Abstract:
A container that holds wood charcoal. The container has a collapsible spout that is positioned so that, when the container is tipped, wood charcoal pours out when the spout is in the fully extended position. The spout is collapsible to close an opening in a front face to facilitate storage. A handle is provided at the top to facilitate grasping while pouring out the wood charcoal.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a container suited to store and pour wood charcoal. 
     2. Discussion of Related Art 
     Conventionally, charcoal briquettes are packaged in paper bags. As is known conventionally, the paper bags are not resistant to moisture (rain) or tearing. They are difficult to clean of accumulated charcoal dust and dirt. In addition, the bag is awkward to transport and store due to its odd shape. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,447 recognized these problems and proposed a reusable molded plastic container for storage and transportation of materials used with a charcoal dependent cooker. It has a handle at the top and lids that open at either side of the handle to allow charcoal to be poured out. Other compartments are provided on the container to hold items such as utensils, lighter fluid, matches, cooking gloves, hot pads. The charcoal briquettes are chemically treated and formed under pressure to provide a hard outer surface. 
     Unlike conventional charcoal briquettes, wood charcoal on the other hand is friable. As a result, storing wood charcoal in the same type of paper bags that charcoal briquettes are stored is even more problematic. When the paper bag is exposed to externally applied forces, the wood charcoal inside is much more susceptible to crumbling or being pulverized than is the case with charcoal briquettes. Even pouring the wood charcoal through the mouth of the bag causes jostling of the wood charcoal is a significant manner, i.e., turning the bag nearly 180 degrees to pour out the wood charcoal. Such jostling causes the friable wood charcoal to rub against each other, easily causing crumbling. 
     The teaching of the plastic container of U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,447, if applied to wood charcoal, would be an improvement over the paper bag since the plastic container would better protect the wood charcoal from externally imposed forces. Nevertheless, the plastic container has an opening at the top, thereby requiring that the container be turned nearly 180° to pour out the charcoal. In addition, where the extra compartment space for holding barbeque related items is not needed, such is wasted space. Further, since its pouring opening is stationary (only the lid opens), it is not as compact as it could be for storage purposes. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,408 reveals a pour spout construction for collapsible containers. It relates to the field of shipping containers for transporting bulky cargo such as bulk particulate materials. It recognizes that such containers would benefit by the presence of a large pour spout localized at or near the bottom of the container in a side wall. Spouts that are constructed of light weight stamped sheet metal hingedly connected at an inner end to an edge of an opening in a container wall are unsuitable for use such shipping containers. The reason is that the side walls of the spout enter the enclosed volume of the container when the spout is closed. If such a hinged spout were placed at the lower edge of a side wall of a large loaded container, the particulate material, under pressure of its own weight contacts the surfaces of the spout, creating sufficient friction to effectively prevent the withdrawal of the spout to the opened condition. Therefore, the patent proposes use of collapsible spout made of foldable fibrous material, parts of which are interconnected within an opening in a side wall of the container. When folded, the spout does not project into the interior of the container and, accordingly, does not interfere with the collapsing of the container when empty. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a container for transporting and storing wood charcoal. The container is preferably box-shaped, with an opening in a bottom half of the front face. A collapsible spout is connected at the opening and movable between an inward position that closes the opening and an outward position that extends the spout outwardly clearing the opening to permit contents of the container to be poured out through the opening and along the spout. A handle is positioned centrally at the top of the container. Since the spout in the inward position closes the opening, but does not enter the opening, its sidewalls will not cut into any wood charcoal within and further will not be blocked by any wood charcoal adjacent the opening that is inside the container. Since no portion of the spout extends appreciably inwardly, the weight of the wood charcoal will not press against it in such a manner as to prevent the spout from being moved into its outward position. Also, the spout, being collapsible, will not interfere with the folding of the container when empty. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings, while the scope of the invention is set forth in the appended claims. 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of the wood charcoal container in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a partially broken side view of the wood charcoal container of FIG. 1 showing pouring of wood charcoal out of the container through a spout in an non-collapsed condition. 
     FIG. 3 is an unbroken side view of the wood charcoal container of FIG. 2 but with the spout in a collapsed condition. 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the wood charcoal container spout of FIG. 1 in a non-collapsed condition. 
     FIG. 5 another perspective view of the wood charcoal container spout of FIG. 1 in a partially collapsed condition. 
     FIG. 6 is a side view of the wood charcoal container spout in accordance with a further embodiment in which the flaps are pleated in an accordian-like manner. 
