US3270938A

US3270938A - Waste receptacle

Info

Publication number: US3270938A
Application number: US401462A
Authority: US
Inventors: Floyd P Rhinegold
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-10-05
Filing date: 1964-10-05
Publication date: 1966-09-06
Anticipated expiration: 1983-09-06

Description

United States Patent 3,270,938 WASTE RECEPTACLE Floyd P. Rhinegold, 338 SW. 17th St., Richmond, Ind. Filed Oct. 5, 1964, Ser. No. 401,462 7 Claims. (Cl. 229-7) The present invention relates to waste containers; and more particularly, to a waste receptacle attachment for a conventional tissue box. In many instances, tissues are used in the vicinity of the tissue box. The close relationship between the place at which the tissues are used and the place of the tissue box is especially prevalent when a tissue box is mounted in an automobile, on a night stand, near a sick bed or in other positions within reach of persons who are not likely to move away from the tissue box during or after using a tissue. Whenever a tissue box is located in such a position, there arises a need for a convenient place to put used tissues. If such a place is not convenient, litter may collect which is unsightly and which may aid in the communication of germs from one person to another. Further, in many instances, a waste receptacle attached to the tissue box, itself, would be highly convenient. Still further, whenever tissues are used by persons having communicable diseases, it is highly convenient to have an inexpensive waste receptacle for used tissues that can be burned or otherwise destroyed without having to remove the tissues. It is therefore desirable to provide a waste receptacle attachment for a tissue box that can be inexpensively manufactured.

For ultimate convenience, any such waste receptacle should have a capacity to hold at least the number of tissues contained in a conventional tissue box after they are used. However, such an arrangement should not take up an undue amount of space. Therefore it is further desirable that any waste receptacle attachment to a tissue box be expansible so that its volume can vary as needed, thereby conserving space and having a total capacity of used tissues so that the waste receptacle can accommodate all of the tissues held by a conventional tissue box.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an expansible waste receptacle attachment for a conventional tissue box.

It is another object of this invention to provide a relatively inexpensive waste receptacle for tissues that can be destroyed with the tissues, thereby eliminating the handling of used tissues.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a waste receptacle that is always conveniently located to a tissue box.

It is still further an object of this invention to provide a combination tissue dispenser and waste receptacle that can be conveniently used wherever conventional tissue boxes are now useful.

In accordance with the broader aspects of this invention, there is provided a combination tissue dispenser and waste receptacle comprising a conventional tissue box and an attached expansible box of approximately the same size.

The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a conventional tissue box having the expansible waste receptacle, of this invention, attached thereto illustrating its fully collapsed position in dotted lines and its fully extended position in solid lines;

3,27%,938 Patented Sept. 6, 1966 "ice FIG. 2 is an end view of the conventional tissue box and waste receptacle illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of a conventional tissue box and a second embodiment of the expansible waste receptacle of this invention, illustrated in-its fully extended position;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the conventional tissue box and waste receptacle shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is an end view of the conventional tissue box and waste receptacle shown in FIG. 3 illustrated in its fully extended position.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a conventional tissue box 10 having

ends

12, 14 and

sides

16, 18 and attached thereto a waste receptacle 20. Centrally located in the top 22 of the tissue box 10 is an elongated slot 24 from which tissues in the box are conventionally dispensed. Waste receptacle 26 is rectangular in cross-section and has two

upstanding sides

26, 28, a bottom 30, an end 32, and a cover 34.

Sides

26, 28 and end 32 all have a height equal to that of a conventional tissue box; and are connected in edge-to-edge relationship to each other and to bottom 30 and to cover 34 so as to form a box having the same height. Cover 34 has the same length as end 32; but has a width that is only a fraction of the dimension of the bottom 30 which is measured parallel to said width. By attaching cover 34 to

sides

26, 28 and end 32 so that one longitudinal edge 41 of cover 34 is secured to end 32, a rectangular access opening 36 is provided in the cover 34. A

portion

38, 40 of

sides

26, 28, respectively, and a portion 42 of bottom 30 are superposed on

ends

12, 14 and bottom 43 of tissue box 10 to provide a means for attaching the waste receptacle 20t0 the tissue box 10. By means of such attachment, the side 18 of the tissue box 10 provides a second end for the waste receptacle, thereby providing a closure excepting for the access opening 36, and provides a boundary which defines the size of the access opening 36 along with

