GB2295135A - Stand-alone bag holder - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention relates to a frame of integral construction that will support a grocery shopping bag in an upright and open position, facilitating the bag's use as a waste receptacle. Upright sections (a1, b1 and a2, b2) at each end of the frame have indented portions (d1, d2 and d3, d4) on which bag handles can be hung. This invention removes the need for use of a standard waste receptacle allowing the liner to stand alone. The hanger/holder bends buckles and flexes in a manner that allows a common plastic grocery bag to be stretched by the handles used to carry the bag, stretching the bag open causing a defined and rigid aperture approximating the shape of a rectangle. <IMAGE>

Description

STAND ALONE BAG FRAME AND HOLDER This invention relates to a frame, made of a strip that will support a grocery shopping bag in an upright and open position, facilitating the bags use as a waste receptacle.

PRIOR ART All offices and homes use refuse receptacles of various types. In order to facilitate the re-use of a receptacle a liner is customarily used. This invention removes in one aspect the need for use of a standard waste receptacle allowing the liner to stand alone.

The present invention is distinguished from previous publication WO 93/14980 as the present invention is a single piece of a single material and does not utilise a lid or a box, or cone, or similar enclosed form used to accommodate and conceal the liner and refuse. In addition, as the present invention is a single piece, it does not require the use of bolts, lids, or any combination of different parts as is the case with WO 93/14980. The single piece frame set out in the present document is a bag hanger and holder standing alone on a horizontal plane.

Similarly prior art WO 92/13767 also shows a holder with various component parts fabricated of separate pieces, that is fixed to a kitchen draw by mounting brackets.

The present invention is distinguished from WO 92113767 as a stand-alone unit.

The present invention does not provide a system that will attach to a backboard for support or provide a system for concealment of the waste receptacle. It does not require the use of swivel arms, mounting brackets, or locking wedges, as it is not concerned with the concealment of the liner and refuse, or its fixation against or upon a vertical plane.

SUMMARY The invention accomplishes a support frame that holds and opens a plastic bag, allowing the bag or liner to operate as the refuse receptacle obviating the need for 1 a tubed or enclosed shape that customarily serves as bin, paper basket, trash can, or waste receptacle.

The hanger/holder will bend buckle and flex in a manner that allows a common plastic grocery bag to be stretched by the handles used to carry the bag, stretching the bag open causing a defined and rigid aperture approximating the shape of a rectangle. In addition the hanger/holder surrounds the bag, holding and supporting it upright, allowing the bottom of the bag to hang on or just above the surface on which it might rest. The present invention can accommodate multiple bag sizes.

Drawings attached illustrate a specific embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 is a view of the structure showing individual parallel subframes displayed without a bag.

Figure 2 is a view of a single subframe illustrating the direction of its biassed tendency.

Figure 3 is an isometric display of the crossbars and buckles.

Figure 4 is a top view of the cross bars with a bag inserted in the buckles with arrows indicating the stretching directions that hold and open the bag.

Figure 5 is an isometric view of the holder without a bag displaying all differing parts labelled.

Figure 6 is an isometric view of the holder with a bag.

Figure 7 is an isometric view of a boarded frame that does not rely on a circuitous structure, and has a base to trap any escaping refuse.

One embodiment of the invention (Figures 1 to 6) is comprised of a single strip, bar, rod, wire or pole joined together at the ends and forming a circuitous curvature of any natural or fabricated material. The width, diameter, and shape of this circuitous strip may vary according to preferred design and style.

The design will accommodate various present and future sizes and shapes of bags commonly used for hauling groceries from shop to home, and may provide for a system that allows close fit of different sized bags.

One embodiment of the hoider/hanger is a closed loop of material. Segments of the loop run parallel and have a symmetry that will provide a frame in which the bag is to be caged and hanged. The frame rises on all four corners alongside the vertical edges of a bag, and curves underneath the longest side of the base of the bag. Figure 1 shows four upright bars (a1 ,a2,b1 ,b2) displayed which follow the front edges of the bag and are curved at the bottom of the length of the bag (curves -c1 ,c2,c3,c4) forming two subframes A & B.

The upright strips, rods, or poles are joined underneath the bag between the curves c1 and c2; c3 and c4.

