PET WASTE BAG DISPENSER

Abstract

A pet waste bag dispenser for dispensing empty pet waste bags, is formed of a soft, collapsible and expandable fabric housing having a bottom wall and perimeter walls for defining a housing cavity, the cavity being intended for receiving and storing empty pet waste bags and having a reversibly closable open top. Bag dispensing means are formed in the bottom wall for dispensing the empty pet waste bags and include at least one opening formed in the bottom wall and communicating with the cavity for removal of empty waste bags from the cavity through the at least one opening. Desirably, the dispensing means includes multiple openings in the form of rectangular slits or circular apertures with the maximum dimension of each opening not greater than one inch.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to pet waste removal and, more particularly, to a pet waste bag dispenser for facilitating sanitary and easy clean-up of pet waste.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The proper disposal of pet waste, whether on the streets or parks of a city or in rural areas, presents a real problem for handlers of domestic pets, particularly dogs. The waste left behind, if not removed, attracts potentially disease carrying nuisances. For this reason, many cities and counties within the United States have passed laws and ordinances which impose fines on pet handlers that do not remove their pet waste.

The currently most prevalent means for removing pet waste is the use of a plastic bag which the pet handler carries along during a walk. When the pet defecates, the bag is placed over the user's hand where it protects the hand from contacting the waste. The waste is then picked up, the bag inverted to contain the waste and the bag is tied off and held by the handler until a suitable trash receptacle is found. Typically, the filled waste containing bag is either carried by the handler in one hand or is placed in a pocket of the handler's clothing. Both methods of carrying the filled waste containing bag are unsatisfactory, one because placing the bag in a clothing pocket is unsanitary and the other because carrying the bag in the free hand reduces the handler's ability to control the pet and limits the ability to walk more than one pet at a time.

Accordingly, there exists a need for a pet waste bag dispenser which is lightweight, easy to use with only one hand, provides a carrying means for filled pet waste bags and which has the capacity to store and dispense sufficient waste bags for a handler to walk one pet multiple times or multiple pets simultaneously without being unduly bulky.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides a pet waste bag dispenser for dispensing empty pet waste bags, comprising a soft, collapsible and expandable housing having a bottom wall and perimeter walls for defining a housing cavity, the cavity adapted for receiving and storing empty pet waste bags, and a reversibly closable open top, means for reversibly closing the open top and bag dispensing means in the bottom wall for dispensing the empty pet waste bags, the dispensing means comprising at least one opening formed in the bottom wall and communicating with the cavity for removal of empty waste bags from the cavity through the at least one opening.

In another aspect of the invention there is provided a pet waste bag dispenser having openings in its bottom wall for dispensing empty pet waste bags therethrough, the openings having a maximum dimension not exceeding one inch.

In still another aspect of the invention there is provided a pet waste bag dispenser having a plurality of spaced apart openings in its bottom wall.

In yet another aspect of the invention there is provided a pet waste bag dispenser including a plurality of empty pet waste bags in its cavity and having openings in its bottom wall for dispensing the empty pet waste bages therethrough, each said opening having an edge of a bag protruding therethrough.

In another aspect of the invention there is provided a pet waste bag dispenser including a filled pet waste bag carrying means on its housing for hanging filled pet waste bags prior to disposal in a suitable trash container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pet waste bag dispenser in accordance with the present invention with a portion of the dispenser side wall broken away.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a pet waste collection bag.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a pet waste bag dispenser 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Dispenser 10 comprises a hollow body 12 having a bottom wall 14 and a perimeter wall 16 extending upwardly from the perimeter of bottom wall 14. The perimeter wall 16 defines at its upper end an open top 18 for hollow body 12 and perimeter wall 16 and bottom wall 14 together define an open top body cavity 20 for receiving and storing unused plastic pet waste bags 22 therewithin. Closing means 24 are provided for reversingly closing the open top 18 of hollow body 12 for maintaining bags 22 within cavity 20 and for protecting them from the weather and from damage. Closing means 24 may be a zipper, hook and loop fasteners, such as Velcro®, snap fasteners, draw string closure, pouch cover, and the like. A bag dispensing means 26 is provided in bottom wall 14 for the pet waste bags 22 inside of pouch cavity 20 to be dispensed out of the cavity 20 when pouch-type body 12 is closed by closing means 24. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, bag dispensing means 26 comprises at least one, but preferably, a plurality of dispensing openings 28, such as apertures or slits, formed at spaced apart locations in bottom wall 14.

