Patent Publication Number: US-2005139733-A1

Title: Liner for a refuse bag

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      This application is a Continuation application of, and claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §120 of, application Ser. No. 10/449,346 filed on May 30, 2003 entitled RIGID LINER FOR A REFUSE BAG, and whose entire disclosure is incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of Invention  
      This invention relates to devices for supporting trash bags during filling, and more particularly, to devices for filling yard refuse bags for re-cycling purposes.  
      2. Description of Related Art  
      Many townships require residents to separate yard refuse from other trash that is set out for scheduled pick-up by placing the yard refuse in specially-designated yard refuse bags. These yard refuse bags consist of heavy paper and are rectangular in shape, much like a large shopping bag.  
      However, in order to fill these bags many problems occur. For example, since the yard refuse bag consists of paper, there is no support, other than the heavy paper structure to maintain in it an open position. In addition, when the person begins filling the bag and attempts to compact the collected contents, the shape of the bag becomes distorted, causing it to fall over and/or causing any compacted twigs, branches, etc. to tear or rip the bag during the filling. If the user wants to avoid this, the user may simply not fill the entire bag, but rather just obtain another bag, thereby not getting the full use of the yard refuse bag which is wasteful.  
      The following patents are examples of attempts to solve some of the above problems but suffer from one or more other problems discussed below.  
      U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,890,652/4,979,547/(Hoerner) disclose a collapsible trash bag support sleeve. However, the sleeve suffers from a number of problems such as failure to retain a rectangular shape during filling, thereby stressing the bag which tends to rip it. Furthermore, the trash bag&#39;s upper portion must be secured in anchoring slits that tend to rip the trash bag during filling. In addition, despite the use of firm panels, the overall sleeve may tend to twist and deform; this distortion not only makes it difficult to release the sleeve from the trash bag (once the bag is filled), but it also tends to rip/tear the trash bag. In addition, the use of adhesives, or other closure means, to form the rectangular sleeve tends to wear after much use, which further aggravates the tendency to distort the sleeve shape. Should the closure means disengage, the yard refuse is then exposed to the trash bag, thereby defeating the purpose of the sleeve. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,778 (Boyle); U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,084 (Judge).  
      U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,022 (Reifers) discloses a device for loading trash bags. However, this device is meant for particular use with a conventional plastic trash bag and would, most likely, tear or rip a yard refuse bag due to the latter&#39;s rectangular construction and the bag engagement mechanism at the top of the device. Furthermore, the device requires that the user frequently lift the device/bag as it is filled in different stages in order to force collected yard refuse down inside the bag.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,561 (O&#39;Leary et al.) discloses a support for a flexible container. However, this support suffers from, among other things, a slit that can expose the refuse to the trash bag directly. In addition, this support is designed for a small, in-house trash container, not a large yard refuse bag.  
      Other trash bag support devices are shown in the following U.S. patents, namely, U.S. Pat. No. 576,782 (Goodrich); U.S. Pat. No. 579,228 (Frame); U.S. Pat. No. 645,544 (Bissell); U.S. Pat. No. 1,668,053 (Dawson); U.S. Pat. No. 2,172,529 (Barker et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,524 (Jerpbak); U.S. Pat. No. 3,936,087 (Alexander); U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,081 (Hawkinson); U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,011 (Rylander); U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,533 (Dieter); U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,982 (Cooke); U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,292 (Beckham); U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,965 (Aulabaugh); U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,609 (Tobin); U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,125 (Caveney); U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,554 (Dauphinais); U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,589 (Belous); U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,060 (Hodgon et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,022 (Palumbo); U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,117 (Alexander, III); U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,033 (Gibson).  
      However, none of these references appear to teach or suggest the use of a rigid liner inside a yard refuse bag that not only prevents the tearing/ripping of the yard bag during filling, but remains stable throughout the filling and removal operation, while providing features that facilitate the removal of the liner from the yard refuse bag after filling.  
      All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An apparatus for facilitating the collection of grass cuttings from a riding lawn mower into a yard refuse bag. The apparatus comprises: an elongated rigid enclosure having an open bottom and open top, wherein the elongated rigid enclosure comprises sides and a plurality of air vents, and wherein each of the air vents forms a passageway contained in a corner joining two adjacent sides or contained in a side. The passageway has an opening disposed in the open top and an opening disposed in the open bottom of the elongated rigid enclosure. The apparatus is adapted to be positioned inside the yard refuse bag and for supporting the yard refuse bag along its length during filling; and a bagger attachment device that is moved by the riding lawn mower and includes: a support surface coupled to the riding lawn mower for supporting the elongated rigid enclosure inside the yard refuse bag; and a plenum having a first end that couples to a grass shoot in the riding lawn mower and a second end coupled to a cover that passes the grass cuttings into the open top of the enclosure.  
