A bread clip is a device that is used to hold plastic bags closed, such as those in which sliced bread is commonly packaged. They are also commonly called bread tags, bread tabs, bread ties, bread buckles, or bread-bag clips. By sealing a bag more securely than tying or folding over its open end, and thus providing a nearly hermetic seal, the contents are preserved longer.
Most designs of bread clip consist of a single plastic part through which the neck of a plastic bag can be threaded. Because these clips are cheap, ubiquitous, and come in a variety of shapes and colors, some people collect them. [1]
Most bread clips are made from plastic #6 polystyrene (PS), [2] but Quebec-based bread clip manufacturing company KLR Systems released recyclable, cardboard bread clips in 2019, [3] which they later switched to producing in 2022. [4]
Such clips are also used for bagged milk. In the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, the most common package is 4 litres—three 1.33-litre sealed bags in a larger bag, which is closed with a clip and imprinted with the milk's expected expiration date.[ citation needed ]
A more complex bread clip design involves two articulated plastic parts mounted on a pivot with a spring between them to provide tension.
The bread clip was invented by Floyd G. Paxton and manufactured by the Kwik Lok Corporation, based in Yakima, Washington [5] with manufacturing plants in Yakima and New Haven, Indiana. Kwik Lok Corporation's clips are called "Kwik Lok closures".
Paxton was known for repeatedly telling the story about how he came up with the idea of the bread clip. As he told it, he was flying home on an airliner in 1952 and opened a bag of peanuts, whereupon he realized he had no way to reclose it. He rummaged through his wallet and found an expired credit card and hand-carved his first bag clip with a small pen knife. When a fruit packer, Pacific Fruit, wanted to replace rubber bands with a better bag closure for its new plastic bags, Paxton remembered his bag of peanuts. He hand-whittled another clip from a small sheet of Plexiglas. With an order in hand for a million clips, Paxton designed a die-cut machine to produce the clips at high speed. Despite repeated attempts, Paxton never won a United States patent for the clips themselves. He did, however, win numerous patents for the high-speed "bag closing apparatus" that made the clips, inserted bread into the bags, and applied the clips to said bags.[ citation needed ]
The bread clip was developed in the early 1950s for a growing need to close plastic bags on the packaging line very efficiently. Manufacturers, using more and more automation in the manufacture and packaging of food, needed methods to raise production volumes and reduce costs. At the same time a hurried population of consumers wanted a fast and easy way to open and effectively seal food bags. The simple bread clip sufficed. In addition, re-closability became a selling point as smaller families and higher costs slowed consumption, leading to a potential for higher rates of spoilage.
Kwik Lok continues to be the main manufacturer of bread clips with Schutte as their European competitor. [6]
The parody website horg.com, created by John Daniel, coined the term occlupanids to describe bread clips, [A] and created a mock phylogeny of the different clip designs. [8] Researchers of occlupanids are called occlupanologists. [9] These terms have since been referenced in popular media. [10] [9] [11]
Case studies in the medical literature document instances of inhalation and ingestion. [12] [7]
A tea bag or teabag is a small, porous, sealed bag or packet, typically containing tea leaves or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steep and make an infusion. Originally used only for tea, they are now made with other tisanes as well.
A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a perforation. The process of creating perforations is called perforating, which involves removing bits of the workpiece with a tool. Old-fashioned lick-and-stick postage stamps are perforated. When a tool makes small cuts in the material it is called 'rouletting', because that tool often resembles a roulette wheel, with blades around the edge. Raffle tickets are a good example of rouletting.
Boxed wine is a wine sold in "bag-in-box" packaging. Traditionally, this consists of a cardboard box containing a wine filled plastic reservoir. The flow of the wine from the box is controlled by a valve.
A bag-in-box or BiB is a container for the storage and transportation of liquids. It consists of a strong bladder, usually made of several layers of metallised film or other plastics, seated inside a corrugated fiberboard box.
Ziploc is an American brand of reusable, re-sealable sliding channel storage bags and containers originally developed and test marketed by Dow Chemical Company in 1968 and now produced by S. C. Johnson & Son.
