Flexible bags – Lifting or suspending element – Hanging element
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-06
2003-10-28
Pascua, Jes F. (Department: 3727)
Flexible bags
Lifting or suspending element
Hanging element
C383S033000, C383S040000, C248S099000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06637938
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to containers for laundry, such as laundry bags.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many different types of containers for dirty laundry, including sturdy-sided hampers, laundry baskets, and laundry bags. Typically, hampers are designed as furniture and hide the laundry inside the hamper, and therefore hampers may be placed in a bedroom or bathroom or other room, and do not need to be placed in a closet. When it is time to wash the laundry, however, a hamper is generally too bulky to carry, and must be opened and the laundry carried to the wash machine in another container, such as a laundry bag or basket. Advantages of laundry bags include that they can be made to fit into differently-sized spaces, may be closed, and may be washed with the laundry. Laundry bags and baskets are typically placed in a closet because they usually present a sloppy appearance. Another problem with laundry bags, particularly when used by children or other people who are not highly motivated to put away their dirty clothes, is that opening of the laundry bag that is lying on the floor is difficult and it takes time to get the laundry in the opening and be sure the laundry is completely placed in the laundry bag.
Although a laundry bag hung from a vertical rim is known in the art (Pro-Mart Industries, Inc., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.), prior hung laundry bags known to the inventor herein are not movable between a vertical and horizontal position of the rim and do not have the alternative capabilities of being hung from a door and being mountable on the face of a door.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a laundry apparatus that is mountable on a door or other vertical surface, and which holds a laundry bag open for easy addition of laundry or may be folded down to be out of the way. It is a further object of the invention to provide a laundry apparatus in which the laundry bag is removable from the apparatus, closable and washable.
Other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention herein is a laundry apparatus that is mountable on a door. It includes a mountable rim and a laundry bag that may be attached to the rim or removed from the rim. The rim is held in a generally horizontal position in which the laundry bag is open, but may be lowered to take up less space. The rim of the laundry bag is preferably mountable on a surface, such as a vertical surface of a door, using a mounting plate to which the rim is attached. The mounting plate is either affixed directly to the surface or suspended from above the surface, such as with an over-the-door bracket
Other objects and features of the inventions will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims.
REFERENCES:
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patent: 1809317 (1931-06-01), Snyder
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patent: 3841592 (1974-10-01), Witten
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patent: 4940232 (1990-07-01), Chen
patent: 5098108 (1992-03-01), McKinney
patent: 5356001 (1994-10-01), Luna
patent: 5405043 (1995-04-01), Meloney
patent: 5762569 (1998-06-01), Hale
patent: 5836553 (1998-11-01), Bergaila
Copy of telefaxed advertisement for Hanging Hamper, obtained Nov. 2001.
Barber Lynn E.
Pascua Jes F.
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