Stackable recycling crate

A stackable crate and stackable crate system, wherein each crate comprises: a pair of opposing sidewalls, a back wall coupled to the sidewalls, and a front wall coupled to the sidewalls. The front wall has a first substantially rectangularly shaped opening at the top portion and a second substantially rectangularly shaped opening at the bottom portion of the front wall, thereby defining in the front wall a central portion with the bottom edge of the central portion extending to form at each end a lower leg segment and the top edge of the central portion extending to form at each end an upper leg segment. A bottom side is planar as it extends away from the back wall but tapers upwardly to merge with the central portion. The bottom side is joined to the sidewalls and to the back wall to define a storage compartment in the interior of the crate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to stackable crates for refuse. More particularly, 
this invention relates to a stackable crate and a stackable crate system 
for receiving different types of refuse for recycling purposes. 
Refuse collection and removal have become a significant problem in many 
communities such that various solutions have been sought to reduce the 
amount of refuse that requires removal, for example, to a garbage dump, 
land fill site and/or incineration plant. In some cases, municipal 
regulations require a home owner or business establishment to separate 
refuse into different types, for example, to separate glass bottles, 
aluminum cans, plastic containers, newspapers and the like from each other 
not only for recycling purposes but also to reduce the amount of residual 
refuse which requires removal to a garbage dump, land fill or incineration 
plant. 
Because of the requirement to separate refuse into different types, home 
owners and business establishments have usually resorted to setting aside 
separate containers for each type of refuse. For example, one container 
may be set aside for aluminum cans, a second container for plastic 
materials, a third container for newspapers and paper and a fourth 
container for any remaining refuse. When the containers are placed side by 
side, however, a rather large space is required and this is not generally 
convenient to home owners and businesses. When such containers are 
stacked, insertion of refuse into the lower crates is difficult. 
Prior art refuse containers have attempted to strike a balance between the 
demands of space and accessibility. For example, Pender, U.S. Pat. No. 
4,739,894 discloses a container assembly formed of four semi-cylinders 
with an upper pair of containers stacked on a lower pair of containers. 
The upper containers have recessed walls which mate to provide chutes to 
the lower containers for the segregation of different types of refuse. 
Also, Howells, U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,252 discloses a set of sorting-stacking 
bins having tapered containers, each having upstanding, inclined walls and 
an integral horizontal bottom. These prior art containers are deficient in 
that when stacked, it is difficult to insert large plastic bottles or 
newspapers through the container opening into the appropriate container. 
Moreover, newspaper and other paper materials fail to lie flat in these 
prior art containers because the containers do not have a box-shaped 
frame. Thus, such newspapers are difficult to bundle quickly. 
Square and rectangular plastic injection molded crates have long been used 
for storage and transporting milk cartons. Illustrations of milk carton 
crates are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,840,115 and 4,819,822. 
A rectangular prior art crate exists wherein the front wall of the crate 
has a rectangularly shaped opening at the top portion. There is, however, 
no opening at the bottom portion of the front wall of this prior art 
crate. A disadvantage of this prior art crate is that when several of 
these crates are stacked vertically, it may be difficult to insert refuse, 
especially large bottles, through the front wall opening of crates below 
the uppermost crate. If the opening is enlarged, however, to accommodate 
large pieces of refuse, refuse may slip out through the front wall opening 
during transport of the crates to the disposal area. Further, large 
openings are inimical to the structural integrity of molded plastic 
crates. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a stackable crate 
and stackable crate system of simple, sturdy, and compact construction 
wherein different types of refuse can be easily and rapidly inserted into 
the appropriate crate. 
Also, an object of the invention is to be able to easily transport the 
separate crates from the storage area to the pick-up area. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a stackable crate and 
stackable crate system wherein newspapers and other paper products lie 
flat for rapid bundling. 
Other objects of the invention are to provide a simple stackable crate and 
stackable crate system which occupy a minimum of space, which provide a 
maximum amount of compartment space, and which can be readily used by a 
home owner. 