Plastic shopping bags, carrier bags, or plastic grocery bags are a type of plastic bag used as shopping bags and made from various kinds of plastic. In use by consumers worldwide since the 1960s, these bags are sometimes called single-use bags, referring to carrying items from a store to a home. However, it is rare for bags to be worn out after single use and in the past some retailers incentivised customers to reuse 'single use' bags by offering loyalty points to those doing so. Even after they are no longer used for shopping, reuse of these bags for storage or trash is common, and modern plastic shopping bags are increasingly recyclable or compostable - at the Co-op for example. In recent decades, numerous countries have introduced legislation restricting the provision of plastic bags, in a bid to reduce littering and plastic pollution.
A plastic bag, poly bag, or pouch is a type of container made of thin, flexible, plastic film, nonwoven fabric, or plastic textile. Plastic bags are used for containing and transporting goods such as foods, produce, powders, ice, magazines, chemicals, and waste. It is a common form of packaging.
A bin bag, rubbish bag, garbage bag, bin liner, trash bag or refuse sack is a disposable receptable for solid waste. These bags are useful to line the insides of waste containers to prevent the insides of the container from becoming coated in waste material. Most bags today are made out of plastic, and are typically black, white, or green in color.
A paper bag is a bag made of paper, usually kraft paper. Paper bags can be made either with virgin or recycled fibres to meet customers' demands. Paper bags are commonly used as shopping carrier bags and for packaging of some consumer goods. They carry a wide range of products from groceries, glass bottles, clothing, books, toiletries, electronics and various other goods and can also function as means of transport in day-to-day activities.
Kerbside collection or curbside collection is a service provided to households, typically in urban and suburban areas, of collecting and disposing of household waste and recyclables. It is usually accomplished by personnel using specially built vehicles to pick up household waste in containers that are acceptable to, or prescribed by, the municipality and are placed on the kerb.
Food packaging is a packaging system specifically designed for food and represents one of the most important aspects among the processes involved in the food industry, as it provides protection from chemical, biological and physical alterations. The main goal of food packaging is to provide a practical means of protecting and delivering food goods at a reasonable cost while meeting the needs and expectations of both consumers and industries. Additionally, current trends like sustainability, environmental impact reduction, and shelf-life extension have gradually become among the most important aspects in designing a packaging system.
A single-serve coffee container is a container filled with coffee grounds, used in coffee brewing to prepare only enough coffee for a single portion. Single-serve coffee containers come in various formats and materials, often either as hard and soft pods or pads made of filter paper, or hard aluminium and plastic capsules.
A milk bag is a plastic bag that contains milk. Usually one of the corners is cut off to allow for pouring, and the bag is stored in a pitcher or jug.
Floyd Greg Paxton was a manufacturer of ballbearings during World War II, and later inventor of the bread clip, a notched plastic tag used for sealing bags of bread worldwide.
Hudson-Sharp Machine Company is active in the design and manufacture of plastic bag making machinery, pouch making equipment, and reclosable packaging solutions.
A security bag is a heavy duty bag used to contain high-value products, documents or legally sensitive items. Envelopes with security features are called security envelopes as well as security bags. Cash for deposit in a bank is often placed in a special deposit bag with security features. When they are used to contain items related to a crime, special evidence bags are used. Authentication of signatures and chain of custody are often required.
The pizza box or pizza package is a folding packaging box usually made of corrugated fiberboard in which hot pizzas are stored for take-out. The pizza box also makes home delivery and takeaway substantially easier. The pizza box has to be highly resistant, cheap, stackable, thermally insulated to regulate humidity and suitable for food transportation. In addition, it provides space for advertising. The pizza packages differ from those of frozen pizzas, which contain the frozen product in heat-sealed plastic foils as is the case with much frozen food.
Package handles, or carriers, are used to help people use packaging. They are designed to simplify and to improve the ergonomics of lifting and carrying packages. Handles on consumer packages add convenience and help facilitate use and pouring. The effect of handles on package material costs and the packaging line efficiencies are also critical. A handle can be defined as “an accessory attached to a container or part for the purpose of holding or carrying.” Sometimes a handle can be used to hang a package for dispensing or use.
The Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group is a research organisation utilising a semi-humorous approach to the taxonomy and cataloguing of bread clips, which have been coined occlupanids. Specifically, HORG is primarily interested in plastic bread clips, although began cataloguing paper-based bread clips from May 2022.
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