Pet waste bags 22 placed within cavity 20 each have an edge protruding through one of the plurality of dispensing openings 28 for easy one-handed removal of the pet waste bag 22 from the pouch-type body 12. Each dispensing opening 28 is large enough for a pet waste bag to be easily pulled through the opening. Openings 28 may be any shape suitable for dispensing a pet waste bag therethrough, e.g., rectangular, square, circular, triangular, and the like. In FIG. 1 the dispensing openings are shown as rectangular slits, which are a useful opening shape, as are circular apertures. For most plastic bags which might be used as pet waste bags, an opening 28 which is not greater than about one inch in maximum dimension is sufficient to allow easy bag removal from cavity 20. It will be appreciated, however, depending upon the choice of pet waste bags, openings 28 may desirably be smaller than one inch in maximum dimension. Care should be taken not to make openings 28 so small that it is difficult to feed an edge of the bag 22 through opening 28 when placing the bag 22 in cavity 20 or difficult to pull the bag 22 out through opening 28, which might lead to tearing a bag 22 during removal.

Hollow body 12 may have any convenient shape, for instance, it may be generally rectangular, in which case perimeter wall 16 will comprise a front wall, a rear wall and two side walls. In the preferred embodiment, hollow body 12 is generally pouch-type and perimeter wall 16 comprises a generally cylindrical wall. Desirably, pouch-type body 12 is soft and flexible and made from a collapsible and expandable material, such as fabric, which allows an empty pouch to be collapsed and conveniently stored. In addition, a fabric body readily expands as pet waste bags 22 are placed therewithin.

Pouch-type body 12 desirably includes a mounting means 30 for attaching the pouch-type body 12 either directly to the pet leash or to the plastic casing of a retractable pet leash or to a convenient item on the person of the handler, such as the handler's belt or other item of clothing. This allows the pet handler's hands to remain free for controlling the pet. Mounting means 30 may, in a preferred embodiment, comprise a flexible mounting strap 32, which is attached to the pouch-type body 12, e.g., by stitching, and which includes fastener elements on the strap for attaching its free ends to each other. The fastener elements may conveniently be of the hoop and loop type, such as Velcro®, or may be conventional snaps, hooks or buckle closures. Alternatively, mounting means 30 may be a metal or plastic hook, e.g., in the nature of a safety pin, which attaches to the pouch-type body 12 and extends around the leash or retractable leash casing.

Pouch-type body 12 also desirably includes a filled pet waste bag carrying means 34 affixed to the pouch-type body 12 for the purpose of providing a means for hanging pet waste bags after they have been used to pick up pet waste and are filled. This frees the pet handler from having to hand carry the filled pet waste bag until the full bag can be disposed of in a suitable trash container. One suitable and inexpensive carrying means is a hook-type means such as a usefully shaped carabiner, or other metal or plastic hook, which is affixed to the pouch-type body 12 in any suitable manner, e.g., by stitching, pinning, threading through grommets formed in the pouch-type body 12, or any other well known manner of affixing a hook type device to a fabric body. Carrying means 34 may also comprise a flexible strap, which is attached to the pouch-type body 12, e.g., by stitching, and which includes fastener elements, such as Velcro® or conventional snaps, hooks or buckle closures on the strap.

Although any type of plastic waste bag may be used in the dispenser of the present invention, most desirably the waste bags employed are typical plastic, retail carry-out bags furnished in supermarkets and other retail establishments. These bags, frequently referred to as “T-shirt bags,” so named because their shape resembles a man's tee shirt, are formed of a light weight plastic which resists puncture and tears and has gusseted sides to provide expanded storage space. The bags may be new or used, i.e., used in the sense that they were previously furnished by a retail establishment for the carry out of merchandise and, therefore, are available as pet waste bags for essentially no cost to the user. A typical T-shirt bag is depicted in FIG. 2. As can be seen, The T-shirt bag has a closed bottom end 22a, an upper open end 22b, two side portions, 22c, 22d, and a rim 22e at the upper open end 22b from which two elongate handles 22f extend. A typical bag useful with the instant dispenser is approximately 8″-12″ between left and right side portions 22c, 22d and about 12″ between the bottom end 22a and the upper open end 22b, and is gusseted to be expandable on each side. It will be appreciated, however, that the bag may be larger or smaller consistent with its intended usage.

