Plastic bag opener

Abstract

A bag opener device for facilitating the opening of thin plastic bags comprising a pair of arms operative to angularly move toward and away from each other between a closed position and an open position. Each of the arms has a tab on the distal end thereof and a handle portion, and in one preferred embodiment, an inclined surface which is in a plane transverse to the plane of the arms. In use, the arms are squeezed together to cause the distal tabs to engage each other and grip the sides of the plastic bag to be opened and, upon further squeezing of the arms, to cause the tabs to slip relative to each other and thereby cause the bag sides to slide and thereby open the bag.

1 . A plastic bag opener comprising:
 a pair of arms hinged to angularly move toward and away from each other between a closed position and an open position;
 each of the arms having a tab on the distal end thereof and a handle portion; 
 the arms being operative to be moved to a closed position to cause the tabs to engage and slip relative to each other and cause the bag sides therebetween to slide and thereby open the bag; 
   
     
     
         2 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 1  where in the arms are of U-shaped configuration operative to close in response to finger force of a user on the handle portions of the arms and to open in the absence of finger force. 
     
     
         3 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 1  wherein at least one of the tabs has a frictional surface operative to grip the bag side disposed between the tabs. 
     
     
         4 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 1  wherein a spring is disposed between the arms to urge the arms to a normally closed position. 
     
     
         5 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 1  where each of the tabs has an angled surface adapted to engage the angled surface of the tab of the other arm and to laterally slip relative to each other upon squeezing together of the arms. 
     
     
         6 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 5  wherein each of the angled surfaces has a fictional surface portion. 
     
     
         7 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 1  wherein each of the tabs has a surface perpendicular to the plane on the arms. 
     
     
         8 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 7  wherein the arms are operative to move with respect to each other in order to move the tab surfaces and bag material therebetween. 
     
     
         9 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 8  wherein the arms are operative to move laterally with respect to each other. 
     
     
         10 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 8  wherein the arms are operative to be moved longitudinally along the axis of the arms. 
     
     
         11 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 9  wherein the arms are formed from a single piece of material. 
     
     
         12 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 10  wherein the single piece of material is molded plastic. 
     
     
         13 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 1  wherein the arms are fastened together at the handle end thereof and wherein the arms are normally open and sufficiently resilient to be pushed together by the force of a user's fingers and to return to an open position when the finger force is removed. 
     
     
         14 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 1  wherein the tabs each have a confronting surface which can engage a confronting surface of the tab of the other arm;
 and wherein the arms can be squeezed together to cause the confronting surfaces of the tabs to slide relative to each other and cause the bag sides therebetween to slide and open the bag. 
 
     
     
         15 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 1  wherein the handle ends of the arms are pivotally attached to each other to permit pivotal movement of the arms relative to each other. 
     
     
         16 . The plastic bag opener of  claim 15  having a pivot pin at the handle ends of the arms to permit pivotal movement of the arms.