Paperboard container for application to a bed rail
A rectangular shaped container has lateral and longitudinal walls where one longitudinal wall has a greater height and has two hooks, or folds into a hook like shape, for placing the container upon a bed rail. The container has a divided interior with compartments for storage of things therein. The compartments have similar height and generally the same width. The dividers also stiffen the container when in use. The container includes a stiffener box or shelf that provides a shallower compartment and prevents collapse of the container. The container can be made from one or two layers of material, often cardstock or cardboard.
This non-provisional application claims priority to the provisional application with a Ser. No. of 60/881,976 with a filing date of Jan. 22, 2007 which is commonly owned by the same inventors.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates generally to lightweight collapsible containers and more specifically to a divided container with at least one hook for use upon a hospital bed.
The primary purpose of this paperboard container is for holding items near a hospital bed where individual items for patient safety and other objects may be located.
A person who occupies a hospital bed has certain items that are critical to his safety and comfort. This includes the telephone, emergency suctioning equipment, the nurse call light, patient cell phone, and TV control, which are necessary for patient safety and comfort. These items are frequently inaccessible to the patient and reaching for them causes potential risk to the patient. These safety and personal care items are frequently under the sheets, have fallen to the floor, or have been misplaced beyond the patient's sight or reach. This invention solves this problem by providing a safe and convenient location for organization and accessibility of these items.
A person who occupies a hospital bed for a length of time brings objects along: pictures from home, pens and pencils, a flashlight, a book light, books, magazines, and the like. Additionally, well wishers provide other objects to a patient in bed: flowers, bears, cards, balloons, and the like. In time, those objects accumulate in a small and busy hospital room. The objects may impede, or interfere, with health care providers as they move around the bed when tending to the patient.
For longer stays in a hospital, and also in a nursing home, the objects allow a person to establish an environment similar to home. Familiar objects lead to more pleasant feelings in a patient which assists in healing and safety in a nursing home resident which boosts morale and well being.
Objects have been managed in their original containers or wisely placed in a hospital room or around a bed. Bags and boxes have also collected and organized objects near a bed. Bags often have a wide mouth that accepts many objects and often have a handle that rests upon a bed handle, knob, peg, or extension. When hanging, the bag collects objects but limits access to its interior as the weight of objects narrows the opening to a bag when suspended from a handle or peg. Boxes, having a generally rectangular form, have a fixed shape that also accepts many objects. Boxes are often placed upon the floor or chairs adjacent to a hospital bed for holding various objects. Some boxes have a hole for a handle that can be placed upon a bed handle, knob, peg, or extension similar to a bag. However, boxes generally have an open top sometimes with adjacent flaps. Many objects fit into a box but the roominess leads to disorganization of objects therein. As a patient accumulates more objects near a hospital bed, efficient storage of the objects for ready retrieval by the patient becomes highly desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention has a generally rectangular shaped container with lateral walls, longitudinal walls, a bottom and dividers. One longitudinal wall has a greater height and is folded into a hook like shape for locating the container upon a bed rail. Alternatively, the shorter of the longitudinal walls has a pair of hinged hooks extending therefrom. The container has a plurality of dividers that separate the interior of the container for storage of things therein. The dividers also stiffen the container when in use. The invention also includes a stiffener box, or alternatively a shelf, that provides a shallower compartment and prevents collapse of the container. The container of the present invention can be made from two pieces of material, often cardstock or paperboard. Alternatively assembly of other materials, such as plastic, may be an option.
It is, therefore, the principal object of this invention to provide a container that hangs from a bed rail in a hospital or nursing home setting.
It is another object of this invention to provide a container that can be divided for separate storage of items therein.
Another object of this invention is to provide a container that is made from a minimum of material, preferably in a single planar sheet.
Another object of this invention is to provide a container that is readily manufactured and is inexpensive to purchase by the consumers.
A further object of this invention is to provide a container with a shelf or a stiffener box located therein that maintains the container in an open position.
These and other objects may become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the summary of the invention as provided herein. In addition, the invention will be better understood upon undertaking a study of the description of its preferred embodiment, in view of the drawings.