      An apparatus for facilitating the collection of yard refuse (e.g., grass cuttings, dry leaves, twigs, branches, trimmed shrubbery, or any other waste designated by local ordinances to be “yard waste sufficient for re-cycling”) into a yard refuse bag. The apparatus comprises: an elongated rigid enclosure having an open bottom and open top, wherein the elongated rigid enclosure comprises sides and a plurality of air vents, and wherein each of the air vents forming a passageway contained in a corner joining two adjacent sides or contained in a side. The passageway has an opening disposed in the open top and an opening disposed in the open bottom of the elongated rigid enclosure. The apparatus is adapted to be positioned inside the yard refuse bag and for supporting the yard refuse bag along its length during filling; and a cart for holding at least one elongated rigid enclosure/yard refuse bag combination that is filled with yard refuse. The cart permits a user to move the filled enclosure/yard refuse bag combination to recyclable trash pick-up location.  
      A method for facilitating the collection of grass cuttings from a riding lawn mower into a recyclable yard refuse bag, said method comprising the steps of: (a) disposing an elongated rigid enclosure having an open bottom and open top inside the recyclable yard refuse bag to form an assembly; (b) positioning the assembly on a bagger attachment device that is coupled to the riding lawn mower; (c) directing the grass cuttings from the grass shoot of the riding lawn mower into the open top of the enclosure; and (d) removing said enclosure from the recyclable yard refuse bag once the bag is filled.  
      An apparatus for facilitating the collection of yard refuse (e.g., grass cuttings, dry leaves, twigs, branches, trimmed shrubbery, or any other waste designated by local ordinances to be “yard waste sufficient for re-cycling”) into a yard refuse bag. The apparatus comprises an elongated-rigid enclosure having an open bottom and open top, wherein the elongated rigid enclosure comprises sides and a plurality of air vents, and wherein each of the air vents forms a passageway contained in a corner joining two adjacent sides or contained in a side. The passageway has an opening disposed in the open top and an opening disposed in the open bottom of the elongated rigid enclosure. The apparatus is adapted to be positioned inside the yard refuse bag and for supporting the yard refuse bag along its length during filling.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The invention will be described in conjunction with the following drawings in which like reference numerals designate like elements and wherein:  
       FIG. 1  is an isometric view showing the rigid yard bag liner and a manual compactor;  
       FIG. 2  is an isometric view showing the rigid yard bag liner partially disposed inside a yard refuse bag;  
       FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the rigid yard bag liner and yard bag taken along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 2 ;  
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of the rigid yard bag liner and yard bag taken along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 2 ;  
       FIG. 5  depicts a bagger device attachment to a lawn tractor (shown partially)using, in plurality, the apparatus of the present invention which is shown partially-broken away; and  
       FIG. 6  is an isometric view of refuse cart showing two already-filled refuse bags and one refuse still containing the apparatus of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      The invention will be illustrated in more detail with reference to the following Examples, but it should be understood that the present invention is not deemed to be limited thereto.  
      Referring now in detail to the various figures of the drawing wherein like reference characters refer to like parts, there is shown at  20 , a rigid yard refuse bag liner for use with a yard refuse bag to facilitate the collection of yard refuse (e.g., dry leaves, twigs, branches, trimmed shrubbery, or any other waste designated by local ordinances to be “yard waste sufficient for re-cycling”) into a yard refuse bag  22 .  
      The liner  20  comprises a rigid elongated enclosure  24  comprising a one-piece molded construction (e.g., using a plastic-injected one-piece molding or blow molding machine), of any durable material, e.g., polyethylene, PVC (poly vinyl chloride) including polymers, other plastic materials including re-cyclable plastics and other plastic compounds. The enclosure  24  has no bottom surface (see  FIG. 4 ) in order to permit the liner  20  to be removed from the yard refuse bag  22 , once the enclosure  24 /yard refuse bag  22  is filled up. The enclosure  24  also has an open top  21 .  
      It should be understood that the term “rigid” as used in this patent application defines that the enclosure is of a non-collapsable construction, i.e., it cannot be disassembled and/or folded up.  
