Abstract:
A vented trash container with a manifold of air channels which is capable of distributing air throughout the entire container. The vented trash container is capable of eliminating vacuum between walls of the container and a liner. The manifold in the container comprises a plurality of air channels and an air distributing means. The manifold forms a network of the air channels so as to provide air distribution throughout the entire container and enhance reliability of the air distribution. The vented trash container with the manifold can be cast form a single piece of a material to form an integrated seamless unit and easily manufactured by a single injection molding process.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a vented trash container with a manifold of air channels for air distribution throughout the entire container. The vented trash container is capable of eliminating vacuum between walls of the container and a plastic liner. 
     Removal of a liner from a trash container is difficult due to a vacuum condition between walls of the container and the liner. The vacuum condition is created when the liner is placed into the container and filled. Generally, the container has a bottom and at least one side wall; thus, the vacuum condition does not only exist between the liner and the side wall but also between the liner and the bottom. The vacuum condition may cause rupture of the liner when the filled liner is lifted from the container. In addition, due to the vacuum condition, the liner can not be easily placed into the container. It is desired that the vacuum condition in the container is eliminated or prevented. 
     2. Related Art 
     In some disclosures, vent apertures or openings are built in a trash can or receptacle. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,778 (Martin, 1974), a trash bag retainer includes a plurality of apertures along the side walls from the open top to the bottom of the retainer. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,760 (Nicoll, Sr. et al., 1990), a trash receptacle has air holes on the bottom, and the holes extend from the outside to the inside of the receptacle. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,755 (McArther, Jr. et al., 1993), a vent stalk is built on the bottom of a trash receptacle, and holes and channels on the vent stalk allow air ingress and egress between outside and inside of the receptacle. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,269,434 and 5,390,818 (Labuda, 1993 and 1995), at least one aperture with a valve is built near the bottom of a receptacle, and the aperture is used to communicate the interior and the exterior of the receptacle. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,717 (LeVasseur, 1995), a vented trash can has air allowing components on the sidewalls near the bottom of the trash can, and the air allowing components are openings which allow air to enter the trash can. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,247 (Boover, 1997), a plurality of apertures is formed on side walls adjacent to the bottom of a wastebasket to facilitate the removal of a trash liner. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,303 (Timm et al., 1998), a waste basket has an arched member forming a cavity at the bottom, and holes located along the apex of the arched member are designed to reduce vacuum. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,927 B1 (Rand, 2001), vent slots or holes are built on sidewalls and the bottom of a container, and the vent slots or holes allow air to circulate between the inside and the outside of the container. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,221 B1 (McGarry, 2002), small holes or apertures are built on the bottom of a trash can for the purpose of abating the creation of suction. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,495 B1 (Frei, 2002), apertures are located proximal to the open top and the bottom of a garbage can. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,151 B1 (Brennan, 2003), a waste receptacle has an opening near the bottom to allow for the ingress of air into the receptacle. In U.S. Pat. No. D490,581 S (Keithly et al., 2004), a vent is attached to the outside surface of a side wall of a trash can, and the vent has openings communicating the interior and the exterior of the trash can. In US Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0188921 A1 (Ball, 2009), the outer and inner surfaces of a container have several vent openings to allow air to enter and exit the container. In US Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0194539 A1 (Williams, 2009), a vent opening with a valve is built at the bottom wall of a trash receptacle. The vent apertures or openings presented in the above-mentioned disclosures have the following disadvantages. (1) The vent apertures or openings destroy a seamless system of a container; thus, smell will be emitted from the container, leakage will be discharged outside the container, and insects will enter the container through the vent apertures or openings. (2) The vent apertures or openings can be easily blocked by a flexible liner. (3) The locally positioned apertures or openings can not eliminate and prevent the vacuum condition throughout an entire container. 
     In some disclosures, one or more air conduits are built on side walls of a trash can or receptacle. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,379 (Bard, 1981), a plurality of hollow tubes is attached to the interior of side walls, or molded into side walls. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,732 (Bowers et al., 1994), an air conduit is integrally mounted to the sidewall of a garbage can, and openings located on walls of the air conduit communicate the interior of the garbage can and the air conduit. Various air conduits attached on side walls are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,241 (Barnett et al., 1996), U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,063 (Poliquin, 2000), US Pat. Pub. No. 2007/0068947 A1 (Rush, 2007), 2009/0095755 A1 (McCurry, 2009), and 2009/0179034 A1 (Olson, 2009). In some disclosures, an air conduit is extended to the bottom of a container. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,876 B1 (Stastny, 2003), one end of an air conduit is extruded outside of the trash can and tied onto the trash can, and the other end placed on the bottom of the trash can. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,518 B1 (Jones, 2003), a tubular conduit is disposed between walls of a waste receptacle and a liner, one portion of the conduit is positioned on a sidewall and the other portion on the bottom of the waste receptacle, and a plurality of holes is located in the portion on the bottom. In US Pat. Pub. No. 2008/0083756 A1 (Daniels, 2008), a lined waste receptacle has a vertical air conduit on a side wall and a horizontal air conduit on the bottom, and the air conduit on the bottom is connected to a block holder with apertures. The air conduits presented in the above-mentioned disclosures have the following disadvantages. (1) The air conduits can not prevent vacuum in most contacting areas between a liner and walls of a container; in other words, the air conduits can not prevent vacuum in an entire container. (2) The openings, the holes, or the apertures on walls of the air conduits can be easily blocked by a flexible liner. 
