Patent Publication Number: US-10758941-B2

Title: Bucket mounted sifter assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Statement Regarding Federally Sponsored Research or Development 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to sifter devices and more particularly pertains to a new sifter device for removing unwanted debris from landscaping rock. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a ring that is positionable around a top end of a bucket. A pair of handles is each coupled to the ring for gripping. A first screen is positioned within the ring, and rocks and particulates can be positioned on the first screen. The first screen has openings therein of approximately 0.5 inches in size to facilitate the particulates to fall therethrough while inhibiting the rocks from passing therethrough for sifting the rocks. A second screen is positionable on the first screen and the second screen has openings therein of approximately 0.25 inches in size. Thus, the second screen reduces the size of material that can pass through the second and first screens. A fastener is extendable through the first and second screens when the second screen is positioned on the first screen for releasably coupling the second screen to the first screen. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of a bucket mounted sifter assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom view of a ring of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a front view of ring an embodiment of the disclosure being stood upon a support surface. 
         FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view taken along line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 4  of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 5  thereof, a new sifter device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 5 , the bucket mounted sifter assembly  10  generally comprises a ring  12  that is positionable around a top end  14  of a bucket  16 . Moreover, the ring  12  has an inside diameter of approximately 35.0 cm thereby facilitating the ring  12  to fit around a 5.0 gallon bucket. The ring  12  has a top edge  18 , a bottom edge  20 , an inwardly facing surface  22  and an outwardly facing surface  24 , and each of the inwardly  22  and outwardly  24  facing surfaces is continuously co-arcuate. The inwardly facing surface  22  has an angled portion  26  and a vertical portion  28 ; the angled portion  26  angles toward a center of the ring  12  between the top edge  18  and the vertical portion  28 . Moreover, the vertical portion  28  lies on a plane that is oriented perpendicular with respect to the top  18  and bottom  20  edges. 
     The vertical portion  28  has an inset  30  extending upwardly from the bottom edge  20  toward the angled portion  26 . The inset  30  receives a top end  14  of the 5.0 gallon bucket  16  thereby facilitating the ring  12  to rest on the top end  14 . The bottom edge  20  has a plurality of cutouts  32  each extending upwardly toward the top edge  18 , and the cutouts  32  are spaced apart from each other and are distributed around the bottom edge  20 . Each of the cutouts  32  accommodates structural features on the bucket  16  that would otherwise inhibit the ring  12  from sitting on the top end  14 . The outwardly facing surface  24  has a pair of prominences  34  each extending outwardly therefrom and each of the prominences  34  has a distal end  36  with respect to the outwardly facing surface  24 . The distal end  36  of each of the prominences  34  is flattened to facilitate each of prominences  34  to rest on a support surface  38  for standing the ring  12  on the support surface. 
     A pair of handles  40  is each coupled to the ring  12  for gripping. Each of the handles  40  has a central member  42  extending between a pair of outward members  44 . Moreover, each of the outward members  44  of each of the handles  40  is coupled to the outwardly facing surface  24  of the ring  12  having the central member  42  of each of the handles  40  being spaced from the outwardly facing surface  24 . The handles  40  are positioned on opposite sides of the ring  12  with respect to each other. 
     A first screen  46  is positioned within the ring  12 , and rocks  48  and particulates  50  can be positioned on the first screen  46  for sifting. The first screen  46  has openings  51  therein of approximately 0.5 inches in size to facilitate the particulates  50  to fall therethrough while inhibiting the rocks  48  from passing therethrough. In this way the particulates  50  can be sifted from the rocks  48 . The rocks  48  may be landscaping rocks that have been positioned alongside a sidewalk or the like. The particulates  50  may be sand, pieces of debris or any other collection of unwanted objects that have been introduced to the rocks  48 . The first screen  46  has an outer edge  52  and the outer edge  52  is recessed into the vertical portion  28  of the inwardly facing surface  22  of the ring  12 . Moreover, the outer edge is coextensive with the vertical portion  28  of the inwardly facing surface  22  and the first screen  46  is horizontally oriented when the ring  12  is positioned on the bucket  16 . 
     A second screen  54  is provided and the second screen  54  is positionable on top of the first screen  46 . The second screen  54  has openings  56  therein of approximately 0.25 inches in size for reducing the size of material that can pass through the second  54  and first  46  screens. Thus, the second screen  54  can be positioned on the first screen  46  for sifting pea rock or other rocks  48  or material of a similar size. A fastener  58  is extendable through the first  46  and second  54  screens when the second screen  54  is positioned on the first screen  46  for releasably coupling the second screen  54  to the first screen  46 . The fastener  58  may include a bolt, a nut and a washer or any other type of releasable fastener. 
     In use, the ring  12  is positioned on the top end  14  of the bucket  16  and the rocks  48  and particulates  50  are dumped onto the first screen  46 . The bucket  16  and ring  12  can be agitated to assist the particulates  50  to fall through the first screen  46  for collecting in the bucket  16 . The rocks  48  that remain on the first screen  46  can be dumped back to their original location. In this way debris, sand or other unwanted material can be removed from landscaping rocks or other similar collection of ornamental rocks. Additionally, the second screen  54  can be positioned on top of the first screen  46  for reducing the size of rocks  48  that are retained during sifting. The fastener  58  can be extended through the first  46  and second  54  screens to retain the second screen  54  in the ring  12 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, 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 an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure 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 disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.