HOOK ELEMENT FOR CLOSING BAGS AND/OR HANGING OBJECTS IN GENERAL

Abstract

 The present invention relates to a device (1) constituted by a thread or rod suitably folded in such a way as to generate:
- A first part (2, 2') forming a hook;
- Said first part (2, 2') connecting to a subsequent portion (3, 4, 5) comprising a first stem (3) which extends from said first hook part, a second stem (5) which faces the first stem (3) in such a way that they are facing each other, a U-shaped connection (4), which connects said first stem with said second rectilinear stem.

Description

Scope of the invention

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of accessories usable in different fields, among which for example the domestic field such as the kitchen.

[0002] More in particular, the invention relates to an innovative multipurpose hook element and very useful in many fields, such as for closing bags, hanging objects such as kitchen rags (also called cloths), etc.

Brief outline of prior art

[0003] It is known that in many fields, such as also the domestic field, having a support on which object of different types can be hung may be necessary. For example, in the domestic field, as well as in the kitchen, often the use of kitchen cloths may be necessary, which serve many functions including, for example, cleaning and/or drying hands while cooking, drying dishes and also, for example, picking up hot pans. These cloths are often hung but hooks are not always available in the kitchen for this purpose. In particular, some hooks are already arranged as fixed accessories in some parts of the kitchen and therefore, they cannot be moved. This means that the specific hook must remain in that position and if the user requires it in a different position, it is not possible to move it because it is an integral part of more elements of an unmovable kitchen.

[0004] To overcome this problem, hooks with suction cups exist which may be applied to a flat surface through said suction cup but they have an insufficient hold on the wall. Therefore, the case in which the cloth, with the whole hook with suction cup falls on the floor is not uncommon because the suction cup does not bear the weight.

[0005] Not least, these hooks are not always well capable of bearing the cloth which often slips off the hook and falls on the ground. In fact, in order to avoid this slipping, an eyelet in the cloth would be necessary which allows insertion and passage of the hook, and it is not always present in cloths.

[0006] Last but not least, kitchen hooks or in use in kitchens may have only this function for hanging on walls, or on other parts, a cloth or other kitchen elements but they cannot fulfill other functions, while, on the contrary, specific functions may be necessary, such as capability of closing an opened package (for example food), which now may be only be done with specific closure pegs or makeshift pegs (for example pegs for hanging clothing or cloths in general) adjusted to the purposes.

[0007] In addition, publications US5492297, US1286940, US5287971, DE3400120 are known in this technical field.

Summary of the invention

[0008] Therefore, the need for a technical solution which may overcome and/or at least reduce the limitations of the prior art described above is felt.

[0009] In particular, the aim of the present invention is to provide a solution of an element which may fulfill many functionalities, among which hook for hanging an object, for example a rag, on the wall but, at the same time, is also versatile for other uses such as a closure system for opened packages (for example food).

[0010] Therefore, these and other aims are achieved with the present device, according to claim 1.

[0011] This device (1) is constituted by, or consisting of, a bar or thread suitably folded in such a way as to generate:

[0012] A first part (2, 2') forming a hook;

[0013] Advantageously, as explained below, through said first hook part (2, 2') the device may be readily hung in use, for example on a fixed support such as part of furniture or a kitchen.

[0014] This first part (2, 2') connects to a subsequent portion (3, 4, 5) comprising a first stem (3) which extends from said first hook part.

[0015] Then a second stem (5) is provided which faces the first stem (3) in such a way that they are facing each other.

[0016] Then a connection (4) is provided, which connects said first stem with said second stem.

[0017] Preferably said connection may be for example U-shaped.

[0018] In this way, all the aforementioned technical drawbacks are solved.

[0019] In particular, by elastically divaricating the first stem (3) and the second stem (5) between them, one may create, when needed, a space for inserting a portion of object and by releasing said first and second stem they elastically return to the original rest position in which they are close to each other, preferably just in contact, thereby grasping and locking a portion of object which is trapped between them.

[0020] This allows the use of the above-mentioned device, for example for closing bags by inserting the final opened part of the bag between said first and second stem.

[0021] A cloth may be locked at an end thereof through said first and second stem according to the modalities indicated above.

[0022] Then the whole device may be hung on any structural part or piece of furniture trough the hook portion.

[0023] In this way, for example, in the kitchen, cloths may be firmly fixed to said device and hung where required.

[0024] In the same way, this device, which proves to be multipurpose, may have the function of closing different bags such as flour, bread and is even leak-tight if it is used to close food bags containing liquids. As mentioned, then it can even be hung.

