Wrapping Bag for Food Such as Sandwich

The present disclosure relates to a wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich for wrapping food such as a sandwich or a sponge cake, and particularly to a wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich that is manufactured into a bag by having two films sealed to each other along their respective opposite lateral edges.

A various kinds of a wrapping bag for food for wrapping a sandwich having a right triangle shape are provided. Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. Hei-7-24736 describes a bag for food such as a sandwich in which an opening through which food to be placed, such as a sandwich (hereinafter referred to as a sandwich), is housed and an opening through which the sandwich is taken out are provided at the same position.

The wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich is made up of a bag bodyfor housing the sandwich with an openingtherein, as shown in, and a rectangular-shaped sealing and opening tapefor sealing the openingof the bag bodywith the sandwich (not shown) housed therein, as shown in.

The bag bodyhas a trapezoid-shaped back filmand a trapezoid-shaped front filmoverlapped to each other and are welded together along their opposite lateral edges, and a seal partis formed at one edge having a narrower width, and the openingis formed at the opposite edge having a wider width. The bag bodyforms a housing part having a space between the front and back films,by separating the front and back films,away from each other to have the openingkept opened in a rectangular shape. The sandwich is housed in this housing part.

Both the front and back films,closer to the openingare folded to form a bottom portion, as shown in, and this bottom portionis sealed by the sealing and opening tapeto wrap a sandwich. The sealing and opening tapeis configured to include an adhesive surface at the middle of the back surface and to include openings,made up of non-adhesive surfaces at the opposite edges.

For eating the wrapped sandwich, any one of the openingsof the sealing and opening tapeis first picked and pulled to thereby separate the sealing and opening tapeaway from the bottom portion. Then, the bottom portionof the bag bodyis raised to expand the openingso that the sandwich in the housing part can be taken out through the opening.

For eating the sandwich wrapped by the wrapping bag described in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. Hei-7-24736, it is necessary to first pull and separate the sealing and opening tapeaway from the bottom portion, and then raise up the bottom portion, which may deteriorate the handeability in opening the wrapping bag.

When the sandwich wrapped in the wrapping bag described in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. Hei-7-24736 is displayed by a shop clerk or is purchased by a customer, the bag must be grasped through the lateral side portions thereof by hand, which causes pressure on the sandwich although the pressure is slight, and hence may cause the ingredients of the sandwich to be pushed out or causes damage to taste.

It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich that is excellent in openability and enables a housed food such as a sandwich to be grasped by hand without applying pressure thereto.

According to the present disclosure, there is provided a wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich, including: two films that are overlapped to each other and sealed together along their opposite lateral edges; a seal part formed by sealing the two films between the opposite lateral edges in a vicinity of one longitudinal edges of the two films; a header part formed between the one longitudinal edges of the two films and the seal part; a cutting line, from which opening of the wrapping bag is started, being formed in the header part of one of the two films; an opening formed in the opposite longitudinal edges of the two films that are not sealed together; a housing part surrounded by the opening, the opposite lateral edges sealed together, and the seal part, of the two films; and an unsealing device that is provided in the one film to extend from a vicinity of the cutting line to a vicinity of the opening while crossing the seal part.

A description will be hereinafter made for a wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich according to one embodiment of the present disclosure with reference toto. The wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich (hereinafter referred simply to as a “wrapping bag”) is manufactured into a bag by having two trapezoid films,(hereinafter one film is referred as a “back film” and the other film is referred as a “front film”) overlapped to each other.

The overlapped front and back films,have the opposite lateral edges,sealed to each other, and vicinities of one edges,having a narrower width (hereinafter referred to as “top edges”) sealed to each other between the opposite lateral edges thereof, thereby forming a seal partin a band-form. The wrapping bag is provided with a header partbetween the top edges,and the seal part.

The seal partcan have a portion with a small width in an unsealing direction at which the seal partcrosses a later-described unsealing device. The shape of the portion can be a wave shape because this shape enables the unsealing deviceto be easily released.

