Abstract:
A rack, or caddy, is disclosed which stores and dispenses used plastic bags. Normally the bags are grocery store or department store sized bags made from a thin film of plastic which have been saved for reuse somehow. The caddy includes a sheet member which may be made of molded plastic material such as polypropylene, and it has several cups joined to it. The interior walls of the cups are spaced far enough apart to permit a user to insert hand compacted plastic bags into the cups, and thereafter the walls hold them there by limiting the expansion of the bags.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to racks for storing and dispensing thin film plastic bags, such as used grocery bags which have been saved for some future use after the groceries have been removed. More particularly, it relates to a caddy for holding and retaining the bags after they have been compacted by hand, such as by crushing, folding or twisting.  
         [0002]     It is safe to say that the vast majority of more than 292 million people in the United States save plastic grocery store, specialty store or department store bags. But for many people, the hundreds of millions of saved plastic bags, although useful at times, have proven to be a source of clutter and frustration.  
         [0003]     Various storage solutions have been brought forward. One, which is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,843, issued Jan. 11, 2000, provides a cloth bag or tube with an open top and open reduced diameter bottom into which the plastic bags, of all sizes, are indiscriminately stuffed. The bag is hung by a loop in a cord fastened around the upper end of the bag and engaged on a hook.  
         [0004]     A similar solution is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,933, issued Aug. 30, 1994. In that patent a cloth tube is provided with a wide entry opening at its upper end and a drawstring for pulling the upper end of the bag closed. The drawstring also forms a loop to use in hanging the bag up. An elastic band is sewn in a hem around the open lower end of the bag to reduce the diameter or that opening.  
         [0005]     A modified fabric sack type of storage container is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,108, issued Sep. 19, 1995. That patent recognizes the need for sorting bags of different sizes from each other. The larger bags are crushed and stuffed into the top of a fabric tube, much like the &#39;933 patent unit, but the inventor in &#39;108 has provided a separate pocket or set of pockets for different sizes of bags also. The separate pockets are sewn onto the outside of the main fabric tube and are themselves provided with elasticized upper input and lower outlet ends outside of the main tube.  
         [0006]     Still another form of container is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,927. That form includes a relatively rigid upper can into which crushed plastic bags may be dropped and weighted down by a lid placed over them. The lid is slidably disposed in the can so that it rests upon and follows the upper surface of the crushed plastic bags inside the can. A flexible sleeve hangs from the upper can and receives a supply of the crushed plastic bags. The upper end of the sleeve portion matches the size of the open lower end of the can, and the lower end of the sleeve narrows to a small lower opening which allows only a single one of the crushed plastic bags to be withdrawn.  
         [0007]     These constructions demonstrate that there is a need for a container which is easy to access, which will hold the plastic bags for reuse, and which accommodates sorting them by size.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     The present invention is embodied in a plastic bag caddy which includes a sheet member with a plurality of cups joined to it. Each cup has interior walls which are spaced apart from each other a sufficient distance to form engagement surfaces which limit the expansion of hand compacted plastic film bags that a user has disposed within the cup.  
         [0009]     From the forgoing, and from what follows, it will be apparent that the present invention solves the prior problems of quickly storing and then retrieving selected sizes of plastic bags.  
         [0010]     Accordingly, it is one of the objects of this invention to provide a variety of sizes of readily accessible storage compartments for hand-compacted plastic film bags such as grocery bags which have been previously used for other purposes.  
         [0011]     It is another object of this invention to provide a caddy for holding hand-compacted plastic film bags which have been previously used in compartments with walls which intercept the bags as they start to expand after having been compacted.  
         [0012]     It is another object of this invention to provide a caddy for holding hand-compacted previously used plastic bags in tubular cups which contain the bags loosely but securely and may be disposed vertically so as to permit withdrawal of selected sizes of the bags at eye level.  
         [0013]     It is another object of this invention to provide a storage caddy for plastic bags which have been previously used for other purposes and which accommodates bags prepared for storage by indiscriminate hand crushing, by hand twisting and coiling, or by folding in zig-zagged layers for storage.  
