1. A support assembly for a lower latch plate in a dual latch mechanism system for a sterilization container having a lid component and tray component, said support assembly comprising:
a pair of spaced apart blocks, each block welded directly onto an exterior surface of the tray component;
wherein at least one of the blocks is configured in an overall \u201cp shape,\u201d with a generally cuboid body including three inner transverse bends and one outer transverse bend forming two planar faces,
at least one of the two planar faces comprising one of the welds directly onto the exterior surface of the tray component,
at least one of the two planar faces forming a planar extension from a side of the generally cuboid body, said planar extension being generally co-planar with the other of the two planar faces; and
wherein each of said blocks hingedly receives one end of said lower latch plate such that the lower latch plate is connected to the exterior surface of the tray component through both of the blocks.
2. The support assembly according to claim 1, wherein each block is spot-welded directly onto the exterior surface of the tray component.
3. The support assembly according to claim 1, wherein each of the two planar surfaces is spot-welded directly to the exterior surface of the tray component.
4. The support assembly according to claim 3, wherein said two planar surfaces and the exterior surface of the tray component each comprises a selected one of a metal or a metallic alloy that is the same in the planar surface and the exterior surface of the tray component, and the spot-weld fuses the selected one of the metal or the metallic alloy of the planar surfaces to the metal of the exterior surface of the tray component.
5. The support assembly according to claim 1, wherein both of said blocks are composed of the same metal or metallic alloy as the sterilization container surface to which they are attached.
6. A dual latch mechanism for a sterilization container comprising: a lid component and tray component hingedly attached together along one side, and a dual latch mechanism disposed opposite the one side, said dual latch mechanism comprising:
an upper latch subassembly associated with the lid component comprising a upper hinged latch plate hingedly connected to the exterior surface of said lid component;
a lower latch subassembly attached to the exterior surface of said tray component, said lower latch subassembly comprising a lower hinged latch plate, said upper hinged latch plate and said lower hinged latch plate being reversibly engageable with one another;
wherein said lower latch subassembly comprises a support assembly consisting of a pair of spaced apart blocks, each of said blocks including a planar face comprising a selected one of a metal or a metallic alloy that is the same as a selected one of a metal or a metallic alloy of the exterior surface of the tray component portion, said planar face being welded directly onto the exterior surface of said tray in a manner fusing the selected one of a metal or a metallic alloy to form a contiguous metallic bond that securely fastens the block onto the tray component.
7. The dual latch mechanism according to claim 6, wherein each end of said upper latch plate is hingedly connected to said exterior surface of said lid component, and each end of said lower latch plate is hingedly connected to each of said pair of spaced apart blocks of said support assembly such that said lower latch plate is hingedly connected to the exterior surface of said tray through both of said blocks.
8. The dual latch mechanism according to claim 6, wherein at least one of said blocks is structured to accommodate a card holder.
9. The dual latch mechanism according to claim 6, wherein at least one of said blocks is structured to accommodate an indicator element inserted therethrough.
10. The dual latch mechanism according to claim 9, wherein said indicator element is an indicator arrow and is structured to interact with said lower latch plate.
11. The dual latch mechanism according to claim 6, wherein said blocks are structured to accommodate a carrying handle attached thereto.
12. The dual latch mechanism according to claim 11, wherein said carrying handle is hingedly attached to each of said blocks.
13. A sterilization container comprising:
a lid component hingedly attached to a tray component along a first side of each, and a dual latch mechanism disposed on a second side opposite the first side, said dual latch mechanism comprising:
an upper latch subassembly associated with the lid component comprising a upper hinged latch plate hingedly connected to an exterior surface of the second side of the lid component; and
a lower latch subassembly attached to an exterior surface of the second side of the tray component, where the lower latch subassembly includes a lower hinged latch plate, and the upper hinged latch plate and lower hinged latch plate are reversibly engageable with one another;
wherein the exterior surface of the second side of the tray component comprises a first material selected from a group consisting of a metal and a metallic alloy; and
wherein the lower latch subassembly includes
a support assembly consisting of a pair of spaced apart blocks,
where each of the blocks is configured in an overall \u201cp shape,\u201d with a generally cuboid body including three inner transverse bends and one outer transverse bend forming two planar faces, at least one of the two planar faces forming a planar extension from a side of the generally cuboid body, said planar extension being generally co-planar with the other of the two planar faces
where each of the planar faces includes the same first material as the exterior surface of the tray component portion,
where each planar face is welded directly onto the exterior surface of the tray in a manner fusing the first material of each to form a contiguous bond that securely fastens the block onto the tray component; and
where each end of the lower hinged latch plate is hingedly attached to one of the pair of blocks such that the lower hinged latch plate is hingedly disposed between the pair of blocks.
