FOLD FLAT FOAM STORAGE BIN

Abstract

An organizational bin formed from molded foam and capable of being folded flat into a planar configuration for transportation and unfolded to provide a useful volume for use by a consumer. The bin has a base and four walls, all of which are integrally formed and coupled to each other by living hinges. The base includes a series of living hinges extending outwardly from a midpoint. The living hinges are positioned to allow base to fold outwardly relative to with walls pivoting relative to each other so that bin folds into a flat configuration. A flat folded bin will reduce shipping costs by more than five times by reducing the volume bin occupies when shipped and also significantly reduces the carbon footprint of shipping the bin.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/433,208, filed on Dec. 16, 2022, incorporated herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates to apparatuses made with molded foam and methods of manufacturing apparatuses with molded foam and, more specifically, to organizational apparatuses made with molded foam that can be folded in a planar configuration.

2. Description of the Related Art

Storage and organizational products, such as organizational bins, bins, baskets, totes, etc., are popular for use in storing and organizing materials in both home and office environments. Such products may be made from a variety of materials, including molded plastic, woven fibers, felt, or fabric. More recently, storage bins have been made using expanding and/or molded foams based on sustainable sources. However, as storage bins are designed and intended to have large, empty volumes, the shipping costs associated with the transportation of large bins are a limiting factor in delivering such bins at a reasonable cost.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a new design and approach for manufacturing an organization apparatus formed from molded foam and capable of being folded flat into a planar configuration for transportation and unfolded to provide a useful volume for use by a consumer. In one example, the organizational bin has a base having a plurality of corners and a set of living hinges extending from a midpoint of the base to each of the plurality of corners. A plurality of walls is integrally formed with the base and each other to define a cavity therein. Each wall is coupled to the base by a second set of living hinges and integrally coupled to each adjacent wall of the plurality of walls by a third set of living hinges. The base and the plurality of walls may be formed from an expansion-foam material. The expansion-foam material may be ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) expansion foam.

These and other aspects of the various embodiments will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the aspects(s) described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the various embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an organizational bin according to the present disclosure in an unfolded configuration.

FIG. 2 is a top plan of an organizational bin according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a side view of an organizational bin according to the present disclosure in a folded, planar configuration.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides a new design and approach for manufacturing an organization apparatus formed from molded foam and capable of being folded flat into a planar configuration for transportation and unfolded to provide a useful volume for use by a consumer. There is seen in FIG. 1, an example of organization bin 10 according to the present disclosure. Bin 10 comprises a base 12 and four walls 14 coupled to base 12 as well as each other along a series of side edges 16. Although bin 10 is illustrated as forming a rectangular cube defining an interior cavity 18 using four walls 14 and base 12, it should be recognized that bin 10 could be formed into different geometric shapes and include a different number of walls to form that different geometric shape.

As further seen in FIG. 1, base 12 includes a series of living hinges 20 extending from a midpoint 22 of base 12 to each corner 24 of bin 10 formed by the intersection of walls 14 with base 12. Similarly, the intersection of each wall 14 with base 12 includes a living hinge 26, and each side edge 16 includes a living hinge 30 coupling adjacent walls 14 together.

Referring to FIG. 2, each living hinge 20, living hinge 26, and living hinge 30 is a web of thinner material that is defined and formed integrally with base 12 and walls 14 when bin 10 is molded. Bin 10 may be formed from a molded foam or an expanding foam, which provides for both flexibility and durability, and allows for easy molding of the arrangement of living hinges 20, living hinges 26, and living hinges 30. Living hinges 20, living hinges 26, and living hinges 30 can be molded when forming bin 10 without additional manufacturing steps or costs. As an example, bin 10 may be formed from a plant-based ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam. EVA foam allows bin 10 to be sealed on all its surfaces to protect the foam from the environment and thus is washable, durable, and has an improved resistance to tearing. EVA foam, for example, is both durable and flexible, living hinges 20, living hinges 26, and living hinges 30 may bend through thousands of cycles without breaking. Because bin 10 can be molded through an injection molding process, living hinges 20, living hinges 26, and living hinges 30 can be designed into the tooling, without adding additional complexity or cost to the manufacturing process.

Referring to FIG. 3, living hinges 20, living hinges 26 and living hinges 30 allow base 12 to fold outwardly relative to cavity 18 with walls 14 pivoting relative to each other so that bin 10 folds into a flat configuration. As seen in FIG. 3, two opposing side edges 16 allow adjacent walls 14 to fold into contact with each other, while two other opposing side edges 16 allow adjacent walls to pivot into a planar orientation. In the example of FIG. 1, bin 10 could be collapsed into the folded flat configuration with any two opposing side edges 16 allowing adjacent walls 14 to fold into contact with each other, and any other two opposing side edges 16 allow adjacent walls to pivot into a planar orientation. It should be recognized that living hinges 30 could also be designed to only allow bin 10 to be folded flat using a particular pair of opposing side edges 16 that allow adjacent walls to fold into contact with each other, and the other of the opposing side edges 16 only allowing adjacent walls to open into a planar configuration.

