Patent Grant
11091287
Not Applicable.
This invention relates to plastic bags, and more particularly to a system for facilitating filling and washing plastic bags.
Plastic bags, such as typical one-gallon kitchen bags, are notoriously difficult to fill with liquids such as hot grease from a pan. It takes two hands to hold such bags open, which then requires another person to pour the liquid or other substance into the open bag. All the while a person's hands are dangerously close to the bag opening and prone to scalding in the case where the substance is a hot liquid.
Moreover, many people prefer to reuse such plastic bags at least a couple of times in order to avoid adding plastic to landfills more than necessary, but there is no easy means of supporting such bags in a dishwasher, inverted, such that the plastic bag is sufficiently clean. Merely placing such plastic bags inverted over prongs of a dish rack in the dishwasher does not retain the plastic bags in position sufficiently to overcome the pressure of hot water spray in the dishwasher, and consequently such plastic bags are blown off of the dish rack and are often not sufficiently cleaned as a result.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that facilitates both pouring substances into a plastic bag safely and easily, and that also facilitates the washing of such plastic bags in a dishwasher. Such a needed invention would be made from dishwasher-safe materials, and would be easy to use and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. The present invention accomplishes these objectives.
The present device is a bag holding system for facilitating filling a plastic bag with a substance while the plastic bag is supported on a support surface, such as a countertop. For example, the bag holding system may be used for filling a standard sealable plastic one-gallon kitchen bag with hot grease from a pan. The bag holding system further provides for facilitating washing of the plastic bag in a dishwasher that has a dish rack.
A base has a bottom member and two side members that extend upwardly from the base at two opposing sides thereof. A bottom side of the bottom member is adapted for contacting the support surface, and is preferably an elongated rectangle with the opposing sides being the long sides thereof.
A V-shaped support frame has a bottom frame and two side frames extending upwardly from the bottom frame at two opposing sides thereof. The support frame is adapted to be inserted into the baes between the two side members of the base, the base holding the support frame in a substantially upright position. Preferably the side frame includes one or more openings for facilitating the dishwasher washing the plastic bag, and specifically an inside surface of the plastic bag.
A resilient funnel has bottom panel with a fill aperture therethrough and two side panels projecting upwardly therefrom at two opposing sides of the bottom panel. Each side panel further includes an outwardly-extending flange at a top side thereof.
As such, with the base resting on the support surface, and with the support frame inserted into the base and held in the upright position, the funnel is inserted into the open end of the plastic bag. The plastic bag is then captured between the two side panels of the funnel and the two side frames of the support frame. The plastic bag is fillable by pouring the substance into the aperture of the funnel. In some embodiments the bottom panel of the funnel is sloped towards the aperture so that liquid impacting the bottom panel outside of the aperture will roll down into the aperture and ultimately into the plastic bag.
In an alternate use of the invention, the support frame is inserted into the open top end of the plastic bag. The support frame and the plastic bag are then inverted with the side frames pressed towards each other so that the support frame and the plastic bag may be inserted between prongs of the dish rack of the dishwasher. When released the resiliency of the support frame pushes the side frames outwardly towards the original uncompressed position to engage the dish rack to hold the plastic bag in place inverted in the dish rack.
The present invention is a system that facilitates both pouring substances into a plastic bag safely and easily, and that also facilitates the washing of such plastic bags in a dishwasher. The present invention is made from dishwasher-safe materials, and is easy to use and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. The following explanation provides specific details for a thorough understanding of and enabling description for these embodiments. One skilled in the art will understand that the invention may be practiced without such details. In other instances, well-known structures and functions have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” Words using the singular or plural number also include the plural or singular number respectively. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. When the claims use the word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items, that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list and any combination of the items in the list. When the word “each” is used to refer to an element that was previously introduced as being at least one in number, the word “each” does not necessarily imply a plurality of the elements, but can also mean a singular element.
A base 40 (
A V-shaped support frame 50 (
Preferably the side frame 55 includes one or more openings 56 for facilitating the dishwasher 30 washing the plastic bag 20, and specifically an inside surface of the plastic bag 20 (
A resilient funnel 70 (
As such, with the base 40 resting on the support surface 15, and with the support frame 50 inserted into the base 40 and held in the upright position 60, the funnel 70 is inserted into the open end 25 of the plastic bag 20. The plastic bag 20 is then captured between the two side panels 75 of the funnel 70 and the two side frames 55 of the support frame 50 (
In an alternate use of the invention, illustrated in
In some embodiments an outside surface 79 of the side panels 75 of the funnel 70 include horizontal ridges 90 adapted to cooperate with similar horizontal ridges 90 formed on an inside surface 54 of the side members 45 of the base 40, which inhibits movement of the plastic bag 20 when captured therebetween.
While a particular form of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the side members 45 of the base 40 are illustrated as triangular solids, but such side members 45 could include thinner walls angled upward, causing a gap between the side members 45 and the support frame 50, in which case spacers (not shown) or other means could be utilized to maintain the support frame 50 in the vertical position 60. Accordingly, it is not intended that the invention be limited, except as by the appended claims.
Particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed embodiments, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention.
The above detailed description of the embodiments of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed above or to the particular field of usage mentioned in this disclosure. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. Also, the teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to other systems, not necessarily the system described above. The elements and acts of the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments.
All of the above patents and applications and other references, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the various references described above to provide yet further embodiments of the invention.
Changes can be made to the invention in light of the above “Detailed Description.” While the above description details certain embodiments of the invention and describes the best mode contemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can be practiced in many ways. Therefore, implementation details may vary considerably while still being encompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above, particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated.
While certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, the inventor contemplates the various aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. Accordingly, the inventor reserves the right to add additional claims after filing the application to pursue such additional claim forms for other aspects of the invention.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 62/924,076, filed on Oct. 21, 2019, and incorporated herein by reference.
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