Bag opening apparatus

Claim 1

Apparatus for opening bags of the type including opposed side walls joined along their lateral edges and one end to define an opened ended bag, with one side wall having at least a portion of a length greater than the other to provide an outwardly extending tab portion along the open end, said apparatus comprising: a frame means iNcluding a bag supporting surface having a peripheral edge including an upper edge portion and a lower edge portion; a wicket engaging and supporting means carried by said frame means for supporting a wicket member to extend outwardly of said bag supporting surface for engaging and holding a stack of said bags arranged with their open end generally facing toward the top edge of said surface and their longer sides toward said surface with the wicket member extending through the tab of said bags; air outlet means carried by said frame and spaced from said wicket engaging and supporting means in the direction of said top edge for directing an air stream across said surface generally toward said lower edge to cause the short side of the top bag in a stack of bags carried on said surface to be blown outwardly to open said top bag; and, an air baffle member positioned on said surface between said air outlet opening and said wicket, said baffle member being resiliently mounted and adapted to extend from said surface to a position over the tabs on the stack of bags.