Patent Application
20100096514
Aspects of the present invention are directed to a bag holder.
Recently, consumers have become increasingly concerned with their negative environmental impact. Accordingly, the use of “green” or recycled shopping bags as an alternative to non-recycled paper or plastic shopping bags is becoming increasingly common. These “green” shopping bags, so called due to their decreased negative environmental impact, are owned by consumers and reused every time the consumers shop for, e.g., groceries. In this way, the consumers avoid using one or more paper or plastic bags.
Unfortunately, it is seen that green shopping bags are, generally, less convenient to use as compared with paper or plastic bags. In particular, plastic bags are dispensed at a bagging station by a repeatable procedure that is convenient for both consumers and bag handlers. The “green” or recycled shopping bags, on the other hand, have no such dispensing procedure. As such, their use is relatively problematic for a relatively large portion of the consuming public.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a bagging station is provided and includes a bagging station structure including a base and a supportive portion vertically supported on the base, a bag holder, configured to hold bag handles of a bag, to occupy and selectively move between a stowed position, at which the bag holder is stowed, and a plurality of presented positions, at which the bag holder is available for bag holding, and a coupling device to couple the bag holder to the supportive portion such that the bag holder is biased to remain in a currently occupied one of the stowed position or at least one of the presented positions.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a bagging station is provided and includes a bagging station structure including a base and a supportive portion vertically supported on the base, a bag holder, configured to hold bag handles of a bag, to occupy and selectively rotate between a stowed position, at which the bag holder is stowed, and a plurality of presented positions, at which the bag holder is available for bag holding, and a coupling device to couple the bag holder to the supportive portion such that the bag holder is biased to rotate toward a currently occupied one of the stowed position or at least one of the presented positions.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a bagging station is provided and includes a bagging station structure including a base and a supportive portion vertically supported on the base, a bag holder, configured to hold bag handles of a bag, to occupy and selectively elevate between a stowed position, at which the bag holder is stowed, and a plurality of presented positions, at which the bag holder is available for bag holding, and a coupling device to couple the bag holder to the supportive portion and to selectively lock the bag holder in the stowed position or, when the bag holder is unlocked from the stowed position, to bias the bag holder to elevate toward at least one of the presented positions.
The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other aspects, features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
With reference to
The bag holder 50 is configured to hold bag handles of a bag, such as a “green” or an otherwise recycled bag, and occupies and selectively moves between a stowed position S (see
Among the advantages presented by this configuration is that the bagging station 10 is able to support the use of a “green” bag and to dispense standard plastic or paper plastic bags to customers who do not use “green” bags. To this end, the supportive portion 40 of the bagging station 10 includes sidewalls 41, 42 and 43 from which the standard plastic or paper bags are dispensed according to known methods.
The bag holder 50 comprises arms 51 and 52 along which bag holding portions 70 are disposed. The bag holding portions 70 are configured to removably receive bag handles of a bag to be held by the bag holder 50 and, in that way, are adapted for operation with bag handles of varying sizes and shapes. As such, the bag holding portions 70 facilitate the opening of the bag and allow for items to be placed therein. In addition, with the bag holder 50 occupying the presented positions, the bag holder portions 70 are user accessible. Thus, once the bag is filled with items, the user (i.e., the customer or a salesperson) can remove the bag from the bag holder 50 relatively easily and/or replace the bag as necessary.
With the bag holder 50 in the presented positions, the bag holder 50 may occupy, at any one time, a first position PI, any one of intermediate positions PINT and a final position PF. At the first position PI, a bag, held by the bag holder 50, exerts a relatively minimal force on the bag holder 50. That is, the bag is either empty or nearly so and, therefore, does not exert a significant amount of force on the bag holder 50 in opposition to the bias on the bag holder 50 generated by the coupling device 60. At the intermediate positions PINT, which are sequentially occupied by the bag holder 50, the bag exerts increasing force on the bag holder 50 as the bag is filled with items, e.g., canned foods, which increasingly weigh down the bag. At the final position PF, the bag is partly supported on the base 30 and, as such, a force exerted by the bag on the bag holder 50 ceases increasing but is nevertheless present and directed in opposition to the bias placed on the bag holder 50 by the coupling device.
Still referring to
In detail, the member 53 is coupled to the first rod 44 by pivot spacers 80, which each include a main body and opposing faces. A groove is defined in each of the opposing faces to rotatably receive the first rod 44 and outside portions 55 of the member 53, which are disposed on either side of the central portion 54 of the member 53. With this configuration, the bag holder 50 is permitted to rotate about a central axis of the outside portions 55 of the member 53. The bag holder 50 and the pivot spacers 80 are further permitted to rotate, as necessary, about the central axis of the first rod 44 although this rotation is not particularly necessary or unnecessary for the operation of the bagging station 10.
