Soft bag and expander - has automatic urge device in form of resilient member which urges device from flat to expanded position

摘要

The expander for insertion into and expansion of a soft bag (20) comprises a device (10, 11, 13, 15) 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) 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) 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 having four sequentially arranged sections (364), each of which is articulatable with respect to each adjacent section is provided in some embodiments. Expansion of a cylindrical bag is facilitated by a rigid insert in certain embodiments that is articulatable to better conform to the curved shape of the side portions. @(29pp Dwg.No.5/44)@.