Patent Application
20110259891
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a detachable handle for containers and more specifically to a detachable handle that supports a paint container and a paint brush in any plurality of applications in a safe, ergonomically convenient, and economical manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A painter, whether a do-it-yourselfer or a professional tradesman has to carry around the room a container containing the paint material for considerable time periods in order to accomplish the task of cutting in the four walls of each room including base board trim or to finish paint wood trim or any form of decorative trim including finish painting of doors and window frames. While in some instances, the workman can set the paint can down during painting; in other situations such as touching up of numerous small areas which may be scattered around a room, a tradesman may desire to hold the paint can during painting.
To facilitate holding or transporting a paint can by a user, conventional one gallon paint containers are generally equipped with a semi-circular wire handle pivotally connected at respective ends to diametrically opposed outside surfaces of the one gallon paint container.
Since the weight of a full one gallon paint container is approximately eight pounds, manually holding a paint can by its wire handle during painting operations is uncomfortable as well as fatiguing as the narrow wire handle causes considerable localized stress on a user's curled fingers, especially when the one gallon paint container is full. More importantly, it is ergonomically unacceptable to expect a tradesman or do-it-yourselfer to hold in one hand, for considerable time periods, an eight pound gallon can in order to accomplish the cutting in of four walls of a room including base boards trim or to finish paint wood trim or any form of decorative trim including finish painting of doors or window frames.
Some users, in order to provide better access to a manually held paint can, will rotate the wire handle downwards from the upright position to near its storage position, and then curl their thumb of one hand over the wire handle and support the underside of the one gallon paint can with the fingers of that hand. This holding technique is also very uncomfortable as well as causes a great deal of muscle fatiguing in the hand supporting the paint container.
Because of this well known problem, the prior art is replete with detachable handles for use with a standard one gallon paint can. Very few of these prior art references give any consideration to the precarious terrain such as newly constructed homes as well as working on a ladder or a scaffold. Further, many of the prior art solutions to the well known problem completely disregard the ergonomic requirements of today's workplace, that is a completely efficient work system which results in improved productivity and employee satisfaction, health, safety, and commitment.
Some of the proposed solutions by the prior art to this well known problem propose ergonomic solutions to this problem but fail to take into consideration the extent of the problem especially to a professional painter or tradesman. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,520 to Niemeier discloses an ergonomic can carrier for allowing a person to transport and hold a container, such as a can of paint, in a comfortable fashion while simultaneously allowing ready access to the container contents with little likelihood of spillage. The invention includes a body, a first support component, and a handle. The first support component is connected to the body and operationally engages either the top or bottom of the container. The second support component is movably mounted to the body and shiftable between a retracted position and an operational position. When in the operational position, the second support component engages the other of the container top and bottom when the first support component operationally engages one of the container top and bottom to thereby hold the container therebetween. The handle extends from the body and is ergonomically structured and arranged relative to the body to be graspable within a hand of the apparatus user while the container is held in a generally upright orientation between the first and second support components to prevent spillage of the spillable material through the container top opening.
Although the Niemeier ergonomic can carrier may provide some ergonomic considerations, its shortcomings are clearly recognizable. The invention avoids carrying the eight pound paint can by the wire handle or bail but the weight of the contents of the one gallon paint can exceeds an acceptable safe weight for long term carrying of the device in one hand while doing touch-ups. Also, how do you safely handle this device on a ladder or scaffold since the paint can, can no longer sit on a flat surface with the ergonomic handle attached thereto.
Sawdey, U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,152 also proposes an ergonomic carrying device for transporting containers containing materials such as paint. Again, such carrier is completely unsuitable for a painting professional in the performance of his normal job activities for the same reasons as stated above. Lastly, the ergonomic paint can holder disclosed by Bohne et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,304 is nothing more than a lightweight plastic structurally reinforced can holder to hold a partially filled paint can that is used for trimming out walls and ceilings. No consideration was given to using the holder while standing on a ladder or scaffold.
While the devices of the prior art may be suitable for the specific purposes which they address, they are not suitable for use in today's workplace. Accordingly, there is a great need for a hand-held container for use by a professional painter or tradesman that may be easily and safely gripped without the need for making adjustments, that maintains a substantially vertical position regardless of the position of the painter, i.e., bending position, climbing a ladder, or that requires the user to utilize one hand to hold the container while climbing a ladder or reaching to cover a hard to access surface which needs coverage, i.e., overhangs, under eaves, etc.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an ergonomically convenient, light weight, comfortable, efficient, and economical device for carrying, holding, and transferring liquids such as paint. In addition, such new device requires a convenient and secure resting place for a paint brush, as will become apparent from the description that follows.
