Receptacles – Arrangements of plural receptacles – Receptacle having rigid – removable inner container
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-07
2002-02-05
Garbe, Stephen P. (Department: 3727)
Receptacles
Arrangements of plural receptacles
Receptacle having rigid, removable inner container
C206S373000, C220S527000, C220S771000, C220S796000, C220S801000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06343708
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to an assembly of containers for convenient storage of tools, and other items and parts and for subsequent convenient access to the stored items.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contractors and many do-it-yourself workers maintain an inventory of small hand tools and a larger inventory of parts that may be used or installed with the tools. The tools are likely to include hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, wire strippers, hack saws, punches, caulking guns and flashlights, to name a few. The parts are likely to include nails, screws and bolts of varying sizes and shapes, wire nuts, electrical connectors, pipe fittings and caulking cartridges.
Some contractors and do-it-yourself workers employ conventional tool boxes for storing, carrying and accessing tools and parts. Prior art tool boxes have come in many different sizes, shapes and internal constructions. A typical prior art tool box will include one large compartment with a hinged cover. The large compartment typically is dimensioned for receiving tools. Several smaller compartments are movably joined to the remainder of the tool box by hinges and/or tracks. The smaller compartments typically are used to hold small parts, such as screws or nails. Tool boxes are used by some homeowners and by certain repairmen for brand name appliances. Many contractors, and do-it-yourself workers do not use tool boxes because of the relatively high cost, inconvenient access and limited versatility.
Prior art storage systems used by many contractors and do-it-yourself workers are open-topped containers that originally were intended for some other purpose. In particular, five gallon plastic pails that had originally contained joint compound are widely used for storing and transporting tools and parts. Tools and/or parts typically are stored loosely in the open top five gallon pail. Workers often spend considerable time each day manually sifting through the parts pail in an effort to find a required fitting, fastener or the like. Other workers start each day by dumping their parts pail onto a section of floor where they will be working. The respective parts then are sorted on the floor and accessed as needed. The parts then are scooped back into the five gallon plastic pail at the completion of the work day.
The inefficiencies of using a conventional five gallon plastic pail for storing and carrying tools and parts have lead to the development of many storage systems that are supported on the walls of the pail. The typical storage system includes hanging brackets with apertures for receiving various tools. An example of such a tool holder is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,332. Other tool organizers for five gallon plastic pails are circular trays that are supported on a central post in the pail. The assembly within the pail functions like a lazy-susan. A prior art system like this is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,163.
Another tool storage container of choice among many contractors is a rectangular open-topped plastic container used to carry containers of milk into and within a food store. These containers typically have unitarily molded sidewalls that resemble a lattice work and that have hand grip openings at central positions at each sidewall and end wall near the open top of the container. Containers of this type often are used to carry tools and larger parts such as some pipe fittings and duct fittings that will not fall through the openings in the walls of the container. These containers suffer from many of the same inefficiencies as the above-described five gallon cylindrical plastic pails. In particular, the worker must manually sort through a random array of tools and parts in the container to access a particular tool or part. These rectangular containers offer certain advantages over the above-described five gallon cylindrical plastic pails. In particular, the rectangular containers tend to be shorter and wider and hence offer greater stability when transported in the back of a van or pick-up truck. Additionally, the rectangular shape lends itself well to a neater storage array.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The subject invention is directed to an open-topped rectangular outer container having a plurality of rectangular open-topped inner containers movably disposed in the outer container. The outer container may be unitarily molded from a plastic material and may have a plurality of lattice-type walls. Thus, the outer container may be the type of container conventionally used for storing and carrying containers of milk in a dairy section of a food store. The outer container includes a rectangular bottom wall, a pair of opposed parallel rectangular end walls extending perpendicularly from the bottom wall and a pair of parallel sidewalls extending perpendicularly between the end walls and perpendicularly from the bottom wall. At least the end walls are provided with hand grip openings near the open top of the container. The hand grip openings in the end walls may be centrally disposed between the sidewalls of the outer container. The sidewalls of the outer container may also include hand grip openings near the open top. The hand grip openings in the sidewalls also may be centrally disposed between the end walls. Planar panels may be formed on the sidewalls or end walls to accommodate trademarks and/or to receive labels to identify parts stored in the container.
The absolute dimensions of the outer container are not important, and merely are limited by the need for convenient storage and carrying of the outer container. However, the relative dimensions of the various walls of the outer container relative to one another and relative to the inner containers is important. In particular, the end walls of the outer container preferably define an internal width of aX, while the sidewalls of the outer container preferably define an internal length of bX. In this regard, X may be any convenient selected dimension and preferably in the range of about -8 inches. Additionally, “a” and “b” each are integers. Thus, the internal width and the internal length of the outer container are substantially equal to a selected dimension multiplied by a selected integer “a” or “b”. In a preferred embodiment, as explained further herein, the dimension X is approximately equal to six inches, and the integers “a” and “b” are 2 and 3 respectively. Thus, in the preferred embodiment, the internal dimensions of the outer container are about twelve inches by eighteen inches.
The relative dimensions of the outer container are further characterized by a distance between the bottom wall and the bottom of the hand grips which is equal to cY. In this context, Y is a selected convenient dimension, and “c” is a selected integer. Additionally, “c” may be equal to “a” or “b”. In a preferred embodiment, as explained further herein, dimension “Y” equals approximately four inches, and integer “c” equals 2. Thus, in this preferred embodiment, the distance between the bottom wall and the bottom of the hand grips is approximately eight inches.
The inner containers are rectangular and open topped. In particular, each inner container has a bottom wall and pairs of opposed parallel upstanding sidewalls that are perpendicular to the bottom wall. The sidewall of the inner containers are not tapered in a manner that would permit nesting of outer containers. Thus, the outer containers are stackable on top of one another without nesting. Additionally, the thicknesses of the sidewalls, at least at the top, are sufficiently great so that the bottom wall of one inner container can be supported conveniently by the top edges of the sidewalls of another inner container. The inner containers preferably have external length and external width dimensions that are approximately equal to X or to some integer multiple of X, such as aX or bX. Thus, some inner containers may have an external length dimension of aX and an external width dimension of X. Additionally, each of the inner containers has a height dimension of Y or
Casella Anthony J.
Garbe Stephen P.
Hespos Gerald E.
Merek Joseph C.
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