Devices For Supporting Garbage Cans Or Other Containers In Closets, Cupboards, Sink Cupboards Etc.

Abstract

A bracket and cover assembly in which the bracket serving to support the garbage can or other container is secured to a vertical axle which is mounted for rotation in bearings adjacent one vertical side edge of a door opening, and a coupling link hingedly connects the bracket to the door so that the bracket with the garbage can thereon is swung out when the door is opened, the bearings for the vertical axle being arranged on one vertical side member of a frame which is intended to be mounted in the door opening of the cupboard, the door thereof being also hung on said frame by means of hinges of its own, said bearings being located immediately inside the plane of the door opening. Further, a link which is universally hinged at its ends provides for a restricted lost motion between its two hinge points in order after initial lost motion to form an anchorage between the frame and the cover of the can for swinging the latter upwardly away from the garbage can into open position when the can is swung out by the door being opened.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to means for supporting garbage cans and like receptacles in structures such as closets and other related enclosures, and includes means connected between a door for the closet and the supporting means operable to move the support means and garbage cans out of the closet upon the opening of the door, and such inventions are deemed properly classifiable in accordance with United States Patent Office classification in Class 312, Subclass 274.

Earlier, garbage cans were placed in the open or in open sheds, but it now becomes more and more usual, particularly in detached and semidetached houses, to keep them in particular separate or built-in garbage closets or cupboards closed by doors. Mostly, these cupboards each accommodate but one garbage can. To make the garbage cans more readily accessible both for depositing garbage thereinto and for collecting the cans for emptying, brackets for supporting the cans have been fastened to the inner side of the cupboard doors. When the doors are opened the garbage cans are thus swung out of the cupboards.

However, the previously known devices have proved unsuitable mainly because the entire weight of a garbage can and its contents is supported by the door hinges. As a result, the door will very soon be weighted down at the front edge so that it takes an oblique position, and the friction in the hinges becomes so great that a large force is required for swinging the door.

When garbage is emptied into such a can the cover has to be manually operated, which is very disadvantageous, particularly where a separate garbage cupboard placed in the open is concerned, since it is mostly necessary to grasp the door to prevent it from blowing closed so that no hand is free to manipulate the cover. Earlier, it has been suggested to arrange for an automatic opening of the cover when the door is opened, but in that case the cover was anchored at a point within the cupboard by means of a cable or chain. Such an arrangement is disadvantageous because the cable or chain is in the way and can easily get caught in parts of the garbage can. In addition, a device which has to be anchored within the cupboard is not suited to realize the line of thought which lies behind the provision of the bracket-type supporting device referred to above and which has the object of combining the door frame, the door and the bracket-type supporting device into a unit of manufacture.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The bracket-type supporting device suggested by the present invention entirely eliminates the above-mentioned disadvantages, and at the same time this device provides the advantage that it constitutes a unit which can be completely assembled in the factory and then only requires later mounting in the door opening of a cupboard. In this bracket-type supporting device the bracket serving to support the garbage can or other container is secured to a vertical axle which is mounted for rotation in bearings adjacent one vertical side edge of the door opening, and a coupling link hingedly connects the bracket to the door so that the bracket with the garbage can thereon is swung outwards when the door is opened. The bearings for the vertical axle are arranged on one vertical side member of a frame which is intended to be mounted in the door opening of the cupboard, the door thereof being also hung on said frame by means of hinges of its own, said bearings being located immediately inside the plane of the door opening. Further, a link which is universally hinged at its ends provides for a restricted lost motion between its two hinge points in order after initial lost motion to form an anchorage between the frame and the cover of the can for swinging the latter upwardly away from the garbage can into open position when said can is swung out by the door being opened.

The invention will now be more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of the supporting device, the door of the cupboard being omitted;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the device;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the cover of the device;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the cover assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In FIGS. 1 and 2 is shown a door frame 1 composed of angle iron members and arranged to be mounted in a per se known manner in the door opening of a garbage cupboard (not shown). To that side of one vertical frame side member, which faces the door opening, are welded three bearing bushes 2 in aligned relationship. A vertical axle 3 is rotatable in these bushes, and the lower end of the axle is suitably supported on the horizontal frame bottom member. Passed onto the axle 3 between the two lower bearing bushes 2 is a tube 4 which is nonrotatably connected to the axle by means of stop screws (not shown). A T-rod of iron 5 is arranged adjacent the lower end of the tube 4, said rod projecting horizontally from said tube and being fixed in position in that it is welded to the tube and in that an oblique brace 6 is fixed by welding to the tube and the T-rod. A cylindrical ring 7 and two parallel crossbars 8 located inside the ring 7 are fixed by welding to the upper side of the T-rod. The ring 7 and the crossbars 8 form together with the T-rod 5 a bracket for supporting a sheet metal garbage can or a garbage collection paper bag 9. As shown in FIG. 2 the ring 7 is somewhat eccentric with respect to the T-rod 5 for a purpose that will be explained in the following. The bracket is also connected to the tube 4 by two oblique braces 10 which are welded to the ring 7 and to the tube 4 to increase the load supporting capacity of the device.

