The present invention relates to bags for foodstuffs.

It applies particularly advantageously to bags for foodstuffs of the granule type, such as dry dogfood or catfood, for example.

Bags for granule-type foodstuffs which have a base from which two principal walls and two lateral flanks extend are already known, these walls and flanks being made from a material of flexible-sheet type, the two walls being, at their end opposite the base, assembled together along a line which is, for example, a weld or adhesive-bonding line, the two flanks being, at their end opposite the base, shaped as a gusset.

Bags of this type known to date generally have an opening line extending along one of the two principal walls, close to the assembling line formed, for example, by the weld or adhesive-bonding line opposite the base.

It is also known to provide, for this type of bag, in the immediate vicinity of the opening line, closure means of the removable anchoring type - for example, a zip including a male anchoring line and a complementary female anchoring line - which enable the user to re-close the bag after a first use.

Such bags are difficult to handle for users wishing to pour foodstuffs, for example, into a petfood dish.

This is particularly the case when the bag has a large amount of contents and is consequently heavy to lift and to tip up.

A bag according to the preamble of claim 1 is disclosed in DE-U-88-12975-6

The invention proposes an improved bag having the characterising features of claim 1.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description which is purely illustrative and non-limiting and should be read with reference to the appended figures in which Figures 1 to 3 are perspective representations illustrating a possible embodiment for the invention.

The bag, which is shown in the figures, is in the form of a bag made from flexible sheet, which has a base 1, and also two principal walls 2 and two lateral flanks 3, which extend from said base.

The principal walls 2 are closed together, at their end opposite said base, along an assembling line 4.

Depending on the material of the sheet forming the bag (metallized plastic sheet, metallized paper, etc.), the two principal walls 2 may be assembled by means of welding, adhesive bonding or any other technique that may be suitable.

In their upper part, opposite the base 1, the flanks 3 are each folded about a fold line 7, which gives them the form of a gusset 8 over at least part of the height of the bag.

One of the two flanks 3 has, in the region of its part in the form of a gusset 8, an opening line 9 which extends over substantially the entire width of said flank, in a horizontal direction.

This line 9 is, for example, defined by broken lines for tearing or by a weakening thinning produced on the sheet of the bag at said flank 3.

This opening line 9 extends in a region shaped as a gusset over the part 8 in the form of a gusset opposite the base 1.

It is advantageously in the immediate vicinity of the assembling line 4, just below the latter (the terms "below" , "above", "upper" , and "lower" should be understood in the present text as referring to an arrangement in which the bag is kept vertical by being placed on its base on a horizontal surface).

Moreover, closure means of the removable anchoring type (zip strip, for example) (not shown in order not to complicate the figures), are also provided on the flank 3 on which the opening line 9 is provided.

Such removable anchoring closure means are thus placed below the opening line 9.

In addition, provision is also made for complementary closure means, arranged on a wall part inside the bag extending vertically opposite that part of the flank 3 which has said removable anchoring closure means, and attached to the inside of the bag.

The bag just described is used as follows.

Upon first use, the user tears said line 9 in order to open the bag.

When said line 9 has been torn, the user separates the edges of the opening he has just made and pulls (i.e. towards the outside of the bag) the gusset 8 which of its own accord adopts the inverted form illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, the gusset fold itself being inverted.

This inverted form which the gusset naturally assumes forms a pouring spout 6 which enables the user easily to guide the foodstuffs as far as the opening of the bag when the user tips the bag up, the actual opening of the bag (referenced 5 in Figures 2 and 3) being completely free.

When he has finished, the user folds down this form in the shape of a pouring spout 6 in order to give it a concavity which is the reverse of that shown in Figures 2 and 3 and to reconstitute the gusset 8. The latter, of its own accord, resumes a position in which the edges of the opening of the bag are substantially pressed against one another.

All the user now has to do is to re-close this opening totally by exerting a slight pressure on the removable anchoring closure means.

It will be noted that, compared with known bags in which the opening is provided in a principal wall of the bag (corresponding to a wall referenced 2 in the figures in the present text), the bag according to the invention may be reclosed in a particularly simple and reliable manner.

In fact, in the case of the invention, the removable anchoring closure means extend over only a limited length (corresponding at most to the width of the gusset 8), which facilitates their closure.

Moreover, it is also possible to combine, in one and the same bag, an opening such as that described above with an opening arranged as known, i.e. placed on a principal wall of the bag. In this case, the user may choose one or other of the two openings.

It is also possible to equip the bag as shown in the figures appended to the present application with grasping means in its top part.

To this end, a particularly simple and advantageous arrangement involves folding down the top band located at the upper end of the bag, above the assembling line 4, and securing the two lateral end parts of said top band over the principal-wall part of the bag opposite which the top band is folded down.

By securing the top band and the principal wall at only two opposite end parts, a grasping handle is thus created, formed by the central part of the top band which is folded down but not secured to the wall of the bag, doing so in a particularly simple and economical manner.

The "securing" referred to above may be achieved in any manner known per se, depending on the material used for the sheets of the bag (adhesive bonding, welding, etc.).

Of course, the invention is in no way limited to the embodiment presented above.

In particular, only the part of the bag described in connection with the invention and more particularly the part in the form of a gusset 8 is representative of the invention.

The other parts of the bag and, in particular, the base of the bag may have any configuration known per se (flat base, but also a base having any other shape).

Finally, it is pointed out that it is possible to form, inside the bag, a conduit enabling the contents that are to be poured out towards the pouring spout 6 to be channelled, once the spout has been folded out.

For these purposes, it is possible to make provision for the addition, between the two principal walls of the bag, of an element made from flexible sheet extending substantially vertically over part of the height of the bag, it being possible for the upper end of this element to end at the closure line 4.

It is also possible to produce such a conduit in a particularly simple and economical manner by producing a line welding together the two principal walls 2 of the bag, as shown by the line 10 in the figures.

This line 10 must be produced over only part of the height of the bag so as to join the two principal walls 2 in their upper part. This creates, close to the gusset (and thus to the pouring spout), a conduit which makes it possible better to guide the flow of granules or other products contained in the bag.

As will have been understood, and as illustrated in Figure 3, such a bag is particularly (but not in a limiting manner) suited to the dispensing of animal foodstuffs of the granule type.