| US3455529A | 1969-07-15 | |||
| US4487388A | 1984-12-11 |
| 1. | A refuse bag holder for holding a refuse bag (14) which is preferably intended for use by dentists and doctors and which has resiliently bendable walls and is of the kind which can be opened by pressing the bag side edges (15, 15) towards one another to resiliently open out the two mutually opposing side walls (28, 29) of the bag in a respective direction from the main plane of the bag, such as to form an open bag which has relatively rigid side edges and is detachably mounted in a holder (9) which comprises a bottom support (19) for supporting the bottom edge (20) of the bag and two sideedge supports (13) for coaction with the side edges of the opened bag, such that the bag will be held firmly in its open position, said bottom support being configured to grip around the bottom edge of the bag, and each of the sideedge supports being configured to grip around a respective side edge of the open bag, characterized in that the holder includes a rear support wall (10), the upper part of which has a curved or cornered configuration to form a support for one outwardly convexed side of the open bag adjacent the upper end part of said one side in the vicinity of the bag opening; in that the side edges of the upper end of the rear support wall are provided with obliquely and outwardly directed, fixed flat parts (10A) which are extended with flat support parts (12) at an angle to the outwardly directed parts such as to form fixed seats (13) for the relatively rigid side edges of the open bag; in that the rear support wall is provided at the bottom thereof with an angled, fixed bottom support (19) having angularly disposed flat parts for supporting and retaining the relatively rigid bottom edge (20) of the open bag; in that the seat (13) and the rear wall (10) are configured so as to leave free spaces (11) beneath the seat (13) in order to leave a free space for the fingers of one hand used to press against the bag sideedges so as to urge said side edges resi¬ liently towards one another to a mutual distance there¬ between which will enable the bag to be inserted into and removed from said free space between the two seats (13); and in that the holder is a onepiece structure, made for instance from a plastics or sheet metal material. |
The present invention relates to a refuse bag holder of the kind set forth in the preamble of the following main claim.
It is known from U.S. Patent 1,459,880 to hold a bag open in a bag filling machine with the aid of movable jaws, which clamp against the side edges of the bag.
Primarily, the invention is intended to enable bags to be used whose sizes, when the bags are opened to their full volume, correspond to the sizes of plastic beakers used hitherto for collecting refuse or waste in nursing and dental care facilities.
The object of the present invention is to provide a refuse bag holder in which a refuse bag which when open can be readily placed in and removed from the bag holder. This is achieved with a refuse bag holder having the character¬ izing features set forth in the following claims.
The size of the holder is adapted to the size of the bag concerned. The bag can be manufactured easily and cheaply in conventional machines and may consist of wet-strong paper, plastic treated paper or thin plastic foil, the essential criteriuπt being that the material has the requi¬ site springiness or resiliency to enable the bag to be held in the holder, so as to form the inventive refuse container .
Refuse bags intended for the inventive refuse bag holder are produced at much lower manufacturing costs than the beakershaped containers used hitherto and are also more
advantageous, since flattened bags can be placed one on top of the other and stored in the minimum of space, as opposed to the storage of beaker-shaped containers. A bag is placed in the bag holder by gripping the upper end of the bag and pressing the side edges of the bag towards one another such that the bag will open while the bag side- -walls are urged outwards against their inherent spring force, therewith to form a bowl-shape configuration. The bottom edge of the bag is then placed on the bottom support of the holder and the upper end of the bag is inserted between the side-edge supports and allowed to spring back into abutment with the bag side-edges against the side edge support. Both the upper end and the bottom of the bag are therewith held firmly in the holder. The material from which the bag placed in the holder is made is sufficiently rigid to ensure that the bag will not lose the grip established at the side-edge supports and bottom supports when a dental instrument or some other instrument or tool is scraped or wiped against the rim of the bag opening. For the purpose of facilitating cleansing of, e.g., pincettes, instruments for removing dental plaque, etc., a small V-shaped aperture or notch may conveniently be made at the upper end of the bag side-edges. The instrument can then be scraped quickly and effectively against the edges of the notch or like aperture, so that the waste will fall into the bag.
