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None
Research and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program.
NOT APPLICABLE
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to standard sized garbage pails, in general, and to a liner system which provides cleaner looking garbage receptacles, and an improved sanitation system, in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known and understood, most apartment dwellers and homeowners use garbage pails in one form or another—typically employing a plastic garbage can liner to collect the trash inserted. Usually, the process begins by removing one of interlaced liners from a purchased box of them, or tearing one from off a roll, before inserting the liner into the pail with its upper edge draped over the surrounding rim of the pail. Once the liner (a plastic garbage bag, for example) is filled, it is removed and replaced by a new liner for use.
However, as is well known and understood, the liner/bag oftentimes is oversized with respect to the pail, so that its draped upper edge takes on a sloppy appearance when fitted in place. On the other hand, where the liner/bag is undersized, the risk definitely runs of its being pulled into the pail by the weight of the trash. When this happens, a “corruption” of the inside of the pail results, with the need for repeated washing out to remove contamination, malodorous odors and waste accumulations from the inner walls.
As will be understood, as bad as these situations may be with the apartment dweller or homeowner, it becomes progressively worse in offices, and in such institutions as nursing homes and hospitals where the accumulation of trash is more pervasive. With healthcare institutions, as an example, contamination to the inside of the pail from the discard of “coughed-into” or “sneezed-into” tissues, napkins or paper towels, can lead to just such type of infection and contamination that the use of the liners are supposed to protect against. Additionally, in these types of environs, significant labor hours spent by housekeeping or officekeeping staff results, as the employees go through the daily process of having to remove the liners, and then having to replace and reset them in position throughout the day. In these latter instances, of course, the labor expended translates into additional labor costs and expense.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved type of garbage can liner system which obviates these problems.
It is an object of the present invention, also, to provide a system which produces cleaner looking, neater garbage receptacles—whether used in the apartment, the home, the office, or in any other institutional or like environment.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a garbage can liner system which affords a more effective and easier method of increased sanitation.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide such a system which can reduce the amount of labor time expended in an institutional setting so as to allow for vast savings in labor costs to be had for housekeeping activities.
As will become clear from the following description, the garbage can liner system of the invention utilizes premolded, multiple plastic bags formed into a pack with a supportive edge which overlies the surrounding upper rim of a standard sized garbage pail. The multiple plastic bags are compressed flat one atop another, with each of the bags being pushed inwardly down as a unit to fill the pail to which it is sized to match. With the upper outer edge of each bag as it rests on the pail produced with a neat trim edge, a clean fit and appearance results. When the first, or top plastic bag is filled with trash, it is torn from the rack, leaving the next bag already in place for filling.
As will be described, in a first embodiment of the invention, each of the bags is joined to its adjacent bag along a tearable line. In a second embodiment, the pack includes a frame overlaying the upper rim of the garbage pail, with each of the bags extending inwardly from opposing sides of the frame along the tearable separation line. In either arrangement, once the bag is filled with trash, it is torn free from the rack, lifted out, tied off and removed. Any trash which might fall from the bag as it is being removed from the pail will automatically be seen to fall into the next bag in the pail beneath it.
These and other features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIGS. 1-3 illustrate the operativeness of the first embodiment of the invention in conjunction with a substantially cylindrical garbage pail;
FIGS. 4-7 are illustrative of the second embodiment of the invention operative with a garbage pail of orthogonal configuration.
In FIGS. 1-3, a substantially cylindrical garbage pail 10 is shown having a surrounding upper rim 12. A pack of compressed multiple plastic garbage pail liners 14 is provided with an upper edge 16 at which each of the garbage pail liners 14 is joined, along tearable lines 18 in a manner such that each liner is joined to the one beneath it along the line 18. With the pack composed of one of 10, 20 and 30 plastic liners per pack, for example, of pre-molded plastic composition, the garbage can liner system is employed simply by downwardly pushing the pack as a unit to fill the pail 10 as shown by the arrow 100 in FIG. 2; the individual liners then take on the general configuration of the pail, as shown at A, B, C in FIG. 1. As the first, or uppermost liner at A is filled, or otherwise determined to be removed, its upper edge 16 is torn from the tearable line 18 (as at 20 in FIG. 3) for lifting out, tying off, and removing. Any trash that might fall from the liner in doing this will be seen to fall back inside the pail, to be collected by the next lower liner of the pack—B in FIG. 1. A trimmed upper edge of each liner gives a neat appearance to the pack.
In the configuration of FIGS. 4-7, an orthogonal garbage pail 22 is shown, also with a surrounding upper rim 24. The pack of plastic garbage pail liners here includes a frame 26 which overlays the garbage pail rim 24—again by a supportive edge 28 with a pack of compressed pre-molded plastic liners 30 extending inwardly of the frame from its opposing sides, at which point each liner can be torn away from the one beneath it. With the liners sized to fit the pail 22—as with the configuration of FIGS. 1-3—, removing the filled liner 34 is similarly done through tearing along the lines 32, lifting the liner outwardly (FIG. 7), and leaving the next liner (and all the others joined with it) beneath it, in place. Again, each of the liners is arranged to have a neatly trimmed upper edge.
As with the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, any trash which might fall during the removal process just lands in the expanded liner beneath, and is easily collected.
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a cleaner looking, neater garbage pail receptacle results, in a manner which affords a more effective method of increased sanitation, and which drastically reduces the amount of labor expended in liner replacement. A significant reduction in labor costs as to this then results in housekeeping expense.
While there have been described what are considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. For at least such reason, therefore, resort should be had to the claims appended hereto for a true understanding of the scope of the invention.