Abstract:
The present invention relates to a new design for a trash can designed to be used in fast food restaurants, in particular. Most trash cans have lids that need to be opened manually, whereas the current invention has a pedal that when stepped on, is used to open the lid. A tray loaded with rubbish will be laid on a board that is placed at a certain angle. When the foot pedal, which is attached to the lid by a spring, is released the board moves and touches the tray at the tip, which flips the tray over and causes all the rubbish to fall in the hole designed for the trash bag.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a trash receiving device more particular a device that allows an easy and efficient way of handling trays. 
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]    Fast food restaurants all use trash cans that allow their customers to discard their trash after they eat. Most of these trash cans are simple in design. The customer pushes back a flip in the front of the trash can and turns their trays to dump everything from their tray in to a trash receptacle area in the trash can and place their tray on top of the trash can. 
         [0003]    This design is not efficient as the customer can spill trash on themselves and the floor creating a mess for the employees of the fast food restaurant to clean up. 
         [0004]    Trash cans are widely found in parks, offices, malls, streets, fast food restaurants and in many other public places and facilities. However, people hardly use these trash cans particularly in fast food restaurants. They find it difficult to empty their trays after they finish eating, so many times the trays are being left on the tables for a cleaner to pick them up. 
         [0005]    Based on the desirability and the infinitely many needs of human beings, a new design for a trash can was required for an alternative to those used today. A trash can is a container made out of metal, wood or plastic and is used to dispose of waste such as waste paper, food leftovers, and any disposable material. 
         [0006]    There is room for improvement in the art. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0007]    The present invention relates to a new design for a trash can designed to be used in fast food restaurants, in particular. Many problems have been solved regarding the fact that the current trash cans are being misused or not used at all because they are difficult to use. 
         [0008]    Most trash cans have lids that need to be opened manually, whereas the current invention has a pedal that when stepped on, is used to open the lid. A tray loaded with rubbish will be laid on a board that is placed at a certain angle. When the foot pedal, which is attached to the lid by a spring, is released the board moves and touches the tray at the tip, which flips the tray over and causes all the rubbish to fall in the hole designed for the trash bag. 
         [0009]    An electric chip, which uses AA batteries, is being used so that as soon as the lid closes again it will make a sound that says, “Thank You!” Aluminum rollers are used to roll the tray down to a pile of trays in a container. 
         [0010]    This design will require less from employers and customers and will be a benefit for fast food restaurants. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
         [0011]    Without restricting the full scope of this invention, the preferred form of this invention is illustrated in the following drawings: 
           [0012]      FIG. 1  shows a front view of the trash can; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  shows a side view of the trash can; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  shows a top view of the trash can; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  shows a cut away side view of the trash can showing the major components; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  shows how a tray moves in the trash can; 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  displays the device in operation; 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  shows the trash cans with different shapes; and 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  shows the different potential locations for the sound trigger. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0020]    The following description is demonstrative in nature and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention or its application of uses. 
         [0021]    There are a number of significant design features and improvements incorporated within the invention. 
         [0022]    The device is a trash can  1 . The design is called “flipping trash-can.” The trash can  1  is designed to flip a tray  10  over.  FIG. 1  shows a front view of the trash can  1 .  FIG. 2  shows a side view of the trash can  1 .  FIG. 3  shows a top view of the trash can. 
         [0023]    The major components for the trash can  1  as shown in the cut away view in  FIG. 4  are the Foot pedal  20 , Spring  30 , Lid  40 , Cover  50 , Hole  60  (for trash bags  65 ), Rollers  70  and Trays container  80 . There is also a frame  90  with a bottom  91 , top  92 , left side  93 , right side  94 , back side  95  and front side  96 . The trash can  1  can also have an electric chip  500 . 
         [0024]    The frame  90  is rectangular in shape with the bottom  91  and top  92  attaching to all four sides, the front  96 , right  94 , left  93  and back  95  with the front  96  attaching to the right  94  and the left  93  in a 90 degree angle and the back  95  attaching to the right  94  and the left  93  in a 90 degree. These sides can be connected through any standard connecting means such as glue, bolts, screws and welds. 
         [0025]    There is a lid  40  attached to the top  92  of the trash can  1 . The lid  40  is attached to a foot pedal  20  that is positioned in the front of the trash can  1 . The foot pedal  20  is a standard foot pedal. The foot pedal  20  is attached to the lid  40  by a spring  27 . The spring  27  is attached to the foot pedal  20  and moved down when the foot pedal  20  is moved down by stepping on it. The spring  27  is also attached to lid  40 . When the connecting rod  27  moves down it pulls the lid  40  down to an open position. If a tray  10  is on the lid  40  the tray  10  slides down the lid  40  when the lid  40  is on the open position. 
