High strength bag for storing materials in sterile condition

A high strength, sealable, bacteria-impermeable bag for receiving material for sterilization after sealing of the bag by a process employing a sterilizing vapor, the bag including:

• a flexible, bacteria-impermeable plastic container having opposed faces and an open end for receiving the material to be sterilized, one of the faces including overlapping margins of the container, the margins being joined together by a plurality of heat seal bonds spaced along the length of the bag, the bonds defining between them a plurality of passages spaced along the length of the container, the passages providing communication with the interior of the bag for ingress and egress of the sterilizing vapor, the other of the faces being continuous;
• and
• a membrane impermeable to bacteria but highly permeable, in comparison to the container, to the sterilizing vapor, joined to the container and covering the overlapping margins to prevent the entry of bacteria, the plurality of heat seal bonds securing the membrane to the overlapping margins and carrying stresses produced by the weight of the material received by the bag and relieving the membrane of such stresses.

A high strength, sealable, bacteria-impermeable bag for receiving material for sterilization after sealing of the bag by a process employing a sterilizing vapor, the bag including:

• a flexible, bacteria-impermeable plastic container having opposed faces and an open end for receiving the material to be sterilized, one of the faces including overlapping margins of the container, the margins defining between them a plurality of passages spaced along the length of the container, the passages providing communication with the interior of the bag for ingress and egress of the sterilizing vapor, the other of the faces being continuous;
• and
• a membrane impermeable to bacteria but highly permeable, in comparison to the container, to the sterilizing vapor, joined to the container and covering the overlapping margins to prevent the entry of bacteria, the portions of the plastic container between the passages carrying stresses produced by the weight of the material received by the bag and relieving the membrane of such stresses and in which the end of the container opposite the open end is closed and the one face of the container is devoid of passages along a portion of the length of the bag extending from the closed end.

A high strength, bacteria-impermeable, sealable bag for receiving material for sterilization after sealing of the bag by a process employing a sterilizing vapor, the bag comprising:

• a flexible tube extending in a longitudinal direction and formed of at least one bacteria-impermeable thermoplastic sheet, the tube having opposed ends transverse of the longitudinal direction and overlapping longitudinal margins;
• and
• a longitudinally-extending strip covering the longitudinal margins and bonded to the tube by a continuous, longitudinally-extending heat seal adjacent each side of the margins, the strip and overlapping longitudinal margins being joined by a plurality of longitudinally-spaced heat seals, the spaced heat seals and overlapping margins defining between them a series of passages providing communication with the interior of the bag for ingress and egress of the sterilizing vapor, the strip being impermeable to bacteria but highly permeable, in comparison to the tube, to the sterilizing vapor, a transverse heat seal adjacent at least one of the transverse ends of the bag uniting the membrane and the tube and closing said at least one end of the bag, the longitudinally-shaped heat seals carrying stresses produced by the weight of the material received by the bag and relieving the strip and the heat joining the strip and the tube of such stresses.