     FIG. 7 is an illustration of a top view of one of the spout walls of FIG. 6, but in a partially collapsed condition and folded at each of the pleats. 
     FIG. 8 is a top plan view of a cardboard blank that may be folded into the box shape of FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Turning to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows a wood-charcoal container  10  for storing wood-charcoal. The container  10  may be of a box-shape, preferably constructed of corrugated cardboard, although other materials such as plastic, metal, wood, some other material having semi-rigid form, or any combination. During the packaging process, wood charcoal may be placed inside the container in a variety of ways. For example, the container  10  may be constructed so that all of the walls forming the container compartment are in place except a particular side wall. Instead, inwardly directly flaps extend where the particular side wall would otherwise be but only close a relatively small portion of the open side. Wood charcoal may be placed in the container  10 . After the charcoal has been placed in the container, the side wall may be attached to the container  10  using an adhesive on the flaps and/or on portions of the side wall that will rest on the flaps. 
     In an alternative embodiment, the same process may be utilized substituting the top wall  14  for the side wall. In yet another alternative embodiment, the top wall  14  may be constructed of flaps capable of opening outwards and closing inward to engage each other in a complementary manner so as to remain in the engaged position. During packaging, the flaps may be opened, and wood charcoal may be placed inside. Once the container has been filled with the wood charcoal, the flaps are closed to engage each other and thus remain in the engaged position. 
     The container  10  may also have an opening  20  in a particular wall from which wood charcoal may exit from the container. For exemplary purposes, FIG. 1 illustrates such an opening  20  in front wall  12 . This opening  20  may be covered by collapsing a spout  30  when the container is not being used. 
     The opening  20  is preferably located in a bottom half of the front wall  12  and thereby closer to the bottom wall than to the top wall  14 . This positioning lessens the amount of tilting necessary to pour out wood charcoal than would be the case if the opening were higher. In addition, wood charcoal located against the inside of the bottom half of the front wall  12  is more easily poured out than would be the case if the opening  20  were at a higher elevation. 
     The spout  30  may have two flexible guide walls  40  which form a spout channel so as to prevent wood charcoal from spilling out uncontrollably as it exits from the container. The wood charcoal may exit out the opening, through the spout channel, and into a receptacle of some sort. Preferably, the guide walls are made of corrugated cardboard or paper. The base between the guide walls  40  may be made of corrugated cardboard. 
     The container  10  may have a handle  50  attached to the spout  30  to assist with the opening and closing of the spout. The handle  50  is preferably made of a flexible material, such as corrugated cardboard. 
     The container  10  may also have attached to it a handle  60  so that the container  10  may be easily carried, tilted, or handled. The handle  60  is connected to the container, preferably at the side walls or on the top as shown in FIG. 1, and defines a space between itself and the top  14  of the container  10 . The handle  60  needs to be made of a sturdy material to support the weight of the container when fully loaded with wood charcoal. Similarly, the attachment of the handle  60  to the container needs to be strong enough to withstand the weight forces of the fully filled container when carried. Nevertheless, since wood charcoal is lightweight, the handle may be made of corrugated cardboard to provide sufficient strength to withstand the weight forces of the wood charcoal. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates how the wood charcoal container may be used to pour out the stored wood charcoal  90 . If the spout  30  is collapsed to close the opening  20 , a user may pull in a downward direction  70  on the handle  50  to open the opening  20 . The user may then grasp the container  10  by the handle  60  and tilt the container  10  forward at an angle less than ninety degrees to pour out the wood charcoal  90 . This contrasts with conventional paper bags that contain charcoal whose openings are at the top since the paper bag must be turned at least 90 degrees to pour out charcoal. Wood charcoal  90  would subsequently exit from the opening  20 , down the spout channel created by the semi-rigid walls of the spout  30 , and into a receptacle (not shown) such as a barbeque kettle. 
     FIG. 3 shows how a wood charcoal container  10  may be stored after the user is finished. Once the appropriate amount of wood charcoal has been obtained, a user may close the opening by pushing the handle  50  in an upward direction  80 . The spout  30  will subsequently fold upwards, thereby blocking the opening and preventing the exiting of wood charcoal. The container  10  may be then be stored. 
     FIG. 4 shows one embodiment of the spout  30 . The spout  30  may be composed of a bottom wall  32  and two semi-rigid guide walls  34 . The combination of the bottom wall  32  and the guide-walls  34  form a spout channel through which wood charcoal may travel. 
     FIG. 5 shows the guide walls  34 , which may be made of a malleable material, each folded at their respective creases  36 . To open or close the folding spout  30 , the user may simply bend the guide walls  34  at the creases  36 . 
