Basket Tote
A basket tote includes a basket and a hanging portion vertically slidably attached to the basket. The hanging portion has a grip portion and extending portions extending from the grip portion, and is stretchable with respect to the basket. The basket includes a handle portion for storing and supporting the hanging portion. The handle portion has two holes on a top portion thereof so that the extending portions slide in the holes.
This invention relates to a basket tote, more particularly a basket tote to accommodate various personal care articles such as soups, shampoo bottles and razors.
The basket tote for storing the various personal care articles is well known in the art for its ease to organize such articles for multiple purposes.
There are a number of kinds of structures of the basket totes to store the personal care articles. One of such structures is that the basket tote can be hung or mounted on a shower pipe. For example, one popular type of the shower pipe mounted storage caddy is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,105 (Patent Document 1). The storage caddie in the above reference comprises a support portion for supporting the caddy in a position, a shelf portion for supporting personal care articles, and a hanger or article receiving and retaining portion for supporting articles suspended therefrom. The hanger or article receiving and retaining portion includes a pair of spaced apart elongated hanger members for supporting a portion of personal care articles.
Another one of such structures is that the basket simply has a handle and multiple spaced compartments inside the basket tote. For example, one of such form of caddies is illustrated in US Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0027469 (Patent Document 2). Patent Document 2 shows a caddy for cleaning supplies including a pair of spaced apart compartments and attachments for attendant implements wherein the caddy may be detachably supported on the rim of an associated collection bin.
There has been a problem, in Patent Document 1, that since the storage caddy is made of a wire, and the gripping portion is too long to function as a handle and completely fixed, it is not ideal to carry the personal care articles in the storage caddy even though it may be useful when it is attached to the shower pipe or the shower head.
As for the caddy in Patent Document 2, there is a problem that it cannot be hung or mounted on the shower head or shower pipe because the shape of a handle portion of the caddy is designed only to be carried by a user. Also, there is another problem that since the handle portion is formed together with a main body of the caddy, it is difficult to adjust its position or height with respect to a user even if the caddy is hung or mounted on the shower head or shower pipe.
The present invention is made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the invention is to provide a basket tote which can be carried by a user and hung on a shower pipe, as desired.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn order to achieve the above object, the first aspect of the invention is that the basket tote comprises a basket and a hanging portion vertically slidably attached to the basket. The hanging portion includes a grip portion and extending portions extending from the grip portion and is stretchable with respect to the basket.
Because of the configuration according to the first aspect of the invention, the basket tote can be easily carried when the hanging portion is not stretched, and it is also easy to hang or mount on the shower pipe or shower head when the hanging portion is stretched.
Therefore, the invention can attain the objects which conventional types of basket totes have not achieved.
As for the second aspect of the invention, in the basket tote according to the first aspect of the invention, the hanging portion has two extending portions, and the basket includes a handle portion provided on the basket for storing and supporting the hanging portion. The handle portion has two holes on a top portion thereof so that the extending portions slide in the holes when stored.
Due to the feature according to the second aspect of the invention, the hanging portion can be stored and supported by the handle portion. Particularly, when the basket tote is carried by the user, the hanging portion is completely stored inside the handle portion. Therefore, the hanging portion would not undermine the mobility and looks of the basket tote.
With respect to the third aspect of the invention, in the basket tote according to the second aspect, the extending portions are substantially parallel and have hooks on tip ends thereof so that the hook portions prevent the extending portions from completely coming off from the holes.
Due to a simple structure of the hooks of the extending portions, the extending portions do not completely come off from the holes especially when it is hung or mounted on the shower pipe or shower head.
As for the fourth aspect of the invention, in the basket tote according to the third aspect, each hole is located on an opposite side of the top portion of the handle portion with respect to a center of the handle portion, and each hole includes a first elongated hole extending toward an end portion of the top portion of the handle, and a second elongated hole continuously extending from one end of the first elongated hole in a direction perpendicular to the first elongated hole so that the hook passes through only the second elongated holes when the hanging portion is installed or uninstalled to the basket.
In the fourth aspect of the invention, the hooks can only pass through the second elongated holes when the user installs or uninstalled the hanging portion to the basket. Needless to say, the hooks are big enough not to pass through the first elongated holes even when the hanging portion is pulled when it is hung or mounted on the shower pipe or head.
