Side-access toy container
A container and method for storage and retrieval of children's toys and other items. The container includes an opening at the top and one or more hand port openings on the side walls. The hand port openings and walls may be transparent or translucent. An adult places the items through the top opening for storage and a child can then easily reach through a hand port to retrieve a desired item. The container allows for easy storage and organization of items, as well as easy retrieval by a child.
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This invention relates to containers and more particularly to an easily accessible container used for storing children's toys and other items and a method for employing the container.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONAnyone who has children or toddlers understands that they scatter toys and keepsakes about the home. A child may take a toy or several toys then drop them after moving on to another diversion. Toys are soon scattered about the house, leaving an adult with the daily task of collecting and returning the items to a shelf or drawer or toy box.
The return and collection of children's toys or other items presents two difficulties. Collected items must first be sorted and then placed in their different storage locations. The storage locations must then also be accessible to the child for further use. With a standard toy box having a lid, a child must be physically developed enough to lift the lid and rummage through the toys piled in the box to find the desired object. Storing these same items in drawers presents analogous problems. Again the child must be physically developed enough to reach and open each drawer to locate a desired toy.
It would be useful then to have a container that both self-organizes items such as toys and allows those items to be easily located and accessed by a child. It would also be useful to have a container that is easily transportable to accommodate a child, such as a collapsible container.
A container with a transparent or translucent wall such as a mesh wall for a container is an ideal solution to the problem of locating an item within the container. Containers having mesh walls are known in the art. For example Kellogg et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,188 is to a collapsible mesh type container. Kellogg is comprised of rectangles of tubing covered with material and the tubing is lashed together with fabric. Kellogg however has a single opening that does not allow access to items except from the top, like an ordinary toy box.
Peska, U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,414B2 and its continuation U.S. patent application publication No. 2003/0194152A1 disclose a collapsible mesh laundry basket with a circular opening on one end and the continuation application also has a second, smaller circular access opening on one side. A pouch is sewn over the second opening to prevent items from falling through the second side. Peska, however, would not be suitable as a repository for children's belongings. Peska is drawn to a laundry basket and, even if it were enlarged enough in size to accommodate a child reaching through the access opening, to the shoulder height of a child, about twenty-four to thirty-six inches, would require that the child reach down through the pouch and through the access opening. The child would have to rummage through the items using only the forearm and drag a selected item through the pouch.
Hillis, U.S. Patent publication 2001/0038011A1 discloses a rigid collapsible box arrangement that may be stacked. The box has rigid walls with an access door in the side. The door includes a latching mechanism that is locked by members that interfere with each other when forced together. Hillis would not be an ideal solution purposes of the present invention however. Not only does Hillis describe a container with opaque sides, a user cannot see the interior items, it is a rigid box that would be more difficult to transport and store. Moreover a child might cut or chafe an arm on the rigid side wall while retrieving a toy through a door.
In summary, various containers that have mesh sides, that are otherwise transparent or translucent, that have openings in the sides or that are collapsible are known. These configurations however are not suitable for addressing the problem addressed by the present invention however. What is needed is a container that may be easily loaded with items and the items are easily located and accessed by a child. Transparent or translucent walls would be desirable in such a container because a child could first locate a stored toy or other item by seeing into the container through the walls of the container. It would further be advantageous to provide a container that can be easily transported.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA solution to the above problem has been devised. A container for storing items is provided that has a top side with an opening proximal to or on the top side itself. The container also has a floor side and one or more side walls forming an enclosure. The enclosure has one or more hand ports in the one or more side walls to allow a child to reach through and retrieve a toy or other item that has been deposited in the container through the top opening by an adult. The access hand ports formed on the side walls therefore should be no higher than about three feet, the height of child's reach, and the top opening should be no higher than about six feet, in each case length measured from the floor when the container is placed on a surface.