The other edges,having a greater width (hereinafter referred to as a “bottom edges”) of both the front and back films,are not sealed to each other to provide an opening. The wrapping bag includes a housing partformed in an inside space surrounded by the opening, the opposite lateral edges,of both the front and back films,sealed to each other, and the seal part. The housing partis configured to house food S such as a right-triangle shaped sandwich, sponge cake, or others (hereinafter referred to as a “sandwich”) therein, as shown in. The bottom edgeof the back filmprojects slightly further away than the bottom edgeof the front film.

The header partis formed into a parallelogram shape such as a rectangular or square shape. The width of the parallelogram-shaped header partis set to be equal to the width of the sandwich S. The top edges,of the header partmay be sealed together or may not be sealed together.

The back filmhas a cutting lineas an unsealing point formed within the header part. The cutting lineis made up of a first cutting lineand a second cutting line, as shown in.

As shown in, the first cutting linehas a pair of end pointsextending toward the bottom edges,of the films to form a tabbeing projected toward the edges,of the films. The tabcan be formed into, for example, a U-shape, a triangular shape, a rectangular shape, a trapezoidal shale, and any given shape.

As shown inand, a pair of the second cutting linesextend from the first cutting lineserving as a start end toward the opposite lateral edges,. The pair of the second cutting linespreferably extend toward the opposite lateral edges,in a direction orthogonal toward the unsealing direction of the bag. As shown in, the pair of the second cutting linescan extend from both the end pointsof the first cutting linetoward the opposite lateral edges,

When a crossing portion at which the seal partcrosses the unsealing devicehas a narrow width in the unsealing direction, it can be configured such that the pair of end pointsare located at the crossing portion, and the pair of the second cutting linesare located to be in contact with the seal partat portions other than the crossing portion.

The cutting lineincluding the first cutting lineand the pair of the second cutting linesenables unsealing of the wrapping bag toward the opposite lateral edges,subsequently to the unsealing toward the bottom edges,from the upper edges,. Thereby, food such as a sandwich can be easily taken out from the wrapping bag.

The back filmis provided with the unsealing devicein the vicinity of the cutting line, which extends from the tabto the vicinity of the opening, while crossing the seal part. The unsealing device, which is used to tear the back filmto open, is provided by a thin band-shaped cut tape, or a thick band-shaped cut tape (not shown), a cut tape formed by a combination of a reversed V-shaped upper end portion having an angular center located near the cutting lineand a lower end portion including two parallel lines extending from both the ends of the upper end portion to the vicinity of the opening, or formed by a thread etc.

The unsealing deviceis sealed to the back filmby heat welding. The unscaling devicecan be coated with a sealing agent (partial coating agent) on a surface in contact with the front filmat a portion crossing the seal partbefore the heat welding. Thereby, when forming the seal part, the sealing strength between the unscaling deviceand the front filmcan be set to be weaker than the sealing strength between the back filmand the front filmso that the back filmcan be easily torn to be opened at the seal part. Thus, the unscaling deviceis prevented from being guided in any one of the directions toward the opposite lateral edges,, and therefore the wrapping bag can be unsealed along the unscaling direction.

When the unscaling deviceis formed by the cut tape, the cut tape is preferably fixed to the back filmonly along at least one of the ends, and the center of the back film. Thereby, it is possible to suppress wrinkles or sagging on the cut tape, and hence keep good appearance of the wrapping bag. Further, the suppression of formation of wrinkles or sagging on the cut tape enables the back filmto be easily torn.

Cutoutsare formed at the opposite ends of the bottom edges,of both the front and back films,to reduce the distance between the opposite lateral edges,and,. The cutouts, as shown by a solid line in, each may be in a straight line which extends inward, or, as shown by a phantom line in, each may be in a continuous line of a circular-arc sectionon the side of a corresponding lateral edgeorand a straight line sectionon the side of the opening. With these cutouts, the overlapped portion of both the front and back films,can be reduced when the bottom portion is formed by folding the bottom end.

Here, the description will be made for a method for wrapping the sandwich S by the wrapping bag having the above-mentioned configuration. First, air is brown through the openinginto the housing partto have the openingheld in a rectangular shape. For blowing air, when the cutoutseach have a circular-arc shaped section as shown by the phantom line of, the seal of both the lateral edges,of both the front and back films,is unlikely to be torn by blown air.

