(57) An expander for insertion into and expansion of a soft bag (20, 40, 302) comprising
a device (10, 11, 13, 15, 136, 137, 200, 250, 300, 350) which is folded or collapsed
to a flat state or spread apart to an expanded state. The soft bag is collapsed to
a compact form in the flat state for shipment. In the expanded position, the bag is
expanded to give the appearance that it is filled. Some embodiments use a resilient
member (18, 38, 146, 230, 280, 281, 330, 380) to automatically urge the device from
a flat position to its expanded position when compressive forces are removed from
the bag. Other forms use a cord (72, 98, 150) for manually moving the expander device
into its bag-expanding position. To provide for a greater extent of expansion in relation
to the length of the device in the flat position, an expanding device (200, 250, 300,
350) having four sequentially arranged sections (2Il-214, 261-264, 311-314, 361-364),
each of which is articulatable with respect to each adjacent section is provided in
some embodiments. Expansion of a cylindrical bag (302) is facilitated by a generally
rigid insert (333, 334, 382) in certain embodiments that is articulatable to better
conform to the curved shape of the side portions.
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