14. The sterilization container of claim 13, further comprising a carrying handle attached to the blocks.
15. The sterilization container of claim 13, further comprising an indicator element disposed through an opening in at least one of the blocks, where the indicator is configured to indicate whether the lower latch plate has been opened.
16. The sterilization container of claim 13, wherein at least one of the blocks is structured to accommodate a card holder.
17. The sterilization container of claim 13, wherein the hinged attachment of the lower latch plate to each block comprises a pin on the latch plate engaging an opening on the block.
18. The sterilization container of claim 13, further comprising a cover plate disposed to cover the planar extensions of the blocks.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A bag, comprising:
a front wall and a rear wall, the front and rear walls having a top portion;
opposing side gusset panels adjoined to and between the front and rear walls, each side gusset panels being adapted to fold inwardly along a center side crease of the side gusset panel when the bag is lying flat, each side gusset panel having an upper edge that is straight or rises upwardly in the vicinity of the center side crease;
opposing T-shirt-styled handles formed in the top portion of the front and rear walls, each handle having an upper handle portion, a lower handle portion, and a middle handle portion between the upper and lower handle portions, each middle handle portion having an inwardly projecting portion that makes the middle handle portion wider than each of the upper and lower handle portions, each middle handle portion having a handle mounting aperture; and
front and rear mounting tabs between the handles, each of the mounting tabs having a tab mounting cut for providing an opening adapted for receiving an arm or hook of a rack, each of the mounting tabs having a severable portion adjacent the tab mounting cut adapted to tear apart and remain with the bag, wherein
a stress relief notch is defined between the lower handle portion of each handle and the front and rear mounting tabs, the stress relief notch having an arcuate shape, the arcuate shape having a radius of curvature RC, the bag being adapted to have a width W when lying flat with the side gusset panels folded inwardly along each respective center side crease, and wherein the ratio of RC to W is less than about 0.060.
2. The bag of claim 1, wherein the arcuate shape of the stress relief notch is continuous for at least about 90 degrees.
3. The bag of claim 1, wherein the ratio of RC to W is less than about 0.050.
4. The bag of claim 1, wherein the ratio of RC to W ranges between about 0.040 and about 0.055.
5. The bag of claim 1, wherein each middle handle portion has a handle mounting cut for providing an opening adapted for receiving an arm or hook of a rack, the handle mounting cut being generally longitudinal with respect to the handles and having an arcuate shape, the handle mounting cut having an upper cut portion, a lower cut portion and a middle cut portion between the upper and lower cut portions, the middle cut portion bending outwardly.
6. The bag of claim 1, wherein each tab mounting cut has two sides and a corner where the two sides meet, and wherein the corner has an angle of between about 60 and about 120 degrees.
7. The bag of claim 6, wherein the corner has essentially no radius of curvature.
8. The bag of claim 1, wherein the front and rear bag walls are sealed together at a top edge in the upper handle portion of each handle, and wherein the top edge is no wider than about 120 percent as wide as the width of the narrowest portion of the lower handle portion.
9. A bag dispensing system, comprising:
a bagging carousel comprising a mounting element having multiple sides and a top surface, a bag dispensing rack mounted to each side, the rack having a pair of bag dispensing arms and a hook between the arms, and a rotatable base for supporting the mounting element, the rotatable base extending outwardly from the mounting element, wherein the top surface is of sufficient size to support large or bulky items and the rotatable base provides support for shopping bags held by the dispensing arms; and
a bag pack mounted on at least one pair of the bag dispensing arms, the bag pack comprising a plurality of bags releaseably bonded together to form the bag pack and to provide a self-opening feature, each bag comprising:
a front wall and a rear wall, the front and rear walls having a top portion;
opposing side gusset panels adjoined to and between the front and rear walls, each side gusset panels being adapted to fold inwardly along a center side crease of the side gusset panel when the bag is lying flat, each side gusset panel having an upper edge that is straight or rises upwardly in the vicinity of the center side crease;
opposing T-shirt-styled handles formed in the top portion of the front and rear walls, each handle having an upper handle portion, a lower handle portion, and a middle handle portion between the upper and lower handle portions, each middle handle portion having an inwardly projecting portion that makes the middle handle portion wider than each of the upper and lower handle portions, each middle handle portion having a handle mounting aperture; and
front and rear mounting tabs between the handles, each of the mounting tabs having a tab mounting cut for providing an opening adapted for receiving the hook on the bag dispensing rack, each of the mounting tabs having a severable portion adjacent the tab mounting cut for providing a tabless bag, wherein
a stress relief notch is defined between the lower handle portion of each handle and the front and rear mounting tabs, the stress relief notch having an arcuate shape, the arcuate shape having a radius of curvature RC, the bag being adapted to have a width W when lying flat with the side gusset panels folded inwardly along each respective center side crease, and wherein the ratio of RC to W is less than about 0.060.
