Bag holder

A bag holder for supporting and holding a plastic film bag open during filling comprising:

• means swivelly supporting each of more than two upright bag grippers urged resiliently apart in a generally horizontal plane and positioned to engage and place the full girth of the overturned open end of a plastic film bag of any of a range of different girths resiliently in hoop tension while being filled and which bag supporting means are foldable when not in use to generally co-planar position;
• and
• said bag grippers each having a rounded grit-like surface consisting of a multiplicity of closely spaced sharp projections fixed thereto and distributed thereover in all directions, said grit-like projections being positioned and sized to protrude into and grip the overturned open end of a plastic bag without damaging or puncturing the plastic film while the bag is being filled.

A collapsible self-supporting bag holder for use in firmly supporting plastic film bags while being filled comprising:

• folding main frame means having a plurality of uprights pivotally connected for movement between collapsed and extended positions and including means for holding said uprights firmly and resiliently extended;
• and
• a plurality of upright bag grippers at one end of said main frame having areas thereof covered with a multiplicity of grit-like projections spaced to cooperate in holding the overturned open end of a plastic bag resiliently in firm hoop tension and effective to retain the same firmly captive and against slippage thereover while being filled, and at least one of which bag grippers is freely rotatable about an upright axis and thereby effective to equalize the hoop tension in the overturned open end of said bag.

An article of manufacture comprising a bag gripper for use in multiple to hold a plastic film bag open while being filled without rupturing or tearing the open end thereof, said bag gripper comprising:

• a main body movably supported on one end of said spindle means the opposite end of which spindle means is adapted to be rotatably mounted on bag support means;
• and
• the sides and end surfaces of said main body remote from said spindle means having a multiplicity of sharp grit-like projections fixed thereto and distributed in all directions and effective to grip and firmly hold the overturned open end of a tensioned plastic film bag in immovable contact therewith without piercing or damaging said plastic film.