Trash Bag Patents the Designation

Trash Bag Patents

The designation "U.S. Patent" or "Patent Pending" is found on many household products. This designation provides notice to the public and potential inventors that the product has been patented, or is in the process of being reviewed to receive a patent, and has protection afforded by the laws enforced by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This paper overviews three currently issued patents. These are: Patent # 5,205,650 for the Glad Force Flex trash bag, Patent # 5,006,380 for the Glad Tall Kitchen trash bag, and Patent # 5,246,110 for the Glad Quick-Tie trash bag. A compare and contrast of these three patents will be explored.

This discussion will be followed by a description of a patent improvement I believe would be a benefit to the trash bag. This improvement is an absorbent strip in the bottom of each bag, similar to the material found in baby diapers. This absorbent strip will absorb any liquids that gather in the bottom of the bag to prevent the liquids from leaking from the bag. Not only will details of this improvement be given, but why the improvement is important will be detailed. How my improvement meets the Lanham Act Patentability Requirements will be overviewed. Lastly, a sketch of my design will be presented.

Environmental Scans in Marketing

Introduction

The designation "U.S. Patent" or "Patent Pending" is found on many household products. This designation provides notice to the public and potential inventors that the product has been patented, or is in the process of being reviewed to receive a patent, and has protection afforded by the laws enforced by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This paper overviews three currently issued patents. These are: Patent # 5,205,650 for the Glad Force Flex trash bag, Patent # 5,006,380 for the Glad Tall Kitchen trash bag, and Patent # 5,246,110 for the Glad Quick-Tie trash bag. A compare and contrast of these three patents will be explored.

This discussion will be followed by a description of a patent improvement I believe would be a benefit to the trash bag. This improvement is an absorbent strip in the bottom of each bag, similar to the material found in baby diapers. This absorbent strip will absorb any liquids that gather in the bottom of the bag to prevent the liquids from leaking from the bag. Not only will details of this improvement be given, but why the improvement is important will be detailed. How my improvement meets the Lanham Act Patentability Requirements will be overviewed. Lastly, a sketch of my design will be presented.

Patent Overview

Glad Force Flex (stretchable strength) -- Patent # 5,205,650:

Patent # 5,205,650 focuses on stretchable strength in trash bags. This patent is used today in the Glad Force Flex brand of trash bags. The patent applicants begin with noting that forming bags from orientable thermoplastic polymeric film material is performed through a variety of methods to ensure the film has adequate strength to perform the job it was designed to do. However, despite these precautions, there is a chance that during use the bag will rupture when sudden forces are presented. The applicant uses the example of a bag filled with powder or granules rupturing when dropped. Although this tendency to rupture is more common in more rigid polymers, even less rigid polymers, such as low density polyethylene, has a tendency to rupture upon sudden impact. For this reason, the applicant surmises that it would be desirable to increase the energy absorption properties of the article made from the film material -- trash bags -- and reduce its tendency to rupture ("United States Patent 5205650," 1993).

Patent #5,205,650 is concerned with methods of spreading the tension and the other forces in the film material, to minimize this risk of rupture. As the patent concerns the design of the film material itself, it is not specific to trash bags, in which Glad uses this invention to manufacture its Force Flex brand. Instead, the patent applicant notes that there are a variety of uses for the film material. The material can be used to manufacture a major portion of an article, such as the example of using it for strapping for parachutes to minimize the risk of rupture under impact or reduce the impact on the load. Or the film material can be used to manufacture smaller portions of an article, such as bags, according to the applicant, that often have zones where the bag is most liable to rupture. The applicant further states that the rupture zone can be determined by theoretical considerations or, more practically, through experiments of dropping full bags ("United States Patent 5205650," 1993).

The seam in a bag is often associated with a rupture zone. The film material adjacent to a seam is more likely to experience a rupture than elsewhere in the bag, according to the patent applicant. He theorizes that the formating of the seam adversely affects the film material's properties, in this area. In gussetted bags, the rupture zone most often is found at the junction between side gussets and the seam. Of course, a bag may have more than one rupture zone ("United States Patent 5205650," 1993).

To address this problem, the applicant has designed orientable thermoplastic polymeric film material that can be formed into a bag that has shock absorbing zone. This material is comprised of at least one stretched zone that extends in a direction leading substantially away from the rupture zone and in which the film material has been stretched

substantially in that direction, and a plurality of substantially unstretched zones adjacent to and extending in substantially the same direction as (...) each zone, whereby the rupture forces are transmitted away from the rupture zone by the unstretched zones and into the stretched zone or zones ("United States Patent

5205650," 1993).

