Bag Holder

The present invention relates to a bag holder over which a bag is looped.

Over the last few years there has been a big push for the recycling of different items such as plastic, glass and even metal type containers. In fact, very recently special outdoor boxes have been built into which these types of containers are loaded and to be picked up on specific days of the week for recycling purposes. However, most people don't have the time on every occasion to load a recyclable container into these outdoor boxes and therefore, many recyclable containers are simply thrown into a garbage bag. Typically, these garbage bags are mounted in a square like frame on the inside of a kitchen cupboard door with the upper edges of the garbage bag being folded down over the frame. Often times the weight in the bag will pull it completely off of the frame since there is no positive interlock between the bag and the frame.

The present invention provides a bag holder specifically designed to loop a bag over the holder thereby providing a positive engagement between the holder and the bag. The bag which may be used for many different purposes has particular utility as either a garbage bag or a storage bag for recyclable products.

The bag holder of the present invention comprises a forward arm and a rearward arm spaced from and having a connection to one another at one end only of the holder. Accordingly, the forward arm has a free end and is completely clear along its length up to the connection with the rearward arm. The forward arm therefore provides an extended support over which the bag, such as a standard handle grocery bag, can be looped. In the alternative, a special bag having a continuous looped upper edge and made in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention can be slid onto the forward arm of the holder.

The rearward arm of the holder is provided with means for mounting the holder to a supporting surface. Again, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, this means comprises a vertical member slideable into a mounting bracket for receiving the vertical member of the holder. The vertical member doubles as a handle for gripping the bag holder when not supported by the mounting bracket.

The above as well as other advantages and features of the present invention will be described in greater detail according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bag system including a bag holder and a bag mounted to that holder made in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an perspective view of the bag holder used in FIG. 1 with the bag removed from the holder.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 with the holder removed from the mounting bracket.

FIG. 1 shows a bag and bag holder combination generally indicated at 1. This particular combination is designed for the storage of recyclable containers with the bag being removable from the holder to dump those recyclable contains into an outdoor recycling box.

In particular, the set up of FIG. 1 comprises a bag 3 which is specifically made with a rear upper edge in the form of a continuous loop 5 along the back of the bag. This loop 5 of the bag is fitted over a holder for the bag and generally indicated at 7. A mounting bracket 19 is also provided for mounting the bag holder to a supporting surface S such as a cupboard door or any other similar flat surface used to receive the holder.

Bag 3 is also shown as being looped along its upper front edge with both the front and back loops allowing for the fitting of a drawstring to close the upper end of bag 3.

The details of the holder 7 itself are best seen in FIG. 2 of the drawings. In particular, the holder which has a thick wire or wire-like construction comprises a forward arm 11 and a rearward arm 9. These two arms are connected at 13 to one another at one side only of the holder. The holder is made by bending the wire or wire-like frame so that the arms reverse in direction extending generally parallel to and slightly spaced from one another with the rearward arm 9 being about half the length of the forward arm 11. The rearward arm 9 terminates in a downwardly extending member 17 positioned behind and about mid way along the length of the forward arm. The proportions and positioning of the forward and rearward arms provide a balanced load receiving region on the holder even though the forward arm is longer than the rearward arm because of the mid positioning support of member 17. As can be seen in FIG. 2 member 17 is made by bending the wire holder downwardly and then bending it back upwardly to provide a wide flat configuration to fit into bracket 19 which is provided with openings for receiving screws or the like to mount the bracket to the supporting surface. The widened shape of member 17 prevents rotation of the member in the bracket 19. The entire holder 7 is easily removed from bracket 19 by simply lifting the member 17 out of the bracket. The vertical member 17 can then be used as a grip or carrying handle for the holder. Note that the free end 18 of the vertical member or handle 17 is bent in a short horizontal section parallel to arm 9 so that the vertical member is supported at both sides along the upper edge of bracket 19 to prevent tipping of the holder in the bracket.

One of the key features of the present invention is that the forward arm 11 of the holder is completely free along its length to enable the looping of bag 3 onto the forward arm over its free end 15. Also note in the preferred embodiment of the present invention that free end 15 of the forward arm has a slight upward turn providing a positive seat for the loop 5 of bag 3.

Although the drawings show a specific bag designed for the holder of the present invention, it is to be appreciated that other types of bags such as a standard handle provided grocery bag can easily be looped over the forward arm of the holder.

It is also to be noted that the forward arm 11 of the holder has a rearward concave configuration which is particularly suitable for use with bag 3 in that it provides an automatic opening of the bag as shown in FIG. 1 when looped over the holder.

Although various preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it will be appreciated that variants may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.