The central portion 54 of the member 53 is offset from the central axis of the outside portions 55. The magnitude of the offset may vary but should, at least, be sufficiently large such that, when the bag holder 50 occupies the stowed position S, the offset central portion 54 is disposed on a first side of the first rod 44 and that, when the bag holder 50 occupies any of the presented positions P (PI, PINT or PF), the offset central portion 54 is disposed anywhere from a position in-line with a centerline of the first rod 44 to the opposite side of the first rod 44.
With this configuration, the elastic element 65, which may be a spring, biases the bag holder 50 in the direction illustrated by the arrow D1, which does not traverse the centerline of the first rod 44, to cause the bag holder 50 to remain in the stowed position S when the offset central portion 54 is disposed on the first side of the first rod 44. Conversely, the elastic element 65 biases the bag holder 50 in the direction illustrated by arrow D2, which may traverse, but not cross over, the centerline of the first rod 44, to cause the bag holder 50 to remain in the presented positions P (PI, PINT or PF) when the offset central portion 54 is disposed on the second side of the first rod 44.
Here, it is seen that, when the bag holder 50 occupies the first position PI of the presented positions P, the central portion 54 of the member 53 is disposed at a significant degree on the second side of the first rod 44 and that, as the bag holder 50 sequentially occupies the intermediate positions PINT and, ultimately, the final position PF, the central portion 54 is correspondingly disposed at lesser degrees of the second side of the first rod but never crosses over the centerline of the first rod 44.
In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the offset central portion 54 of the member 53 may be formed in various manners of which one, in particular, is illustrated in
With reference now to
As shown, in accordance with embodiments of the invention, the coupling device 60′ includes a coupling apparatus 90. The coupling apparatus 90 includes a backing portion 91 that is anchored to the bagging station structure 20′ by, e.g., mechanical fastening or adhesion, a base portion 92 having through-holes defined therein which is anchored to the backing portion 91, and a facing portion 93 to cover exterior faces of the backing portion 91 and the base portion 92. The adjacent faces of the backing portion 91 and the facing portion 93 each have grooves or spaces defined therein through which arms 51′ of the bag holder 50′ slide as the bag holder 50′ elevates or declines. Elastic elements 95 are anchored on, e.g., the base portion 92, and the arms 51′ to bias the bag holder 50′ to elevate when the bag holder 50′ is unlocked.
When the bag holder 50′ is to be locked in the stowed position S′, the bag holder 50′ is selectively declined into the stowed position S′ until the spring loaded catch 100, which is anchored on the facing portion 93 engages notches 101 defined in the arms 51′. With this configuration, the engagement of the catch 100 and the notches 101 opposes the bias of the elastic elements 95 to prevent the elevation of the bag holder 50′. Conversely, when the bag holder 50′ is to be unlocked, the catch 100 is finger actuated by an operator to release the arms 51′ and to thereby allow for the elevation of the bag holder 50′.
When the bag holder 50′ is elevated at first, the bag holder 50 occupies the first elevated position P1′. Here, a bag held by the bag holder 50′ exerts a minimal force on the arms 51 and does not exert a substantial force in opposition to the bias on the arms 51 generated by the elastic elements 95. As items are placed in the bag, however, the bag exerts an increasing force on the bag holder 50′ in opposition to the bias and the bag holder sequentially occupies intermediate elevated positions PINT′ and, ultimately, a final elevated position PF′ at which the bag is at least partially supported on the base 30′ of the bagging station 10′.
Here, it is seen that the notches 101 defined in the arms 51′ do not engage with the catch 100 until the bag holder 50′ is selectively declined to a height well below the final elevated position PF′. Thus, the bag holder 50′ is prevented from undesirably being locked in the stowed position S′ by the mere placing of additional items inside the bag.
In accordance with other aspects of the invention, it is understood that the bag holder 50 and the bag holder 50′, described above, may be provided independent of the bagging station 10 and the bagging station 10′. In this way, the bag holders 50 and 50′ and the coupling devices 60 and 60′ can be applied to various types of bagging stations already in operation. Moreover, it is seen that retro-fitting the bagging stations already in operation will require relatively little or no technical expertise.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method of operating a bagging station, including a base and a supportive portion vertically supported on the base, a bag holder, configured to hold bag handles of a bag, to occupy and selectively move between a stowed position, at which the bag holder is stowed, and a plurality of presented positions, at which the bag holder is available for bag holding, and a coupling device to couple the bag holder to the supportive portion such that the bag holder is biased to remain in a currently occupied one of the stowed position or at least one of the presented positions is provided. The method includes receiving an indication that the bag holder is required for use, selectively moving the bag holder from the stowed position and into one of the presented positions, positioning the bag onto the bag holder and placing items into the bag and removing the bag from the bag holder. At this point, it is determined whether further use will be made of the bag holder. If the bag holder will be required further, the bag is replaced on the bag holder. If, on the other hand, the bag holder will not be required further, the bag holder may be selectively returned to the stowed position.
While the disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular exemplary embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this disclosure, but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