Accordingly, the invention involves a stackable crate comprising: 
(a) a pair of opposing sidewalls; 
(b) a back wall coupled to the sidewalls; 
(c) a front wall coupled to the sidewalls and having a first substantially 
rectangularly shaped opening at the top portion of the front wall and a 
second substantially rectangularly shaped opening at the bottom portion of 
the front wall, thereby defining in the front wall a central portion with 
the bottom edge of the central portion extending to form at each end a 
lower leg segment and the top edge of the central portion extending to 
form at each end an upper leg segment; and 
(d) a bottom side being planar as the bottom side extends away from the 
back wall and tapering upwardly to merge with the central portion, wherein 
the bottom side is joined to the sidewalls and to the back wall to define 
a storage compartment in the interior of the crate. 
This invention also is directed to a stackable crate system comprising a 
plurality of crates, wherein each crate is as defined above, supra, and 
the crates are stacked one on top of each other such that a large combined 
opening is formed by the bottom opening of the front wall of a higher 
crate and the top opening of the front wall of a lower crate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The stackable crate 1 of the present invention has a box-like structure 
with four walls and a bottom. Referring to FIG. 1, the front wall 2 has a 
substantially rectangularly shaped top opening 3 and a substantially 
rectangularly shaped bottom opening 4 that define a central portion 5 
between the openings and a pair of upper leg segments 6 and a pair of 
lower leg segments 7. It is preferred that the opening 3 at the top 
portion is larger than the opening 4 at the bottom portion. As seen in 
FIGS. 1-3, there is a raised groove 8 along the edges of the exterior 
surface of the bottom 9 to facilitate stacking of the crates. 
Referring to FIG. 2, the back wall 10 of the stackable crate 1 has a 
plurality of air vents 11 spaced at regular intervals that define a 
central horizontal bar 12 and a series of brace elements 13 spread in a 
fan pattern. 
Referring to FIG. 3, each side wall 14 has a hand-grip opening 15 located 
at the top central portion. Also, there are a plurality of air vents 16 
spaced at regular intervals that define a central horizontal bar 17 and a 
series of brace elements 18 spread in a fan pattern. The air vents 11, 16 
of the back wall 10 and side walls 14 can be of various dimensions. The 
bottom 9 (seen in outline) is planar as it extends away from the back wall 
10 but tapers upwardly to merge with the central portion 5 of the front 
wall 2. Preferably, the bottom 9 merges with the bottom edge of the 
central portion 5 of the front wall 2. It is also preferred that the 
bottom 9 has no air vents to prevent leakage between stacked crates. 
As seen in FIGS. 1-3, the crate 1 is provided with a rib structure 19 or 
girdle to afford the durability and strength required for refuse 
containers. The rib structure 19 is integrally formed with the various 
sides of the crate. The rib structure 19 is composed of two horizontal 
ribs 20, 21 at the top of the crate 1 that extend around the crate and two 
horizontal ribs 22, 23 at the bottom of the crate that extend around the 
side and back walls. As seen in FIG. 1, there are four horizontal ribs 24, 
25, 26, 27 that run parallel across the central portion 5 of the front 
wall 2, two of which (24, 27) define the top and bottom edges of the 
central portion 5. A short horizontal rib 27A is disposed at the end of 
each lower leg segment 7. As seen in FIGS. 2-3, a horizontal rib 28 runs 
along the center of the back and side walls and is integrally disposed 
with the central bar 12, 17. In addition, there are vertical edge ribs 29, 
30, 31, 32, 33, 34 located at the edges of the crate 1. Also, there are 
other vertical ribs 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, two on each side, positioned 
at a distance away from the edges. Moreover, a series of ribs 13A, 13B are 
integrally disposed with the brace elements 13, 18 of the back and side 
walls. 
