment, the closure 10 is provided with apparatus for releasably securing the door 12 in the closed position. In the embodiment shown in
In some embodiments, at least the frame of the closure is formed of a plastic material which can advantageously be heat-sealed to the packaging material so that use of an adhesive to fasten the closure 10 to the packaging material is not required.
In the embodiments shown in
In another aspect, there is provided as shown in
The closure 10 is fastened at its outer surface 18 to the inner surface of the bag/package so that when the door 12 is open, access is gained through the central opening Z to the interior of the package 100 and product may be removed or poured therefrom.
In
In one embodiment, the packaging material forming the bag or parts thereof includes microperforations (not shown) which allow air exchange while preventing entry of insects or larvae. Such an embodiment is appropriate for products that benefit from air exchange.
In another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for constructing a blank for a reclosable package. In the method, a bag (not shown) of the type used to create the closed bag 100 of
The invention described herein permits the construction of a relatively inexpensive blank which can be filled and closed using conventional machinery for bag filling and closing. For greater certainty, it should be understood that a “blank” means a piece of material prepared to be made into something by a further operation, and in this specification, the “blank” is the bag-like structure having an open end which is filled with product and closed to form the claimed package.
Alternatively, the invention also permits the adoption of the resealable closure of the invention in a form-fill-seal configuration. In this configuration, form-fill-seal apparatus for constructing a package having a resealable closure is provided, and comprises: apparatus for forming a blank according to an embodiment of the invention; apparatus for filling the blank with a product; and apparatus for closing the open end of the bag.
One skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments of the package described herein are especially but not uniquely useful for storage of any pourable product whether in solid, liquid or gel forms. Such products may include food for humans or animals in either processed or bulk forms, cosmetics, chemicals, adhesives, paints, or any other product benefiting from storage in reclosable packaging.
While various embodiments of this invention have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described above, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that various changes could be made without departing from the scope of the invention. All such modifications and variations are believed to be within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto, purposively construed.
Claims
1. A resealable closure for a package, said closure comprising:
- a frame defining an opening, said frame having a surface attached in use to the inner surface of said package;
- a door having one edge connected to said frame for swinging movement of said door between a closed position, whereat the door occludes said opening, and an open position, whereat the door is orientated to permit access to said opening; and
- apparatus for releasably securing said door in said closed position,
- wherein, in use, the door can be opened, to provide access to the contents of said package, and closed, to contain the contents of said package.
2. The resealable closure of claim 1 wherein said door is connected to said frame by a tongue and groove hinge.
3. The resealable closure of claim 1, wherein said door is formed integrally with said frame and connected thereto by a living hinge formed integrally with the frame and door.
4. The resealable closure of claim 1 wherein said apparatus for releasably securing said door in said closed position comprises a first mating structure disposed on an inner surface of said door and a second mating structure disposed on said frame, said first mating structure and said second mating structure being configured to mate with each other in frictionally engaged relation to releasably secure said door in said closed position.
5. The resealable closure of claim 4 wherein said first mating structure is defined by one or more plugs and said second mating structure is defined by one or more sockets, said plugs being configured to nest within and frictionally engage said sockets.
6. The resealable closure of claim 1, wherein
- the door has a projection therein, in an edge other than the edge of the door which is connected to the frame; and
- the frame has an indentation therein to permit a user to insert one or more digits beneath the projection to facilitate movement of the door from the closed position towards the open position.
7. The resealable closure of claim 1 wherein said frame is adapted to be heat scaled to the material which forms the inner surface of said package in use.
8. The resealable closure of claim 1 wherein the frame is provided with a ledge upon which the door rests when the door is in the closed position.
9. The resealable closure of claim 1 wherein the door is connected to the frame by a hinge which is hidden from view when said door is in said closed position and said resealable closure is viewed toward said outer edge.
10. The resealable closure of claim 1, wherein, when the door is in the closed position, the outer surface of the door is substantially flush with the surface of the frame which is attached in use to the inner surface of said package.
11. A package having a resealable closure, said package comprising:
- a body containing a product, said body having an inner surface defining the inner surface of said package;
- a frame defining an opening, said frame having a surface attached to the inner surface of said package;
- a door having one edge connected to said frame for swinging movement of said door between a closed position, whereat the door occludes said opening, and an open position, whereat the door is orientated to permit access to said opening; and
- apparatus for releasably securing said door in said closed position.
12. A package according to claim 11, wherein the door swings outwardly from the closed to the open position.
13. A package according to claim 11, wherein the body includes a frangible portion overlying the opening of the resealable closure to provide access to and operation of the door.
14. A package according to claim 13, wherein the frangible portion is defined and bounded by a perforation through said body.
15. A package according to claim 11, having a substantially flat bottom.
16. A package according to claim 11, wherein the body includes microperforations which allow air exchange while preventing entry of insects or larvae thereof.
17. A package according to claim 11, wherein the opening defines a pour spout for the package contents.
18. A method of constructing a blank for a package having a resealable closure, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a bag having an open end and an inner surface which defines the inner surface of the package in use; and
- inserting a closure according to claim 1 into the open end of the bag and operatively sealing the closure to the inner surface of the bag.
19. A method of constructing a package having a resealable closure, said method comprising the steps of;
- providing the blank of claim 18;
- filling the blank with a product; and
- closing the open end of the bag.
20. Apparatus for constructing a package having a resealable closure, said apparatus comprising:
- apparatus for forming the blank of claim 18;
- apparatus for filling the blank with a product; and
- apparatus for closing the open end of the bag.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 7, 2009
Publication Date: Feb 18, 2010
Inventor: Gary Plate (Carlisle)
Application Number: 12/498,975
International Classification: B65D 33/24 (20060101); B65D 33/38 (20060101); B65D 33/01 (20060101);