There are many activities that are carried out on a tabletop or countertop that produce debris. For example, in the kitchen, preparation of a salad using a cutting board for trimming vegetables typically produces small piles of waste such as carrot peels and onion trimmings. If the work surface is not next to a sink with a garbage receptacle, the piles of waste must be picked up and discarded in an appropriate container, such as a compostable waste bin or garbage bin.
Other tasks performed on work surfaces also produce very different types of waste. For example, someone who is using a pencil to prepare documents or complete forms often will need to erase erroneous entries, producing eraser crumbs that spread over the surface. Again, it will periodically be necessary to sweep the eraser crumbs into a pile that is picked up and discarded in a waste container using a brush and hand-held dust pan or alternatively, swept into the waste container. It is not unusual for the process of collecting and transferring such debris to be less accurate than intended, so that some of the debris falls on the floor instead of into the waste container.
Hobbies that involve work at a table or bench also produce debris that must be removed from work surfaces and transferred into appropriate waste containers. Thus, the trimmings produced when tying fishing flies or lures are generally scattered around the fly tying vise that is mounted to the edge of a bench or countertop and must be periodically transferred to a waste receptacle. In each of the examples noted above, which are just a few of the many where waste debris accumulates on a work surface of a bench, tabletop, or countertop, it is clear that the task of removing the debris to clear the work surface is perhaps best accomplished by sweeping the debris into a waste container or dust pan. However, holding a heavy waste container in one hand while sweeping the debris from the work surface with the other hand is at best an awkward operation that requires some dexterity and skill to avoid dropping the waste container or missing the opening so that the debris falls to the floor. Even if a lighter weight dust pan is placed under the edge of the work surface to receive the debris, typically, at least some of the debris overshoots the dustpan or misses it and falls to the floor, so that a further cleaning operation is required to finish disposing of the debris.
Accordingly, it will be apparent that it would be desirable to provide a receptacle for such debris that need not be held while moving the debris from the work surface and into the receptacle. The receptacle should be affixed to the edge of a work surface to receive debris that is swept or otherwise moved into it from the work surface. It would also be desirable for the receptacle to be easily removable from the edge of the work surface to enable the debris collected therein to be emptied into a larger waste container, such as a garbage can. Such a device should more efficiently collect all of the debris on a work surface so that virtually none falls to the floor when the debris is moved into the receptacle affixed to the edge of the bench, countertop, desktop, or tabletop from which the debris is being removed. Further, it would be desirable to free up both hands for use when cleaning with the device, so that the user would be able to move things on a counter or other work surface and thoroughly clean. In addition, it would be desirable to provide a device that clamps on a work surface so that someone with limited use of both or just one hand can readily clean their work surface using the device
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds