Mud retriever

Abstract

A mud retriever 10 which includes a handle portion 12 and a blade portion 16 which includes a straight edge 22 which may be used to selectively open a mud container 70 and a semi-elliptical edge 32 which conforms to the curvature of the inner surface 93 of the container 70 and which allows mud 90 (or other material) to be easily retrieved from the container 70 and applied to a desired location 100 or placed within an applicator assembly. The blade portion 16 also includes an edge 30, 22 which each allow the mud 90 to be easily “smeared” or distributed over location 100. In an alternate configuration, the arcuate blade edge is non-elliptical and the blade includes four separate straight edges 146,148, and 150 which each have a respectively unique length.

Description

This application is a Continuation-In-Part of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/075,675 which was filed on Mar. 13, 2008 and from which priority is hereby claimed.

GENERAL BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a mud retriever and more particularly to a mud retriever which may easily and efficiently be used to selectively retrieve mud or drywall joint compound material from a can or other receptacle and then allow the retrieved material/mud to be easily applied to a certain desired surface or placed into an application assembly (e.g., a trough type assembly) after which it may be applied to a desired surface.

2. Background of the Invention

Mud retrievers are used to selectively retrieve mud or drywall joint compound from a typically and generally round can or other receptacle and then to deposit the retrieved mud in an applicator assembly, such as one which includes a trough or other receptacle. From the trough or other receptacle, various types of applicators are used to apply the mud/material to various surfaces or desired locations.

While these prior retrievers do allow the mud or drywall joint compound to be selectively retrieved and then eventually applied upon a surface, they are difficult and awkward to use and such deficiencies cause mud to be unintentionally splattered or distributed over a relatively wide area, thereby necessitating an undesirable and time consuming “clean up” effort. Moreover, these prior mud retrievers do not effectively and efficiently retrieve all or most of the material contents from a cylinder shaped or generally round container, such as a one gallon or five gallon container.

This deficiency is oftentimes due to the inability of these prior retrievers to readily and structurally conform to the round internal surface of the container and consequently material is often left on the surface when the container is disposed of. The “unretrieved” material is often thrown away as waste. As earlier indicated, one non-limiting attribute of these prior retrievers which makes them difficult to use is that their blade or material reception portions are typically formed in the shape of a square or rectangle, while the containers are generally round. This “nonconformity” or “shape dissimilarity” makes it difficult to retrieve the material from the container and makes it difficult to then deposit the retrieval material to or upon an applicator assembly. Moreover, this “unconformity” often causes the material to be undesirably “splattered” or deposited in the surrounding environment as the surface of the relatively square blade forcibly meets the rounded internal surface and an attempt is made to “scoop” the surface material on the blade. The flexible blade typically moves or flexes against the round surface and such forced movement causes the material to forcibly emanate from the container and into the surrounding environment.

Thus, these prior retrievers further do not allow the retrieved mud to be efficiently retrieved for placement within a mud application assembly and/or for placement upon a desired drywall surface, thereby increasing waste and overall cost. These prior retrievers also cause the material which is being retrieved to oftentimes splatter or become deposited in the ambient environment, thereby making for an overall aesthetically displeasing appearance.

There is therefore a need for a new and improved drywall joint compound or mud retriever and the present invention provides such a new and improved retriever.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a first non-limiting object of the present invention to provide a mud or drywall joint compound retriever which overcomes the various previously delineated deficiencies of prior mud or drywall joint compound retrievers.

It is a second non-limiting object of the present invention to provide a new and improved mud or drywall joint compound retriever which allows drywall joint compound to be easily and efficiently retrieved from a container and then to be selectively and accurately placed within a mud application assembly and/or upon a desired surface or location.

According to a first non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a mud retriever is provided and includes a handle portion; and a blade portion having a straight edge which integrally terminates into a second semi-elliptical shaped edge and wherein the blade portion further includes a third acute shaped edge.

According to a second non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a mud retriever is provided and includes a handle portion having a longitudinal axis of symmetry; and a blade portion which integrally terminates into the handle portion and wherein the blade portion is unsymmetrical about the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the handle portion and wherein the blade portion is also unsymmetrical about any axis which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of symmetry.

According to a third non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a mud retriever is provided and includes a handle portion having a longitudinal axis of symmetry and wherein the handle portion includes a generally round bottom portion and a pair of opposed and substantially identical flared side portions; and a blade portion which integrally terminates into the handle portion wherein a first of the pair of opposed and substantially identical flared side portions terminates into a first edge of the blade portion which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of symmetry and wherein a second of the pair of opposed and substantially identical flared end portions terminates into a second edge of the blade portion which protrudes away from the longitudinal axis of symmetry and wherein the first and second edges terminate into a third semi-elliptical edge portion.