[0025] Therefore, the described device is very versatile and resolves the technical drawbacks described above.

[0026] Advantageously, said rod or said thread may be metallic or of plastic type.

[0027] In this way, the device is resistant and provided with good elastic flexibility.

[0028] In the event of metal, it is certainly much more resistant.

[0029] In the event of plastic, it is certainly much cheaper and may be easily produced.

[0030] In all cases, it is readily washable if needed.

[0031] In all cases, it may readily be sized like iron thread of suitable diameter (for example, with conformation in circular section) to then be folded in the form described with reference to the figures.

[0032] Iron, steel or brass may for example be selected among the different usable metals.

[0033] It may be possibly made of plastic, among plastic materials.

[0034] Advantageously, said first stem and said second stem may be rectilinear or substantially rectilinear.

[0035] Advantageously, the end of the second stem (5), on the side opposite to the connection, ends with an eyelet (6).

[0036] In this way, advantageously, the eyelet may serve as a grasping point for divaricating the first stem and the second stem between them.

[0037] Therefore, advantageously, the device is configured in such a way as to have a predetermined elastic flexibility such that said first stem (3) and said second stem (5) can be divaricated between each other by applying a force and, upon releasing said force, they tend to return elastically to the initial rest condition.

[0038] In this way, advantageously, any object can be locked between them like a peg.

[0039] Advantageously, said second stem (5) has a length greater than the first stem (3) such that a portion of said second stem (5) (also defined excess) is formed which extends beyond the first part (2, 2') forming the hook.

[0040] This exceeding portion generated by the portion of the second stem which extends beyond the first hook part (therefore, excess which stands above the first hook part) facilitates possibility of divaricating between them the first and the second stem by grasping the device through the hook and by pushing with the fingertip of a finger (for example, the thumb) on this excess.

[0041] The object of the present invention is also the use of a device (1) according to one or more of the previous features, for grasping an object.

[0042] In particular, advantageously, the grasped object may then be hung by taking advantage of the hook part of the device.

[0043] Advantageously, the object is grasped by divaricating between them the first stem and the second stem by inserting a portion of the object into the obtained divarication space and releasing said first and second stem which trap between them said portion of object by returning to the original rest position.

[0044] Advantageously, in a non-limiting way, said object may be for example a kitchen cloth or a towel or a bed sheet or the like or a bag or a pouch in general, such as bags for containing food or freezer bags, food bags in general or the like.

[0045] Advantageously, in addition, the object trapped in said device may be hung by applying the first part (2, 2') of the hook-shaped device to a fixed support, for example the handle of a shelf or an object-holder bar hung on the wall.

[0046] Advantageously, divarication may occur by grasping the device by the first hook part (2, 2') and by said eyelet (6) and applying a force sufficient to move away the first stem from the second stem.

[0047] This creates the space sufficient for inserting the portion of object which then remains elastically trapped between said first stem and second stem upon releasing the divarication force.

[0048] Alternatively, or in combination with what has been described, divarication may occur with a hand by grasping the device by the hook and pushing with a finger, for example with the thumb (preferably with the fingertip of the thumb), said excess of the second stem which stands above the hook.

Brief description of the drawings

[0049] Additional features and advantages of the present device, according to the invention, will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments thereof, given only by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

• Figure 1 shows in axonometric view this device according to the invention;
• Figure 2 and figure 3 show two further views;
• Figures from 4 to 7 show some application examples of use;
• Figures 8 and 9 show an example of divarication by grabbing the device on the hook part and pushing on the excess with the thumb of the same hand;
• Figure 10 shows in axonometric view the device for highlighting the excess;

Description of some preferred embodiments

[0050] The device object of the present invention is described according to the appended figures.

[0051] Therefore, the object of the present invention is a device 1 comprising, preferably constituted by or consisting of, a suitably folded thread-like element, for example a rod or thread or a band.

[0052] This folded thread-like element (for example rod or thread or band) thus generates:

A first part (2, 2') forming a hook;

Said first part (2, 2') connecting to a subsequent portion (3, 4, 5) which can be elastically divaricated in such a way as to be able to generate a space to elastically lock a portion of an object in general.

[0053] Advantageously, this subsequent portion may comprise a first stem 3 which extends from said first hook part, a second stem 5 which faces the first stem 3 in such a way that they are facing each other and a connection 4, preferably U-shaped, which connects said first stem with said second rectilinear stem.

[0054] In more detail, this device is in the form of an elongated element (thus, thread-like), for example a cable or rod of suitable diameter (for example, starting from 1 mm and above).