The curves (cl .c2,c3,c4) are of a physical measure, that will cause the top of the upright sections (a1, a2, b1 ,b2), to be biassed and urged to move in an outward fashion as illustrated in Figure 2. This outward tendency creates tension that fixes the bag in a stressed and open position.

Figure 3 displays the top of the four upright strips (al, a2, b1, b2 ), with buckles dl ,d2,d3,d4 and crossbars el and e2. The buckles catch the loops of the top of the bags, which customarily serve to hold and carry the bag with one hand. The buckles are directed in towards the centre of the frame in a form approximating a half circle or angular shape as displayed in the illustrated embodiment. The buckles' size, and the crossbars' length conform to the size of the bag handles.

The buckles serve as an indentation or hook on which the bag's handles can be fitted, catching the bag's handles and urging the bag open while holding it in place.

The crossbars sections of the frame (e1 and e2) displayed in Figures 3 & 4 are of a design and length that will benefit from the elasticity of the bag and allow for a snug fit of the loops of the bag over the crossbars and the buckles. By conforming to the size of the bag's handles, the crossbars force the handles open to their widest capacity, stretching the bag open along its width.

The length of the crossbars hold the width of the bag open, while the outward movement at the top of the upright strip (urged by the curves at the bottom of the upright strips) urge the bag open across its full length . Thus viewed from above the invention with a bag fitted for use will resemble the device illustrated in figure 4. The tension caused by the invention along the width and length of the bag is represented by the arrows provided in Figure 4.

Figure 5 illustrates the device without a bag, while figure 6 illustrates the device with a bag in place. Figure 6 shows how the bag is pulled open from the loops by the frames buckles. It also shows the bag hanging open between the subframes, with the bottom resting on or above a supporting surface were the frame rests.

The shape or design will vary according to market and design preferences. The basic shape illustrated accomplishes the intended uses of the invention. All shapes and dimensions between and resembling these and fitting the descriptions set out above are intended to be protected. Every variance, however, is not practical to list in this document. Thus the invention is applicable to all sizes and weights. The invention offers a particularly stable structure in which to store all types of refuse. The invention is published and uses the common grocery bag as a departure point. It is not limited to these types of bags and is applicable to all bags capable of storing from one gram in weight to one tone in weight. Various changes and modifications may be commercially necessary or practicable without departing from the present invention defined in the appended claims.

Claims (10)

I CLAIM:

1. A frame that will serve as a bag holder, comprising: an integral piece; of a single material; with two upright sections; buckles integral to the upright portions;

2. A frame according to claim 1 which standing alone, supports a bag on or above a horizontal plane, floor, or supporting surface on which it rests;

3. A frame according to the above claims wherein the shape conforms to and supports a plastic bag with handles, in an upright, stretched, and open position;

4. A frame according to the above claims wherein the body follows the outline of a standard shopping bag along its sides, and having upright portions following the bag's vertical side, and bending underneath the base of the bag, and meeting underneath the bag;

5.A frame according to the above claims with indentations or buckles at the top of the upright strips that catch and hold in place the handles, loops or holders of a carrier bag;

6. A frame according to the above claims wherein the bottom curves of the frame join the continuation of the upright strips under the bag are of a material and form that will urge the top ends of the frame and the buckles away from each other, thereby urging a bag open by the handles along a bag's longest side;

7. A frame according to the above claims with buckles and crossbars of a size that will closely fit the holder, loop or handle of the bag, thereby stretching the bag open along the shortest size.

8. A frame as defined in the above claims comprised of a circuitous rod, band, strip, or coil, that follows the contour of a bag running underneath the outer edges of the longest sides of the bottom of the bag and along four outer upright edges of the bag forming two joined U-shaped subframes which are joined at the top by two crossbars.

9. A frame according to claim 8 wherein a crossbar conforms to the size of the handle of a shopping bag that when a bag handle is inserted in place over the crossbar, the bag is urged open along its shortest size.

10. A frame according to any of the above claims wherein the strip is made of a single piece of wood, plastic, metal or any natural or fabricated material.

11 A frame providing a waste disposal system comprising a frame according to any preceding claim by attaching a standard shopping bag to it.