Patent Application
20080277395
The present invention relates generally to household tools and appliances, namely dust pans and trash receptacles.
Applicant hereby represents that no part of the subject invention or application has come about with the assistance of government funds or by virtue of a government program.
Many differing trash receptacles and dust pans have been designed in the past; most, if not all separately.
Typically, when sweeping up debris, a pan of some sort is lowered to the ground so that the person performing the sweeping may collect the debris as much as possible for disposal into some sort of receptacle.
For the most part, a simple dust pan is employed in such activities. The receptacle used for the containment of the collected debris may be of many different shapes and sizes. For those persons who are more organized than others, they may have a special place where they keep such items such as the dustpan, broom or trash receptacle; for others, a routine search may be necessary to locate the dustpan in order to continue with or complete routine collection and disposal of debris or trash.
In some cases, various shelf type racks have been designed to be employed to keep broom and dustpan where they can be found when necessary, often being mounted in a laundry room or a garage on a convenient wall. Usually, such a combination may or may not be located near the trash receptacle which will ultimately hold the trash or debris until later collected by the local municipality or its agent for final disposal.
Not uncommon is the circumstance where cleaning is being performed with debris being swept or otherwise collected, and the person doing the cleaning cannot locate the dust pan. In such circumstances, many alternate objects may be substituted though with less efficiency.
In the case of trash receptacles, many exist today with pivoting lids; some being removable and some not removable. The advantage of pivoting lid primarily being that such lids can be simply pushed aside to allow entry into said receptacle without having to first remove the lid and then replace it. This results in increased speed in discarding of debris into the receptacle as well as limiting both the necessity of employing two hands in addition to exposure to contact with debris already contained in the receptacle.
What is generally acknowledged as needed is improved organization of cleaning implements and devices.
Applicant's invention employs a trash receptacle lid which can be removed from the receptacle itself and employed as an effective dust pan. By combining the dust pan as a lid for the trash receptacle, the need for a separate dust pan and a place to store it is eliminated. Furthermore, by combining these components into one, the dust pan is always located proximate to, indeed as part of the trash receptacle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide added convenience in routine cleaning activities around the house, kitchen, garage and even more serious settings.
In order to combine the dust pan and the trash receptacle, the lid as normally seen atop the receptacle is provided with a structure, typically an arcuate raised handle which allows the lid to be lifted out of its pivots and turned over for use as a dust pan.
The leading or shallow edge is beveled at an angle conducive to resting on the ground to have debris swept over it into the increasingly deeper part of the upturned lid.
The previously mentioned arcuate handle can also be sized in order to provide an optimum angle to the upturned lid such that the leading edge is properly positioned upon the ground.
In one embodiment of applicant's invention, a substantially tubular slot is provided to allow a handle to be inserted such that the pan can be used with a minimum of stooping.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a predisposed angle to the upturned lid to facilitate use as a dust pan as well as provision for a handle.
In another embodiment of the present invention, an extension tube is held in said tubular slot further obviating the need for an external handle. Said extension may be of a simple length of hollow plastic with a stop provided to limit its extension or may also be hinged to allow a more vertical or angled handle to be employed as the user sees fit.
Lid 30 has a substantially arcuate handle 40 which is typically molded into the overall lid structure. The back side of leading edge 50 is seen and is fashioned at a predetermined angle which facilitates hands free use of the lid when upturned and used as a dust pan. Seen inside the receptacle is a female pivot 55 molded into receptacle 20 to allow lid 30 to pivot therein.
Many differing configurations may be employed to extend, secure and replace said tube 70 in slot 60.
In another embodiment of applicant's invention, a secondary lid may be configured simply as a removable portion of the main lid, such that said secondary lid is configured as claimed, but acts as a dustpan when removed from the main lid. In this way, only a portion of the waste receptacle lid need be removed rather than the entire main lid. This is particularly useful when a waste receptacle with a large opening is employed and removing the entire main lid would be cumbersome. The secondary lid may or may not be mounted in the main lid on pivots, and in overall shape and structure would be as described hereinabove.
While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered the most practical and preferred embodiment(s), it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment(s) but, on the contrary is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the appended claims.
