Previously, many granular products and some liquids have been shipped and stored in large bulk bags, which may contain as much as a ton or more of material. Some of these bulk bags are flexible and when empty can be folded to a generally flat condition. One such flexible bag is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,040.
These flexible bags have generally rectangular ends interconnected by generally rectangular side walls and when filled can be stacked one on top of another. For some applications, preferably the bags are made of a woven fabric and for other applications, a plastic material. For some applications, and particularly for storing liquids, a bag of a water impervious plastic material is received in and reinforced and protected by a bag of a woven fabric. Usually, these bags have a spout in one or both ends for filing and emptying the bags.
While these bags are generally satisfactory for a wide variety of applications, their design and construction is such that there is a substantial amount of flexible material wasted in making these bags. Indeed, to make such a bag having a capacity of about one cubic yard requires something in excess of eight square yards of flexible material of which more than two square yards or 25% is wasted in making the bag.
Relatively small flexible plastic bags having either an open end such as a conventional shopping bag or a neck adjacent one end to facilitate packing soft ice cream and the like, are shown in prior art U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,548. A substantial amount of flexible plastic material is wasted in making the bags disclosed in this patent.