According to a fourth non-limiting aspect of to the present invention, a mud retriever is provided and includes a handle portion; and a blade portion which terminates into the handle portion and which includes an arcuate edge; and four separate straight edges which each have a respectively unique length.

These and other aspects, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, including the subjoined claims, and by reference to the following drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a retriever which is made in accordance with the teachings of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a container of drywall joint compound being selectively opened with the retriever which is shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of drywall joint compound being selectively retrieved from the container which is shown in FIG. 2 by the use of the retriever which is shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the retriever which is shown in FIG. 1 being used to apply mud or drywall joint compound upon a desired or selected surface or location according to the teachings of a non-limiting aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top frontal view of a retriever which is made in accordance with the teachings of an alternate embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a top back view of the retriever which is shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the retriever shown in FIG. 5 taken in the direction of arrow 7.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the retriever shown in FIG. 5 taken in the direction of arrow 8.

FIG. 9 is a view taken in the direction of arrow 9.

FIG. 10 is a view taken in the direction of arrow 10.

FIG. 11 is a right perspective view of the retriever shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 12 is a back perspective view of the retriever shown in FIG. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a mud retriever 10 which is made in accordance with the teachings of the preferred embodiment of the invention. It should be appreciated that the term “mud”, throughout this application, means drywall joint compound or some other type of substance which may be selectively retrieved from a container and applied in a desired manner. Thus, the present inventions are not limited to use with such drywall mud or any other specific type of material. Thus, retriever 10 may be used with substantially any type of material.

As shown, the mud retriever 10 includes a generally elongated handle portion 12 having a generally round or bulbous shaped bottom portion 14 and a blade portion 16 which integrally terminates into the handle portion 12 (e.g., the term “integrally terminates” means that the applicator 10 is, in the most preferred embodiment, formed as a “one piece” item).

Further, as shown, the handle portion 12 includes a pair of opposed and substantially identical flared side portions 18, 20 and the side portion 18 integrally terminates into a straight edge portion 22. That is, the handle portion 12 includes a longitudinal axis of symmetry 24 and the straight edge portion 22 is parallel to the longitudinal axis of symmetry 24. The second edge portion 20 integrally terminates into edge portion 30 which protrudes away from the longitudinal axis of symmetry 24 and the edge portions 22, 30 each integrally terminate into the semi-elliptically shaped edge 32. Arcuate edge 30, in one non-limiting embodiment, has a varying radius of curvature (i.e., in one non-limiting embodiment, the distance from point 29 to each point on the surface of edge 30 is not constant).

As is evident from FIG. 1, the blade portion 16 is unsymmetrical about any longitudinal axis (i.e., about any axis which is parallel to axis 24) and blade portion 16 is unsymmetrical about axis 24 and blade portion 16 is unsymmetrical about any axis which is perpendicular to the axis 24, such as axis 7. This “unsymmetrical attribute” is important because it allows for different shaped blade edges 32, 30, 22, each of which, as will be seen, may have a respectively unique function.

In one non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the blade portion 16 is generally flat and is coplanar with the portions 12, 14. However, in another non-limiting embodiment of the invention, as shown best in FIG. 1, the handle portion 12 forms an acute angle 40 with the blade portion 16 (i.e., the handle portion 12 is positioned away from the blade portion 16) such that portion 12 and 16 are not coplanar.

In one-non limiting embodiment of the invention, the width 50 varies from about four inches to about six inches, the length 54 of edge 22 varies from about two inches to about three and one quarter inches, the distance 56 varies from about three quarters of an inch to about one inch, and the distance 60 varies from about six inches to about eight inches. Distance 56 is one non-limiting embodiment, is defined as the linear distance between point 2 (the apex of portion 14) and the point 3 which is where the edge 18 first becomes straight as the edge 18 proceeds from point 2 to point 3. The entire retriever 10 may be constructed of plastic, metal, wood, or some sort of composite material or some desired combination of materials. However, nothing in this application limits the retriever 10 to a certain size or construction.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a fairly conventional or typical and generally cylindrically shaped container 70 of mud or drywall joint compound (not shown in this FIG. 2). The container 70 includes a selectively removable top 72 which is selectively, frictionally, and removably attached to and which overlays the lip 74 of the container 70 (e.g., container 70 may comprise a paint type can). To selectively remove the top 72, a user of the retriever 10 causes the straight edge 22 to selectively engage one or more portions of the top 72 which is, at that time, removably attached to the lip 74 and forces the retriever 10 to move in the direction of arrow 80, thereby causing the top 72 to be dislodged from the container 70 and allowing access to the mud 90 which is resident within the generally round internal cavity 88 of the container 70, as is perhaps best shown in FIG. 3.