In referring to the drawings,
The same reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the various figures.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSIn reference to the drawings,
Then the lateral walls take the form of two mutually parallel and spaced apart end walls 6 that join the inner wall 2 to the outer wall 5. The end walls and the outer wall have the same height, generally less than the shank of the inner wall. Below the endwalls, the inner wall, and the outer wall, a bottom 7 closes the container. In the preferred embodiment, the bottom extends lengthwise along the outer wall 5 but in the opposite direction of the inner wall 2. The bottom has sufficient width to span across the container, at least the same width at the endwalls 6.
Located within the container, a plurality of dividers 8 spans from the inner wall to the outer wall. The dividers are generally planar and rectangular having the same width as the endwalls. The dividers are hingedly connected to the inner wall and the outer wall to allow for collapsed storage and transportation of the present invention. In the preferred embodiment, the hinged connection is provided by flaps 9 oriented oppositely upon each divider. Here the invention has three dividers though the number of dividers can be adjusted depending upon the length of the container. When the container is opened and ready for hanging, as in
When generally flattened, the hanging container 1, appears as shown in
The container begins assembly in
An alternate embodiment of the present invention is shown in
To provide compartments 12 within the container, an insert 13 is placed within the container. The insert is shown here outside of the container and has a generally rectangular form of similar shape to the container. The insert has two mutually parallel and spaced apart longitudinal sides. The sides are connected by a plurality of dividers 8 that each has flaps 9. The flaps secure to the interior of the longitudinal sides. In this figure, two dividers are shown located at the ends of the longitudinal sides. Other numbers of dividers within the container are possible. A stiffener box 10 is shown located between two dividers inwards from the ends of the insert. However the stiffener box may be located adjacent to the ends of the insert as desired by the patient.
When assembled, the container 1 is placed upon a bedrail or other generally horizontal edge as shown in
Looking down the length of a bedrail in
The dividers 8 are shown within the container in
In the foregoing figures, the present invention appears in the process of assembly, or assembled. In this embodiment, the container is made from double sheet cardboard. This embodiment has the hook, inner wall, and endwalls manufactured from a planar sheet and folded, the bottom and the outer wall manufactured from a second sheet. The dividers and stiffener box are made from a third sheet of cardboard, scored, and folded for insertion into the partially assembled container. The outer wall 2 joins to the flaps 9 upon one side of the dividers 8 and the inner wall 5 joins to the opposite flaps 9 of the dividers. The outer wall, inner wall, divider flaps, endwall flaps, and bottom are joined by an adhesive, or glue, applied at room temperature or heated. The adhesive is preferably applied in strips with dots of adhesive as an alternate method of application. In an alternate embodiment, the container is made from single sheet cardboard. In a further alternate embodiment, the hook, the inner wall, the outer wall, the endwalls, and the bottom are made from one sheet of material, such as cardboard, while the dividers and stiffener box are made from a second sheet of material.
The preferred embodiment of the container now takes form as shown in
Then the inner wall 2 has at least one aperture 14, though the container has two shown. The aperture admits a hook 15 therethrough that engages a bedrail R. Here, the hook has a generally open linear form, preferably a wire bent double, curved into a classic hook shape with a bight that engages the bedrail and an opposite shank secured to the inner wall. Each hook rotates from a stowed position within the container to an extended position outside the inner wall for reaching a bedrail. Alternatively, each hook may be made from sections of inner wall made rigid by an adhesive or a reinforced corner of paperboard or cardstock.
Viewing the alternate embodiment of the container from the top,
As an alternate method of assembly, the shelf 13 is formed from a folded extension of the dividers 8. The shelf links both dividers together and each divider has at least one tab on each edge that slides within the double wall construction of the outer wall and inner wall respectively.
Once more, the container is shown in
In the foregoing three figures, the preferred embodiment of the present invention appears assembled and is made from a single sheet of material folded upon scores into a double wall construction of the inner wall, the outer wall, the endwalls, the dividers, and the shelf. The bottom has single wall construction. This embodiment has the hook manufactured from bent steel wire and the bight and shank of the hook have a coating to resist abrasion. The outer wall, inner wall, dividers, endwalls, and shelf are joined by tabs positioned into slots while the bottom forms from interleaved extensions of the inner wall, the outer wall, and the endwalls. The interleaving of extensions strengthens the bottom as more items and weight are placed inside the compartments upon the bottom. This embodiment has minimal usage of adhesive.
