1. Prior Art
The following is a four part tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
1. Air Trapped Between Receptacle and the Flexible Liner:U.S. patentsPat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee5,143,242ASep. 1, 1992Millasich5,375,732ADec. 27, 1994Bowers6,634,518B1Oct. 21, 2003Jones7,273,155B1Sep. 25, 2007GrayU.S. patent application PublicationsPublication NrKind CodePubl. DateApplicant20040084456A1May 6, 2004Lubrano20060138148A1Jun. 29, 2006Mena20060175336A1Aug. 10, 2006Wang2. Air Trapped Inside Flexible liners:U.S. patentsPat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee5,263,520ANov. 23, 1993Arai5,339,959AAug. 23, 1994Cornwell6,045,264AApr. 4, 2000Miniea7,578,320B2Aug. 25, 2009Borchardt3. Air restricted from entering the void between the liner and the receptacle.U.S. patentsPat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee4,294,379Oct. 13, 1981Bard4,890,760Jan. 2, 1990Nicoll5,390,818AFeb. 21, 1995LaBuda4. Liner Retainers:U.S. patentsPat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee4,335,769Jun. 22, 1982McManus6,029,844AFeb. 29, 2000Brady6,837,394B1Jan. 4, 2005Nnamani6,893,158B1May 17, 2005TippNon-patent Literature Documents - “Suck-Bucket” web site www.suckbucket.com
2. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the use of flexible liners, specifically air trapped between the receptacle and liner, air inside a full liner, air needed to fill a void to help remove a liner, and the purposeful adhesion of a liner to a receptacle.
3. Prior Art
Flexible plastic liners protect receptacles and provide an easy means of removing their contents. However, there are at least four problems in the use of these flexible liners. The first is when air is trapped between the receptacle and the liner, preventing the liner from conforming to the container. The second is when air is trapped inside a filled and closed flexible liner causing a billowing pillow effect. Third is when air is restricted from entering the void between a filled liner and the receptacle, creating a vacuum as it is removed. Fourth is when it is desirable to keep the flexible liner in place for repeated use, thereby saving on the cost of liners and having less impact on the environment and landfills.
1. Air Trapped Between the Receptacle and the Flexible Liner.
When a new flexible liner is installed inside a receptacle, air is often trapped between the receptacle and its liner. This is due to the airtight seal at the top of the receptacle. The result is a liner that has a greater chance to be torn or fall into the bottom of the receptacle when sharp or heavy objects are tossed in. In addition, when lightweight items like paper towels and tissues are the primary contents, for example in a bathroom, only a fraction of the receptacle's volume can be used, which in turn requires them to be replaced more often and the use of more liners than is necessary. Inventions like U.S. Pat. No. 7,273,155 to Gray (2007) and others attempt to solve this problem. Most suffer, however, from one or more of the following disadvantages:
(a) Require the purchase of a new receptacle. Existing receptacles are thereby made obsolete, incurring extra unnecessary expense and wasting natural resources.
(b) Location of the exhaust port. A large factor in the continued successful operation of these devices is dependent on the position of the vacuum device and/or the type and position of the connecting suction conduit. Waste receptacles are, by their very nature, in a very dirty environment. They may contain solids or liquids or both, all of which tend to gravitate to the bottom. Often a liner will tear. If the vacuum source is placed in or near the bottom of the receptacle, it will no doubt be subjected to debris and/or liquids getting into the mechanism which could render it inoperative.
(c) Heavier containers. Some have nearly double the weight and therefore twice the cost of materials with no additional room for trash. This also makes them harder to use and harder to store.
(d) It can be used on only one container. The vacuum source and other parts are integral to one container only. If the customer wants or needs more, he or she must purchase another complete unit.
(e) Only small receptacles will work. Because of the limitations listed above, kitchen containers and smaller are the only receptacles that are practical. A large trash can would weigh too much. In addition, other size receptacles require retooling and separate manufacturing.
(f) No valve to prevent reverse air flow. Some devices have an open aperture between the exterior of the receptacle and the flexible liner. Because flexible liners are so lightweight, air moving past the receptacle, as from a fan or wind if outdoors, will reinflate the liner. This also does not allow the liner to cling to the interior walls which will be demonstrated later to have a beneficial effect.
(g) The lack of an easy to use interface to attach the vacuum source for maximum suction delivered directly to the liner.
Advantages:
Accordingly several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows: to provide a suction conduit that can be used on new receptacles as well as retrofit to existing receptacles, that employ the principle of heavier than air separation to filter out liquids and debris from the vacuum source and other components, that weigh less and therefore make it easier to use and cost less to manufacture, that employ a detachable vacuum source that can be used on other receptacles without incurring unnecessary duplication of parts and cost for the customer, that are versatile so one model can be used on a wide variety of receptacles from large to small thereby saving on retooling, and lastly, with the use of a valve, we have the benefit of an airtight vacuum to aid in holding a liner in place.
