Abstract:
A storage bucket for tools is convertible to an integrated tool carrier, work platform and debris capturing apparatus through the release of a locking mechanism which allows its side walls to collapse outwardly with respect to its base in forming the platform, and where the debris is collected by a canvas, cloth or plastic webbing spanning the spaces between the adjacent side walls once opened.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     None  
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
       [0002]     Research and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program.  
       REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX  
       [0003]     Not Applicable  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0005]     This invention relates to a storage bucket for tools, in general, and to one which is convertible to an integrated tool carrier, work platform and debris capturing apparatus, in particular.  
         [0006]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0007]     As will be appreciated in the construction industry, a worker typically transfers those tools needed on a particular job from his/her vehicle to a bucket or pail for carry to the work site. When the job is to be done inside a home or office, a drop cloth is typically put down first, to protect any work surfaces, and to catch any debris from the operation at hand. Many times, however, the drop cloth is forgotten; on other occasions when it is used, the debris generated (in the nature of shavings, left-over nuts, bolts, nails, etc.) falls from the drop cloth to the floor when being folded or dragged at the end of the job.  
         [0008]     As will become clear from the following description, it is the object of the present invention to prevent this all from happening, by providing an integrated tool carrier, work platform and debris capturing apparatus.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     In accordance with the invention, a base, a plurality of side walls, a plurality of hinges coupling the side walls with the base and a pair of tubular handles are provided. A length of tie-line traverses through each of the handles, and a plurality of tubular fasteners receive the tie-line in tying individual ones of the side walls together. A pair of adjustable locking mechanisms are included, operative with the tie-line in controlling the distance of each of the handles from its adjacent fasteners, and a substantially pie-shaped, outwardly collapsible, flexible material of one of canvas, cloth and plastic composition is coupled between each pair of adjacent side walls. As will be appreciated from the following description, the integrated tool carrier, work platform, debris capturing apparatus is so constructed and arranged that in one arrangement of the adjustable locking mechanisms, raising the tubular handles allows for rotating the side walls upwardly with respect to the base in lengthening the distance of the handles from their adjacent fasteners; while in a second arrangement of the adjustable locking mechanism, lowering the tubular handles allows for rotating the side walls downwardly with respect to the base in shortening the distance of the handles from their adjacent fasteners. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, with these arrangements, raising the tubular handles allows for the positioning of the integrated apparatus into the tool carrier for transporting the tools about; lowering the tubular handles, on the other hand, allows for the collapse of the side walls into a horizontal work platform, where the various types of debris and leftover materials can be collected by the flexible material webbing which spans between the side walls.  
         [0010]     So as not to damage any floor or counter surface on which the integrated apparatus is placed, the underside of the base is selected of a smooth surface, and for the base to serve as a work platform, it is selected of a hard material. At the same time, the side walls are likewise selected of a hard material, and with at least one of its inside and outside surfaces being similarly smooth—again, so as not to damage any floor or counter surfaces where the work is to be done, and so that any sawing or planing, etc. being done on the platform is not roughened. As will be appreciated, a preferred embodiment is one where both surfaces of the side walls and both surfaces of the base are smooth.  
         [0011]     In a first embodiment of the invention, the integrated apparatus is constructed of four side walls on a rectangular base—although its operation will be the same as with a square base. In a second embodiment, eight side walls are constructed on an octagonal base. In such second embodiment, each side wall will be seen to be of rectangular configuration, while in the embodiment having four side walls on a rectangular base, the four side walls may each be of a square configuration.  
         [0012]     Several ways of raising the handles upwardly to close the side walls, and of lowering the handles to collapse the side walls will be recognizable by the skilled artisan. In the first embodiment of the invention to be described, a pair of tie-lines are employed, each extending between two opposing side walls and through one of the handles and a pair of fasteners on a side wall between the two opposing side walls. In the second embodiment, a single tie-line extends through each of the tubular handles, and through a tubular fastener at an outer edge of each of the side walls. Different types of locking mechanisms will be readily understandable, the first embodiment utilizing a slidable push-spring clip, and the second embodiment employing an inverted J-clamp.  
         [0013]     With the side walls of the described embodiments of the invention in the open, flattened position, a work platform area is presented in which all the tools will be clearly visible in sight. With the side walls in the raised, closed position, the embodiments take on the tool box or storage shape configuration. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]     These and other features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0015]      FIGS. 1-4  are illustrations helpful in an understanding of the first embodiment of the invention outlined above;  
         [0016]      FIGS. 5-8  are illustrations helpful in an understanding of the second embodiment outlined; and  
         [0017]      FIGS. 9-10  are illustrations helpful in an understanding of yet a further embodiment of the invention, for an integrated carrier having a hexagonal base. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0018]     While the number of side walls and shape of the base of the integrated carrier of the invention may vary, the embodiment of the invention of  FIGS. 1-4  incorporates a rectangular base  10  with two side walls  12  of square configuration and two side walls  14  of rectangular configuration. Four substantially pie-shaped, flexible corners  16   a - 16   d  couple between each pair of adjacent side walls  12 ,  14  in  FIG. 2 , to supplement the flattened layout of the base and four side walls shown in  FIG. 1 . As shown in these drawings, each side wall is coupled with the base by a hinge  18  to allow each side wall to be rotated upwardly from the positions illustrated. As will be appreciated, each hinge  18  may be secured to its respective side wall and base alignment by rivets, or in any other manner as will allow this rotation to take place.  