[0055] Depending on the productive material, it may have a certain diameter, for example in the order of 3 mm (millimeters) in diameter as indicated in figure 3, as well as values lower or greater than the indicated one.

[0056] Therefore, in cross section it may have circular shape thereby it may be obtained by a cylindrical metallic rod or cylindrical cable with diameter which varies for example as a function of the metallic material used for production.

[0057] In all cases, the rod or the thread is folded to form the object. Therefore, there is a single folded bar or thread.

[0058] Therefore, the purpose is to have a device having a hook part for hanging it and a part which can be divaricated which then forms a space where to lock a portion of object through the elastic divarication and the elastic return to the initial position.

[0059] The metallic materials are equipped with a certain elastic flexibility and therefore the device may be produced with metallic materials such as iron, steel, brass, etc.

[0060] Alternatively, it may also be made of plastic materials.

[0061] Therefore, the device is constituted by this suitably folded thread (either initial thread or rod) which forms its different parts as a whole.

[0062] With reference to figure 1, the hook portion (2, 2') is provided in which the fold of the thread is such as to form a hook suitable for allowing hanging the device on any suitable support.

[0063] A first stem 3 which may be rectilinear or knurled branches off from this hook portion for better exerting a grasping force.

[0064] Still as shown in figure 1, a second stem 5 is placed parallel or substantially parallel to the first stem and they are connected together through a connection 4 preferably U-shaped.

[0065] Therefore, the thread is folded to form this first and second stem which are preferably in contact with each other at least by a portion of their entire length. In this way they can exert an efficient grasping force by zeroing the space between them.

[0066] Preferably, the first stem 3 and the second stem 5 are in contact with each other, once the divarication force has been released, by at least two-thirds of the length of the first stem 3, in the event that the first stem 3 is shorter than the second stem 5 as indicated below.

[0067] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, as for example one may infer from all the appended figures, said second stem 5 is longer than the first stem 3.

[0068] In particular, the second stem 5 has a longitudinal length such that it extends beyond the maximum length of the first stem 3, by passing over the apex of the hook.

[0069] In other words, as for example shown in figure 8 or 10, the second stem 5 forms an excess which stands over the apex (that is the top) of the hook part.

[0070] Figure 10 clearly shows this excess portion.

[0071] This allows a user to grasp the device with a hand from the part of the hook and pushing on said excess with the thumb of the same hand which grasped the hook, thereby allowing achievement of a divarication simply with one single hand. For this purpose, figures 8 and 9 show this modality of divarication.

[0072] Notwithstanding the above description, as shown in figure 1, the final part of apex of the second stem 5 may be folded in such a way that it forms an eyelet 6 whose function is to create a firm grasping point for the user which must divaricate the two stems between them or anchoring point on the wall.

[0073] In particular, the user may insert a finger of the hand into the hook (2, 2') and grasp the device with the other hand on the part of the eyelet 6 to then exert a divaricating force for moving the two stems away from each other (or legs in other words) and creating the space for inserting, into the generated space, the portion of object which one wants to lock. Upon releasing the force, the two stems will tend to return to the original position thus locking the object.

[0074] Alternatively, the eyelet may be inserted on a fixed pin, for example a pin emerging from a wall, thus allowing the user to pull the device from the hook part for divaricating it.

[0075] In this way, the divarication may occur by using the eyelet if it is present, or in the event of presence of excess and eyelet together, by taking advantage of the excess to push with a finger and possibly taking advantage of the eyelet as well if the only push of the finger on the excess is not sufficient.

[0076] The productive method for producing this device is extremely simple given that it is a metallic extrusion like a metallic thread or rod which then, cut to size, it is folded for example with suitable bending machines, according to the description in figures from 1 to 3.

[0077] By way of non-limiting example, figure 2 shows some preferred sizes among which the radius of curvature (2') of the hook portion which may be for example of 8mm and from which the rectilinear end portion 2 of the hook branches off which may have for example a length of 19mm (mm=millimeter) .

[0078] It is also highlighted that the radius of curvature of the eyelet may be 4mm.

[0079] Then the overall length of the device may be approximately 9 cm (cm=centimeters).

[0080] Figures from 4 to 7 show some examples of use.

[0081] As shown in figure 4, a kitchen cloth 200 is highlighted which is locked through the two stems (3, 5) by an end thereof. The stems are elastically broadened for allowing insertion of the cloth and by closing themselves they lock it firmly. For example, with reference to figure 4, the locked cloth portion locked between the two stems may be inserted between said two stems in the following way.

