Patent Application
20070045484
The present invention is generally related to lawn or gardening devices for home or business, and more particularly to a lightweight and portable self-supporting framework and system for retaining collapsible bags, such as paper or plastic leaf and lawn bags, in an open and extended position.
When collecting and disposing of yard waste, such as lawn clippings or fallen leaves, and other refuse or debris, home or business owners use collapsible plastic or paper bags. There are several inherent difficulties in using such collapsible bags. Primarily, it is difficult to retain the mouth of the bag in an open position so as to be able to fill it with yard waste. It is equally difficult to retain the bag in an extended position so that yard waste already deposited into the bag does not fall out or the bag itself does not tip over and have its contents strewn everywhere.
A variety of concepts have been developed that attempt to address the problems associated with supporting such yard refuse bags. For example, a holder using a hoop for retaining the mouth of a trash bag in a fully open position has been developed.
Such holder uses a pair of axially spaced hoops connected by a series of flat metal strips arcuately bent around the hoops. The hoops are used in combination with an externally applied circumferentially applied coil spring band nested therebetween designed to overlay and retain the edge of the mouth of an open bag placed over the hoop structure. This, however, does not address the problems with holding the bag in an upright position and preventing it from falling over onto itself.
Another system involves a conical rigid pipe frame structure in the form of a rack for supporting garbage or trash cans. The can is retained by its own weight. Side handles are captured beneath the top hook to lock the can in the frame. This, however, requires a hard-shelled trashcan. It does not support a bag.
None of the present devices provides the combined attributes of a self-contained, light portable and self-supporting system for both supporting a bag and maintaining the mouth of the bag in an open position for filling. Such a device, particularly one that is inexpensive and easily fabricated would be very practical.
Objects and advantages together with the operation of the invention may be better understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in connection with the following illustrations, wherein:
While the present invention is described with reference to the embodiments described herein, it should be clear that the present invention should not be limited to such embodiments. Therefore, the description of the embodiments herein is illustrative of the present invention and should not limit the scope of the invention as claimed.
Reference will now be made in detail to one of the embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In accordance with the present embodiment shown in
The lawn refuse bag holder 10 further comprises a pair of legs 40 that support the top section 20. The legs 40 are sufficiently rigid to hold the top section 20 in place. The legs 40 are sufficiently tall to allow for all different length bags to be attached to the lawn refuse bag holder 10 to be filled. Additionally, as shown in
The lawn refuse bag holder 10 may be made of metal, such as steel, stainless steel, aluminum, etc. or another material, such as plastic or hard rubber. In one embodiment, the lawn refuse bag holder 10 may be a single-continuous piece that is bent into shape to form the refuse bag holder 10 shown in
Alternatively, the lawn refuse bag holder 10 may be made from a plurality of components. These components would be attached together by, for example, welding, bolting, fusing, or otherwise attaching. Therefore, several pieces could be welded together to form the top section 20, the bottom section 30, and the legs 40.
In another embodiment, the lawn refuse bag holder 10 may have four separate legs 61, 63, 65, 67. This is shown in
Alternatively, the lawn refuse bag holder 10 may merely use the legs 61, 63, 65, 67 without the bottom section 30. Everything previously described would be the same, i.e., the legs 61, 63, 65, 67 attach to the top section 30. The legs 61, 63, 65, 67 would angle outward as previously described. They would, however, rest directly upon the ground to create four contact points to keep the lawn refuse bag 10 upright.
Regardless of which embodiment is used, the lawn refuse bag holder 10 is structured so that it is easily stackable. This makes it very easy to store and transport the lawn refuse bag holder 10. As can be seen in
In yet another embodiment, the legs 40 or the legs 61, 63, 65, 67 may include wheels. The wheels will make it even easier for an operator to move the lawn refuse bag holder 10 from place to place. The user can lean the lawn refuse bag holder 10 a bit to operate the wheels and can use a portion of the top section 20 as a handle to move the lawn refuse bag holder 10.
As shown in
The bottom section 85 of the refuse funnel 80 is sized and shaped to mate with the top section 20 of the lawn refuse bag holder 10. This permits the refuse funnel 80 to securely fit on top of the lawn refuse bag holder 10, while also allowing it to be easily removable therefrom.
The refuse funnel 80 may be made of any material, such as metal, rubber, or even plastic. It is most preferably made from plastic because this makes it very light and easily useable.
A second accessory is shown in
The tabletop accessory 90 may be made of wood, rubber, metal, or plastic. It is preferably made of plastic as plastic is light and easily useable.
To use the lawn refuse bag holder 10, a user puts a bag in the center of the top section 20 allowing it to fall through. As seen in
Alternatively, the refuse funnel 80 may be placed on the top section 20 of the lawn refuse bag holder 10. In this case, the user merely inserts the refuse, such as the leaves seen in
The invention has been described above and, obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to others upon a reading and understanding of this specification. The claims as follows are intended to include all modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the claims or the equivalent thereof.
This application claims priority from U.S. Application No. 60/711,852, which was filed on Aug. 26, 2005.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60711852 | Aug 2005 | US |
