Bread clip
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A bread clip is a device used to hold plastic bags (such as the ones presliced bread is commonly packaged in) closed. They are also commonly called bread tags or bread-bag clips. By sealing a bag more securely than tying or folding over its open end, the clip may preserve its contents longer. Sometimes the colour of the tag indicates the day on which it was baked.
There are two different types of bread clips - a more common one-piece plastic clip, and a more complex mechanical clip. One particular design of bread clip is the subject of a patent in the USA.
Simple bread clips
Most designs of bread clip consist of a single plastic part through which the neck of a plastic bag can be threaded. Because these bread clips are cheap, ubiquitous, and come in a variety of shapes and colors, some people collect them.
Because this type of bread clip is small and comes attached to food packages, it is sometimes swallowed accidentally by the elderly, which can cause perforation or blockage of the gastrointestinal tract.
In Canada, milk is often sold by the bag; the most common format is three 1.3-liter sealed bags packaged in a surrounding bag. This larger bag is closed by a clip identical to a bread clip, and imprinted with the milk's expected expiry date.
An activity involving bread clips is the flicking of bread clips. This is achieved by breaking the bread clip along the line of symmetry by repeated folding, placing the hook-like projection of the clip under the fingernail of the index finger while keeping the clip horizontal (under the presumption that the nail is vertical), pressing the clip into the fingertip to make it stay, placing the thumb on top of the finger, and flicking.
Mechanical bread clips
Bread_clip.jpg
A more complex bread clip design involves two articulated plastic parts mounted on a pivot with a spring between them to provide tension.
External links
- Kwik Lok Corp. (http://kwiklok.com/About.html) (Established by the inventor Floyd Paxton)
- A collector of bread clips (http://www.geocities.com/transactoid/tags.html)
- World record collection (http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/index.asp?id=49312)
- A review of scientific studies of the effects of ingestion of bread clips by the elderly (http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/cdn_medical_association/cmaj/vol-162/issue-4/0527.htm)