sides

26, 28 and longitudinal edge 46 of cover 34. End 32 of waste receptacle 20 has dimensions substantially equal with the dimensions of side 18, of tissue box 10, thereby providing that the combination of the receptacle 20 and the tissue box 18 have a dimension identical to the tissue box 10 in one direction. But since used tissues cannot be stored as compactly as unused tissues,

sides

26, 28 of receptacle 2!) must have areas substantially larger than the areas of

ends

12, 14 and thereby provide receptacle 2% with a substantially larger volume than the tissue box 10, if the volume of the receptacle 20 is to be of such a magnitude that all of the tissues contained in the tissue box 10 may be stored after they are used.

Referring now specifically to FIGS. 1 and 2, one embodiment of the waste receptacle 20 of this invention is shown to be attached to the tissue box by means of the

wall portions

38, 40 and the portion 42 of bottom 30 in a manner such that the tissue box 10 may telescope into the waste receptacle 20 as indicated by the arrow 44. This telescoping of tissue box 10 provides the waste receptacle 20 with a volume that can be varied as needed. In a specific construction of this first embodiment of this invention,

sides

26, 28 of waste box 20 have areas and dimensions equal to

ends

12, 14 of tissue box 10. Tissue box 10, in this construction, can then be telescoped into waste box 20, so that the tissue box-waste box combination in collapsed position has substantially the same size as tissue box 10. When tissue box 10 is first opened, tissue 'box 10 may be telescoped into waste receptacle 20 to a first position 106 (dotted lines, FIGS. 1 and 2) so as to leave only a narrow access opening 36. Tissue box 10 can then be maintained in that position until that volume of waste receptacle 20 is completely filled. Then, tissue box 10 can be moved progressively to the left and out of waste receptacle 20, thereby providing more room for more used tissues. By this provision, the combination tissue box 10 and waste receptacle 20 uses only that amount of ledge or counter space that is absolutely needed.

Referring now specifically to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, another embodiment of the Waste receptacle 20, numbered 20a, is shown to be fixedly attached to tissue box 10 by means of wall portions 380, 40a and portion 42a of bottom 300. Such attachment can be by adhesive, or other such means. This second embodiment of the waste receptacle 20 has

sides

26a, 28a, bottom 30a and cover 34a accordian folded, In this embodiment, waste receptacle 20a is preferably made of oil treated paper having physical properties such that the accordian folds provide resiliency to the waste receptacle 20a and an-at-rest empty or collapsed position that has less volume than the tissue box 10. By this means, this second embodiment of the waste receptacle 20 functions in the same manner as the first embodiment, in that the volume of the waste receptacle 20a is initially small and is progressively expansible to hold all of the tissues contained in tissue box 10 after they are used.

Receptacle 20a is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 in its approximate fully-extended position and in FIG. in its approximate fully-collapsed position. These figures correspond to FIGS. 1 and 2 in which the receptacle 20 is shown in its fully-extended position in solid lines, and in its fully-collapsed position 106 in dotted lines.

In a specific embodiment, receptacle 20 is made of stiff cardboard or pressed paper. However, receptacle 20 can be made from any inexpensive and self-supporting material. Waste receptacle 20a is preferably made of oil paper that has the aforementioned resiliency characteristics when it is accordian folded. However, receptacle 20a can be made of any material that is inexpensive and self-supporting having the same resiliency characteristics.

While there have been described above the principles of this invention in connection with specific ap-- paratus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A combination tissue dispenser and waste receptacle comprising a rectangular waste box having two upstanding sides, a bottom, an end and a cover, said sides and said end being of equal height, said waste box being of rectangular cross-section, said cover and said end being of equal length, said cover having a width equal to a. fraction of the dimension of said bottom measured in a direction parallel to said width, thereby providing for a rectangular waste box having an access opening in said cover and an open end, and a tissue box having second ends, bottom and sides, said sides and said bot-tom of said waste box hav ing peripheral portion adjacent said open end adapted to fit over a portion of said second ends and bottom of said tissue box to receive said tissue box therebetween thereby securing said waste box to said tissue box and bounding said waste box and said access opening, said waste box and said tissue box being equal in height, said end of said waste box being equal in length and area with said sides of said tissue box, said waste box having means for selectively collapsing said waste box.

onto said tissue box and thereby varying the volume of said waste box.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said means comprises said sides and bottom of said waste box being selectively and slideably superposed over said second ends and bot-tom of said tissue box, thereby to selectively telescope said tissue box into said waste box.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said means comprises accordian folds in said sides, cover and bottom of said waste box, thereby providing said waste box with a collapsed position and a fully-extended position, said sides, cover and bottom being resiliently urged into said collapsed position.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said sides of said waste box are larger in area than said second ends of said tissue box.