As for the fifth aspect of the invention, one second elongated hole extends in an opposite direction with respect to a direction in which other second elongated hole does. Accordingly, one hook faces in an opposite direction with respect to other hook so as to fit the each second elongated hole corresponding to the each hook portion.
This configuration further ensures that the hanging portion does not come off accidentally when it is hung or mounted.
According to the invention, it enables the basket tote to comfortably carry personal care articles and be safely hung or mounted on a shower pipe or head when it is used in a bath room.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to attached drawings.
In
The basket tote 1 has a handle portion 6 with a top portion 8 to which the hanging portion 3 is attached, a first vessel 18 on one side with respect to the handle portion 6, a second vessel 19 provided on the other side of the handle portion 6, and two third vessels 20 provided so as to sandwich the first and second vessels 18, 19. Each vessel may have drain holes 21 so that water can be drained from the inside of the each vessel. Although
In
The two extending portions 5 are stored inside the handle portion 6 when the hanging portion 3 is not pulled, as shown in
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An embodiment in
Further, in
In the embodiment as shown in
Therefore, in the present invention, the extending portions are stably held and stored in the handle portion when it is carried by the user, and the extending portion is stretchable when the basket tote is hung on the shower head or shower pipe while the extending portion does not completely come off from the handle portion due to the unique shape of the hooks at the tip portions of the extending portions. Accordingly, the present invention has attained the objective and overcome the problems in the conventional arts.
While the invention has been explained with reference to the specific embodiments of the invention, the explanation is illustrative and the invention is limited only by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A basket tote, comprising:
- a basket; and
- a hanging portion vertically slidably attached to the basket, said hanging portion including a grip portion and extending portions extending from the grip portion and being stretchable with respect to the basket.
2. A basket tote according to claim 1, wherein the hanging portion has two extending portions, and the basket includes a handle portion for storing and supporting the hanging portion, said handle portion having two holes on a top portion thereof so that the extending portions slide in the holes.
3. A basket tote according to claim 2, wherein the extending portions are substantially parallel and have hooks on tip ends thereof so that said hooks prevent the extending portions from completely coming off from the holes.
4. A basket tote according to claim 3, wherein said holes are located at two sides of the top portion of the handle portion with respect to a center of the handle portion, and each of said holes includes a first elongated hole extending toward an end portion of the top portion of the handle, and a second elongated hole continuously extending from the first elongated hole in a direction perpendicular to the first elongated hole so that the hook passes through only the second elongated hole when the hanging portion is installed or uninstalled to the basket.
5. A basket tote according to claim 4, wherein one second elongated hole at one side of the handle portion extends in a direction opposite to a direction that the other second elongated hole extends at the other side of the handle portion, and one hook faces in a direction opposite to other hook so as to fit each second elongated hole corresponding to each hook portion.
6. A basket tote according to claim 5, wherein the handle portion has hollows so as to store the extending portions.
7. A basket tote according to claim 6, wherein the grip portion has a depression provided on a lower portion thereof, and two first projecting portions provided on the lower portion thereof and sandwiching the depression, and wherein the top portion of the handle portion has a groove so as to stably hold the two first projecting portions.
8. A basket tote according to claim 7, wherein the handle portion has second projecting portions at the two sides thereof, each of said second projecting portions projecting upwardly from the top portion of the handle portion, and wherein the second elongated hole is situated in the handle portion forming a bottom portion of the groove while the first elongated hole is situated in the second projecting portion, and further extends to a lateral side of the handle portion.
9. A basket tote according to claim 8, wherein the extending portions are wires.
10. A basket tote according to claim 9, wherein the handle portion includes guide portions in the hollow so as to guide the extending portions stably vertically when the extending portions are stored in the hollow.
11. A basket tote according to claim 1, wherein said basket includes:
- a first vessel provided at one side of the basket;
- a second vessel provided at a side opposite to the first vessel with respect to the handle portion; and
- two third vessels provided so as to sandwich the first and second vessels.
12. A basket tote according to claim 11, wherein each vessel has at least one drain hole at a bottom thereof.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 22, 2008
Publication Date: Jan 28, 2010
Applicant: IRIS USA, INC. (Pleasant Prairie, WI)
Inventors: Mamoru Goto (Pleasant Prairie, WI), Masatsugu Tsuchiya (Pleasant Prairie, WI)
Application Number: 12/219,387
International Classification: A47F 5/08 (20060101);