The invention is a detachable handle for carrying a paint container and associated brush that addresses some of the problems associated with the prior art containers proposed for use by a tradesman in the field of painting. The overall objective is to propose an optimum paint container for carrying out a task of painting in any given workplace so as to improve productivity, tradesman's satisfaction, health, safety, and commitment.
With this general objective in mind, the proposed invention is, in general, a container with an ergonomic detachable magnetic handle for holding paint material and an associated brush which is particularly useful for painters, and is not anticipated or rendered obvious by any of the prior art considered alone or in combination thereof.
The present invention consists of an ergonomic handle having a grip portion terminating at one end in a contoured band. The contoured band has a cantilevered support portion with an upstanding peripheral edge for receiving the lip of a container thereon. The cantilevered support portion and contoured band of the handle further have a spring biased retainer clip mounted thereon. The spring biased retainer clip is slidably moveable with respect to the upstanding peripheral edge so that the slidable movement of the spring biased retainer clip traps the lip of the container between the upstanding peripheral edge of the cantilevered support portion and the spring biased retainer clip to securely hold the container to the grip portion of the handle. A cam lock is also mounted to the contoured band. The cam lock is rotatably attached to the contoured band to maintain the spring biased retainer clip locked to the lip of the container. The cantilevered support portion terminates with a shell housing having a chamber to receive a permanent magnet. The permanent magnet, when mounted in the shell housing and the handle securely attached to the container, is in contact with the wall of the container so that a painter's brush can be magnetically stored against the magnet on the inside of the container.
The container itself can be of any configuration, size, or shape as long as it has a peripheral lip such that the lip of the container can be mounted to the upstanding peripheral edge of the cantilevered support portion and trapped by the spring biased retainer clip to be securely attached to the handle.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a paint can holder for carrying out a task of painting in any given workplace so as to improve productivity, tradesman's satisfaction, health, safety, and commitment.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for carrying a container that holds spillable material that utilizes an attachable handle which is ergonomically structured and arranged to be held by a user with one hand while the container is held in a generally upright orientation to prevent spillage of the spillable material through the container top opening.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an ergonomic can carrier that is comfortable to grip, and that a user can carry around to a job site with minimal hand fatigue or discomfort.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a paint can carrier that can conveniently be attached to the belt of a painter while going up or down a ladder or while performing trim work without any spillage.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide a paint carrier that can conveniently be mounted at the top of a ladder to permit a user to have both hands free when standing at the top of a ladder to perform trim work.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a detachable paint carrier which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
The above stated advantages and objectives of the invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring now to
The ergonomic paint can and brush carrier 10 includes a detachable handle 12 having an ergonomically designed grip portion 14 at a lower end thereof with an integrally formed contoured band 16 terminating at the upper end of the grip portion 14. The contoured band 16 has an integrally formed cantilevered platform portion 18 extending in a direction outwards of the contoured band 16 that terminates in an upstanding peripheral edge 20 as clearly shown in
Atop the contoured band 16 there is molded a pair of channel guides 24 as illustrated clearly in
With reference to
Further, a depressed slot 72 is formed in the top surface 74 of the platform member 62. The depressed slot 72 is equally spaced about the vertical slit 66 to receive the narrowest portion 25 of the cantilevered platform portion 18 of the detachable handle 12 such that upon placing the detachable handle 12 in the through opening 68 of the belt clip 54, the narrowest portion 25 snugly fits into the depressed slot 72 and thereby prevents any rotatable movement of the detachable handle 12 and attached container 40 while the container 40 with the detachable handle 12 is attached to the belt clip 54.
As set forth above, the invention can be used with any shaped or sized container, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The detachable handle for a portable paint and brush container has also been designed to be used with this inventor's painter's wheeled caddy, pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/207,583, filed on Sep. 10, 2008 as well as the contractor's single bucket caddy, pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/481,013, filed on Jun. 9, 2009.
In
From the foregoing, it will be seen that the invention is one well adapted to obtain all the objects herein set forth, together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the structure.
It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and sub-combinations. This is contemplated by and well within the scope of the claims. Although only a preferred embodiment and one variant have been shown in the drawings, many other embodiments may be made of the invention without departing from the scope thereof. It is to be understood that all matter herein set forth shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrated and not in a limiting sense.