      To facilitate the removal of the liner  20  once the enclosure  24 /yard refuse bag  22  are filled up, the enclosure  24  comprises a tapered construction, i.e., the bottom portion  26  is wider than the top portion  28 , with reference to a longitudinal axis  25 ,  FIG. 3 . In particular, once the enclosure  24 /yard refuse bag  22  is filled up, as the user pulls the enclosure  24  upward using any pair of handles  30 A/ 30 B or  32 A/ 32 B out of the yard bag  22 , the bottom portion  26  of the enclosure is able to slide over the yard refuse (not shown), thereby releasing it into the lower portion  34  of the yard bag  22 , while forcing yard refuse in the upper portion  28  of the enclosure  24  downward through the enclosure  24  and finally out into the yard bag  22 . In addition, the tapered construction of the enclosure  24  also stabilizes the enclosure  24 /yard bag  22  by providing a lower portion  26  base that is wider than the top portion  28 .  
      To further facilitate the removal of enclosure  24  from the yard bag  22 , air vents  36 A- 36 D are positioned in the enclosure  24 . In the preferred embodiment, where the enclosure  24  is a four-sided enclosure, these vents  36 A- 36 D are located in the four corners of enclosure  24 . These vents  36 A- 36 D, running the length of the enclosure  24 , permit trapped air to escape when the enclosure  24  is being lifted out of the yard bag  22 .  
      It should be understood that these air vents  36 A- 36 D could, alternatively, be located in the sides of the enclosure  24  also and are not restricted to being located in the corners of the enclosure  24 . For example, as shown most clearly in  FIG. 4 , wall vents  136 A- 136 D also run the length of the enclosure  24  and are located off-center of each wall so as to allow each vent to provide an air passageway from the bottom  23  ( FIG. 3 )of the enclosure  24  to the top  27  of the enclosure  24  without passing through the respective handle located in each wall.  
      Within the enclosure  24 , the corners  38 A- 38 D are rounded. This minimizes yard refuse, such as twigs or branches, getting lodged in the corners of the enclosure  24  which would occur if square corners were used.  
      Associated with the rigid enclosure  24  is a compactor  40 . The compactor  40  comprises a planar surface  42  and a handle  44 . The planar surface  42  also comprises rounded corners  46 A- 46 D that correspond to the rounded corners  38 A- 38 D. As the enclosure  24 /yard refuse bag  22  begins to fill up, the user grasps the compactor  40  with the handle  44  and applies pressure against the yard refuse with the planar surface  42  to compact the yard refuse in the enclosure  24 /yard refuse bag  22 . To maximize the compacting of yard refuse in the corners  38 A- 38 D of the enclosure  24 , the user can align one of the rounded corners  46 A- 46 D with one of the corners  38 A- 38 D and press downward, thereby compacting yard refuse located in the particular corner of the enclosure  24 . Furthermore, during non-use, the compactor  40  can be stowed in the enclosure  24  by positioning the handle  44  into one of the air vents; e.g., as shown in  FIG. 4 , the handle  44  is stowed in air vent  36 A.  
      To use the liner  20 , the user opens a yard refuse bag  22  and then inserts the enclosure  24  into the bag&#39;s  22  interior. The user then throws yard refuse into the interior of the enclosure  24 . As filling occurs, the user can use the compactor  40  to compact the already-collected yard refuse, thereby making more room for more yard refuse. Furthermore, since the force of the compacting is distributed into the walls of the enclosure  24  only, and not into the yard bag  22 , the usual risk of tearing/ripping the bag during compacting is avoided. When the height of the yard refuse reaches a designated height, which may be indicated by a line or other indicia  50  ( FIG. 3 ), the user grasps one of the pairs of handles ( 30 A/ 30 B or  32 A/ 32 B) and lifts the enclosure  24  out of the yard bag  22 .  
      The yard refuse bags  22  are typically heavy paper bags that are approximately 32 inches in length by approximately 16 inches in width. Although the preferred embodiment liner  20  is designed for use with such yard refuse bags  22 , it is within the broadest scope of this invention to include other types of trash bags (e.g., plastic trash bags). When using a plastic trash bag with the liner  20 , the upper portion of the trash bag can be passed through an opposing pair of handles ( 30 A/ 30 B or  32 A/ 32 B) and then knotted.  