For the Glad Flex Force bags, the bags are made entirely of this material design. The patent applicant would have likely used the material only in the rupture zones that are adjacent to the seams of the trash bags. However, Glad has taken the material and applied it to the bag, as a whole, in order to minimize ruptures anywhere in the bag.

Glad Tall Kitchen (drawstring) -- Patent # 5,006,380:

Patent # 5,006,380 concerns what the applicant describes as draw tape bags. Glad has adopted this invention in their drawstring bags, such as the Glad Tall Kitchen trash bags. The draw tape is formed from a multilayer structure of at least two different thermoplastic materials. There are multiple reasons the inventor has gone with a multilayer design for the draw tape ("United States Patent 5006380," 1991).

The patent applicant surmises that using two or more materials to produce the draw tape is advantageous to a single layer tap formed from a blend of the same materials. Multiple layers allows the use of strong tape that will give the draw tape strength, while not negatively affecting the seal strength of the heat seals to the bag panels. It is also noted that strong thermoplastic materials do not have satisfactory tactile qualities. This is due to the harder surface of stronger thermoplastic materials. This can cut the user's hand when the draw tape is used as a handle. This is obviously a problem since the design of the trash bag has the draw tape being used as a handle when the bag is filled. As the draw tape is made from harder material, it becomes more uncomfortable when there is weight added to the bag and force is applied. In addition, these stronger materials, such as high density polyethylene, do not have the same abilities in forming heat seals than weaker thermoplastic materials ("United States Patent 5006380," 1991).

In the past, these problems that occurs with using stronger thermoplastic materials for the draw tap -- tactile challenges and reduced ability in heat seal strength -- have been overcome by physically blending two thermoplastic materials. In these previous solutions, a single layer of blended thermoplastic materials was utilized. The example of a draw tape made from 50 weight percent low density polyethylene and 50 weight percent high density polyethylene is given. This process does give the tape some properties from each of the materials utilized; however, this process does not give the best properties of either when it comes to strength of the high density polyethylene or the heat sealability of the low density polyethylene ("United States Patent 5006380," 1991).

Patent # 5,006,380 overcomes the limitations of the single layer, multiple material blended, draw tape. Instead of a single layer, the draw tape is formed from at least two layers of two different thermoplastic materials. The first layer, in this multilayer system, is made from a material that has the ability to form a strong heat seal with the thermoplastic film that will be utilized for the bag. This may even be the same material from which the panels of the bag are manufactured. The second layer is then made of a stronger material, that does not have the same heat sealing capabilities ("United States Patent 5006380," 1991). This invention allows the draw tape to have the tactile advantage of a low density polyethylene, making it comfortable for consumers to use as a handle, while also having the heat sealing capacity of this same low density material, yet have the strength afforded by a high density polyethylene material, that otherwise would be uncomfortable for the consumer.

Glad Quick-Tie = Patent # 5,246,110:

Patent # 5,246,110 focuses specifically on trash bags. The patent applicant notes that bags that are typically used for storing and transporting garbage or refuse, prior to collection or transport to disposal, are made from plastic material. When these bags are in their flat condition, they are comprised of two rectangular panels, which are connected on three of the four sides. The fourth, open, side is used to insert matter into the bag. These types of bags are typically made via a tubular extrusion process ("United States Patent 5246110," 1991).

These bags are widely used, the applicant surmises, especially for collecting kitchen refuse. One challenge of traditional drawstring bags is that they are often difficult to close, especially when they are substantially full. Because of this difficulty in closing full trash bags, oftentimes spillage occurs. In addition, dogs can discover what is in the trash bags and destroy the bags, causing the contents to spill out, as they try to get into the bag. In an effort to prevent these things from occurring, consumers sometimes tie the corners of the top of the bag together, to enhance the bag's closure security. However, this significantly reduces the bag's capacity to hold matter ("United States Patent 5246110," 1991).

Past attempts to rectify this problem have come in modifying the shape of the bag itself, so that projections or tie parts will help in closing the open end of the bag. Although these previous designs do improving the closing performance of the bag, they also reduce the capacity of the bag. In two previous patents, tie parts are projecting from the bag, so that the tails can be tied together. Two tie parts in these designs are inferior to the four tie part design of this patent ("United States Patent 5246110," 1991).

Another previous patent does use four tie parts, just as this one does. However, in this previous design, the bags are gussetted. This design reduces the capacity of the bag to amount of plastic used to manufacture the bag ratio. Instead, Patent # 5,246,110 four tie parts, formed "from rounded peaks, separated by concave valleys with each peak having side portions which has a convex part including convex transitional portions respectively connected to the side portions at one end thereof" ("United States Patent 5246110," 1991).

