Object of the invention
[0001] The present invention relates to a support mechanism for elevated bags with the element
of an insert for the opened bag, which provides essential novelty features and significant
advantages in regards to resources known and used for the same purposes in the current
state of the art.
[0002] More particularly, the invention proposes the development of a light material laminated
element, flexible or semi-rigid, such as a plastic material or similar, with a substantially
elongated shape, provided with notches in relation to both longitudinal edges, which
enable the curving of the laminated element for the attachment of the bag on its outside,
in a way that enables its adaptation while at the same time, offering tabs on the
upper part of the sides for the suspension of the bag by its handles, being the central
portion equipped with longitudinal folding lines and to some distance of, and parallel
to, each of its respective upper edge, that outlines a strip or tab that may be folded,
which constitutes a means for hanging the set from an appropriate horizontal support
mechanism. The hanging feature of the support mechanism with the bag can be secured
with the assistance of a rigid piece specifically designed to that effect, which is
placed over the area for the attachment of the element in a way that the set is fixed
to the support mechanism element, while the set may be hidden or embellished with
the use of a covering element, formed by a laminated piece with a general flat shape,
equipped with openings or slits designed to enable its hanging from the support mechanism
tabs on the exterior of the set.
[0003] The field of application of the invention falls within the industrial sector dedicated
to the manufacture and supply of moulded components, particularly laminated elements
adequately formed.
Background and Summary of the Invention
[0004] The variety of uses that bags made of plastic, paper and other materials have found
in the market, has been known throughout the last decades. In many occasions, it is
recommended to keep bags in a heightened position to facilitate their use, and being
open as a condition to allow for greater ease, convenience and quickness of depositing
or extracting objects from inside.
[0005] Other devices, used combined with the aforementioned bags are already known in the
current state of the art, to keep the latter in an open position, and which are also
recoverable and reusable elements once the bags have been used. These existing devices
usually consist of suspension and attachment rings, bins with integrated mechanical
lids, mechanicals rings that require fixing or screwing to the attachment, etc., in
a way that some require a space on the floor, and others require ironwork or anchoring
elements for their placement, finally becoming fixed elements or of a complicated
assembly and disassembly.
[0006] Given the above, the present invention has stated as its main objective the development
of a support mechanism for bags of the aforementioned type that, being of a simple
conception and easy, fast and economical manufacture, provide additional means of
suspension and hanging of the bags, with a very easy attachment to the common existing
elements, that allows to keep them open to facilitate an easy, fast and convenient
access to their interior. This goal has been fully attained through the support mechanism
that will be subject to the following description, whose main characteristics are
contained within the characterizing portion of claim 1.
[0007] In essence, the support mechanism for bags is composed of a main element and two
additional complementary elements of which the principal element, through which the
real maintaining of the bag is accomplished, is conceived in a way that allows it
to be attached or hung on any slit or appropriate horizontal support, such as the
upper edge of a kitchen cabinet door or other type, as it consists of a moulded element
with a sufficiently reduced thickness so as to allow its insertion through a horizontal
opening or slit of reduced width, or its disposition to be hung from a strip or similar.
The proposed support mechanism consists of a single piece, with a generally elongated
shape, made of plastic material, flexible, semi-rigid or similar, obtained, as mentioned,
through moulding (or even apt to be configured through a stamping operation), of a
previously established width, at which the longitudinal edges exhibit notches that,
on the one hand, facilitate the general bending of the element according to the longitudinal
dimension, and on the other hand, allows the definition in relation to the rim that
takes the upper position when the element is in its operative condition, of three
consecutive portions, with symmetry in connection with the central transverse axis.
This way, then the element is bent to adopt a nearly semi-circumferential configuration,
both external portions, under the aforementioned notches, generally adopt a tab shape,
pointed upwards to a certain height, and suitable to admit and resist the hanging
of a bag and its load, by the insertion of the bag handles in each of the support's
tabs, while the central portion of the main support element has been equipped with
folding lines on the longitudinal direction of the support, parallel to the upper
rim and at some distance of the latter, through which a longitudinal strip or tab
with three adjacent sections is defined, which when folded square to the exterior,
i.e. to the opposite side of the element curving, constitute the anchoring and attachment
portion of the set for hanging on a drawer or door of a kitchen cabinet. Thereby,
a support element is provided for the efficient and effective hanging of a bag, with
the guarantee that its insert is kept in an open position for an easy access to its
interior, with the possibility of the bag being conveniently unhooked and the support
being reused for other bags. In addition, this main support element is complemented
by a first clamp element, configured in a straight channel, sized in a way that enables
its attachment over the aforementioned longitudinal strip or support tab portion,
when the latter has been formed and attached to the means of suspension (upper edge
of a furniture door, hanging bar, etc.), ensuring that the suspension feature is maintained,
increasing the resistance of the support, while a second element conceived with the
intended purpose of improving the finish and exterior appearance of the support as
an embellisher, is formed by a cover piece that consists of a laminated body of canvas
material made of plastic, synthetic or any other material easily configured and sanitized
by washing or similar means, which is equipped with two openings or slits placed close
to the upper longitudinal rim, to enable its insertion in the respective tabs of the
main support element, being a coverage piece placed over the set.