     FIG. 6 shows yet another embodiment of the spout  30 . In this embodiment, the entire spout has a series of pleats  38  and is made of a malleable material such as corrugated cardboard. Furthermore, the spout is entirely collapsible and extendable by bending at the pleats  38  accordingly. 
     As best illustrated in FIG. 7, each guide wall of the spout of the embodiment of FIG. 6 is bendable at the pleats  38  in an accordion-like manner. When the guide walls are fully collapsed or compressed, the opening  20  in the container would be blocked, preventing wood charcoal from exiting. The guide walls may be subsequently fully extended outward, thereby opening the opening and creating a spout channel for the wood charcoal. 
     The handles  50  and  60  are connected to the container by adhesive or by inserting prongs of the handle through holes in the container and bending them to extend along an inside surface of the top wall  14 . The prongs may be flattened so that can not be pulled out of the holes and/or be adhesively secured. Alternatively, the handles  50 ,  60  may be formed integral with the top wall as two elements each extending outwardly from a respective one of the opposite sides of the top wall and then bent at their junction with the top wall to meet each other centrally over the top wall. 
     FIG. 8 shows a cardboard blank that includes a bottom panel  70 , two long side panels  72  with flaps  74  and flaps  76 , two short side panels  78  one with a flap  82  and a top panel  14  attached to the other of the two short side panels  78 . Score lines  80  may be provided on one face of the blank between the side panels  72  and each of the flaps  74  and side flaps  76  and between the flap  82  and the short side panel to which it is attached. Additional score lines may be provided on that same face of the blank between the bottom panel  70  and the long side panels  72  and the short side panels  78  and between the top panel  14  and an adjacent one of the short side panels  78 . To form the box of FIG. 1, folding is effected at each of the score lines  80  and an adhesive is applied to the flaps  74  and the flaps  76  on the associated face that will come into contact with another of the panels in the folded condition, i.e., on the face that is the opposite to that shown in FIG. 8 where there are no score lines. That is, all the faces in FIG. 8 will form the interior surfaces of the box. 
     Prior to securing the top panel  14 , the panels are folded at their score lines  80  to form the box shape and an adhesive is applied to the flaps  74  on the non-scored side and secured to the associated short side panel  78  that it contacts. Preferably, the collapsible spout  30  (FIG. 1) is attached to the edge of the opening  20 , such as with an adhesive, and the handle  60  is attached to the top panel  14  on the non-scored side, such as with an adhesive. With the top panel  14  still unsecured to the flaps  76 , wood charcoal is poured into the interior of the box shape to fill it. After filling, the top panel  14  is secured to the flaps  76 , such as with an adhesive. 
     The adhesive used may be of any type conventionally used to secure cardboard to form boxes and is exemplified by an acrylic based adhesive. Alternatively, other types of fastening, as exemplified by mechanical fasteners such as staples or clips, may be used in place of an adhesive as are known to be used conventionally for such a purpose. 
     As an alternative to the use of an adhesive or mechanical fasteners, the flaps may be formed to engage in a complementary manner with the sides or top that they will otherwise be adhered to. This may involve the formation of slits or slots through which is inserted the flaps. Such an engagement is of the type known conventionally, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,362 entitled Container Construction and Method Therefor, whose contents are incorporated herein by reference. The present invention differs from that teaching by providing for a spout and handle and filling the box with wood charcoal. 
     Preferably the side walls of the spout  30  are collapsible as previously described to close the opening  20 , thereby keeping the side walls from entering the interior of the container. Thus, the side walls of the spout  30  do not cut into the friable wood charcoal within the container when the spout  30  closes the opening  20  and will not be pressed by the weight of the wood charcoal that may hinder or prevent the spout from being moved to its outward, extended position. 
     If desired, the collapsible spout  30  may be identical to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,408, with suitable expandable fasteners disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,149. 
     There is an advantage in constructing the entire container from wood based products, such as paper or cardboard. Since the contents of the container is wood charcoal, the containers may be fabricated from the same wood supply used as the source for the wood charcoal. Thus, where a portable kiln is brought to a site with a wood supply to generate wood charcoal from scrap waste wood, a portable machine for making paper or cardboard from the same wood supply may be brought to the same site to package the wood charcoal on an as needed basis. Alternatively, the wood charcoal may be manufactured near an existing facility that makes cardboard or paper and use waste wood to generate wood pulp. 
     While the foregoing description and drawings represent the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.