Numerous products today are shipped and sold in reclosable plastic bags. Examples of plastic bags having a reclose feature can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,683 issued to Christoff on Oct. 14, 1986, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,673 issued to Bell on Jan. 22, 1991. When using one of the bags disclosed in the above U.S. patents, the consumer first removes the sealed portion of the bag located directly above the reclosing feature. The consumer then pulls apart or separates the male and female securement members of the reclose feature. The consumer can now remove the desired portion of the product from the bag. The consumer then manually engages the male and female securement members of the reclose feature, thereby temporarily securing the bag and its contents until the next use. However, as is often the case with a bag having a reclose feature, there is no biasing means to keep the bag mouth open after the reclose feature has been pulled apart by the consumer. The lack of a biasing means to keep the package in a fully open condition can be cumbersome and annoying to a consumer who desires to have the bag mouth remain open after the reclose feature has been pulled apart, thereby facilitating access to the product within the bag. Improved access to the product is particularly desirable when the bag contains certain products, many of which are not entirely consumed upon initial opening of the pouch, e.g., coffee, salted snacks, fabric softeners, cleaning products, detergents, pharmaceuticals, etc. Improved access is also highly desirable when the pouch is to be used as a vessel for the reconstituting fluid, e.g., concentrated beverages which are to be diluted with water.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,477 issued to Cox et al. on Feb. 6, 1990 and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference discloses a self-expanding flexible pouch that can be used as a measuring device for reconstituting a concentrated product contained therein. The flexible pouch includes an extensible stay located in the throat area of the pouch. When the pouch's top portion is removed, the extensible stay expands to a circular configuration opening the pouch's throat area. The consumer can then "milk" the concentrated product out of the pouch. The opening of the pouch's throat area allows the consumer then to reconstitute the fluid by adding water to the pouch and then pouring and mixing with the concentrated substance previously "milked" from the pouch. The Cox et al. pouch has the advantage of self-expansion, thereby improving access to the product within the pouch. However, this pouch would not be particularly well suited to package a product that required the pouch to be sealed between repeated multiple openings.
When using certain products that require repeated or intermittent use prior to exhaustion of the pouch's contents or when using products which are to be diluted using the empty pouch as a vessel for the reconstituting fluid, the consumer not only desires that the bag be reclosable between uses, but also that the bag mouth remain open. By way of example, liquid fabric softener, granular detergents, and salted snacks are products that the consumer would like to reclose between uses to prevent spilling or preserve freshness, and would also prefer to have a self-opening feature to improve or facilitate product access.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a flexible pouch having a self-opening and reclosing device suitable for use with a wide assortment of products;
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a flexible pouch that will assume a substantially predetermined configuration upon opening;
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a flexible pouch that will collapse when discarded and thereby reduce the volume of generated waste material;
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a flexible pouch that is sufficiently rigid and stable when opened to allow a consumer to firmly grasp and pour a fluid from the pouch with confidence that the pouch will not collapse;
It is further an object of the present invention to provide, in a particularly preferred embodiment, a flexible pouch that can be readily opened without having to use an implement such as a pair of scissors or a knife;
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a flexible pouch that accomplishes the aforementioned objectives at minimal cost.