Bag with adjustable drawstring

Abstract

A bag has an open top and an adjustable drawstring for closing the open top. The drawstring has two ends, a stop section formed by a knot or a ridge disposed at approximately a center of the string to divide the string into a first side and a second side, and means for reducing the length of the drawstring after the bag is closed, said means causing one side of the string to slide against another side of the string to cause the string to form two loops. In one embodiment the means is an O-ring positioned on the first side of the string near the knot. The first side of the string is looped around and through the O-ring again, and the second side of the string is then threaded through the O-ring. The two ends of the string are threaded through the bag and tied together, such that pushing the O-ring toward the bag until the O-ring abuts the bag causes the drawstring to pull the bag closed and causes the first and second sides of the string to form two loops, thus shortening the free portion of the string and avoiding entanglement.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a bag, in particular a laundry bag or hamper liner, that has an adjustable drawstring. The drawstring is adjustable in that the string, after it is pulled tight to close the bag, can be shortened to about one-half of its length, to keep the string from becoming tangled or caught on other objects.

2. The Prior Art

It is often desirable to have a laundry bag that can be put directly into the washing machine, with the clothes still inside. One example of such a bag is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,398,410 and 6,224,259, both to Guerra, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. A bag of this type can also be used as a hamper liner, which can then also be put directly into the washing machine. With a hamper liner, however, the bag opening must be quite large, to accommodate hampers of all sizes. With large openings, the drawstring around the opening must consequently be very long. When the bag is closed prior to placement into the washing machine, the drawstring can become tangled in the washing machine, especially if the string is very long.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a bag having a drawstring in which the length of the drawstring can be adjusted after the bag is closed.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a bag that is simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

These and other objects are accomplished by a bag having an open top, a drawstring contained within the bag surrounding the bag at or near the open top, and a device for adjusting the length of the drawstring.

In one embodiment, the device is an O-ring. The ring is threaded through the bag in a particular way, such that sliding the ring down the drawstring causes the string to be folded in half by the ring, and thus decrease the length of the string that can become tangled. The O-ring is preferably plastic.

To thread the O-ring on the string, a knot is tied in about the center of the string to form two halves of the string. This knot prevents the string from being shortened beyond a desired length, and prevents pulling of the string entirely through the O-ring. As an alternative to the knot, any other suitable stop mechanism can be used, such as melting the string in one area to create a ridge that acts as a wider stop section. The O-ring is then put on the string from one end and placed adjacent the knot. Then, the half of the string containing the ring was threaded is looped through the O-ring again. Finally, the other end of the string is put through the ring as well. The two ends of the string are then threaded through the bag and tied together. After the bag is closed by securing it with a cord lock or via any other suitable means, the ring is then pushed down the string toward the bag. This causes the string to double-up on itself and leave shorter lengths free, causing less entanglement.

In another embodiment, the string is tied with a slip knot or any other kind of running knot instead of utilizing a ring. Again, an initial knot or stop section is formed in the string, within the loop of the slip knot, to prevent over-enlarging of the knot. Pulling on the loop of the knot causes the loop to enlarge and the knot to slide down the string until the overall length of free string is greatly reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.

In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a bag having a drawstring;

FIG. 2 shows the first steps in making one embodiment of the adjustment device according to the invention;

FIG. 3 shows the next steps in making the adjustment device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows the adjustment device of FIG. 2 in a completed form, with the drawstring at full length;

FIG. 5 shows the adjustment device of FIG. 2 with the drawstring adjusted to approximately half its length; and

FIG. 6 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention using a slip knot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now in detail to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a typical laundry bag 10 according to the prior art, having a drawstring 11. When bag 10 is closed, drawstring 11 is very long and can become caught on many things. The adjustment device according to the invention solves this problem by shortening the length of the drawstring. To assemble the adjustment device, the drawstring 11 is first removed from the bag. Then, a knot 13 is tied in about the center of the string. An o-ring 12 is slid onto the string and placed adjacent or near knot 13. The same end of string 11 on which O-ring 12 is slid is wrapped over o-ring 12 and placed through O-ring 12 again, as shown in FIG. 3. Finally, the other end of string 13 is also slid through O-ring 12, as shown in FIG. 4.

The device in its fully adjusted position is shown installed on bag 10 in FIG. 5. To adjust string 11 from a fully extended position to an adjusted position, O-ring is slid down one side of string 11, until it reaches bag 10. The specific configuration of loops and knots in string 11 and the friction between string 11 and O-ring 12 prevents further sliding of ring 11 and keeps it in place. The simple design of the adjustment device makes it easy to manufacture, assemble and operate and yet extremely effective in preventing tangling of the drawstring. This is very important if the bag is to be placed in a washing machine with clothing inside.

FIG. 6 shows an alternative embodiment of the device, wherein instead of a knot tied around a ring, a slip knot 20 is used. Knot 20 can be any type of running knot, which allows one side of the string to slide against the other. Pulling knot 20 toward bag 10 causes an increasingly large loop to form, on either side of the knot, thus shortening the effective length of drawstring 11. The friction of the string within the knot keeps the knot in place until bag 11 is desired to be opened again.

Instead of an O-ring or slip knot, any other type of mechanism could be used that causes one side of the string to slide against another side of the string to cause the string to form two loops.

Accordingly, while only a single embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it is obvious that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A bag having an open top and a drawstring for closing the open top, and means for reducing the length of the drawstring after the bag is closed, said means causing one side of the string to slide against another side of the string to cause the string to form two loops.

2. The bag according to claim 1, wherein said drawstring has two ends, a stop section disposed at approximately a center of the string to divide the string into a first side and a second side, an O-ring positioned on the first side of the string near the stop section, wherein the first side of the string is looped around and through the O-ring again, and wherein the second side of the string is then threaded through the O-ring, the two ends of the string being tied together, such that pushing the O-ring toward the bag until the O-ring abuts the bag causes the drawstring to pull the bag closed and causes the first and second sides of the string to form two loops.

3. The bag according to claim 1, wherein the o-ring is made out of a pliable material.

4. The bag according to claim 1, wherein the drawstring is threaded through an upper part of the bag.

5. The bag according to claim 1, wherein the drawstring has a length that is greater than a circumference of the bag.

6. The bag according to claim 1, wherein the means for reducing the length of the drawstring is a running knot.

7. The bag according to claim 6, wherein the running knot is a slip knot.

8. The bag according to claim 2, wherein the stop section one of a knot or a ridge formed by melting the string.