Means to facilitate the opening of bags.

Application filed January 15.1906. Serial No. 296,215.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, William L. Fross, a citizen of the United'States of America , and a resident of the city of Seattle, in the county 5 of King and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means to Facilitate the Opening of Bags, of which the following is a specification.

The primary object of my invention is the io prolusion of simple and·efficient means to facilitate the opening of the mouth of a bag or other receptacle having a flexible portion in which the mouth is located.

A further object is to provide an improve15 ment of this nature which can be readily embodied with bags having draw-cords for closing their mouths.

With the above and other objects, to be referred to in the following description, in view, co my invention resides in the construction and arrangement of parts, as shown on the drawings, set forth in this specification, and succinctly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, m which like numerals 25 of reference designate corresponding parts throughout both the views, Figure 1 is a view in perspective showing my improvement embodied with a bag having draw-cords arranged at the mouth for closing the same, the 30 hand of the operator being shown gripping the finger-holds of the device preparatory to opening the mouth of the bag; and Fig. 2 is a view in perspective similar to Fig. 1, but showing the bag with the mouth open and 35 held to elongated form.

Reference - numeral 1 indicates a bag formed from flexible material and provided with a mouth 2, the edge portion of the material about the mouth being hemmed, as at 40 3, and having the draw-cords 4 and 5 inserted in the hem in the ordinary manner, whereby when the draw-cords are drawn outwardly in opposite directions the edge portion of the bag at the mouth is gathered, 45 thereby closing the bag. When the bag is filled to the limit of its capacity, and the mouth closed, as above described, it cannot be readily opened in ordinary manner, as the material of the bag about the mouth is drawn taut and cannot be gripped. Therefore the 50 operator is usually compelled to work his finger into the mouth to expand the same. To overcome this objectionable feature,.! provide suitable finger-holds, as 6 6, which are attached to the bag at opposite sides, as now 55 considered, by means of flexible connection 7, consisting of sections of cord of suitable length which have their inner end portions secured to the bag adjacent the points at which the draw-cords pass outwardly from 60 the hem. The finger-holds are preferably slidably engaged with the draw-cords, each· being formed with an aperture 8, through which the adjacent draw-cord is passed.

In operation the operator grasps the fin- 65 ger-holds, one between the thumb and first finger of each hand, and draws them apart, whereby the mouth of the bag is opened. Then while holding the finger-holds apart (see Fig. 2) the lower portion of the bag can 70 be swung upwardly by his other fingers and the contents of the bag discharged. This discharge can be regulated by the operator, who by increasing the outward pull on the finger-holds obviously decreases the width of 75 the mouth. When a sufficient quantity has been discharged, the thumbs and fingers are slipped from the respective finger-holds onto those portions'of the draw-cord lying immediately therebeyond, which are then gripped 80 and pulled outwardly in opposite directions, thereby closing the bag, as heretofore described.