         [0014]     Other objects and features of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art of designing, constructing and using storage racks for keeping and dispensing plastic grocery bags, or similar consumer product bags which have been saved by a householder for future reuse, from an examination of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention and an examination of the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the bottom of a caddy embodying the present invention;  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the top of the caddy in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the caddy in  FIG. 2 , taken along the line  3 - 3  in  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  is an enlarged fragmentary view of a cup portion of the caddy shown in  FIG. 3  taken in the direction of arrows  4 - 4  in  FIG. 3 ;  
         [0019]      FIG. 5  is an enlarged fragmentary view of a second cup portion of the caddy shown in  FIG. 3  taken in the direction of arrows  5 - 5  in  FIG. 3 ;  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an alternative form of the caddy shown in  FIG. 1 , partly broken away and mounted on a vertical surface;  
         [0021]      FIG. 7  is an enlarged view of a portion of the caddy shown in  FIG. 6  taken along the line  7 - 7  in  FIG. 6 ; and  
         [0022]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a further alternative form of the caddy shown in  FIG. 1 , partly broken away and mounted on a vertical surface. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0023]     The preferred embodiments of this invention shown in the accompanying drawings will now be described, it being understood that the preferred forms are illustrative and that the invention described herein is embodied in the claims appended to this description.  
         [0024]     The caddy  10  shown in  FIG. 1  includes a sheet member  12  which preferably is made from a moldable lightweight material such as a polypropylene plastic. A plurality of cups  14 , which may be all approximately the same size but preferably include a larger size  16 , is joined to the bottom side  17  of the sheet  12 . When viewed from the bottom side  17  of the sheet, as shown in  FIG. 1 , cups  14  and  16  may be arranged with the larger cups  16  disposed along the outer extremities of sheet  12  and the smaller cups  14  disposed more toward the middle of sheet  12  (See  FIG. 3 , also). In the preferred form of the caddy  10 , opposite edge portions  18  and  20  of sheet  12  are formed with apertures  22  and  24  creating handles along the edges of the sheet at  18  and  20 . The sheet  12  may be conveniently dimensioned as about 16¾ inches long and about 11¾ inches wide, with the apertures for the handles located at approximately the mid-points of the longer sides.  
         [0025]     Preferably, too, the cups  14  and  16  include web portions, such as  26  and  28 , substantially closing the bottom ends of the cups. The plastic bags stored in the cups may be stuffed hastily into the cups by a user, and unless there is a limiting member such as the web portions  26  and  28 , bags pushed to the bottom ends of the cups may be partially pushed through the cups and become engaged on the outside edges of the sides of the cups, thus making withdrawal difficult and perhaps snagging the bags.  
         [0026]     It may be desirable to provide a variety of diameters in the cups for storing different sizes of bags. In the preferred form of the caddy  10 , the short cups  14  have a smaller diameter than the cups  16  have. It has been found that one suitable inner diameter for the short cups  14  is 1¾ inches, and that a suitable diameter for the larger cups  16  is 2 inches. Sheet  12  may be provided with a plurality of apertures (See  FIG. 2 ), such as those at  30  and  32 , to accommodate the variety of diameters of the cups, i.e., the shorter diameters of cups  14  and the longer diameters of cups  16 . The open ends  34  and  36  of the short and long cups  14  and  16 , respectively, are joined to sheet  12  adjacent to the apertures  30  and  32 , normally with a conically shaped collar  38  at the junction of each cup to the sheet member that unites the cups with the planar body of sheet  12 .  
         [0027]     Alternatively, instead of forming the cups separately and then joining them to the sheet, it may be preferable to form the entire caddy as a unit, as in a mold.  
         [0028]     It is also preferable to form the cups  14  and  16  with circular inner walls  40  and  42  due to the fact that curved walls are more economical to make in a mold.  
         [0029]     However, as shown in the alternative embodiment  44  of caddy  10  in  FIG. 8 , the cups  14  and  16  may be formed as small cells  46  and larger cells  48  having flat planar walls  50  and  52  angularly disposed to each other in small cells  46 , and walls  54  and  56  similarly angularly disposed to each other in the larger cells  48 . The cells may be hexagonal in cross section, as shown, or may be formed with rectangular cross sections or other geometric configurations.  
         [0030]     Whatever cross section is adopted, the inner walls are arranged with diameters which restrain the expansion of plastic bags which have been compacted prior to placing them in the cups. Taking cups  14  and  16  for example, larger plastic bags may be stored in cups  16 , and smaller bags in cups  14 . The bags may be compacted in various ways, which will shortly be described, and they are held gently in place by the elastic expansion of the plastic bag material against the inner walls of the cups. Utilizing a variety of cup diameters makes it possible to store a variety of bags, and the open tops of the cups, which are easy to see an easy to reach into, facilitate a user&#39;s selection of a proper bag size for a prospective job.  