Variations or modifications of the subject matter of this invention may occur to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the disclosure provided herein. Such variations or modifications are intended to be encompassed within the scope of the invention as described herein. The description of the preferred embodiment and of the drawings showing the same are provided herein for illustrative purposes only.
From the aforementioned description, a container has been described. The container is uniquely capable of storing items vertically in compartments while hanging from a bed rail. The container and its various components may be manufactured from many materials including but not limited to paperboard, cardstock, card board, wood, plywood, polymers, high density polyethylene HDPE, polypropylene PP, polyethylene terephalate ethylene PETE, polyvinyl chloride PVC, nylon, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, their alloys and composites.
The phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. Therefore, the claims include such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and the scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A container for storing items therein, said container hanging upon a horizontal edge, such as a bedrail, comprising:
- a bottom;
- an outer wall extending upwards from said bottom;
- an inner wall, parallel to and spaced apart from said outer wall, said inner wall extending upwards from said bottom and having at least one hook extending outwardly therefrom;
- two mutually parallel and spaced apart endwalls, each of said endwalls being perpendicular to said outer wall and said inner wall;
- a plurality of dividers, spaced apart, and locating between said outer wall and said inner wall; and,
- at least one shelf, locating adjacent to one of said dividers, said shelf generally parallel to and spaced above said bottom.
2. The hanging storage container of claim 1 further comprising:
- said at least one hook pivoting from a stowed position within said container to an engaged position outward of said inner wall, said hook having a shank extending from said inner wall and a contiguous bight generally extending perpendicular to said shank, said bight gripping a horizontal edge when said at least one hook is in said engaged position.
3. The hanging storage container of claim 2 further comprising:
- said at least one hook forming from an elongated linear member, said shank having two coplanar sections of said linear member and said bight having two sections of said linear member extending from a bend of said linear member outwardly from said shank.
4. The hanging storage container of claim 3 wherein said elongated linear member is one of metal, polymer, or paperboard.
5. The hanging storage container of claim 3 wherein said linear member is steel wire.
6. The hanging storage container of claim 1 wherein said container is formed from two sheets of material using scoring and fold lines.
7. The hanging storage container of claim 1 wherein said container is formed from one sheet of material upon scoring and fold lines.
8. The hanging storage container of claim 1 further comprising:
- said shelf being the top of a stiffener box, having lesser height than said endwall, locating within said container adjacent to at least one divider.
9. The hanging storage container of claim 1 further comprising:
- said outer wall having similar length to said inner wall and greater height than said inner wall;
- said bottom being of similar width as said endwalls; and,
- said endwalls having a generally trapezoidal shape.
10. The hanging storage container of claim 1 further comprising:
- said hook having a shank extending above and coplanar with said inner wall, and a contiguous bight generally extending perpendicular to said shank opposite the remainder of said container, said shank and said bight cooperating to grip a horizontal edge.
11. The hanging storage container of claim 10 further comprising:
- said outer wall being of similar height to said inner wall; and,
- said bottom being of similar width as said shank, generally similar to the width of said endwall and including a flap of similar width as said bight for joining the exterior of said inner wall.
12. A device for storing items therein, said device forming from a paperboard blank and hanging upon a horizontal edge, such as a bedrail, comprising:
- a container having an outer wall, an inner wall, parallel to and spaced apart from said outer wall, said inner wall extending upwards from said outer wall and forming a hook like shape, two mutually parallel and spaced apart endwalls, each of said endwalls joining said outer wall and said inner wall, and a bottom beneath said inner wall and said outer wall; and,
- an insert, generally rectangular having two parallel and spaced apart longitudinal walls, a plurality of dividers, spaced apart, and locating between and perpendicular to said longitudinal walls.
13. The device for storing items of claim 12 further comprising:
- a stiffener box, having lesser height than said endwall, locating adjacent to at least one divider.
14. The device for storing items of claim 12 further comprising:
- a shelf, generally parallel and spaced above said bottom, and locating adjacent to at least one divider.
15. The device for storing items of claim 12 wherein said container is formed from one sheet of material upon scoring and fold lines.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 18, 2008
Publication Date: Aug 7, 2008
Inventors: John R. Pritchett (Rolla, MO), Robert T. Pritchett (Rolla, MO), Donald L. James (Rolla, MO)
Application Number: 12/009,369
International Classification: B65D 30/10 (20060101); B65D 25/04 (20060101);