5. A combination tissue dispenser and waste receptacle comprising a waste box having two upstanding sides, a bottom, an end and a cover, said cover having an access opening therein, and a tissue box having seconds ends, bottom and sides, said sides and said bottom of said waste box having peripheral portions adjacent said open end adapted to fit over a portion of said second ends and bot-tom of said tissue box to receive said tissue 'box therebetween thereby securing said waste box to said tissue box and bounding said waste box and access opening, said Waste box sides, cover and bottom having folds therein, whereby said waste box is collapsible onto said tissue box into a position in which said waste box end is adjacent to one of said second tissue box sides.

6. A combination tissue dispenser and waste receptacle comprising a box having two upstanding sides, a bottom, two upstanding ends and a cover, said sides and said ends being of equal height, said 'box being of rectangular cross-section, said box having an upstanding partition secured to said bottom, cover, and sides, between said ends, said partition dividing said box into two enclosed portions, said cover having two access openings therein, said access openings communicating with said portions, respectively, one of said portions being collapsible against said partition, thereby providing said box with a collapsed volume equal to the volume of the other of said portions.

7. A waste receptacle comprising a rectangular Waste box having two upstanding sides, a bottom, an end and a top cover, said sides and said ends being of equal height, said waste box being of rectangular cross-section, said cover and said end being of equal length, said cover having a width equal to a fraction of the dimension of said bottom measured in a direction parallel to said width, said cover being fastened to both said sides and said end, said sides, cover and bottom having accordion folds therein and being resiliently urged into collapsed position thereby providing a rectangular waste box having an access opening in said cover and an open end with a collapsed position and a fullyextended position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,281,255 10/1918 Vogel 22941 1,811,574 6/1931 Barrett. 1,988,939 1/1935 Craig 22l34 2,732,935 1/1956 Gui 20657 2,747,380 5/1056 Ridnour 229-41 X 2,841,275 7/1958 Schwimmer et al. 206-57 3,033,362 5/1962 Marcalus 20657 FOREIGN PATENTS 464,373 4/1937 Great Britain.

GEORGE O. RALSTON, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. A COMBINATION TISSUE DISPENSER AND WASTE RECEPTACLE COMPRISING A RECTANGULAR WASTE BOX HAVING TWO UPSTANDING SIDES, A BOTTOM, AN END AND A COVER, SAID SIDES AND SAID END BEING OF EQUAL HEIGHT, SAID WASTE BOX BEING OF RECTANGULAR CROSS-SECTION, SAID COVER AND SAID END BEING OF EQUAL LENGTH, SAID COVER HAVING A WIDTH EQUAL TO A FRACTION OF THE DIMENSION OF SAID BOTTOM MEASURED IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO SAID WIDTH, THEREBY PROVIDING FOR A RECTANGULAR WASTE BOX HAVING AN ACCESS OPENING IN SAID COVER AND AN OPEN END, AND A TISSUE BOX HAVING SECOND ENDS, BOTTOM AND SIDES, SAID SIDES AND SAID BOTTOM OF SAID WASTE BOX HAVING PERIPHERAL PORTION ADJACENT SAID OPEN END ADAPTED TO FIT OVER A PORTION OF SAID SECOND ENDS AND BOTTOM OF SAID TISSUE BOX TO RECEIVE SAID TISSUE BOX THEREBETWEEN THEREBY SECURING SAID WASTE BOX TO SAID TISSUE BOX AND BOUNDING SAID WASTE BOX AND SAID ACCESS OPENING, SAID WASTE BOX AND SAID TISSUE BOX BEING EQUAL IN HEIGHT, SAID END OF SAID WASTE BOX BEING EQUAL IN LENGTH AND AREA WITH SAID SIDES OF SAID TISSUE BOX, SAID WASTE BOX HAVING MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY COLLAPSING SAID WASTE BOX ONTO SAID TISSUE BOX AND THEREBY VARYING THE VOLUME OF SAID WASTE BOX.