A) Placing the end of the cloth in correspondence of the two apexes of the stems on the part of the eyelet and of the hook;

B) With a certain force, by grasping the cloth by its two ends, making the portion of cloth slide between the two stems until the connection area of the two stems has been reached. In this way, the two stems are elastically divaricated by firmly trapping the cloth.

C) Releasing the cloth to the locking position.

[0082] The device may then be hung, for example to a fixed rod 100.

[0083] Figure 5 shows an example in which the same device closes food packages, for example flour or pasta in general or grains.

[0084] In this case, the stems are divaricated to place between them the edges of the opening of the package, which thus remains firmly closed.

[0085] According to this technique, any kind of food package may be closed, among which pasta, bread, coffee just to mention some of them.

[0086] In the same way, figure 6 shows the closure of another sack for food use full of liquid showing that the present invention is validly usable for closing food bags containing food liquids and not, such as, for example, broths, creams, etc.

[0087] With reference to production, as mentioned, for producing it, one may start from a thread or rod, of plastic or metallic, which is suitably folded to form the device.

[0088] The produced object is very simple because it is obtained by folding an elongated thread-like element (for example cable or rod) and takes advantage of elastic properties of the material itself through a suitable size of lengths and diameters.

[0089] Therefore, no accessory components such as springs or others are provided, thus simply resulting in a multipurpose device obtained by folding a starting thread-like element.

[0090] Notwithstanding the description above, it is to be noted that the device object of the invention may also be used like paper ream stopper, because it may trap a paper ream between its stems.

[0091] According to a particularly preferred embodiment, considering and starting for example from figure 1, the hook part and the eyelet one might be produced and connected to the stems (3, 5) in such a way that they are rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the position shown in figure 1 with a rotation in the same way for both. It follows that, in the event of use like ream stopper for trapping the paper ream between the stems, the device might be perfectly stretched on the support plane (for example, the table) while it is locking the ream.

Claims

1. A device (1) constituted by, or consisting of, a threadlike element folded in such a way as to generate:

- A first part (2, 2') forming a hook;

- Said first part (2, 2') connecting to a subsequent portion (3, 4, 5) which can be elastically divaricated;

- wherein said portion (3, 4, 5) which can be elastically divaricated comprises a first stem (3) which extends from said part forming a hook, a second stem (5) which faces the first stem (3) in such a way that they are facing each other, a connection (4), which connects said first stem with said second stem;

- Wherein the device is configured in such a way as to have a predetermined elastic flexibility such that said first stem (3) and said second stem (5) can be divaricated between each other by applying a force and, upon releasing said force, they tend to return elastically to the initial rest condition;

- Characterized by the fact that:

- Said first stem (3) and second stem (5) in said rest condition are in contact with each other at least through a portion of their entire length;

- And wherein said second stem (5) has a length greater than the first stem (3) such that there is a portion of said second stem (5) which extends beyond the first part (2, 2') forming the hook.

2. The device (1), according to claim 1, wherein said connection is U-shaped.

3. The device (1), according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said threadlike element, for example rod or thread such as a round band, is of metallic material or, alternatively, of plastic material.

4. The device, according to claim 3, wherein, in the event of metallic material, said metal is iron or steel or brass or the like.

5. The device (1), according to one or more of the previous claims, wherein said first stem and said second stem are rectilinear.

6. The device (1), according to one or more of the previous claims, wherein the end of the second stem (5), on the side opposite to the connection, ends with an eyelet (6).

7. The use of a device (1) according to one or more of the previous claims from 1 to 6, for grabbing an object by divaricating the first stem and the second stem between each other by inserting a portion of the object into the obtained divarication space and releasing said first and second stem which by returning elastically to the original rest position trap said portion of object between them.

8. The use, according to claim 7, wherein said object is a kitchen cloth or a hand towel or a bed sheet or the like or a bag or pouch in general or a ream of paper.

9. The use, according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the object trapped in said device is hung by applying the first part (2, 2') of the hook-shaped device to a fixed support.

10. The use, according to one or more of the previous claims from 7 to 9, wherein the divarication occurs by grabbing the device through the first hook part (2, 2') and through said eyelet (6) and applying a force sufficient to move away the first stem from the second stem.

11. The use, according to one or more of the previous claims from 7 to 10, wherein divarication occurs by grabbing with a hand the device on the first part forming the hook (2, 2') and by pushing with a finger of the same hand, for example the fingertip of the thumb, on the excess formed by the portion of said second stem (5) which extends beyond the first part (2, 2') forming the hook, in such a way as to move away the first stem from the second stem.

Drawing