Once the top 72 is removed, the retriever 10 is selectively placed within the generally round cavity 88 and the semi-elliptical edge portion 32, which readily conforms to the curved lip 72 and curved interior surface 93 of the cavity 88 is readily used to relatively easily retrieve some of the contained mud 90 (e.g., including that portion of the mud 90 which “clings to” or is resident upon the curved internal surface 93). There is no need to “Flex” or force the edge 32 against the surface 93 to obtain/retrieve the mud 90. The curved wide blade portion 16 allows the retrieved portion of the mud 90 to be easily removed from the container 70 (e.g., from the curved interior surface 93), without a substantial probability of undesired splattering, and then deposited within a trough or some other applicator assembly, or even directly applied to a surface or location 100, which may be a sheet rock or drywall surface (see, for example FIG. 4). One non-limiting example of such an application assembly is the combination of a trough supplied by WALBOARD TOOLS located at 1697 Seabright Ave., Long Beach, Calif. and referred to as “CAT NO pp-14, Com. No. 027-004” and a drywall application tool which may be purchased from Belmore Tools (www.BelmoreTools.com) (e.g., the flat applicator hand tool).

As shown best in FIG. 4, the edges 22, 32 may each be used to selectively “smear” the applied material (i.e., previous retrieved portion of mud 90) upon the surface 100 in an efficient and accurate manner. When it is desired to closed the container 70, the top 72 is placed upon the lip 74 and the end 14 may be used to selectively strike the top 72, thereby forcing the top 72 to frictionally engage the lip 74 and close the cavity 88.

Referring now to FIGS. 5-12, there is shown a mud retriever 120 which is made in accordance with the teachings of an alternate embodiment of the invention.

Particularly, the mud retriever 120 includes a handle portion 122 which integrally terminates into a blade portion 124. The handle portion 122 may be of substantially any desired shape and includes an opening 123 which is designed to allow the handle 122 to receive a hook or other fastener in order to allow the retriever 120 to hang on a wall or other storage location Alternatively, the blade portion 124 and the handle portion 122 may be separately found and operatively coupled after they are separately found (or concurrently although separately formed) and then operatively coupled after they are separately formed.

The blade portion 124, which is used, in part, to selectively retrieve drywall type mud or other materials, forms an acute angle 130 with the handle 124 and includes a first straight edge portion 134 which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of symmetry 140 of the handle 122, second and third straight edges 146, 148, which are co-linear and orthogonal to the axis 140, and a fourth straight edge 150 which is parallel to the straight edges 146,148. Edge 148 is longer than edge 146. Further, blade portion 120 includes an accurate edge 180 which integrally terminates into and lies operatively between edges 124, 146. The accurate edge 180 is not semi-elliptical but rather has a substantially constant slope of between two and five degrees. Each edge 150, 134, 146, 148, in one non-limiting embodiment, has a respective and unique length and edge 150 may also be used to “smear” mud upon a surface.

If the handle portion 140 is separately held in the right hand by a user, than the edge 134 is closest to the left hand of the user and the foregoing blade configuration 124 allows mud (or other material) to be easily removed from a container by the use of edge 180, which the edge 180, 134 may be used to securely place the top on the container and/or to apply the retrieved material in a desired manner. Users who are naturally “left handed” may use the bottom of the “backside” of the tool as shown in FIG. 6.

In the most preferred configuration of this alternate embodiment of the invention, the blade portion 124 operatively and fixedly resides within a slot 170 formed within the handle portion 122. Edges 146, 148 are orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of symmetry 140. The non-uniform lengthed edges 134, 146, 148 may each be used to “smear” or selectively apply mud (or other material) upon surfaces of varying length. That is, an edge 134, 146, 148 having a respective length just shorter than the length of the surface to which mud or other material is to be applied is chosen for use. The non-elliptically shaped edge 180 may, in some applications, be better than an elliptically shaped edge at selectively and securely obtaining material from a container.

It is to be understood that the inventions are not limited to the exact embodiments which have been described above but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the inventions as delineated within the subjoined claims. Further, it should be appreciated that applicator 10 may be used with virtually any material, not just drywall compound

Claims

1) A mud retriever having a handle portion; and a blade portion which terminates into said handle portion and which includes an arcuate edge; and four separate straight edges which each have a respectively unique length.

2) The mud retriever of claim 1 wherein said handle portion has a longitudinal axis of symmetry and wherein only one of said four separate straight edges is parallel to said longitudinal axis of symmetry.

3) The mud retriever of claim 2 wherein three of said four straight edges are orthogonal to said longitudinal axis of symmetry.

4) The mud retriever of claim 3 wherein two of said three edges are co-linear.

5) The mud retriever of claim 4 when said blade portion forms an acute angle with said handle portion.

6) the mud retriever of claim 5 wherein said handle portion includes a slot and said blade portion operatively resides within said slot.

7) the mud retriever of claim 6 wherein said arcuate edge is non-elliptical.