         [0019]     Each substantially pie-shaped corner is secured at its three apices  100  to the adjacent side walls and to the base so that when the side walls are rotated upwardly from the positions of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the box configuration of  FIG. 4  results. By composing the upper, or facing, surfaces of the side walls and base of  FIG. 1  and  2  of a hard surface, a work platform is presented as defined by these inside surfaces in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . By having the undersides of the side walls and base of a smooth surface, the platform can be placed on a floor or counter for the work to proceed, without damaging the floor or counter. Sawing, cutting, screwing, nailing—and a wide variety of other tasks—can then be performed safely on the work platform, with the substantially pie-shaped, collapsible flexible corners  16   a - 16   d  serving to collect debris which may result from the ongoing operation. In this preferred embodiment of the invention, the corner  16   a - 16   d  may be composed of canvas, cloth or plastic so as to be collapsible outwardly in the direction of  FIG. 4  when closed in this manner, to capture the debris which results.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  illustrates one manner by which a worker may collapse the integrated carrier of  FIGS. 1 and 2  to arrive at the closed construction of  FIG. 4 . A pair of tubular handles  20  are shown, along with two pairs of tubular fasteners  22 ,  24  and a tie-line coupling through the handles and the fasteners, shown as the tie-lines  26 ,  28  (a corded rope, for example). The respective ends of each tie-line  26 ,  28  will be understood as being secured at the underside (or outside) surfaces of the side walls  12  as at  101 , and when the carrier is open, the tie-lines run generally along the outside edge  105  of the side wall  14  as shown in  FIG. 2 . Pulling upwardly on the handles  20  in the direction of the arrows  107  shown in  FIG. 3  thus closes the side walls  12  and  14  and collapses the corners  16   a - 16   d  to capture any debris created, and in holding tools within the box as a tool carrier. Any appropriate locking mechanism to restrain accidental reopening from the  FIG. 3  configuration may be employed, as by means of a slidable push-spring clip  40 —which, in the position shown in  FIG. 3  locks the tie-line, the handles and the side walls in the orientation illustrated, while locking the tie-line, the handles and the side walls in the orientation of  FIG. 2  when secured at the position illustrated. As will be understood, in the  FIG. 3  position, the handles  20  are at a distance remote from the fasteners  24 ; in the  FIG. 2  position, the handles  20  are at a distance adjacent to the fasteners  24 .  
         [0021]      FIGS. 5-8  are comparable views for the second embodiment of the integrated tool carrier employing eight (rather than four) side walls of rectangular configuration  50 , a base of octagonal shape  52  and eight (rather than four) substantially pie-shaped collapsible corners  54  of flexible canvas, cloth or plastic composition. With the pie-shaped corners  54  again secured with their adjacent side walls and with the base  52  at the apices  100 , and with the tubular fasteners  56  secured at the side walls  50 , a single tie-line  60  then traverses through the fasteners  56  and the pair of tubular handles  62  so that pulling on the handle  62  lifts the side walls  50  and the corners  54  upwardly with respect to the base  52  about the hinged couplings  70 . Once rotated to the closed position of  FIG. 7 , the tie-line  60  can be locked in place through insertion in the groove  80  of a pair of inverted J-clamps  82 . As with the arrangements of  FIGS. 1-4 , the base  52  and the side walls  50  can be constructed of a hard material, with smooth outside surfaces to present a smooth underside for resting on a finished floor or counter. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the base and the side walls, either or both, could likewise be composed of an outside surface other than smooth, and/or other than hard, in providing similar, but less beneficial results—although still continuing to provide an integrated tool carrier, work platform, debris capturing apparatus. In this respect, the inside surfaces of the base and side walls in either embodiment, could similarly be smooth, in presenting an optimum work platform.  
         [0022]      FIGS. 9-10  are further examples of integrated carriers according to the invention, in which six sidewalls  90  are utilized with a base of hexagonal configuration.  FIG. 9  is a simplified illustration without the substantially pie-shaped corners in place, but with the tubular handles of the invention, while  FIG. 10  illustrates the configuration without the handles, the fasteners, and the tie-lines, but with the collapsible debris collecting corners  92  and the securements to the side walls and to the base at the apices  100 . The locking mechanism for securing and/or releasing the handles, the tie-lines, and the side walls could be either of the arrangements described with respect to the first and second embodiments of the invention, or of any other appropriate construction. In any event, the integrated tool carrier, work platform and debris capturing arrangement could continue to exist.  
         [0023]     While there have been described what are considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. Thus, the dashed lines  735  in  FIG. 1  illustrate the left-and-right side walls being extended to a rectangular configuration as the top-and-bottom side walls, instead of being of square shape; similarly, the dashed lines  737  in  FIG. 1  illustrate the top-and-bottom side walls being extended to a square configuration as the left-and-right side walls, instead of being of rectangular shape. For at least such reason, therefore, resort should be had to the claims appended hereto for a true understanding of the scope of the invention.