The hand ports and side walls are preferably transparent or translucent to allow a child to first look through them to locate a desired toy or item. In the preferred embodiment the side walls of the container are made of a frame supporting a side wall of mesh fabric, which is both translucent or transparent and is softer to the touch.
The frame of a mesh embodiment of the container made be made by any of the methods of the prior art. Linear frame members used may be hinged or formed to telescope, providing an additional method for collapsing the container.
It is also preferred that the hand ports be self-closing. The hand ports can be of many varieties, such as a door, a self-closing slit or an opening hemmed with elastic material. In the case of a door a tensioned spring may be used to cause the door to close itself.
A rotating plate, sometimes called a lazy Susan, can be placed on the floor to allow a child to reach through one hand port and move the rotating plate to bring a toy or item closer to that hand port, allowing wider access.
In one embodiment the container is made of individual sections to allow it to be disassembled, stored and reassembled. This embodiment includes a base, vertical frame members and side wall panels, the base having slots adapted to receive the vertical frame members. The vertical frame has grooves to receive the side wall panels and when the vertical frame members are inserted into the slots of the base, the side walls are then inserted into the grooves of the vertical members to assemble the container.
In this manner a container and method for using it makes it easy and convenient for an adult to collect the scattered toys and other belongings of a child and simply pour them through the top opening to store them. The child is likewise provided with a convenient container to locate and retrieve their toys and other items. The container allows for easy storage and organization of children's toys and other possessions by an adult while providing easy location and retrieval by a child.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The following description, and the figures to which it refers, are provided for the purpose of describing examples and specific embodiments of the invention only and are not intended to exhaustively describe all possible examples and embodiments of the invention.
The container 10, here enclosure 14, further includes one or more closeable openings which serve as hand ports 20, here doors 22, through which a child can reach to retrieve objects such as toys or other items 11 stored in the container 10. The height of the side walls 13, the distance between the floor side 18 and the top side 16, of a container 10 have to be no higher than is comfortable enough to allow an adult (shown as A) to put toys through the opening at the top 12, but also high enough such that the openings 20 are also at a comfortable height for a child (shown as C) to reach through. A reasonable maximum comfortable height for an adult to reach to place toys or items 11 through the top opening 12 is about six feet. The maximal height of a child's shoulder, for a child old enough to reach for toys, is generally about three feet or less, for a baby or toddler this height is even less, perhaps two feet. A reasonable maximum comfortable height for a child to retrieve toys or items 11 through an opening 20 then is about three feet. Therefore the height of the side walls 13 of a container 10 from the floor side 18 to the top side 16 should preferably be between two to six feet.
In the embodiment of
The method of use of the present invention is straightforward. An adult collects loose toys or other children's items 11 and deposits them (motion shown by arrows) through the top side 16 opening 12 of a container 10, creating a pile of toys within the container 10. When the child wishes to retrieve a toy from the pile he first locates the toy through the translucent or transparent enclosure side walls 13 or hand port 20. After the desired toy has been located the child selects the hand port 20 most convenient to reach the desired item. The child moves a hand port opening 20 from a closed position to an open position and reaches through the hand port 20, illustrated as door 22, elastic hemmed opening 32 or slit 36 in different figures, to access the toy. The child then grasps the toy and pulls the it through the hand port to retrieve the toy. The hand port 20 is either self-closing or is then closed by the child after retrieving the toy.
In the embodiment of
In the preferred embodiment the container 10 side walls 13 are made with soft mesh fabric walls for an enclosure 26 as shown in
Any embodiment having linear frame members 27 may also be configured to be collapsed by providing concentric telescoping frame members 29 that collapse into themselves. In the embodiment of
A first hand port opening 20 is shown in
Frame members 27 may also be configured to be collapsed by providing hinges 31 in the frame members 27. In the embodiment of
In this manner the various hand port openings 20 hold toys or other items 11 in the container while allowing a child to easily reach into the container to retrieve a toy through the hand port opening 20.