This design utilizes the flat bag system found traditionally with other trash bags, minimizing the amount of material utilized in the manufacture of the bag. It also does not negatively affect the storage capacity of the bag.

Distinguish and Differentiate the Patents Between the Three Items

All three of the previously overviewed patents have been applied to Glad trash bag lines. In fact, in the case of the Glad Force Flex brand, two of the three patents are applied -- both Patent # 5,205,650 and Patent # 5,006,380. However despite the fact that they all three have been applied to the same product type, they are all three completely unique.

Patent #5,205, 650 deals specifically with the rupture resistance of the bag itself. As applied to the Force Flex brand, these trash bags offer superior stretchable strength. Although the invention could have simply been applied to zones of the bag most prone to rupturing, Glad has applied it to the entire bag, minimizing the risk of ruptures. In contrast, Patent # 5,006,380 has nothing to do with the bag material at all.

Instead Patent # 5,006,380 focuses solely on the drawstring. This invention gets both the heat sealability and tactile qualities of the low density polyethylene, while still utilizing the strength of high density polyethylene. The bag material itself could be of the Force Flex design, or it could be traditional thermoplastic film design. Of course, this option is in competition with Patent # 5,246,110.

Patent # 5,246,110 is another type of closure system. Unlike the draw tape system utilized by Patent # 5,006,380, this patent does not use another component to facilitate closing of the bag. Instead, the design of the bag itself incorporates the closure method. In the form of four ties, the patent can be utilized with the material design of Patent # 5,205,650 or any other traditional bag design. However, it is used in place of the draw tape method described in Patent # 5,006,380.

Patent Improvement

Details of the Improvement:

The improvement I've decided to make to the trash bag product is an absorbent strip placed in the bottom of each trash bag. This absorbent strip will be made of a similar absorbent material as baby diapers and will be affixed in the bottom of each bag. The strip will run the full length of the bottom of the bag. This absorbent strip will be used to absorb liquids that gather in the bottom of the trash bag.

Why This Improvement is Important:

In 2001, the citizens of the United States created 409 million tons of non-hazardous waste. This was up nearly 66% over 1990's 247 million tons figure ("Waste & recycling," n.d.). Much of that waste is either stored and/or transported to a waste facility through the use of plastic trash bags. However, one of the largest challenges is the spillage of waste from these trash bags.

As Glad has already taken note, consumers do not like to have their garbage come out of the trash bags once it's been placed inside. All three of the patents reviewed -- # 5,205,650, # 5,006,380, and # 5,246,110 -- have something to do with preventing garbage from escaping a bag once it's placed inside. The stretchable strength improvement of # 5,205,650 helps minimize the possibility of ruptures for consumers. The improvement on draw tape focused on in # 5,006,380 helps not only allow the drawstring to be strong, helping keep the bag closed when it is used as a handle, but also helps the heat sealability of the drawstring so it doesn't separate from the bag itself thereby causing spillage. Lastly, the closure improvement, found in the Quick Tie system of # 5,246,110, also helps minimize spillage possibility by making the trash bags easier to close while not negatively affecting trash bag capacity. This same goal is found with the recommended absorbent strip.

It is not uncommon for liquids to be thrown into trash bags. Whether it is liquids from foods like raw meat or canned or jarred food that is being thrown away that was placed opened or has opened during the waste removal process, these liquids tend to pool in the bottom of the trash bag. These liquids are a prime target for messy and irritating spillage.

Even the smallest pin prick in the bottom of a garbage bag can cause a disgusting and unhealthy mess. Unlike solid waste, liquids can escape through the smallest of areas. The puncture through the trash bag can occur from outside the bag or from inside the bag. Anything sharp that the trash bag comes into contact with, during transport or storage, can cause a hole where liquids can leak out. As liquids settle in the bottom of the bag, and it is the bottom of the bag where it is most likely to experience contact with something that could puncture it, this is of particular concern. In addition, punctures can occur from inside of the bag.

The material inside of the bag may be responsible for the breach in the trash bag responsible for liquid leakage. Even using stretchable strength enhancing technology, such as Patent # 5,205,650, can not prevent a small, sharp object from puncturing a trash bag. Although this technology may prevent a rupture from occurring, everything from broken glass, to pins, to nails, to innumerable sharp objects could pierce the trash bag and create a hole that could leak liquid. No closure device could prevent this from happening.

Although both the draw tape closure (# 5,006,380) and the Quick Tie closure (# 5,246,110) are effective means of sealing the top of the trash bag, neither can prevent a breach elsewhere in the bag. In addition, although these closures may adequately seal the top of the trash bag to contain solid waste within the confines of the bag, neither are 100% liquid tight. With the absorbent strip, this wouldn't be a problem any longer.