10. The bag dispensing system of claim 9, wherein the arcuate shape of the stress relief notch of each bag is continuous for at least about 90 degrees.
11. The bag dispensing system of claim 9, wherein the ratio of RC to W of each bag is less than about 0.050.
12. The bag dispensing system of claim 9, wherein the ratio of RC to W of each bag ranges between about 0.040 and about 0.0525.
13. The bag dispensing system of claim 9, wherein each middle handle portion of each bag has a handle mounting cut for providing an opening adapted for receiving the arms and the hook of the bag dispensing rack, the handle mounting cut being generally longitudinal with respect to the handles and having an arcuate shape, the handle mounting cut having an upper cut portion, a lower cut portion and a middle cut portion between the upper and lower cut portions, the middle cut portion bending outwardly.
14. The bag dispensing system of claim 9, wherein each tab mounting cut of each bag has two sides and a corner where the two sides meet, and wherein the corner has an angle of between about 60 and about 120 degrees.
15. The bag dispensing system of claim 14, wherein the corner of each bag has essentially no radius of curvature.
16. The bag dispensing system of claim 9, wherein the front and rear bag walls of each bag are sealed together at a top edge in the upper handle portion of each handle, and wherein the top edge is no wider than about 120 percent as wide as the width of the narrowest portion of the lower handle portion.
17. A bag pack comprising a plurality of bags releaseably bonded together to form the bag pack and to provide a self-opening feature, each bag comprising:
a front wall and a rear wall, the front and rear walls having a top portion;
opposing side gusset panels adjoined to and between the front and rear walls, each side gusset panels being adapted to fold inwardly along a center side crease of the side gusset panel when the bag is lying flat, each side gusset panel having an upper edge that is straight or rises upwardly in the vicinity of the center side crease;
opposing T-shirt-styled handles formed in the top portion of the front and rear walls, each handle having an upper handle portion, a lower handle portion, and a middle handle portion between the upper and lower handle portions, each middle handle portion having an inwardly projecting portion that makes the middle handle portion wider than each of the upper and lower handle portions, each middle handle portion having a handle mounting aperture; and
front and rear mounting tabs between the handles, each of the mounting tabs having a tab mounting cut for providing an opening adapted for receiving the hook on the bag dispensing rack, each of the mounting tabs having a severable portion adjacent the tab mounting cut for providing a tabless bag, wherein
a stress relief notch is defined between the lower handle portion of each handle and the front and rear mounting tabs, the stress relief notch having an arcuate shape, the arcuate shape having a radius of curvature RC, the bag being adapted to have a width W when lying flat with the side gusset panels folded inwardly along each respective center side crease, and wherein the ratio of RC to W is less than about 0.060.
18. The bag pack of claim 17, wherein the arcuate shape of the stress relief notch of each bag is continuous for at least about 90 degrees.
19. The bag pack of claim 17, wherein the ratio of RC to W of each bag is less than about 0.050.
20. The bag pack of claim 17, wherein the ratio of RC to W of each bag ranges between about 0.040 and about 0.0525.
21. The bag pack of claim 17, wherein each middle handle portion of each bag has a handle mounting cut for providing an opening adapted for receiving an arm or hook of a bag dispensing rack, the handle mounting cut being generally longitudinal with respect to the handles and having an arcuate shape, the handle mounting cut having an upper cut portion, a lower cut portion and a middle cut portion between the upper and lower cut portions, the middle cut portion bending outwardly.
22. The bag pack of claim 17, wherein each tab mounting cut of each bag has two sides and a corner where the two sides meet, and wherein the corner has an angle of between about 60 and about 120 degrees.
23. The bag pack of claim 22, wherein the corner of each bag has essentially no radius of curvature.
24. The bag pack of claim 17, wherein the front and rear bag walls of each bag are sealed together at a top edge in the upper handle portion of each handle, and wherein the top edge is no wider than about 120 percent as wide as the width of the narrowest portion of the lower handle portion.