Refuse container with bag dispenser
A refuse container having a dispensing aperture formed on a bottom inside surface thereof, with a holding member disposed beneath the bottom surface for holding bags. The bags can be arranged in a coil configuration within the holding member and can be pulled through the dispensing aperture to line an inside surface of the refuse container. A removable bag gripper can be provided on an outside surface of the container.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/872,924, filed Jun. 21, 2004, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/482,358, filed Jun. 24, 2003, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The following invention relates to refuse containers or trash receptacles and apparatus and methods for dispensing trash bags and lining refuse containers with trash bags.
2. Description of the Related Art
Refuse containers of all types are commonly lined with trash bags. The trash bags have many benefits including keeping the surface of the refuse container separated from trash within the bag, to maintain cleanness of the container, and being sealable and removable to transport and store trash.
One inconvenient task associated with lining refuse containers with trash bags is changing the lining, or trash bag, out. Usually this involves removing the prior full trash bag, then obtaining a new trash bag from a separate storage location, placing it within the refuse container and manually expanding the trash bag to ensure that it is fully open and lined against the trash container, then knotting the trash bag to try and hold it in place.
ATICO INTERNATIONAL, U.S.A., Inc., distributes a “nesting trash bag system” wherein a plurality of bags are nested together. The bags are disposed, or nested, sequentially within one another such that the outside surface of the first bag in the nest, nests against the inside surface of the second bag in the nest, and so on, including as many as more than twenty (20) bags. All of the bags can thus be placed in a trash container at one time with the inside surface of the first bag being exposed to receive refuse. After each bag is full, it can be pulled out and away from the inside surface of the next bag so that the next bag can receive refuse. One drawback with the “nesting trash bag system” is that the unit of nested bags is thick and must be disposed within the trash container to line its inside surface. In smaller trash containers this negates the benefit of the nesting trash bag system where a tradeoff is less capacity for the trash container. Furthermore, prior systems lacked a convenient way to retain the trash bags in place once expanded within the refuse container. There is a need for a more convenient and space efficient way of replacing trash bags within the trash containers.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn some embodiments of the present invention a refuse container is provided having a dispensing aperture for dispensing bags. The dispensing aperture is oriented on a bottom inside surface of the refuse container. A tray for holding bags can be disposed beneath the dispensing aperture and the bags are arranged in a coil within the tray. Thus, the bags can be pulled through the dispensing aperture to line an inside surface of the refuse container. The bags can also be connected to one another in a coil with perforated zones. A gap can be provided in the perforated zones to assist a user in separating the bags, that is, for example, the user can insert a finger through the gap to help separate the bags.
Further embodiments of the present invention also comprise a raised wall that surrounds the dispensing aperture for helping to prevent liquid accumulation from flowing through the dispensing aperture. In addition, the dispensing aperture can also comprise a sealing element.
The refuse container can also have handles with gripping members that can be used to grip a bag in place after it is pulled through the dispensing aperture to line an inside of the refuse container.
In some embodiments, a trash bag gripper is provided that can be a tab or strip, which is removably attachable to a sidewall of the refuse container. The tab or strip can have a receded portion with a wide entryway that narrows before leading to an expanded region to allow a portion of the bag to be retained in the expanded region.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)
In the following description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the invention. However, upon reviewing this disclosure one skilled in the art will understand that the invention may be practiced without many of these details. In other instances, well known structures associated with refuse containers and trash bags have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the descriptions of the embodiments of the invention.
The term “trash bag” as used herein refers to any type of liner or bag used to line refuse containers or collect refuse within a refuse container, regardless of the shape, size or material of the liner or bag. The term “refuse,” as used herein, is intended to include all types of waste, recyclables and any other material that is commonly disposed of within a bin or container. The term “refuse container” refers to any and all types of containers, bins, and receptacles configured to receive, store, transfer, hold, or contain refuse, regardless of the shape, size or material of the refuse container. The terms above are to be construed as has been defined unless the context indicates otherwise.
In some embodiments of the invention a refuse container assembly 1 is provided, as illustrated in
A holding member 10 (illustrated as a tray in the embodiments of
The holding member 10 can be slidably coupled to the refuse container as illustrated in
As best seen in
The raised lip 24 of the refuse container assembly 1 has an outside wall 28 that rises above the bottom surface 8 of the refuse container 2, as best seen in
As discussed, supra, in some embodiments of the present invention, the trash bags 18′ are arranged in a coil 18, the coil having a substantially circular profile. See
The coil 18 can comprise trash bags 18′ releasably attached to one another in end to end configuration, with bottom end portions 19′ of the trash bags 18′ attached to top end portions 19″, to form a chain of trash bags 18′ connected by tearable attachments. See
The thickness “x” of the coil 18 can be less than about four (4) inches in some embodiments. In other embodiments it is about three (3) inches or less than three (3) inches. The thickness “x” can also be greater than four (4) inches and in some embodiments it is five (5) inches and in other embodiments it is six (6) inches. In each of the embodiments of the coil 18, a desired thickness of the coil 18 can be attained by folding the trash bags 18′, or the chain of trash bags 18′, laterally prior to forming the trash bags 18′ into the coil 18. For example, the trash bags 18′ can be folded multiple times laterally along the fold lines 34 illustrated in
As discussed, supra, the trash bags 18′ can be arranged in a coil 18 and packed within a packaging box 30. The packaging box 30 can also have a cover 36. See
In yet further embodiments of the refuse container assembly 1, the refuse container 2 has removable, or detachable, handles 4′ having interior surfaces with gripping members 4″, as best seen in
In other embodiments of the present invention, safety cords 40 are provided, each having one end fixedly attached to the refuse container 2 and another end fixedly attached to a detachable handle 4′. This can prevent a detachable handle 4′ from being lost after it is detached. See
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art after reviewing the present disclosure, the detachable handles 4′ with gripping members 4″ can also be connected to the refuse container 2 by connection members 7, 7″ such as those illustrated in
In still further embodiments of the present invention a sealing element 42 is disposed over the dispensing aperture 22, as best seen in
In other embodiments of the present invention, such as that shown in
As shown in
In some embodiments of the present invention, the first trash bag in the trash bag coil 118 can have a pull tab 116 for a user to pull the first trash bag up and through aperture 122.