The front and back films,of the housing partare bent along the extension lines of the opposite lateral edges of the header partto have portions respectively extending over the corresponding lateral edge,of the front filmand the back filmacting as a pair of triangular lateral side portions; a middle portion of the front filmacting as a rectangular front side portion; and a middle portion of the back filmacting as a rectangular back side portion. When the sandwich S is housed in the housing part, as shown in, the lateral side portions, the front side portionand the back side portionof the wrapping bag are correspondingly overlapped to lateral side portions, a front side portion and a back side portion of the sandwich S.

Finally, the openingof both the front and back films,is folded to wrap the sandwich S with the bottom portionformed as shown in. The wrapping bag with the sandwich S wrapped therein is thus provided with the header partso that when the sandwich S wrapped in the wrapping bag is displayed by a shop clerk or is purchased by a customer, they can hold the sandwich through the header partand thus prevent applying pressure on the lateral side portions of the sandwich.

When eating the sandwich S, the header partis picked up by fingers of one hand, while the tabis picked up by fingers of the other hand to pull straight toward the direction of the bottom end. With this, as shown in a phantom line of, the unsealing devicecuts the seal partof the back filmand subsequently tears the back filmtoward the bottom portion, and thus the back side portionis torn to be opened. Therefore, the wrapped sandwich S can be instantly taken out through the back side portion.

The present disclosure is not be limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and may be subjected to various modifications. For example, the headermay be formed into an isosceles trapezoid shape, as shown in. Although not shown, when the wrapping bag having the headerof an isosceles trapezoid shape is manufactured by fuse-cutting two band-shaped sheets overlapped to each other by a reversed V-shaped heater cutter, a pair of linear heater cutters can be used.

The wrapping bag, as shown in, may have a stain-preventing filmoverlapped to the inner surface of the front filmso that the front side portion of the sandwich S can be kept out of direct contact with the front film. Even when ingredients such as mayonnaise are held in the sandwich S, the ingredients such as mayonnaise are kept out of the front filmby the stain-preventing filmheld therebetween, and thus the ingredients such as mayonnaise are unlikely to deteriorate the appearance of the front filmand thus prevent deterioration of the quality of the product.

It can be configured such that the stain-preventing filmis not supported at the side of the opening, but supported by the seal part. With this, air blown into a space formed in the housing partthrough the openingreturns to the openingand then is blown out through the cutoutsformed in the opening. Thereby, it is possible to make the stain-preventing filmdifficult to flutter as swaying.

Although not shown, it can be configured such that the stain-preventing filmis not supported on the seal part, but on the side of the opening. With this, it is possible to make the stain-preventing filmdifficult to get turned up when air is brown through the opening. Nevertheless, the method for holding the stain-preventing filmon the side of the openingis not necessarily limited to a specific method. For example, the method can be heat welding, or using adhesive. The stain-preventing filmcan be held on both the seal partand the side of the opening.

When the stain-preventing filmis held not on the seal part, but on the side of the opening, it is enough for the stain-preventing filmto be at least partly held on the side of the opening.

The wrapping bag, as shown in, can be provided with a labelon which the production information such as ingredients or a manufacturing date is indicated, which label is attached to the outer surface of the back film. The labelhas a large number of cutsalong the upper side thereof or sawblade-shaped cuts (not shown). Forming the cutsin the label prevents the unsealing devicefrom being torn by the labelwhen the unsealing deviceis pulled in order to open the wrapping bag.

The header partof the wrapping bag as shown inis formed into a rectangular shape, however, can be formed into a trapezoid shape as shown in, and moreover, the wrapping bag can include both the strain-preventing filmand the label.

Furthermore, as shown in, the cutting linemay not be formed in the header part, but formed in the back filmof the housing part. In this case, a cover filmcovers the cutting line, a peripheral portion of the cover filmand the back filmare sealed together. By providing a seal partin this area, the housing partis prevented from being communicated with the outside through the cutting line. An area surrounded by the cutting lineis used as a tab, and the unsealing deviceextends from the tab. It is a matter of course that the seal partof the peripheral portion of the cover filmis cut by pulling the unsealing device.

Furthermore, although not shown, the wrapping bag can be manufactured by two square-shaped films, which can wrap a square-shaped sandwich or wrap a sandwich with a space through which the periphery of the sandwich is prevented from coming into contact with the inner surface of the film.

