Patent Publication Number: US-2007102436-A1

Title: Paintbrush holder

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to painting aids, and more particularly to a paintbrush holder attachable to paint containers of various size and shape.  
      Various types of paintbrush holders have been devised for holding or storing a paintbrush for a relatively short period of time on a paint container. The paintbrush is thus out of the way while temporarily not in use and such a paint holder keeps paint off the handle of the paintbrush and off of the hands of the painter. However, a shortcoming of presently known paintbrush holders is that they are not sufficiently versatile whereby they will readily attach to many different containers, such as a one quart, one gallon, or a five gallon paint can, and additionally, will attach to a household pail and also, attach to a one gallon roller tray either positioned on the floor or on a stepladder, or on commercial roller trays. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a versatile paintbrush holder.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The paintbrush holder of the present invention is comprised of an open top receptacle for receiving and holding a paintbrush. The receptacle has a bottom, front and rear walls and side walls. A first bracket is provided on the rear wall of the receptacle for removably attaching the receptacle to a paint container. This first bracket has a first arm projecting rearwardly from the rear wall adjacent to the top of the container and the bracket has a downwardly projecting first lip for hanging the receptacle on an upper rim of an open paint container.  
      A second bracket is provided also on the rear wall of the receptacle and positioned under the first bracket for removably attaching the receptacle to a shallow paint container such as a roller pan. This second bracket has at least one second arm projecting rearwardly from the rear wall of the receptacle intermediate the first arm and the bottom of the container. This second arm is provided with a downwardly projecting second lip for hanging the receptacle on the rim of an open shallow paint container such as a roller pan.  
      More specifically it is preferred that the receptacle and the brackets are provided as a unitary molded plastic body which is resistant to solvents, corrosion and rust. The second bracket includes two second arms comprised of two spaced vertical ribs having the afore-described second lips protruding from bottom ends of these ribs with the first lip of the upper bracket projecting intermediate these ribs of the second bracket whereby the vertical ribs will engage exterior surfaces of the cylindrical walled paint container regardless of the container diameter while the first lip engages and hangs over top of the rim of the cylindrical paint container. The two lower second spaced brackets readily permit the receptacle to be hung on the side of a shallow paint container such as a paint roller pan.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims. The accompanying drawings show, for the purpose of exemplification, without limiting the scope of the invention or the appended claims, certain practical embodiments of the present invention wherein:  
       FIG. 1  is a view in back elevation of the paintbrush holder of the present invention with a paintbrush retained therein;  
       FIG. 2  is a top view of the paintbrush holder of  FIG. 1  without the inclusion of the paintbrush and illustrating the brush holder as attached to the rim of a conventional one gallon paint container; and  
       FIG. 3  is a view in side elevation of the paintbrush holder shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  attached to the rim of a paint roller pan and without the inclusion of the paintbrush. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Referring to the drawings, the paintbrush holder  10  of the present invention is illustrated in  FIG. 1  with a paintbrush  11  resting therein. The paintbrush holder  10  includes an open top receptacle  12  having a bottom  13 , front and rear walls  14  and  15  respectively, and side walls  16 .  
      A first bracket  17  is provided on rear wall  15  for removably attaching the receptacle  12  to a paint container  20  illustrated in  FIG. 2 . This first bracket  17  has a first horizontal arm  18  projecting rearwardly from rear wall  15  adjacent the top  21  of receptacle  12 . Arm  17  is further provided with a downwardly projecting first lip  19  for hanging the receptacle  12  on an upper rim  23  of an open paint container  20  as illustrated in  FIG. 2 .  
      A second bracket  24  is provided also on rear wall  15  and positioned under first bracket  17  for removably attaching receptacle  12  to a shallow paint container such as paint roller pan  25  illustrated in cross section in  FIG. 3 . Second bracket  24  is here provided in multiple or in a spaced pair on the back  15  of receptacle  12 . Second brackets  24  each have a second arm  26  projecting rearwardly from the rear wall  15  of receptacle  12  intermediate first arm  17  and bottom  13 . Each of the second brackets  24  are also provided with downwardly projecting second lips  27  for hanging the receptacle  12  on the rim of open shallow paint roller pan  25 .  
      The receptacle  12  and brackets  17  and  24  are all unitarily molded of a suitable plastic which is solvent resistant. The two second brackets  24  also provide two spaced vertical ribs  28  from which the second lips  27  protrude from the bottom ends thereof. First downwardly protruding lip  19  projects intermediate these vertical ribs  28  whereby the ribs will engage exteriors surfaces  30  of cylindrical walled paint container  20 , regardless of the diameter of the conventional cylindrical paint container  20 . Thus the brackets are so designed to hang on the top rim of any conventional cylindrical paint container no matter whether it is a quart, one gallon, or five gallon can or a bucket or pail. Nevertheless, the shallower brackets  24  also make the paintbrush holder  10  extremely versatile by permitting the receptacle  12  to also be easily hooked onto the upper rim of an open conventional paint roller pan  25  as illustrated in  FIG. 3 .