Flat folded bin 10 may thus reduce shipping costs by more than five times by reducing the volume bin 10 occupies when shipped and significantly reduces the carbon footprint of shipping bin 10. Bin 10 in the folded flat configuration is also useful for users that would like to store bin 10 more efficiently while bin 10 is not holding any contents.

The process of manufacturing bin 10 may be include: sourcing the raw bio-based EVA expansion-foam from sugar cane (carbon-negative process); mixing the bio-based EVA expansion-foam with cellulose fibers, polyethylene, assorted pigments, and any necessary coupling agent, blowing agent, and crosslinking agent; molding the bio-based EVA expansion-foam in an EVA expansion-foam molding process to form an organizational bin component; pre-cooling the organizational bin component (e.g., for 30 seconds); turning the organizational bin component upside down and placing it on a shaping jig to form an organizational bin and finishing the cooling process. The step of pre-cooling can include placing the organizational bin component on a table or other cool surface for approximately 30 seconds before moving to the shaping jig. The pre-cooling step is utilized to ensure that the organizational bin shrinks evenly and allows for better control of the final cooled flatness of that edge. This process produces an organizational bin that is completely sealed such that the entire exposed surface area is waterproof.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.”

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.

It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively.

Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims and other claims to which the applicant may be entitled.

While various examples have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the examples described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific examples described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing examples are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, examples may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Examples of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An organizational bin, comprising:

a base having a plurality of corners and a first set of living hinges extending from a midpoint of the base to each of the plurality of corners; and

a plurality of walls integrally formed with the base and each other to define a cavity therein, wherein each wall is coupled to the base by a second set of living hinges and integrally coupled to each adjacent wall of the plurality of walls by a third set of living hinges.

2. The organizational bin of claim 1, wherein the base and the plurality of walls are formed from a molded foam material.

3. The organizational bin of claim 2, wherein the molded foam material is ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam.

4. The organizational bin of claim 1, wherein the organizational bin is a rectangular cube.

5. The organizational bin of claim 1, wherein the plurality of walls are four walls.

6. The organizational bin of claim 1, wherein the first set of living hinges, the second set of living hinges, and the third set of living hinges are arranged to allow the base to fold outwardly relative to the cavity.

7. The organizational bin of claim 2, wherein third set of living hinges are arranged so that two of the plurality of walls that are adjacent to each other can fold into contact with each other and two of the plurality of walls can pivot into a planar orientation.

8. The organizational bin of claim 2, wherein the third set of living hinges are arranged so that the two of the plurality of walls that are adjacent to each other can only fold into contact with each other and the two of the plurality of walls can only pivot into a planar orientation.

9. The organizational bin of claim 1, wherein the first set of living hinges, the second set of living hinges, and the third set of living hinges are formed by a molded foam material.

10. The organizational bin of claim 9, wherein the first set of living hinges, the second set of living hinges, and the third set of living hinges are formed by a thinner web of the molded foam material forming the base and the plurality of walls.

11. A method of manufacturing an organizational bin, comprising:

molding a foam material to form an organizational bin component; and

shaping the organizational bin component to form a base having a plurality of corners and a first set of living hinges extending from a midpoint of the base to each of the plurality of corners and a plurality of walls integrally formed with the base and each other to define a cavity therein, wherein each wall is coupled to the base by a second set of living hinges and integrally coupled to each adjacent wall of the plurality of walls by a third set of living hinges.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the foam material is an expansion foam.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the foam material is ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the organizational bin is a rectangular cube.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of walls are four walls.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first set of living hinges, the second set of living hinges, and the third set of living hinges are arranged to allow the base to fold outwardly relative to the cavity.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the third set of living hinges are arranged so that two of the plurality of walls that are adjacent to each other can fold into contact with each other and two of the plurality of walls can pivot into a planar orientation.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein third set of living hinges are arranged so that the two of the plurality of walls that are adjacent to each other can only fold into contact with each other and the two of the plurality of walls can only pivot into a planar orientation.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the first set of living hinges, the second set of living hinges, and the third set of living hinges are formed by the foam material.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first set of living hinges, the second set of living hinges, and the third set of living hinges are formed by a thinner web of the foam material forming the base and the plurality of walls.