Still furthermore, although not shown, the unsealing devicemay be provided not by a cut tape, but by using an oriented film at least for the back film. That is to say, with the cutting linehaving both ends facing the opening, a film is torn from both the ends of the cutting linetoward the opening with a certain width by pulling the tabsurrounded by the cutting lineor located therebetween. Therefore, in this configuration, the unsealing deviceis deemed to exist in the back film.

Although not shown, a film piece can be inserted between the upper edgeof the front filmand the upper edgeof the back film, when the header partis provided between the upper edges,and the seal part. Thereby, the header partis raised upright so as to prevent deterioration of the appearance of the wrapping bag with the sandwich wrapped therein when the wrapping bag is displayed on a shelf.

The film piece can be coated with a sealing agent along the seal partat a portion overlapping with the seal part. Thereby, it is possible to easily tear and open the back filmat the portion of the seal partat which the unsealing deviceoverlaps with the film piece, and easily open the wrapping bag from the upper edges,toward the bottom edges,, and thereafter toward the opposite lateral edges,

Further, the front filmand the back filmmay be a film made of a single material. Examples of the material include polyolefin, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, paper, and cellophane. Among these, the material is preferably polyolefin. Further, examples of the polyolefin include polyethylene and polypropylene. Among these, the polyolefin is preferably polypropylene. Further, examples of the polypropylene include cast polypropylene (CPP) and oriented polypropylene (OPP). Examples of the oriented polypropylene include uniaxially oriented polypropylene and biaxially oriented polypropylene. Among these, polypropylene is preferably biaxially oriented polypropylene. The biaxially oriented polypropylene is preferably one having heat fusion properties. Since the front filmand the back filmare films made of a single material, it is not necessary to separate and sort each material when the wrapping bag is recycled. Therefore, it is possible to easily recycle the wrapping bag. Note that the polypropylene is not limited to being a virgin raw material, and may be derived from, for example, a recycled resin, and may be derived from a biomass that includes a plant-derived raw material.

For each of the cut tape, the stain-preventing film, and the film piece, a film made of a single material may be used. The material may be the same material as that for the front filmand the back film, or any conventional material.

The above description was made for the wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich that includes the pair of the second cutting lines. However, the wrapping bag according to the present embodiment is not limited to this, and may be the form in which the wrapping bag does not include the pair of the second cutting lines.

The description was made for the wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich according to the above embodiment by taking, for example, the form, in which the unsealing deviceis sealed to the back filmby heat welding, without limitation thereto. For example, the unsealing devicecan be sealed to the back filmusing an adhesive agent. A conventional adhesive agent can be used as the adhesive agent.

The present disclosure includes forms mentioned below:

[1] A wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich, including: two films that are overlapped to each other and sealed together along their opposite lateral edges; a seal part formed by sealing the two films between the opposite lateral edges in a vicinity of one longitudinal edges of the two films; a header part formed between the one longitudinal edges of the two films and the seal part; a cutting line, from which opening of the wrapping bag is started, being formed in the header part of one of the two films; an opening formed in the opposite longitudinal edges of the two films that are not sealed together; a housing part surrounded by the opening, the opposite lateral edges sealed together, and the seal part, of the two films; and an unsealing device that is provided in the one film to extend from a vicinity of the cutting line to a vicinity of the opening while crossing the seal part.

[2] The wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich according to the disclosure in item [1] above, wherein the cutting line is made up of a first cutting line having both ends extending toward the opposite longitudinal edges and forming a tab being projected toward the one longitudinal edges, and at least one second cutting line extending toward at least one of the lateral edges.

[3] The wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich according to the disclosure in item [1] or [2] above, wherein the two films each are formed into a trapezoid shape to have a narrower longitudinal end and a wider longitudinal end, the header part is provided on the narrower longitudinal end, and the opening is provided on the wider longitudinal end.

[4] The wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich according to the disclosure in any of items [1] to [3], wherein the opposite ends on the opposite longitudinal edges of the two films are cut out to have a cutout with a narrower distance between the opposite lateral edges of the two films.

[5] The wrapping bag for food such as a sandwich according to the disclosure in item 4 above, wherein the cutouts each are formed in a continuous line of a circular-arc section on the side of a corresponding one of the lateral edges and a straight line section on the side of the opening.