      As shown in  FIG. 5 , the liner  20  can also be used with a conventional riding lawn tractor  100  (e.g., a Sears Craftsman 20 hp deck lawn tractor)for automatically filling refuse bags. Typically, riding lawn tractors cut the grass and then the clippings are exhausted through a shoot that is connected to either two large rigid containers o-r burlap sacks. The containers or burlap sacks are then emptied by various methods of disposal. Typically, the filled containers or sacks are dumped out into a field, dumped into a wooded area, reloaded into plastic bags that will not biodegrade, or reloaded into a paper yard waste bag; however, the difficulty of loading the paper yard waste has already been described.  
      In contrast, the present invention  20  can be fastened in such a way in the back of the lawn tractor that the grass clippings are directly exhausted into the liner  20 /refuse bag  22  combination. For example, a bagger device attachment  100  (e.g., a two bin bagger model #24979 that is sold as an accessory to the Sears Craftsman 20 hp deck lawn tractor) can be coupled to the tractor  100  and a plurality of liners  20 /yard refuse bags  22  positioned thereon. In particular, before mowing begins, the operator places each enclosure  24 /yard refuse bag  22  onto a pan  104  that is coupled to the tractor  100  via a hitch  105  and support member  107 . To prevent each liner  20 /yard refuse bag  22  from possibly falling off the pan  104  during mowing, a rail mechanism  106  surrounds the upper portion of each liner  20 /yard refuse bag  22 ; a hinged closure bar  108  completes the rail mechanism  106  and can be releasably locked by a lock  110  (e.g., wing nuts, brackets, etc.). A lawn cutting plenum  112  couples the grass shoot  114  of the tractor  100  to a hood  116 , which directs the grass cuttings into each of the liners  20 /yard refuse bags  22 .  
      Once the bags  22  are filled, the operator opens the lock  110  and opens the closure bar  108 . The operator can then move the liner  20 /yard refuse bag  22  onto the trash pick-up spot (e.g., curb-side) or can place the liner  20 /yard refuse bag  22  onto a cart  120 , as shown in  FIG. 6 . In either case, the operator then removes the liner  20  (or liners  20  where a plurality of these are used) from the filled yard refuse bag  22  which are now ready for collection. If the cart  120  is used, it can be wheeled to the trash pick-up spot and the filled bags  22  placed on the ground. The operator can then insert the liner  20  into a new yard refuse bag  22  and place that combination back onto the pan  104  to collect more grass cuttings. The cart  120  can be used to store the liners  20  when not in use. The cart  120  also includes a rail mechanism  206  that prevents the filled enclosure  24 /yard refuse bag  22  from falling off the cart  120  during movement of the cart  120 . The cart  120  also includes a hand grip  122  to allow the user to move the cart  120 .  
      Once picked up, the filled paper yard bags would not be brought to a landfill, where they would just add to the volumes of existing trash; instead, they are sent to biodegradable landfill, thereby saving localities and consumers thousands of dollars and thousands of tax payers dollars as well.  
      It is also within the broadest scope of the invention to include the use of the liner  20  in offices and areas where waste paper, especially copy, e.g., a paper shredder, is collected in a conventional plastic trash bag which is then thrown in the trash and not re-cycled. In contrast, the typical basket that holds the conventional plastic waste bag, can be replaced with the liner  20 /recyclable refuse bag  22 . To be attractive and pleasing to the eye in such a business setting, the color of the liner  20 , as well as the recyclable refuse bag  22  itself, can be white; the refuse bag  22  can also include the well-known blue recycling emblem thereon so that the bag  22  is clearly identified as recyclable material. Once the liner  20 /recyclable refuse bag  22  are filled with paper to a predetermined level, the normal recycling pick-up personnel can remove the liner  20 , close the filled refuse bag  22  and install the liner back into a new recyclable refuse bag  22 . Alternatively, where paper is not even shredded but is rather just discarded into a conventional plastic paper bag, such paper can be placed into the liner  20 /recyclable refuse bag  22  at designated locations around the business.  
      Thousands and thousands of tons of paper could be re-used with this recycling method. Companies that recycle paper would benefit tremendously and could even make improvements in their own methods of recycling with all the extra paper coming in. Other organizations like Green Peace would embrace its potential and even promote its use. Local government laws could be enforced mandating copy paper recycling. Waste land fills would be spared extra volumes of paper material that would have normally ended up there; as a result, these filled paper recycling bags  22  can then be sent to recycling plants to be reused or sent to special landfills that results in lower fees paid by local municipalities.  
      It should also be understood that the liner  20  can be made in different sizes without deviating from the scope of the invention.  
      While the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific examples thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.