Referring to FIG. 4, the crates can be stacked vertically to comprise a 
stackable recycling crate system 41. The raised groove 8 present along the 
edges of the exterior surface of the bottom 9 nests in the interior of a 
lower crate along the top inner edges (not shown). It is preferred that 
the crate system includes three crates, although a greater number of 
crates can be used. Within each crate, the four walls and the bottom are 
joined to define therein a storage compartment 42. When the crates are 
stacked vertically, the combined opening 43 is formed from the joining of 
the bottom opening 4 of the front wall of a higher crate 44 with the top 
opening 3 of the front wall of a lower crate 45. 
Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a paper crate 46 with paper bundling 
means that can be used to tie paper products such as newspapers and 
magazines into bundles. The paper crate 46 has a box-shaped frame with 
substantially rectangularly shaped openings 47, 48, 49, 50 in the back 
wall 51 and front wall 52. It is preferred that the side walls 53 also 
have openings 54, 54A of any shape. Preferably, the opening 48 at the 
bottom portion of the front wall 52 is substantially rectangularly shaped. 
The openings 47, 49 present in the back and front walls, define a bar 
member 55, 56 on the top portion of both the back and front walls. The 
bottom 57 preferably has a plurality of air vents. The bottom 57 is planar 
as it extends away from the back wall 51 but tapers upwardly to merge with 
the bottom edge of the central portion 58 of the front wall 52. A dowel 59 
having a threaded cavity on one end and a cap 60 at the other end is 
positioned on the exterior surface of the bar element 56 of the back wall 
51. A removable screw 61 fixes the dowel 59 against the bar element 56. A 
roll of twine 62 is wrapped around the dowel 59 with a portion of twine 
from the roll lying across the bottom 57, the end of the portion of twine 
being tied to the bar element 55 of the front wall 52. 
As seen in FIG. 5, the paper crate 46 is provided with a rib structure 63 
or girdle. The rib structure is integrally formed with the front, back, 
and side walls of the paper crate. The rib structure 63 comprises four 
vertical ribs 64, 65, 66, 67 extending diagonally from each corner of the 
paper crate 46, horizontal lower ribs 68, 69, two horizontal intermediate 
ribs 70, 71 and three horizontal upper ribs 72, 73, 74; the horizontal 
ribs are continuously formed around the paper crate 46. In addition, eight 
ribs 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 extend along the respective vertical 
edges of the openings in the longitudinal and lateral sides of the paper 
crate 46. The vertical ribs 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 are formed along the 
edges of the respective openings 49-50, 54-54A in the same manner as 
vertical ribs 75, 76. 
Referring to FIG. 6, the paper crate 46 is shown as part of the stackable 
crate system 41 with the paper crate 46 being the uppermost crate. 
Each crate of the present invention including the paper crate is molded 
from plastic or may be formed in any other suitable manner. 
The crate of the present invention can be sized to be of any suitable 
capacity. In particular, the individual crates as well as the openings in 
the front wall can be sized so as to readily handle large items, such as 
plastic bottles, without jamming occurring either in the front wall 
openings or within the storage compartments. Furthermore, the crates of 
the stackable crate system may be of different heights so as to provide 
different capacities from each other. 
In use, an individual wishing to separate refuse would dedicate any of the 
crates of the stackable crate system to a specific type of refuse, for 
example, glass, aluminum cans, steel cans, plastics, and the like, 
depending upon the recycling program established in the particular 
community involved. 
In view of the sizes of bottles and cans now commonly used, practice has 
taught that a crate having the following dimensions will have the best 
utility in the crate system of the invention: 171/4 in. (front and back 
wall length), 141/4 in. (side wall length), and 131/8 in. (height). In a 
preferred embodiment, the central panel of the front wall is recessed 
approximately 31/2 in. from the top and approximately 25/8 in. from the 
bottom. 
Whereas the preferred form and several variations of the invention have 
been shown and suggested, it should be understood that suitable additional 
modifications, changes, substitutions and alterations may be made without 
departing from the fundamental theme of the invention.