Patent Application
20120273486
This invention relates generally to the field of trash containers. More particularly the invention relates to a bag which is affixed to or within a container to afford a disposal means for trash created when the contents of the container are used or consumed. In one embodiment a plastic container holding unshelled nuts has attached to its side, a plastic bag for holding the shells as the nuts are removed from the container and eaten. The bag can be removable or can be made as an integral part of the container.
None.
No federal funding, direct or indirect, has been utilized in conjunction with the development of the present invention.
No microfiche records are used in the application submitted for the present invention.
The invention disclosed in this application has not and will not be the subject of an application filed in another country or under a multilateral agreement that requires publication at eighteen months after filing. Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 122(b), this application is not to be published other than in the United States.
No prior art can be found which discloses the present invention. Comment is required to understand why this seemingly obvious technology has not been utilized in the past in spite of a long standing need. Historically, trash containers have been considered to be distinct from regular packaging materials and, as such, their form has evolved into a wide diversity of independent bags, sacks and receptacles. The use of both regular packaging materials and trash containers to achieve an integrated result is long overdue. Even so simple a method as including a loose trash bag within a container which holds goods, so as to afford a storage means for the trash generated when the goods are unwrapped is unknown. The packaging industry has jealously embraced the need for (1) secure containment, (2) attractive appearance and (3) suitability for given goods as paramount. Trash containment for this commercial sector is, at best, a remote concern.
The following patents are cited as representative of designs or containment means which ignore such a joint functionality and which address only (1) packaging or (2) trash containment; U.S. Pat. D/348,922, Baxley, Ga., an ornamental design for a trash bag system; US Patent Application 20100282755, Kim, Bum Kee, a portable trash collector, and; U.S. Pat. No. 7,758,243, Bonke, Douglas D, an elastic drawstring closure means for a plastic liner for a receptacle. All of these are remote from the present invention and none teach the simplicity of the joint functionality described herein.
The present invention discloses an integrated combination of a container and a trash bag to allow trash which is generated from goods contained within the container to be routinely and immediately disposed of in the trash bag. The trash bag can be affixed either internally or externally to the container. The trash bag can be either removable from the container or made a permanent part of it. At present, the use of trash containment means is distinct from packaging means for goods. The present invention provides a convenient disposal arrangement for the trash generated when some types of consumer and industrial goods are accessed and used.
Current disposal means are separate from packaging means, an arrangement which in many cases is inefficient and inconvenient. This problem is completely resolved by the present invention by integrating the design to encompass both functions. The result is an environmentally desirable combination. Although such a configuration is simple, this very favorable result has not been obvious even though the need has been long standing.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new configuration for the packaging of goods by attaching a disposal enclosure to a container holding goods.
These and other objects an advantages of the present invention will become clear to those skilled in the art in view of the description of the best presently known mode of carrying out the invention and the applicability of the preferred embodiment as described herein and as illustrated in the several figures of the drawings.
Trash which is generated from packaged goods, as the goods are removed from a container and consumed or used, is currently disposed of in various types of trash enclosures. Currently these trash enclosures are not attached to or part of the containers.
The best method for carrying out the present invention is as set out below. A bag is defined to include, but is not limited to, an enclosure, a flexible enclosure, a plastic enclosure, an envelope and a paper bag. A container is defined to include, but is not limited to, bag, a wooden box, a cardboard box, a metal box, a barrel, a can, a jar and a crate. A lid is defined as a closing or sealing element for a container to include, but is not limited to, one or more flaps of a box or the removable and the hinged end of a barrel, box or can. Trash is defined to include, but is not limited to, nut shells, packaging materials and support materials. Closure means is defined to include, but is not limited to, a drawstring, an elastic rim, a tie, one or more snaps, a flap, a velcro fastner and a ziplock closure. Attachment means is defined to include, but is not limited to, an adhesive, one or more snaps, a velcro fastner, a ziplock fastner and means to bond a surface of a bag to the surface of a container.
To understand the range of applications and the details of implementing the present invention, reference is made to the drawings. Referring particularly to the figures wherein like-referenced numbers have been applied to like-parts throughout the description as illustrated in the several figures of the drawings. According to the present invention,
The best mode for carrying out the present invention is further disclosed herein below. A trash storage means is defined to be the functional equivalent of a packaging configuration. Said packaging configuration comprising said first container 1,14 affixed by said attachment means 6 to a surface of said second container 2, said consumer or industrial goods 4 containable in said second container 2, said first opening 10 in said first container 1,14, said second opening 11 in said second container 2, whereby removal of said consumer or industrial goods 4 through said second opening 11 and subsequent consumption or use thereof generates said trash 3, said trash 3 containable within said first container 1,14 as shown in
A packaging configuration comprising said bag 1,14 and said second container 2 with said attachment means 6 there between being (a) temporary, whereby said containers 1,14 can be separated or (b) said containers 1,14 are permanently affixed as shown respectively in
A packaging configuration with said second container 2 further comprising a lid 5, said lid 5 rotatably affixed to an edge of said opening 11 in said second container 2 whereby said second container 2 is enclosable with said lid 5, said first container 1 affixed to one side of said lid 5 as shown in
A packaging configuration comprising said first container 1 and said second container 2, said consumer or industrial goods 4 containable in said second container 2, said first container 1 comprising said layer of material 13 affixed along (a) all of its periphery to a surface of said second container 2, said opening 10 in and central to said layer 13, or (b) a portion of its periphery to a surface of said second container 2, said first opening 10 at and along an unaffixed edge of said periphery of said layer 13, whereby said layer 13 and said surface of said second container 2 form a volume, accessable through said opening 10, whereby said trash 3 is storable therein.
In another embodiment of the present invention, said bag 14 is initially inverted and used to encompass and thereby protect said container 2 whereby when said bag 14 is opened, access to said container 2 is then afforded and said bag 14 is then used to contain said trash 3 generated as the contents of said container 2 are consumed or used as shown in
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous other modifications and alterations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the baffles can be comprised of structures which are not flat and/or they can be made of different materials such as porous or have large effective surface areas to equal effect. A new functionality and convenience has been realized by the combination provided by the present invention. A person who is skilled in the required art for this invention is anyone who has used a container for goods and a trash bag. The above disclosure is not intended as limiting and the appended claims are to be interpreted as encompassing the entire scope of the invention.