Inasmuch as the typical dog handler concurrently walks only 1-2 dogs and since only 1-2 unused pet waste bags are typically needed per dog per walk, dispensers which store rolls of bags and dispense bags from rolls of edgewise attached or interleaved bags have proven to be overly bulky and unnecessarily large for convenient use. Accordingly, dispenser 10 according to the present invention desirably receives and houses from two to four pet waste bags in pouch cavity 20, which should be more than enough to walk one pet twice or two pets simultaneously. It will be appreciated, however, that by increasing or decreasing the size of the pouch, a greater or fewer number of bags may be accommodated. Pouch bottom wall 14 includes at least one opening 28 for dispensing pet waste bags 22 therethrough. However, more typically, there are provided a plurality of openings 28, such as an equal number of openings 28 formed in the bottom wall 14 as there are unused pet waste bags accommodated within the pouch cavity 20 to allow an edge of each bag within pouch-type body 12 to protrude through an opening 28. Thus, for example, for a dispenser 10 which carries four bags within cavity 20, there are typically four spaced apart openings 28 formed in the bottom wall 14, as shown in FIG. 1. Openings 28 may be formed in bottom wall 14 in any desired configuration. For example, openings 28 in FIG. 1 generally define a circular arrangement. However, openings 28 may be parallel to each other in a line, or otherwise arranged. For pouches which accommodate a greater or fewer number of bags, there may be a correspondingly greater or fewer number of spaced apart openings 28 formed in the bottom wall 14. If a few interleaved bags are dispensed from pouch cavity 20, there may be need for only a single opening 28 with the edge of one of the interleaved bags protruding through opening 28. This is because interleaved bags have the advantage that removal of the protruding bag automatically feeds an edge of the next bag through opening 28.

Whether new or used, i.e., previously furnished by a retail establishment for the carry out of merchandise, pet waste bags 22 are utilized, bags 22 are individually placed in the pouch-type body 12 through open top 18 with at least an edge of each bag protruding through one of the openings 28. When needed to remove pet waste from the ground, the pet waste bags 22 may be easily dispensed from cavity 20 by the pet handler grasping the protruding edge of one waste bag with one hand and gently pulling it out of cavity 20 through opening 28. As the bag is pulled from the cavity it forms irregular folds and compresses in width in order to fit through opening 28. The pet handler may then place one hand through the waste bag open end 22b into the inside of the bag 22, grab the pet waste while using the bag as a barrier for protecting the handler's hand and pull the pet waste through the waste bag open end 22b, thereby inverting the waste bag. In this manner, the pet waste is placed inside the inverted bag, after which the top of the waste bag may be closed, e.g., by tying the bag handles 22f together. At this point, the filled bag 22 may be hung on the pet waste bag carrying means 34, such as a carabiner, attached to the pouch-type body 12 in order to free the pet handler's hands for grasping the leash or otherwise controlling the pet. Alternatively, the filled bag may be placed within pouch-type body 12 until a suitable trash receptacle is found.

While the present invention has been described in terms of specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design other than as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A pet waste bag dispenser for dispensing empty pet waste bags, comprising a soft, collapsible and expandable housing having a bottom wall and perimeter walls for defining a housing cavity, said cavity adapted for receiving and storing empty pet waste bags, and a reversibly closable open top, means for reversibly closing said open top and bag dispensing means in said bottom wall for dispensing said empty pet waste bags, said dispensing means comprising at least one opening formed in said bottom wall and communicating with said cavity for removal of empty waste bags from said cavity through said at least one opening.

2. A pet waste bag dispenser, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one opening has a maximum dimension not greater than 1 inch.

3. A pet waste bag dispenser, as claimed in claim 2, wherein said at least one opening is selected from rectangular slits and circular apertures.

4. A pet waste bag dispenser, as claimed in claim 2, wherein said dispensing means comprises a plurality of spaced apart openings.

5. A pet waste bag dispenser, as claimed in claim 4, wherein said plurality of spaced apart openings define a circular arrangement of openings.

6. A pet waste bag dispenser, as claimed in claim 4, wherein said plurality of spaced apart openings are arranged parallel to each other.

7. A pet waste bag dispenser, as claimed in claim 4, including a plurality of empty pet waste bags in said cavity, each said opening having an edge of a bag protruding therethrough.

8. A pet waste bag dispenser, as claimed in claim 7, wherein the number of bags in said cavity equals the number of spaced apart openings in said bottom wall.

9. A pet waste dispenser, as claimed in claim 1, including mounting means on said housing for attaching said housing to a pet leash or to a clothing item on the person of a pet handler.

10. A pet waste dispenser, as claimed in claim 1, including a filled pet waste bag carrying means on said housing for hanging filled pet waste bags prior to disposal in a suitable trash container.

11. A pet waste dispenser, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said housing comprises a pouch-like body and said means for reversibly closing said open top comprises a draw string closure.