[0008] Therefore, not only all previously set forth inconveniences regarding the other existing
support devices in the current state of the art are rectified , but it is also complemented
with a simple and economical support element, that enables the supporting of a bag
in an open and elevated position without the assistance of other equipment or tools,
of very easy assembly and disassembly, ergonomic, reusable and with an exterior appearance
substantially improved in the operative condition of the same, while disregarding
the need for a space on the floor.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0009] These and other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become more
apparent with the detailed description arising from a preferred embodiment of the
invention wherein the following drawings are shown as way of illustration but not
limited to:
Figure 1 is a schematic view, in a frontal general elevation, of a main support element
for bags according to the invention, shown as a unique moulded and formed piece;
Figure 2 shows both views (a) and (b) illustrative of schematized representations
of both additional complementary elements of clamp and laminated canvas coverage,
respectively usable together with the main support element in Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a schematic, top view, of the main support element for bags of Figure
1, bent and configured for immediate use;
Figure 4 illustrates a schematic top view of the main support element of Figure 1
in an embodiment by insertion through a slit and application on the top edge of a
furniture door or similar, and
Figure 5 is a schematized representation, in perspective from one of the sides, of
the main element of support as used in Figure 4, with both complementary elements
of Figure 2 applied over the first.
Description of a Preferred Embodiment
[0010] As mentioned above, the detailed description of the object of the invention will
be performed with the assistance of the attached drawings, through which the same
numerical references for the designation of equal or similar parts will be used. Thus,
referring to Figure 1 in the first place, a general view in front elevation of a main
support element for bags according to the invention can be seen, designed generally
through numerical reference 1, consisting of one piece with a general elongated shape
in which three consecutive portions are shown, identified by numerical references
2, 3 and 4, configured in a way that the piece as a whole, keeps symmetry with respect
to the central transverse axis. The element exhibits a predefined width, defined by
two longitudinal edges on which indentations have been executed in interspersed positions
between the aforementioned consecutive positions 2, 3, 4, in a way that, in relation
to the edge that occupies the top position during use of the piece, the respective
tabs are shown identified with references 5, 6, they are of considerable width and
have the double functionality that allows the definition of indentations 2a, 4a, in
relations to portions 2, 4 respective from which they are projected, and also facilitating
the bending of the support element with respect to its longitudinal axis. Meanwhile,
central portion 3 includes the formation of several longitudinal folding lines, affecting
its area, also next to the same longitudinal edge, separated and parallel to one another,
identified through numerical references 7a, 7b, 7c, extended on the longitudinal direction
of the piece and at the same time parallel to central exterior edge 3a of such portion,
resulting in the formation of a strip or tab with a surface divided among three longitudinal
sections 8a, 8b, 8c that through the successive folding with respect to lines 7a,
7b, 7c that define them, embody the formation of a means of attachment and hanging
for this main element of support.
[0011] According to the configuration with which piece 1 has been equipped, forming the
main support element of the present invention, such piece is susceptible to adopt
a certain curvature in a longitudinal direction, following a general configuration
that reaches a semi circumferential path, and that is depicted in the perspective
view in Figure 3 of the drawings. In such view, each of the portions 2, 4 of the sides
has been bent to the interior, i.e. in the direction in which each approaches the
other according to the position shown in the drawing, which curvature action is facilitated,
as mentioned before, by the areas with lower height in which notches 5, 6 have been
made regarding the upper edge, while sections 8a, 8b, 8c, are presented successively
folded backwards regarding to the position of the drawing, folded along respective
lines 7a, 7b, 7c adopting such strips or tabs a position with the global configuration
of an inverted U, which materializes a means of attachment enabled to be adjoined
to a means of suspension for the hanging of the set. In these conditions, the configuration
of the attachment provided by the aforementioned section tabs 8a, 8b, 8c is positioned
in a way that it may be inserted through any horizontal longitudinal slit or groove,
or placed over an edge, a bar or similar means of suspension, serving as a means of
support of the element curved in such way and ready to receive a bag to hold.
