Bag with Valve

Abstract

A storage bag for storing items such as food includes a flexible plastic sidewall configured to provide an interior volume, a sealable opening for accessing the interior volume, and a one-way valve element attached to the sidewall and communicating with the interior volume. The opening may be closed and latent air within the storage bag may be evacuated through the valve element. The valve element may also be flexible and its flexibility may be similar to that of the bag itself. In an aspect, the valve element can be a low profile valve element which has a height dimension that is relatively small with respect to the other dimensions of the storage bag and/or valve element. In other aspects, the valve element can have a compact size such that its width, surface area and other similar dimensions are relatively small compared to the other dimensions of the storage bag and/or valve element.

1 . A storage bag comprising: 
 a first sidewall having a sidewall surface area and a sidewall thickness, the first sidewall including a hole disposed therethrough; and    a one-way valve element attached to the first sidewall over the hole, the valve element having a valve height and a valve surface area, the valve element being a low profile valve element.    
   
   
       2 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the sidewall surface area to the valve height is between about 1800:1 to about 30,000:1.  
   
   
       3 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the sidewall surface area to the valve height is about 9430:1.  
   
   
       4 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the valve height to the sidewall thickness is between about 1:1 to about 20:1.  
   
   
       5 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the valve height to the sidewall thickness is about 4.4:1.  
   
   
       6 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the valve surface area to the valve height is between about 40:1 to about 350:1.  
   
   
       7 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the valve surface area to the valve height is about 43:1.  
   
   
       8 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the hole has a hole width, the ratio of the hole width to the valve height is between about 10:1 to about 70:1.  
   
   
       9 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the hole has a hole width, the ratio of the hole width to the valve height is about 17.9:1.  
   
   
       10 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the valve element has a valve width, the ratio of the valve height to the valve width is between about 0.01:1 to about 0.035:1.  
   
   
       11 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the valve has a valve width, the ratio of the valve height to the valve width is about 0.018:1.  
   
   
       12 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the hole having a hole width, the valve element having a valve width, the ratio of the hole width to the valve width is between about 0.01:1 to about 0.70:1.  
   
   
       13 . The storage bag of  claim 12 , wherein the ratio of the hole width to the valve width is about 0.24:1.  
   
   
       14 . The storage bag of  claim 12 , wherein the hole is circular such that the hole width is a diameter and the valve is circular such that the valve width is a diameter.  
   
   
       15 . A storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the hole having a hole area, the ratio of the sidewall surface area to the hole area is between about 1500:1 to about 10,000:1.  
   
   
       16 . The storage bag of  claim 15  wherein the ratio of the sidewall surface area to the hole area is about 4780:1.  
   
   
       17 . A storage bag of  claim 1  wherein the ratio of the sidewall surface area to the valve surface area is between about 40:1 to about 750:1.  
   
   
       18 . The storage bag of  claim 17 , wherein the ratio of the sidewall surface area to the valve surface area is about 216.2:1.  
   
   
       19 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the hole is circular.  
   
   
       20 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the valve element is single ply.  
   
   
       21 . The storage bag of  claim 1 , wherein the valve element is multi-ply.  
   
   
       22 . (canceled)  
   
   
       23 . (canceled)  
   
   
       24 . (canceled)  
   
   
       25 . (canceled)  
   
   
       26 . (canceled)  
   
   
       27 . (canceled)  
   
   
       28 . (canceled)  
   
   
       29 . A storage bag comprising: 
 a first sidewall including a hole disposed therethrough; the hole having a hole width;    a one-way valve element attached to the first sidewall over the hole, the valve element having a valve width; wherein    the ratio of the hole width to the valve width is about 0.01:1 to about 0.70:1.    
   
   
       30 . (canceled)  
   
   
       31 . (canceled)  
   
   
       32 . A storage bag comprising: 
 a first sidewall having a sidewall surface area including a hole disposed therethrough, the hole having a hole area;    a one-way valve element attached to the first sidewall over the hole; wherein the ratio of the sidewall surface area to the hole area is about 1500:1 to about 10,000:1.    
   
   
       33 . (canceled)  
   
   
       34 . A storage bag comprising: 
 a first sidewall having a sidewall surface area including a hole disposed therethrough;    a one-way valve element having a valve surface area attached to the first sidewall over the hole; wherein    the ratio of the sidewall surface area to the valve surface area is about 40:1 to about 750:1.    
   
   
       35 . (canceled)  
   
   
       36 . A storage bag comprising: 
 a first sidewall having a sidewall surface area and a sidewall thickness;    a one-way valve element attached to the first sidewall, the valve element having a valve height and a valve surface area, the valve element having an aperture, the valve element being a low profile valve element;    wherein the aperture has an aperture width the ratio of the aperture width to the valve height is between about 10:1 to about 70:1;    wherein the aperture having an aperture width, the valve element having a valve width, the ratio of the aperture width to the valve width is between about 0.01:1 to about 0.70:1; and    wherein the aperture having an aperture area, the ratio of the sidewall surface area to the aperture area is between about 1500:1 to about 10,000:1.    
   
   
       37 . (canceled)  
   
   
       38 . (canceled)  
   
   
       39 . (canceled)