     In some disclosures, for the purpose of eliminating or preventing the vacuum condition in a container, an inner wall and an outer wall are built in the container, the space between the inner wall and the outer wall is used as an air conduit, and openings are built on the walls at locations of the top and the bottom of the container. The double-wall structure is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,571 (Brooks et al., 1999) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,438,199 B1 (Tidrick, 2008). The double-wall structure has the same disadvantages as the air conduits mentioned in the last paragraph. An additional disadvantage of the double-wall structure is that the complexity of the double-wall structure makes the manufacture of the container more complicated and difficult. 
     A disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,281 B2 (Joseph, 2004) presents a vacuum release waste receptacle. In the receptacle, a plurality of air baffles is built on the surfaces of side walls and the bottom, projecting inwardly into the interior of the receptacle. Air channels are formed by the air baffles, the side walls or the bottom, and a liner. A disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,906 (Kochelek, 1992) presents a trash container with vertical ribs which are either attached to side walls of the container by adhesive strips or molded into side walls. A disadvantage in these two disclosures is that the intrusive air baffles and ribs will wear and breach a flexible liner. In addition, blockage of the air channels by a flexible liner will occur provided two adjacent air baffles are not close to each other. 
     In U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,572 (Robbins, III et al., 1987) and U.S. Pat. No. D398,117 (Giba, 1998), air conduits are formed by outward recessed side walls in a container. The air conduits are only located on side walls, and no air conduits are built on the bottom of the container. Therefore, the air conduits can not eliminate or prevent the vacuum condition in the entire container, especially on the bottom of the container. Most importantly, the air conduits are not networked and they are independent to each other. As a result, the air conduits can not distribute air throughout the container provided any of the air conduits is blocked locally. 
     SUMMARY 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a vented trash container with a manifold of air channels, which is capable of eliminating vacuum throughout the entire container and also enhancing reliability of air distribution. The vented trash container has at least one side wall, a bottom, an open top, and a manifold of air channels. The manifold comprises a plurality of essentially vertical air channels on the at least one side wall, a plurality of essentially horizontal air channels on the bottom, and an air distributing means located essentially at the center of the bottom. The manifold constructs a network of the air channels and thus provides air distribution throughout the entire container. The manifold also provides reliability of the air distribution through the network of the air channels. If the air channels are locally blocked, the network is capable of maintaining the air distribution throughout the entire container. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a vented trash container which has an integrated seamless structure and can be easily manufactured. The air channels and the air distributing means are defined by recessed segments of the at least one side wall and the bottom of the container. Therefore, the at least one side wall, the bottom, the air channels, and the air distributing means are capable of being cast from a single piece of a material to form an integrated seamless unit. Due to the structural simplicity, the vented trash container in the present invention is easy to be manufactured by a single injection molding process. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective side view of a round shaped container. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective bottom view of a round shaped container. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective vertical sectional view, showing the interior of a round shaped container. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective horizontal sectional view, showing the bottom of a round-shaped container. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective side view of a rectangle shaped container. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective bottom view of a rectangle shaped container. 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective vertical sectional view, showing the interior of a rectangle shaped container. 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective horizontal sectional view, showing the bottom of a rectangle shaped container. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     An exemplary embodiment of a vented trash container  10  with a manifold of air channels is shown in  FIGS. 1-4 . The vented trash container  10  has a circular open top  12 , a circular bottom  16 , and a side wall  14  raised from the bottom  16 . In the vented trash container  10 , the manifold of air channels comprises a plurality of substantially vertical air channels  22  on the side wall  14 , a plurality of substantially horizontal air channels  24  on the bottom  16 , and an air distributing means located substantially at the center of the bottom  16 . The air distributing means comprises a circularly looping channel  28  around a raised circular central piece  26 . The raised circular central piece  26  is substantially coplanar with the bottom  16 . The circularly looping channel  28  is defined by a recessed segment  18  of the bottom  16 . The segment  18  is recessed downward away from the interior of the container  10 . The circularly looping channel  28  is open toward the interior of the container  10  and has a laterally cross-sectional shape of a rectangle. The circularly looping channel  28  links all the horizontal air channels  24 , so that the horizontal air channels  24  communicate to each other through the circularly looping channel  28 . The circularly looping channel  28  links all the horizontal air channels  24  and further all the vertical air channels  22 ; therefore, a network of the air channels is formed. The horizontal air channels  24  are positioned longitudinally along radial directions from the air distributing means on the bottom  16 . Each of the horizontal air channels  24  is defined by a recessed segment  17  of the bottom  16 . The segment  17  is recessed downward away from the interior of the container  10 . The horizontal air channels  24  are open toward the interior of the container  10  and have laterally cross-sectional shapes of rectangles. One longitudinal open end of each of the horizontal air channels  24  connects to the circularly looping channel  28 , and the other longitudinal open end of each of the horizontal air channels  24  connects to the lower longitudinal open end of each of the vertical air channels  22 . Each of the vertical air channels  22  is defined by a recessed segment  15  of the side wall  14  and has a laterally cross-sectional shape of a rectangle. The segment  15  is recessed outward away from the interior of the container  10 . Each of the vertical air channels  22  has a longitudinal side opened toward the interior of the container  10 . While the lower longitudinal open end of each of the vertical air channels  22  is located proximal to the bottom  16 , the upper longitudinal open end  21  is located proximal to the open top  12 . The upper longitudinal open end  21  of each of the vertical air channels  22  communicates the exterior and the interior of the container  10 . An annular flange  11  is built around the open top  12 . 