A suitable embodiment of the inventive refuse bag holder and of a bag adapted thereto is shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the inventive refuse bag holder with a bag, the opened and firmly held bag being illustrated solely in chain lines, for the sake of clarity.
Fig. 2 is a side view and Fig. 3 a top view of the refuse bag holder illustrated in Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a plan view of a bag intended for the refuse bag holder illustrated in Fig. 1.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the bag when open.
In the case of the illustrated example, the holder 9 comprises a rear support wall 10 which is made of sheet metal or some other rigid material. Parts 10A of the wall side edges of this embodiment are cut away to form notches or recesses 11. In the region above these notches, the side-edge parts 10A of the wall 10 are drawn out and bent outwardly to an obliquely outward position. The extremi¬ ties of these outwardly drawn side-edge parts merge with inwardly turned flaps or ears 12, which together with adjacent edge parts 10A of the wall 10 each form a side- -edge support 13 or seat for the side edges 15 of the bag 14. In the case of the embodiment shown in Figs. 1-3, the side-edge supports 13 are essentially V-shaped, with approximately a right angle between the sides of respec- tive supports, although the side support may also have a bottom surface which forms a gently rounded seat for receiving a bag of the kind which has side edges with inwardly directed folds. This rounded seat will provide more space for the development of these folds when opening the bag.
The lower end part of the wall 10 is provided with an up¬ wardly folded edge tab 17 which together with an adjacent part 10B of the wall 10 forms a V-shaped bottom support 19 for supporting the bottom edge 20 of the bag.
The bag illustrated in Fig. 4 has an inwardly folded and firmly glued side-edge flap 24 which assists in providing a bag of desired stiffness, this bag stiffness also being assisted by an upwardly folded and firmly glued bottom- edge flap 25 located at the bottom of the bag. Alternati-
vely, the bag may include a closure flap capable of being folded down on the inside of the bag, such as to increase the resiliency in the walls of the bag when open, and the¬ rewith hold the edges 26A of the bag opening 26 in place when a tool or instrument is scraped against said edges. Provided at the ends of the bag opening are notches 27, into which the point of an instrument can be placed and withdrawn such as to dislodge refuse or waste from the instrument, this refuse falling down into the bag.
A large number of flat, collapsed bags 14 can be stacked one upon the other, to form of a small package.
When fitting a bag 14 into the holder, the bottom edge 20 of the bag is placed in the bottom support 19 and the side edges of the bag are squeezed with the fingers, so that the bag walls 28, 29 will bulge outwards, to a somewhat greater extent than that shown in Fig. 5. This will reduce the width of the open bag at its upper end. so that said end can be hooked in between the side-edge support 13. The pressure on the bag side-edges is then released, so that the inherent resiliency of the bag walls will strive to return the bag to its flat state. This is prevented, how¬ ever, by the side-edge supports which grip around the bag side-edges and hold the bag securely in a firm grip. To this end, the distance between the bottoms of the two side-edge supports 13 is made so much smaller than the width of the bag that the bag opening will have the desired width when the bag is held in the holder.
When removing the bag from the holder, pressure is applied with the fingers to the side-edges of the bag to an extent which will enable the bag to be drawn out through the ope¬ ning located between the side-edge supports and lifted from the bottom-edge support. The recessed portions 11 provide space for the fingers.
The wall 10 has punched approximately centrally therein an opening 30 having flaps or tabs 31, 32 extending from its upper and lower edges respectively, these tabs being intended for insertion into and retention by a fishtail- shaped rail capable of being fastened, e.g., to a wall. Alternatively, the holder may be screwed firmly to a heavy plate 34. which is intended to lie on a table such that the holder will adopt an upstanding position.