         [0031]     The caddy  10  may be used by placing it horizontally, as on a shelf, that is, so that the sheet member  12  is in a horizontal plane, or it may be placed vertically on a wall or door. See  FIG. 3 , for example, in which the sheet member  12  is arranged vertically. The vertical position is also illustrated for the alternative embodiments  44  and  58  in  FIGS. 6 and 8 . Preferably, as shown in  FIGS. 3 through 5 , when it is contemplated that the caddy  10  will be disposed vertically, the central axes  60  and  62  of cups  14  and  16  will be formed at an acute angle to the general plane of sheet  12 . It has been found that one such angular disposition of the axes  60  and  62  is about 75 degrees to the plane of sheet  12 . When the caddy  10  is being used on the inside of a pantry door, for example, which is frequently swung open in a forceful manner, the upward slope of the cup&#39;s inner walls  40  and  42  will help keep the bags inside the cups.  
         [0032]     Hanging the caddy  10  in a vertical position may be accomplished in a number of ways. One method, shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7  with respect to alternative embodiment  58 , is to form holes  64  in the web portions of two or more of the larger cups  16 A and put screws  66  through them. The screws  66  may be fastened into a door  68  or other vertically arranged supporting member.  
         [0033]     Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 8 , Velcro fastening members  70  may be used between the cells  48  and a vertical support  72 . Particularly when caddies  44 ,  10  or  58  are made of polypropylene or similar lightweight material, they can be vertically supported easily by hanging them with an adhesive member such as a Velcro hook and loop mounting.  
         [0034]     The caddy embodiment  58  shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7  incorporates a conical shape for cups  16 A. This shape may be advantageous for users who simply thrust plastic bags at the caddy. The cups  16 A are still deep enough, and have a narrow enough diameter, so that the bags are retained inside the cups by limiting their expansion after they have been placed within the cups. Somewhat similarly, the hexagonally shaped cells  46  and  48  in the embodiment of this invention shown in  FIG. 8  have a narrow enough nominal diameter to retain the bags by limiting their expansion. In each embodiment the bags are arranged easily by size in larger and smaller cups, making it possible for a user to choose a desirable size of bag quickly, and in each embodiment allowing him to easily take out the size of bag that he needs.  
         [0035]     Compacting the bags to insert them into the cups may be done in a variety of ways. After they are inserted, different sizes of bags are held in place, as illustrated in FIGS,  4  and  5 , until a user desires to withdraw them, i.e., smaller bags, such as bag  74 , can be stored and held in the smaller diameter, shorter cups  14 , and larger bags, such as bag  76 , can be stored and held in the larger diameter, longer cups  16 .  
         [0036]     One method of compacting a plastic bag, which takes only a few seconds, is to grasp one corner of the bag between the thumb and index finger of one hand, place the other index finger in the loop handle of the bag, pull the bag taut to form a plastic bag “rope,” let go of the handle with the second hand and squeeze the air out of the bag with the second hand by dragging the length of the bag with thumb and index finger, grasp the bag near the held, first corner and twist the “rope” formation of the bag around the fingers holding the corner into a rosette, hold the rosette to keep it from unraveling, and insert the rosette into a cup while scraping it off of the finger holding it.  
         [0037]     A second method of compacting a plastic bag, which takes only a few seconds longer, is to stretch the bag on a flat surface from a bottom corner to the loop handle, fold the bag into a strip and smooth the air out of it, fold the strip in sections from the bottom to the loop handle, form a rosette around a finger from the folded length of the bag and scrape the rosette into a cup.  
         [0038]     A third method, similar to the second but more deliberate and consuming less final space in the cup, is to fold the bag into a bellows after a strip has been formed and the air ironed out. The bellows can then be shaped into a rosette, as above described, and the rosette scraped into a cup.  
         [0039]     Other methods will undoubtedly occur to the millions of people who save and store plastic bags for future use. The three methods described above provide for several bags to be stored in the cups of the caddy of this invention. Whatever the method of compaction which is adopted may be, the caddy described above retains the bags as they tend to unfold and expand within the cups.  
         [0040]     It is evident from the preceding disclosure that even though particular forms of the invention have been illustrated and described, still various modifications can be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. No limitations on the invention are intended, and its true scope is set forth in the following claims.