       FIGS. 5-8  show another exemplary embodiment of a vented trash container  50  with a manifold of air channels. The vented trash container  50  has substantially a shape of a rectangular box. The vented trash container  50  comprises a rectangular open top  52 , a rectangular bottom  56 , and four side walls  54  raised from the bottom  56 . Around the open top  52 , the container  50  has an annular flange  51 . The manifold of air channels comprises a plurality of substantially vertical air channels  62 , a plurality of substantially horizontal air channels  64 , and a circularly looping channel  68  around a raised circular central piece  66 . The combination of the circularly looping channel  68  and the raised circular central piece  66  is an air distributing means located substantially at the center of the bottom  56 . The circularly looping channel  68  is defined by recessing a segment  58  of the bottom  56  downward away from the interior of the container  50 . The circularly looping channel  68  is open toward the interior of the container  50 . The circularly looping channel  68  links all the horizontal air channels  64  and further all the vertical air channels  62 ; therefore, a network of the air channels is formed. The horizontal air channels  64  are positioned along radial directions from the air distributing means. Each of the horizontal air channels  64  is defined by recessing a segment  57  of the bottom  56  downward away from the interior of the container  50 . Each of the horizontal air channels  64  has a longitudinal side opened toward the interior of the container  50 . While one longitudinal open end of each of the horizontal air channels  64  connects to the circularly looping channel  68  of the air distributing means, the other longitudinal open end connects to the lower longitudinal open end of each of the vertical air channel  62 . Each of the vertical air channels  62  is defined by recessing a segment  55  of the side walls  54  outward away from the interior of the container  50 . Each of the vertical air channels  62  has a longitudinal side opened toward the interior of the container  50 . While each of the vertical air channels  62  has one lower longitudinal open end located proximal to the bottom  56 , each of the vertical air channels  62  has one upper longitudinal open end  61  located proximal to the open top  52 . The upper longitudinal open end  61  communicates the exterior and the interior of the container  50 . 
     In other embodiments, a vented trash container comprises an air distributing means which is an open chamber located substantially at the center of the bottom of the container. The open chamber is defined by recessing a segment of the bottom downward away from the interior of the container. The open chamber links a plurality of substantially horizontal air channels on the bottom, so that the horizontal channels communicate to each other through the open chamber. 
     In other embodiments, a vented trash container may have an open top with a shape other than a circle or a rectangle. The shape of the open top may also be an ellipse, a square, a triangle, a trapezoid, or a polygon. 
     In other embodiments, a vented trash container may have a bottom with a shape other than a circle or a rectangle. The shape of the bottom may also be an ellipse, a square, a triangle, a trapezoid, or a polygon. 
     In other embodiments, the horizontal air channels, the vertical air channels, and the looping channel may have a laterally sectional shape other than a rectangle. The laterally sectional shapes of the channels may also be a semicircle, a semi-ellipse, a square, a triangle, or a polygon. 
     In other embodiments, the raised central piece may be other than circular. The raised central piece may also be elliptical, rectangular, squared, triangular, trapezoidal, or polygonal. 
     In other embodiments, the looping channel is around the raised central piece in an ellipse, a rectangle, a square, a triangle, a trapezoid, or a polygon. 
     Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with clear and concise language and with reference to certain preferred versions thereof including the best mode anticipated by the inventor, other versions are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the invention should not be limited by the description of the preferred versions contained therein, but rather by the claims appended hereto.