[0012] Figure 2 of the drawings shows two representations (a) and (b) that respectively
identify a pair of elements which have been conceived as complementary components
of the main support element 1 and which essentially consist of a clamp 12 and a laminated
sheet 13 for coverage or embellishment. The clamp element 12 is configured as a straight
channel, constructed on the basis of a rigid material or similar, sized to be attached
by pressure over the inverted U shaped, forming from sections 8a, 8b, 8c of the main
support element 1, this way ensuring that such attachment configuration is kept in
its operating place on the support means (Drawer, upper edge of a furniture door,
or other appropriate horizontal support element).
[0013] Meanwhile, the coverage element essentially consists of a flat, laminated sheet with
a generally rectangular shape, as a plastic, synthetic or similar tarp or canvas,
enabled to be washed for sanitation, and provided with a couple of slits or openings
elongated in mutually aligned positions, parallel to the upper element's edge and
separated from the latter by a short distance. These slits or openings 14 are sized
in a way that enable an easy and fast insertion in the interior of tabs 2a, 4a, formed
respectively in portions 2, 4 of the main support element 1.
[0014] The operative condition of the support mechanism for bags proposed by the invention
is displayed as seen in Figure 4 of the drawings. This figure shows an example of
use in which the main support element 1 of the invention is placed over the upper
edge of a cabinet door, suspended over said edge, by insertion and placement of the
inverted U configuration obtained through tab sections 8a, 8b, 8c through the existing
groove between the upper edge of said door and the frame structure to which said door
is attached 9. Under these conditions, tabs 2a, 4a of the respective portions 2, 4
sides of such support element 1 have advanced positions regarding the level of the
cabinet door 9 mutually opposed to each other, and thus are suitable to be inserted
through any bag 10 handles 11 such as shown in said Figure 4. In these conditions,
it is guaranteed that the bag 10 is perfectly held and supported by the aforementioned
portions 2, 3, 4 of the support element 1 keeping the mouth of said bag in an open
position ensuring this way an easy, convenient and fast access to the inside space
of the bag. Of course, the removal of the bag 10 enables the reutilization of the
support of the invention in the same way with a new bag, as needed. This operative
feature may be improved with regards to safety, resistance, external appearance and
aesthetics, with the assistance of the complementary elements of the clamp piece and
coverage sheet, together with said main support element 1 constitute the hanging set.
The situation is shown clearly in Figure 5 of the drawings in the same operative condition
as in Figure 4 obtained by hanging and suspension over the upper edge of a cabinet
door 9 but the clamping element 12 covering the inverted U configuration provided
by sections 8a-8c being clearly visible, guaranteeing the maintenance of such configuration,
and with the coverage element 13 applied directly over the bag 10, which covers and
hides most of it, and whose adaptation is produced by the configuration of the set,
keeping the coverage in this position by the insertion of portions 2a, 4a of the main
support element 1 through the slits or openings 14 provided for such coverage element
13.
[0015] It is not considered necessary to further extend the contents of the present description,
in order for an expert to be able to understand its scope and the advantages derived
from it, as well as to carry out the practical embodiment of its object.
[0016] Notwithstanding the above, and since the description made corresponds only to an
example of a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that within its essentiality,
there could be multiple modifications and variations introduced in detail, also comprised
within the scope of the invention, and which could affect features such as the shape,
size, manufacture materials or any other that do not alter the invention as it has
been described and as defined in the claims that follow.
1. Support mechanism for elevated bags, in particular an element of support conceived
to hold a bag (10) for residue disposal or similar elevated at some height, with an
element of an insert for the opened bag, so that it can be placed on an existing horizontal
support such a kitchen cabinet door (9) or another appropriate horizontal support,
with no assistance from other equipment or tools, characterized in that it comprises there separate and complemented elements consisting of: a main support
element (1) of a laminated sheet moulded into a single piece, with a general elongated
shape, with notches on both longitudinal edges, of which one of said edges features
a couple of notches (5, 6) defining a division of the laminated (1) element in three
consecutive portions (2, 3, 4) configured symmetrically regarding a central transversal
axis, of which each of the two side portions (2, 4) present, regarding the same longitudinal
edge, a formation of respective tabs (2a, 4a) and these tabs constitute the means
of attachment for each handle (11) of the bag (10) which wants to be suspended, while
the central portion (3), presents the anchoring element of the support, formed as
tabs by sections 8a,9b,8c defined after the square folding by the folding lines (7a,7b,7c),
to form an inverted U configuration that constitutes the means of hanging for the
set; a clamping element (12) consisting of a body shaped like a straight channel,
sized in a way that enables its attachment over the central portion (3) of the support
(1) when the inverted U formation is attached over the means of suspension and hanging;
and a coverage element, consisting of a plastic sheet or similar (13) with a general
rectangular shape equipped with a couple of slits (14), aligned to one another and
sized to hang from the tabs (2a, 4a) regarding the main support element (1) to cover
and hide it.