         [0026]    Attached to right side  93  and the left side  92  is the rectangular tray block  11   0 . The rectangular tray block  110  is in the shape of a “U” with the well of the “U” wider than the height of the tray  10 . The rectangular block  110  stops and tips the tray  10  while it is flipped. 
         [0027]    Attached to the right side  93  and the left side  92  is the tray slide  120 . The tray slide  120  is a flat surface that is at an angle down from the front of the trash can  1 . The tray slide&#39;s upper surface is made from or coated with a friction reduction surface. In the middle of the tray slide  120  is the rectangular hole  60  which opens up to the trash bag  65 . When the tray  10  is flipped the trash  100  falls into the hole  60  and into the trash bag  65 . At the bottom of the tray slide  120  is a series of rollers  70  which the flipped tray  10  rolls down into the trays container  80 . 
         [0028]    The trays container  80  is rectangular in shape with a back and sides. The trays container  80  is designed so that the trays  10  will stack on their side once they roll down the rollers. This keeps the trays  10  in order for easy removal. 
         [0029]    In the preferred embodiment, the top  92  will have a tray holding space  17  which will hold the trays  10  for use. The holding space  17  is a flat area large enough to hold a tray. 
         [0030]    The trash can  1  omits a little sound to attract children and encourage them to throw away garbage. When they push the door they hear a sound like “Thank you”. This is an electric chip  500 , which uses AA batteries in the preferred embodiment. The sound could also be produced by a speaker attached to a sound producing device such as a recorded message and an amplifier which is attached to a trigger and a power source such as a battery. When the tray passes by the trigger the recorded message will play through the speaker. As shown in  FIG. 9  the microprocessor  500  or a different sound omitting device and trigger can be in several locations. 
         [0031]    The trash can  1  can be made out of metal, wood or plastic and can be used to dispose of waste such as waste paper, food leftovers, and any disposable material. 
         [0032]    Operation 
         [0033]    The person with the tray  10  steps on the pedal  20  at the bottom of the trash can  1 , which opens the cover  50  at the top because of a spring  27  between the pedal and the cover  50  at the top. As shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the tray  10  slides down until the tray  10  hits the rectangular tray block  110 . As soon as the person removes his foot from the pedal  20 , the cover  50  hits the tray  10  and flips it upside down, which makes all the trash  100  fall into the trash bag  61 . The tray  10  then hits the rollers  70  and slides down to the pile of trays  10  in the tray container  80 . 
         [0034]      FIG. 6  shows how the tray flips to drop items such as trash  100  into the trash bag  61 . The tray  10  with the trash on it is placed on the cover  50  and slides down the cover  50  to the rectangular tray block  110 . The tray  10  rests briefly on its side at an angle. When the cover  50  is released it moves forward hitting the back of the tray  10  and flipping it in an orderly fashion. This action deposits the trash  100  from the top of the tray  10  to the hole  60  into the trash bag  61 . The flipped tray  10  slides down the trash can&#39;s tray ramp  15  inside the body of the trash can  1 . The last part of the tray ramp  15  has rollers  70  in the preferred embodiment for the tray to slide down. The trays slides and falls into the tray container  80 . The tray container  80  is designed to stack the trays as they come down the tray slide  15 . 
       Alternate Embodiments 
       [0035]    There are a number of alternative embodiments for the trash can  1 . The trash can  1  can be shaped into different shapes such as into teddy bears and bunnies to attract children and encourage them to keep the place clean as shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0036]    Another embodiment is to have a transparent plastic sheet  420  on the side of the trash can  1  to know when the trash bag  65  is full as shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0037]    In an additional embodiment, an upper handle could be added to the lid  40  to ease up opening the door of the garbage for handicapped as also shown in  FIG. 8 . 
         [0038]    The trash can  1  can also have a small box inside the body  8  that gives the person who throws the trash some kind of ticket and the restaurant gives the person with the largest number of tickets a promotion or free meals to encourage use of the trash can  1 . A ticket dispenser  400  can be attached to the front of the trash can  1  and connected to the microprocessor  500 . The ticket dispenser  400  will distribute one or more tickets when the microprocessor  500  tells it that a tray  10  has been run through the trash can  1  as shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0039]    Advantages 
         [0040]    The design of the current invention is like a small factory in a garbage can. It benefits a lot of people with its ease of use and eases up the process of cleaning. The current invention is designed to be able to satisfy cleanliness, ease of use, durability, practicality, external appearance, simplicity, age expectancy, and strength of material required by a trash can. 
         [0041]    Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore, the point and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein. 
         [0042]    As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided. 
         [0043]    With respect to the above description, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention. 
         [0044]    Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.