When a trash bag coil 118 is exhausted, a user can slide the holding member 110 out from under a bottom surface 108 of the refuse contain 102 in the direction of arrow “I”, and place a new trash bag coil 118 in compartment 120, then slide the holding member 110 back under the bottom surface 108 in the direction of arrow “H.”
In a further embodiment of the present invention, as best seen in
As shown in
As shown in
Referring to
Although specific embodiments and examples of the invention have been described supra for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as will be recognized by those skilled in the relevant art after reviewing the present disclosure. The various embodiments described can be combined to provide further embodiments. The described devices and methods can omit some elements or acts, can add other elements or acts, or can combine the elements or execute the acts in a different order than that illustrated, to achieve various advantages of the invention. These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the above detailed description.
In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification. Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the disclosure, but instead its scope is determined entirely by the following claims.
Claims
1. A refuse container assembly comprising:
- a container having an upwardly facing opening for receiving refuse and at least one sidewall and a bottom inside surface having a dispensing aperture through which a trash bag can be pulled;
- a holding member disposable under the bottom surface of the container, said holding member also being removably attached to the container and configured to store a plurality of trash bag coils; and
- a trash bag coil disposable within the holding member, the trash bags of trash bag coil being removably attached to one another with perforated zones, and the perforated zones having at least one gap, the gap being wider than perforations in the perforated zones.
2. The refuse container assembly of claim 1 wherein the holding member is a slidable tray.
3. The refuse container assembly of claim 2 wherein the slidable tray has a plurality of storage regions for holding extra trash bag coils.
4. The refuse container assembly of claim 1 wherein there are a plurality of gaps, each large enough for a user to easily insert a finger into the gap, with the plurality of gaps each being formed on a separate perforated zone between trash bags of the trash bag coil.
5. The refuse container assembly of claim 1 wherein at least one of the trash bags has a tab formed on an end portion thereof.
6. The refuse container assembly of claim 1 further comprising a raised lip surrounding the dispensing aperture, the raised lip extending upwardly away from the bottom surface to provide a raised wall around the dispensing aperture.
7. The refuse container assembly of claim 1 wherein there is at least one sealing element disposed over the dispensing aperture that is capable of at least partially preventing liquid from leaking through the dispensing aperture from the container.
8. The refuse container assembly of claim 1 further comprising a trash bag gripper attached to a sidewall of the container.
9. A refuse container assembly comprising:
- a sidewall;
- a bottom portion having a bottom inside surface within the container, the bottom portion being connected to the sidewall; and
- a removable trash bag gripping member attached to an outer surface of the sidewall.
10. The refuse container assembly of claim 9 wherein the trash bag gripper has an inwardly receding portion.
11. The refuse container assembly of claim 10 wherein the trash bag gripper is removable.
12. The refuse container assembly of claim 11 wherein the trash bag gripper can be inserted beneath a holding strip on a sidewall of the refuse container.
13. The refuse container assembly of claim 9 wherein the trash bag gripper has a locking protrusion for use in securing the trash bag gripper to the sidewall of the refuse container.
14. The refuse container assembly of claim 9 wherein the trash bag gripper is removable and has a inwardly receding portion with an entryway that narrows before leading to an expanded region.
15. The refuse container assembly of claim 9 further comprising a slidable trash bag holding member, wherein the trash bag holding member can be slid beneath the bottom inside surface of the refuse container.
16. The refuse container assembly of claim 15 further comprising an aperture in the bottom portion of the refuse container.
17. A container assembly comprising:
- a sidewall;
- a bottom portion having a bottom inside surface within the container, the bottom portion being connected to the sidewall and having a dispensing aperture for dispensing bags;
- a holding member for holding a plurality of bags, said holding member being disposed proximate the dispensing aperture and below the bottom surface; and
- at least one bag gripper removably attached to an outside surface of the sidewall, the bag gripper having an inwardly receding portion for use in gripping a bag.
18. The container assembly of claim 17 wherein the bag gripper can be inserted beneath a strip formed on the container to hold the bag gripper.
19. The container assembly of claim 18 wherein the inwardly receding portion of the bag gripper has a narrowing entryway that leads to an expanded region.
20. The container assembly of claim 18 wherein the bag gripper has a protruding member that can be mated with a recess on a surface of the sidewall.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 28, 2006
Publication Date: Nov 23, 2006
Inventor: Michael Diep (Bellevue, WA)
Application Number: 11/494,842
International Classification: B65D 25/14 (20060101);