An apparatus for making a self-opening wide mouth carryout bag pack comprising:
- a supply of flexible film material;
- an extruder, said extruder forming a continuous tube of film;
- a folder, said folder folding in first and second side gussets;
- a flattener, said flattener forming a continuous flattened tube;
- a first sealer, said first sealer forming a bottom seal across a width of said flattened tube at a predetermined interval;
- a cutter, said cutter cutting said flattened tube into bag blanks at a predetermined distance from said bottom seal;
- said bag blanks having front and rear walls, first and second side edges, a top edge, a bottom edge and a mouth portion;
- a second sealer, said second sealer forming a first angle seal, said first angle seal extending from said first side edge of said front and rear walls across said bottom seal at a point spaced outwardly from an innermost portion of said first side gusset at said bottom edges of said front and rear walls;
- a third sealer, said third sealer forming a second angle seal, said second angle seal extending from said second side edge of said front and rear walls across said bottom seal at a point spaced outwardly from an innermost portion of said second side gusset at said bottom edges of said front and rear walls;
- a stacker, said stacker forming said bag blanks into a bag pack with said top edges aligned;
- a die cutter, said die cutter cutting a bag mouth orthogonal to a length of said flattened tube and cutting a handle opening adjacent said bag mouth;
- said first and second angle seals creating a wide mouth carryout bag having a substantially flat bottom when said bag is opened, said flat bottom has three layers of material in the region formed from said first and second angle seals, said substantially flat bottom including two layers of bag material extending beyond said bottom seal;
- an aperture maker, said aperture maker penetrating said bag pack and forming first and second apertures for suspending said bag pack from a dispensing rack;
- an adhesion knife, said knife having a single non-linear elongated cutting edge and providing a single non-linear elongated knife cut, said single non-linear knife cut extending completely through front and rear walls of each of said bag blanks in said bag pack, having first and second ends and first and second elongated non-linear edges, and adhering adjacent bag blanks together in said bag pack along both of said first and second elongated non-linear edges and providing self-opening features;
- and
- wherein said bag pack is suspended from said dispensing rack and a first bag is pulled outwardly from said bag pack, said first and second edges of said knife cut in said front wall of a subsequent bag will be adhered to said edges of said knife cut in said rear wall of said first bag, thereby causing said first bag to open.