A door 11 for closing the door opening in the frame 1 is hung on the same vertical frame side member as the axle 3 with the aid of hinges 12 of its own, which are arranged on the outwardly facing side of said frame side member. The bracket 5, 7, 8 and the door 11 are relatively coupled by means of a link 13 which is connected to the ring 7 and the door 11, respectively, by hinges 14 and 15.

At closed door 11 the bracket 5, 7, 8 is altogether inside the frame 1. Upon opening of the door the bracket is taken along in the opening movement, and the eccentric location of the ring 7 on the T-rod 5 provides a slightly shortened distance of outward swinging for the bracket. In this bracket supporting device the door is entirely relieved of the weight of the bracket and the garbage can thereon and the door can thus be opened and closed without any impeding effect through a friction force generated by said weight in the door hinges. In addition, the door provides a certain lever action, which facilitates the manipulation of the door.

With the use of the bracket-type supporting device for supporting a garbage collection paper bag 9 the device includes a holder ring 16 for fixation of the mouth of the paper bag. This ring 16 is pivoted to an arm 17 which is detachably clamped to the upper end of the axle 3. The latter may be composed of two parts united by means of a clamping sleeve 18. In such a case possibly only the lower one of said two parts need be used when rigid sheet metal garbage cans are supported on the bracket.

As will appear from FIGS. 3 and 4, a lug 20 is mounted at the underside of the horizontal frame top member and can be swung about a vertical axis. A link 24 is arranged between said lug 20 and another lug 21 which is rigidly secured to the upper side of a cover 22 which is hingedly mounted on the holder ring 16 with the aid of a hinge 23. Said link 24 is formed by a sleeve-shaped member 25 which is connected to the lug 20 for swinging movement about a horizontal axis, and a rod-shaped part 26 which is inserted in the member 25 and clamped in a suitable position therein by means of a clamping screw 27. The rod-shaped part 26 passes through the lug 21 on the cover 22, a hole in the lug being sufficiently large to permit angular deflection of the part 26 in relation to the lug 21. The part 26 is freely movable through the lug 21 so that the effective length of the link 24 between the pivot points determined by the lugs 20 and 21 is variable. A head 28 is arranged on the rod-shaped link part 26 to prevent withdrawal of said part from the lug 21.

The length of the link 24 is so dimensioned by reason of the relative position between the link parts 25 and 26 that the link does not exert any pull on the cover 22 when the door 11 is closed as shown in FIG. 4. When the door is opened by counterclockwise swinging movement with respect to FIG. 4, the bracket-type supporting device will also be swung counterclockwise, there being lost motion between the cover 22 and the link 24 during the initial portion of the opening movement of the door because the link part 26 is moved through the lug 21 on the cover 22. When approximately half of the garbage paper bag 9 is outside the door opening, the lost motion between the cover and the link has again been equalized and the head 28 is in application with the lug 21 whereby the link 24 (which constitutes an anchorage between the frame 1 and the cover 22) keeps the cover back so that the latter at the continued outward swinging movement of the supporting device is swung up into open position, as shown in FIG. 3. When garbage has been emptied into the paper bag and the door 11 is again closed, the cover 22 returns to closed position to remain in said position while the inward swinging of the device into the cupboard is accomplished during closing of the door.

The described cover operating mechanism provides a distinct movement of the cover into open and closed position, respectively, when the door is opened and closed, respectively, and brings the great advantage that the mechanism is incorporated as an integral part with the unit formed by the frame, the supporting device and the door. However, the embodiment described can be modified for instance by making the two parts 25, 26 of the link 24 telescopically movable one in the other to provide the requisite lost motion, the rod-shaped part 26 being immovable, but arranged for universal pivotal movement in the lug 21. The pivot point of the link 24 on the horizontal frame top member is suitably placed above the path described by the hinge 23 when the bracket-type supporting device is swung through the frame, and the lug 21 of the cover 22 is suitably arranged diametrically opposite the hinge 23. The location of these details, however, can be varied without jeopardizing the contemplated function of the device.

Claims

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A bracket-type supporting device arranged to permit outward swinging thereof and serving to support garbage cans or other containers in closets, cupboards, sink cupboards, and like structures, which have a door hinged to one vertical side edge of the opening for closing said opening, said device comprising a bracket for supporting a garbage can or other container secured to a vertical axle mounted for rotation in bearings adjacent said side edge, and a coupling link hingedly connecting the bracket to the door so that the bracket with the garbage can thereon is swung outwards when the door is opened, wherein the bearings for the vertical axle are arranged on one vertical side member of a frame which is intended to be mounted in the door opening of the cupboard, the door thereof being also hung on said frame by means of hinges of its own, said bearings being located immediately inside the plane of the door opening, and a further link which is universally hinged at its ends provides for a restricted lost motion between its two hinge points in order after initial lost motion to form an anchorage between the frame and the cover for swinging the latter upwardly away from the garbage can into open position when said can is swung out by the door being opened.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hinge point of said further link on the cover is disposed at the periphery thereof at a point opposite to that where the hinge for the pivotal movement of the cover is situated.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said further link is movable through one hinge point, preferably the hinge point on the cover to provide said lost motion.

4. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said further link is movable through one hinge point, preferably the hinge point on the cover to provide said lost motion.