The invention relates to the field of receptacles set up as a protective barrier. More specifically, the present invention relates to a collapsible receptacle comprising a flexible material which can be filled to create a barrier.
Protective barriers have been used by humans since the dawn of time and in all types of situations. From the great Troy walls made of stone and clay to the Cheval de frise used in medieval times to stop cavalry, human inventivity has kept coming up with new ways of protecting what we hold dear. While the technological breakthroughs have been significant with big and long-term applications such as dams, there is still a need for a fast, cheap and efficient protection system against all types of odds such as: floods, avalanches, bullets and much more. Often, those systems need to be installed in logistically lacking areas and, as such, need to be easily transportable at a cheap cost.
Currently, most protective barriers used in situations such as floods or military makeshift protection are bags, most often made of burlap or polypropylene, filled with sand or dirt at a convenient location before being transported one by one to the necessary position. The major drawback of this method is that, while it can be cheap in terms of materials used, it requires a lot of manpower for a physically draining task which is prone to cause injuries. More so, filling, transporting and placing bags of this sort can take a lot of time, especially if there isn't a lot of manpower available.
Additionally, protective installation of this sort are hard to set up since the bags have an irregular shape which changes due to the displacement of the material inside. Thus, there is a need for a system that is stable both before and after being filled with materials.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a protection system that is easy to transport, both to a hard to reach area and by the people setting it up. It would also be desirable that this system be easy to set up once at a desirable position and fill. It would also be desirable to provide a system that can be modified by enlarging or reducing its number of individual protective components in a way convenient to an everyday citizen. Ideally, few manpower would be necessary to set up such a protective system.
The present invention consists of a receptacle that is made of flexible and mechanically resistant fabric material, which may stand on its own even when empty and a method of use thereof.
One aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, two coupling surfaces opposite and parallel to each other's. Perpendicular to those are two surfaces easily made to be collapsed, hereinafter called the collapsible surfaces. The receptacle also comprises a bottom surface, but possess nothing covering its top portion.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, three stiffening members, also referred to as stiffening elements or stiffeners, installed on one coupling surface of a receptacle. In another embodiment, stiffening members are installed on both coupling surfaces of a receptacle. The stiffening members are installed on the exterior side of the coupling surfaces. That way, even when the bags are filled, the stiffening members may still be accessible as they are not covered with filling material. This would allow the stiffening members to be less subjected to humidity to prevent rotting and would also allow for visual inspection, if required. The stiffening members may have different dimensions based on the receptacle's form, but they are to be generally made of wood, composite materials, recycled or non-recycled plastics or any other commonly found construction materials.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, the ability to fill the bag with any suitable materials. Materials generally used to fill a receptacle of the sort are sand, dirt, rocks, snow, etc. Means of filling such receptacles are generally with heavy machinery, such as excavators, but due to the receptacles height, they may also be filled by people with everyday tools such as hand shovels.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one preferred embodiment thereof, stiffener-receiving loops, hereinafter referred to as loops, stitched on the exterior side of the coupling surfaces. In another embodiment, stiffener patches, hereinafter referred to as patches, are stitched on the exterior side of at least one of the coupling surfaces. Depending on the stiffening members being installed on one or both coupling surfaces of a receptacle, stiffener loops and patches may likewise be disposed on one or both coupling surfaces.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a point of contact between horizontal and vertical stiffeners of the same coupling surface and of the same receptacle. In another embodiment, stiffeners of the same coupling surface and of the same receptacle are not in contact with each other's.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, collapsible surfaces of square or rectangular dimensions. In one embodiment, its collapsible surface's length is equal to its height. In other embodiments, the collapsible surfaces length is shorter or longer than its height.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a fabric material resistant to decay as one of the preferred use of this invention is to stop, and thus be exposed to, liquids and humidity. Another embodiment of the invention provides a water resistant fabric material on one up to all the receptacle surfaces, preferably prioritizing the surfaces most exposed to liquids. Any fabric material chosen for the receptacle is to be flexible. Stiffener loops and patches may be made of the same fabric material used for the receptacle surfaces. Flexible loops and patches would allow the use of a bigger range of stiffeners thickness.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a method of assembling at least two or more receptacles together with a coupling element, also referred to as a fastener which may comprise screws, bolts with corresponding nuts, clamps, nails, etc. Two receptacles are joined together by joining a coupling surface of each receptacle. In one embodiment of the invention, the joining is made by way of screwing the two coupling surfaces together. The bolt assembly is made of a nut, two washers and a bolt. Washers may be found on the insides of the receptacles, same as the nut. In another embodiment of the invention, the joining is made with the use of commonly called wood screws, without nuts and washers. In another embodiment of the invention, the joining is made with nails. In another embodiment of the invention, the joining is made with staples. The screws, nails and/or staples go through the stiffeners that stand in-between the two coupling surfaces in order provide added stability to the receptacle assembly. In another embodiment of the invention, the joining is made by way of gluing both coupling surfaces together. If this embodiment is chosen, it is preferred to use stiffeners on both coupling surfaces as gluing two stiff parts together provide more surface of adherence than gluing a stiff part to a fabric material. In another embodiment of the invention, the coupling element joining two coupling surfaces comprises a combination of one or more embodiments presented above.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a method of collapsing one or more assembled receptacles by pressing opposite coupling surfaces towards each other's in order to compress the collapsible surfaces. Such a receptacle or assembly of receptacles may be much easier to transport once collapsed due to the significantly reduced volume.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, receptacles that may be stacked on top of each other's if the bottom receptacle is filled up to the upper margin or the receptacle's height.
One other aspect of the invention provides, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, handles to move the receptacles. The handles are placed at an ergonomic height so a worker may carry or simply nudge a receptacle in a direction if necessary.
The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. Other and further aspects and advantages of the present invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described or will be indicated in appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which:
A plurality of receptacles 10 are illustrated in a receptacle assembly 42 in
Due to the flexible material 12 comprising the receptacles' 10 surfaces, individually or assembled, receptacles 10 may be compressed in order to obtain a more compact format 44 as can be seen on
As stated above, three stiffening elements 24 are installed on the exterior side of a coupling surface 18 in the embodiment depicted in
There are a plurality of methods which may be used to install a stiffening member 24 to a receptacle 10. Out of this plurality, here are two that may be favored. The first one, as seen on
Another stiffeners 24 installation method that may be used and that is seen on
As mentioned above, there are other possible configurations of stiffening members 24. The first configuration, seen on
Another configuration, seen on
Joining two coupling surfaces 18 together may be achieved with a plurality of techniques, to which different types of fasteners may be used for each. Following are three techniques that may achieve this result. The first technique is the use of bolt assemblies 46, which generally comprises two washers, a nut and a bolt. As seen on
The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. Other and further aspects and advantages of the present invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiments about to be described or will be indicated in appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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3064582 | Dec 2019 | CA | national |
The present patent application claims the benefits of priority of commonly assigned Canadian Patent Application No. 3,064,582 entitled “COLLAPSIBLE RECEPTACLE” and filed at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 11, 2019 and of commonly assigned U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/944,405 entitled “COLLAPSIBLE RECEPTACLE” and filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 6, 2019, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62944405 | Dec 2019 | US |