Now also referring to
Also included in the embodiment of
The vertical frame members 44, 45 are fitted to their respective slots 43 in the base 42, shown as dotted lines in
In
It will be appreciated that the invention has been described hereabove with reference to certain examples or preferred embodiments as shown in the drawings. Various additions, deletions, changes and alterations may be made to the above-described embodiments and examples without departing from the intended spirit and scope of this invention. Accordingly, it is intended that all such additions, deletions, changes and alterations be included within the scope of the following claims.
Claims
1) A container for storing items, comprising:
- a container having a top side with a top opening proximal to or on the top side, a floor side, one or more enclosing side walls, having one or more transparent or translucent side walls or closeable access hand ports, and
- where the hand ports are formed on the side walls no higher than about three feet from the floor side, and the top opening is no higher than about six feet from the floor side.
2) The container of claim 1 where one or more of the enclosing side walls and one or more of the hand ports are translucent or transparent.
3) The container of claim 1 where one or more of the side walls are made of mesh material arrayed on a frame.
4) The container of claim 3 where the frame is collapsible from a first open configuration to a second, collapsed configuration.
5) The container of claim 4, where the frame of the container includes telescoping frame members or hinged frame members adapted to allow the frame to collapse.
6) The container for storing items of claim of claim 1 where at least one access port is self-closing.
7) The container for storing items of claim 6 where at least one of the self-closing hand ports is a slit opening, a spring-tensioned door or an opening hemmed with elastic material.
8) The container for storing items of claim 1, that further includes a rotating plate on the floor side, whereby the rotating plate will support items placed through the top opening and the plate may be rotated by a user to bring an closer to the user when reaching though a hand port.
9) The container for storing items of claim 1 where the container further comprises
- a base, vertical frame members and side wall panels, the base having affixments adapted to receive the vertical frame members, the vertical frame members having attachment points to receive the side wall panels, whereby the vertical frame members may be inserted into the slots of the base and the side walls may be inserted into the grooves to assemble the container.
10) The container of claim 19, where the attachment points are grooves, the affixment points are slots and the side wall panels are rigid.
11) A method for using a container to hold and dispense items to a child, comprising the steps of:
- providing a container having a top side with a top opening proximal to or on the top side, a floor side, one or more enclosing side walls, having one or more transparent or translucent side walls or closeable access hand ports, and where the hand ports are formed on the side walls no higher than about three feet from the floor side, and the top opening is no higher than about six feet from the floor side,
- inserting one or more items through the top opening,
- reaching through a hand port and retrieving an item that was inserted though the top opening.
12) The method of claim 11 where one or more of the enclosing side walls and one or more of the hand ports are translucent or transparent.
13) The method of claim 11 where one or more of the side walls are made of mesh material arrayed on a frame.
14) The method of claim 13 where the frame is collapsible from a first open configuration to a second, collapsed configuration.
15) The method of claim 14, where the frame of the container includes telescoping frame members or hinged frame members adapted to allow the frame to collapse.
16) The method for storing items of claim of claim 11 where at least one access port is self-closing.
17) The method for storing items of claim 16 where at least one of the self-closing hand ports is a slit opening, a spring-tensioned door or an opening hemmed with elastic material.
18) The method for storing items of claim 11, that further includes a rotating plate on the floor side, whereby the rotating plate will support items placed through the top opening and the plate may be rotated by a user to bring an closer to the user when reaching though a hand port.
19) The method for storing items of claim 11 where the container further comprises
- a base, vertical frame members and side wall panels, the base having affixments adapted to receive the vertical frame members, the vertical frame members having attachment points to receive the side wall panels, whereby the vertical frame members may be inserted into the slots of the base and the side walls may be inserted into the grooves to assemble the container.
20) The method of claim 19, where the attachment points are grooves, the affixment points are slots and the side wall panels are rigid.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 1, 2005
Publication Date: Sep 15, 2005
Applicant:
Inventor: Robert Salamone (Whittier, CA)
Application Number: 11/142,092