Tape Sealed Recloseable Bag

Abstract

A bag package for consumable products such as food items includes a lateral slit cut into a front panel of the bag so that the bag can be pulled open along the slit to provide access to the bag contents. The slit is preferably cut along a wavy line which is substantially sinusoidal in nature. The cut line may have a uniform wave pattern or have segments along the slit of different wave lengths. The wavy slit results in a package opening having opposing peaks and valleys along the edges on either side of the opening. When the package is closed beneath a transparent reseal tape the peaks and valleys of the opposing edges of the opening become misaligned and thus provide visual evidence of tampering.

1 . A package comprising:
 a front panel having a top portion and a bottom portion divided by an elongate lateral slit;   an adhesively coated sealing tape segment cut from a supply roll and applied directly to the surface of said front panel bridging the slit and being of such dimension to fully surround the slit and wrap around side edges of the package for adhesion to a rear panel of said package;   wherein said adhesive tape segment includes a non-adhesive area along a lateral top edge thereof lying against the front panel but not against the rear panel to allow the manual pulling forward of the tape away from the top portion of said panel above said slit while ends of the tape segment remain fully secured to the rear panel; and   a tear away portion along the lateral top edge, said tear away portion including an adhesive area of said tape segment adhered to the front panel, wherein sides of the tear away portion are defined by opposite facing L-shaped slits in the tape.   
     
     
         2 . The package of  claim 1  wherein varying densities of a deadening material are deposited by screen printing over said adhesive layer to produce areas of said tape segment differing in adhesion from a degree of greatest adhesion to a degree of non-adhesion. 
     
     
         3 . The package of  claim 8  wherein said tape segment includes selected areas of lesser deadening material density adjacent other adhesive areas to provide moderate relative adhesion between said tape and said film compared to said other areas which have greater and lesser adhesion. 
     
     
         4 . A package comprising:
 a front panel of the package having a top portion and a bottom portion divided by an elongate lateral slit to provide an opening of the package through which the contents of the package may be removed; and,   an adhesively coated sealing tape applied to the surface of said front panel bridging the slit;   wherein the slit is wavy resulting in wavy top and bottom edges of the panel at the package opening once the package is opened, and misalignment of the edges when the package is reclosed.   
     
     
         5 . The package of  claim 4  wherein the form of the wavy slit is substantially sinusoidal. 
     
     
         6 . The package of claim  22  wherein the wave length of the wavy slit is in a range between 0.300 and 1.00 inches. 
     
     
         7 . The package of claim  23  wherein the package is composed of polypropylene film. 
     
     
         8 . The package of claim  24  wherein the sealing tape is transparent so that the slit is visible after the package has been opened and the sealing tape has been reapplied. 
     
     
         9 . The package of claim  25  wherein the package front panel includes graphics applied across the slit. 
     
     
         10 . The package of  claim 5  wherein a slit wave pattern is not uniform but varies across the length of the slit from one end to the other. 
     
     
         11 . The package of  claim 10  wherein the slit wave pattern includes wave segments of different wave lengths. 
     
     
         12 . The package of  claim 11  wherein the wave segments have a relatively longer wave length at ends of the slit compared to at least one segment at a middle portion of the slit. 
     
     
         13 . The package of  claim 10  wherein the slit cut wave lengths are graduated from longer wave lengths at the ends of the slit compared to shorter wave lengths at middle portion of the slit. 
     
     
         14 . The package of  claim 13  wherein the slit cut waves vary in length in a range between 0.875 and 0.400 inches.