2. Air Trapped Inside the Flexible Liner
When a flexible liner is closed for removal, excess air can become trapped, causing the liner to be larger than necessary. This problem sometimes occurs because of the coarseness of the contents, haste in removal, and/or the difficulty in compressing the contents. Today, almost all residential and commercial waste collection is based on volume, not weight. The larger the volume the more one pays. Also, in some situations a smaller size is very advantageous. For example, residents of high rise apartment buildings who use garbage chutes may find that large bags may become stuck, leaving the chutes inoperable.
Large facilities, like hospitals or schools, collect filled liners from individual garbage cans and deposit them into transport carts with a finite amount of space. If the bags are smaller, more can be carried in one trip to the main collection location, saving on labor costs. A hospital's biohazard liners, as well as others, are sometimes punctured to allow excess air to escape. This could lead to contamination of the area, puncturing tool, and personnel.
Most prior art like Miniea U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,264 and Cornwell U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,959, use plastic bags with special valves or heat sealing methods to evacuate air from inside. From a cost and complexity standpoint, this would be very disadvantageous to consumers. Also, due to market saturation, introducing a new liner that would compete successfully with the large number already well established would be very hard to do.
Arai, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,520 has nondisposable parts inserted into the contents of a liner which when removed from the container will be soiled, thus spreading germs and other contaminates and requiring the equipment to be cleaned after every use. Also claimed is an inner tube in which debris sucked into the nozzle can become lodged, making it difficult to clean and more expensive to manufacture. Further adding to the problem is the inability to instantly cut off the reverse air flow once the vacuum source has been removed. It requires the user to remove a 40 to 60 cm long nozzle before a seal can be applied to the liner.
Advantages:
Accordingly, several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows: to use regular consumer bags without special valves or seals, to make them smaller in size which makes it easier to get a better grip on the bag, to provide a disposable air release straw for a sanitary means of air removal so one need not touch or clean the device and debris and germs are not exposed when the device is removed, and to provide a more compact bag that uses less space which could result in labor and disposal savings.
3. Air Restricted from Entering the Void Between the Liner and the Receptacle.
When a flexible liner is filled, its contents press outward on the receptacle. This force, combined with the sealing effect of the liner, prevents air from entering the space immediately below the departing flexible liner. This makes removal of the liner difficult and awkward. Several patents like Bard U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,379 use upward vented conduits to provide air to fill the void. Because of the amount of replacement air instantaneously required, these conduits and their cross-sectional area have a difficult time fulfilling that demand. Other art like Nicoll U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,760 and LaBuda U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,818, require the purchase of a new receptacle with a vent located in the bottom of the receptacle. As mentioned before, reliable operation would be difficult due to its location and environment. A sticky substance or fluid could prevent it from working or could leak out.
All of these methods and devices will now be shown as unnecessary. Since air comprises a large percentage of the interior volume of a filled flexible liner, it can be demonstrated that if a vacuum were to be applied to the interior of a filled flexible liner, its diameter would shrink significantly. Copious amounts of air would then pass by the liner, allowing it to be easily removed.
Advantages:
It follows that by the use of an air release straw to compact a liner, the user gets the same results without the purchase of a special container, or the use of conduits, valves or devices on the inside of a container, it requires no installation, and can be used on almost any receptacle that uses a flexible liner, regardless of shape or size.
4. A Method of Retaining a Flexible Liner for Repeated Use.
Under some circumstances, it is desirable to have a flexible liner in place but not remove it when the contents are emptied. Recycling bins are one such application. Normally their contents are clean. However, some residual fluids or other debris may leak out and contaminate the receptacle. If a flexible liner is not used, the owner is then faced with a much larger task of cleaning the receptacle. Some government agencies are faced with a similar dilemma. Most states and the Federal government have policies which recommend whenever possible the reuse of items, including the elimination of unnecessary can liners by using smaller containers which are emptied daily into a central trash container. While this saves on the cost of liners and helps the environment, it costs much more in labor to clean a waste container if something inappropriate were to be placed in it. A simple solution is reusing one flexible liner over and over. This is facilitated through the use of a simple adhesive strip on the interior of the receptacle to hold the flexible liner in place when the receptacle is inverted to empty its contents and the use of the vacuum source to reacquire a tight fit on the existing liner.
McManus U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,769 shows a container entirely supported by adhesive strips, which do not aid in holding a flexible liner. Whereas Tipp U.S. Pat. No. 6,893,158 is an adhesive liner retainer device, but it functions by pulling the liner tight around the top on the exterior of the receptacle. Brady U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,844 is a flexible liner with a built-in adhesive strip near the top of the liner. As with Tipp U.S. Pat. No. 6,893,158, the adhesive strip near the top and located on the exterior when installed in a receptacle is there to prevent the liner from falling into the container. They would do little to aid in keeping the liner inside the container once it is inverted.
Advantages:
Subsequently it can be shown what the improvements are: it is simple to use, it is positioned to hold the bottom of the liner, it will not tear the liner, it can be used over and over, and by using fewer liners, it saves money and is an environmental benefit to everyone.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds