DISPOSABLE CONTAINER FOR USE IN A SINK

Abstract

A disposable flexible container for installation into a sink. The sink comprises an upper opening and a bottom opening for draining, and the container respectively comprises an upper opening and a bottom opening. When installed in the sink, the walls of the container are adjacent or attached, fully or partially, to the sides of the sink, the container upper opening if fitted, fully or partially, to the sink upper opening, and the contain bottom opening is fitted, fully or partially, to the sink bottom opening.

Claims

1. A disposable flexible container configured to be installed in a sink, the sink including a sink upper opening, a sink lower drainage opening, side walls and a rim, the container comprising: a flexible bag whose upper opening is configured to attach to the rim at separate discrete points along the rim, the bag having a container upper opening and a container bottom opening and a side wall, the side wall having an outer surface, the bag configured to be installed in the sink such that: (a) the bag is partially adjacent portions of the side walls of the sink such that a first portion of the outer surface of the side wall of the bag is adapted to be positioned flush against a first portion of the side walls of the sink while at the same time another portion of the outer surface of the side wall of the bag is adapted to be positioned so as to not be flush against the side walls of the sink, (b) the container upper opening is fitted, partially, to the sink upper opening such that liquid contents and non-liquid garbage in the bag do not escape through the container upper opening and are instead passed to the sink lower drainage, and (c) the container bottom opening is configured to be fitted, fully, to the sink bottom opening and adapted with perforations for passing the liquid contents to the sink lower drainage opening and for capturing at least part of the non-liquid garbage.

2. The container of claim 1, wherein the rim of the sink has rounded corners and the upper opening of the flexible bag is configured to attach to the rim at separate discrete points along the rim including at points other than the rounded corners.

3. The container of claim 1, wherein the upper opening of the flexible bag is configured to attach to a rim of the sink only at the separate discrete points along the rim.

4. The container of claim 1, wherein the sink further comprises elements mounted to the rim and the upper container opening comprises mating holes for engagement with the elements.

5. The container of claim 4, wherein the elements are vacuum cups.

6. The container of claim 1, wherein the container is made of a single layer flexible material that is non-water absorbent plastic, LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE or Oxo-biodegradable.

7. The container of claim 1, wherein the container further comprises two handles for hand-carrying the container and for enclosing the non-liquid garbage.

8. The container of claim 7, wherein the container upper opening is operative to be closed using threaded ties.

9. The container of claim 1, wherein the container upper opening comprises adhesive strips for attaching the container to the rim of the sink.

10. A method of maintaining a clean sink using a flexible container adapted to be installed in the sink, the sink including a sink upper opening, a sink lower drainage opening, side walls and a rim, the method comprising: installing in the sink a container comprising a flexible bag having a container upper opening, a container bottom opening and a side wall, such that (a) an upper opening of the flexible bag is configured to attach to the rim of the sink at separate discrete points along the rim, (b) the bag is partially adjacent portions of the side walls of the sink such that a portion of an outer surface of a side wall of the bag is positioned flush against a portion of the side walls of the sink while at the same time another portion of the outer surface of the side wall of the bag is positioned so as to not be flush against the side walls of the sink in the installed position, (c) the container upper opening is fitted, partially, to the sink upper opening such that liquid contents and non-liquid garbage in the bag do not escape through the container upper opening and are instead passed to the sink lower drainage, and (d) the container bottom opening is fitted, fully, to the sink bottom opening.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising using the sink such that liquid contents of the bag are passed to the sink lower drainage opening and at least part of a non-liquid garbage is captured within the container by perforations in the container bottom opening.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising closing the container upper opening and lifting the bag, thereby providing that further liquid contents are passed to the sink lower drainage opening.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the sink has rounded corners and wherein the upper opening of the flexible bag is configured to attach to the rim of the sink at separate discrete points along the rim including at points other than the rounded corners.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The invention is herein described, by way of non-limiting examples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements. Understanding that these drawings only provide information concerning typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered limiting in scope:

[0030] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a sink;

[0031] FIG. 2a schematically illustrates a disposable container;

[0032] FIG. 2b schematically illustrates a closed disposable container;

[0033] FIG. 2c schematically illustrates a further embodiment of an open disposable container;

[0034] FIGS. 3a and 3b schematically illustrate a disposable container in a sink;

[0035] FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a cross section of a sink fully covers by a disposable container;

[0036] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a disposable container filled with garbage in a sink;

[0037] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a removing a disposable container filled with garbage from a sink; and

[0038] FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a flow-chart diagram of using a disposable container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] The principles and operation of a method and container for cleaning a sink according to the present invention may be understood with reference to the figures and the accompanying description wherein similar components appearing in different figures are denoted by identical reference numerals. The drawings and descriptions are conceptual only. In actual practice, a single component can implement one or more functions; alternatively or in addition, each function can be implemented by a plurality of components and devices. In the figures and descriptions, identical reference numerals indicate those components that are common to different embodiments or configurations. Identical numerical references (even in the case of using different suffix, such as 5, 5a, 5b and 5c) refer to functions or actual devices that are either identical, substantially similar, or having similar functionality. It will be readily understood that the components of the present invention, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the disposable container and method of the present invention, as represented in the figures herein, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, as claimed, but is merely representative of embodiments of the invention. It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” herein include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

[0040] FIG. 1 illustrates a sink 10. The sink 10 comprising a typical bowl-shaped plumbing fixture 1 used for washing hands, dishwashing, and other purposes, a rim 2, a tap 3, and a drainage opening of the sink 4.

[0041] FIG. 2a illustrates a disposable container 20. The disposable container 20 may be a bag having a bottom opening such as a hole 21. The disposable bag 20 may be closed with ties 22 that may be twist ties or any kind of ties, or may be otherwise closed without using ties. FIG. 2b illustrates a view of another example of a disposable bag 200 in a closed position. In this example the disposable bag 200 comprising a hole having a strainer 210. In this embodiment of a disposable bag, the strainer 210 is perforated to prevent from small parts of garbage to be drained into the plumbing system and clogging it up.

[0042] FIG. 2c illustrates a further embodiment of a disposable container 300 in an opened position where the container made of flexible materiel such of plastic, LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene), LLDPE (Linear Low Density Polyethylene), HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) or Oxo-biodegradable.

[0043] FIG. 3a illustrates a view 30 of a disposable container 32 in a sink. The disposable container 32 partially covers the bowl-shaped plumbing fixture 1 of the sink. The hole 31 of the disposable container is placed above the drainage opening of a sink 4, as shown in FIG. 1. The disposable container 32 comprises adhesives strips 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d, 33e, 33f, 33g and 33h at the upper side of the disposable container 32. For example, hot melt adhesives for disposable products may be used. The adhesive strips 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d, 33e, 33f, 33g and 33h are placed on, or attached to, the rim 2 of the sink 30 to prevent or minimize any movement of the disposable container.

[0044] FIG. 3b illustrates a view 300 of a further embodiment of disposable container 320 in a sink. The disposable container 320 partially covers the bowl-shaped plumbing fixture of the sink. The disposable container 320 includes a strainer 310 in the bottom of the disposable container 320. The disposable container 320 comprises holes 34a, 34b, 34c and 34d at the upper side of the disposable container 32 for engagement with elements mounted to the rim 2 of the sink. For example, the elements may be vacuum cups 35a, 35b, 35c and 35d. Other or no means of sticking the disposable bag to the rim of the sink may be equally used.

[0045] FIG. 4 illustrates a cross section of a sink 400 fully covered by a disposable container.

[0046] FIG. 5 illustrates a view 500 of a disposable container full with garbage in a sink. The holes 34a, 34b, 34c and 34d, as shown in FIG. 3b were inserted into the vacuum cups 35a, 35b, 35c and 35d, also shown in FIG. 3b for preventing or minimizing any movement of the disposable container.

[0047] FIG. 6 illustrates a view 600 of a disposable bag full with garbage taken out from a sink, while leaving the sink clean from garbage.

[0048] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow-chart diagram 90 of using a disposable bag. The flow chart 90 starts at an “Opening a disposable bag” step 91, where a user obtains and opens the disposable bag for using it. Then, in a “Cover sink with bag” step 92, the user covers the sink, fully or partially, with the disposable container. Next, in a “Bag full?” step 93, the status of the disposable container is checked. If the value is “YES”, meaning that the container is full and should be removed, then a “Liquids draining” step 94 is performed, in which the user lets the liquids and other small parts that are in the disposable container to be drained into a drainage opening of the sink. Thereafter, as part of a “Remove disposable bag” step 95, the user removes the disposable container from the sink, and closes the disposable container as part of a “Close disposable bag” step 96, followed by throwing-away the disposable container into a garbage bin as part of a “Throw away bag” step 97.

[0049] If the result of the “Bag full?” step 93 is “NO”, then the user keeps the disposable container in the sink until the end of use in the disposable container, as part of a “Leave bag in the sink” step 98.

[0050] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the root terms “include” and/or “have”, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The terms “plurality” and “a plurality” as used herein includes, for example, “multiple” or “two or more”. For example, “a plurality of items” includes two or more items.

[0051] Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described, this should not be construed to limit the scope of the appended claims. Those skilled in the art will understand that modifications may be made to the described embodiments. Moreover, to those skilled in the various arts, the invention itself herein will suggest solutions to other tasks and adaptations for other applications. It is therefore desired that the present embodiments be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

[0052] In addition, in this disclosure, certain process steps are set forth in a particular order, and alphabetic and alphanumeric labels are used to identify certain steps. Unless specifically stated in the disclosure, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any particular order of carrying out such steps. In particular, the labels are used merely for convenient identification of steps, and are not intended to imply, specify or require a particular order of carrying out such steps. Furthermore, other embodiments may use more or less steps than those discussed herein.

[0053] All publications, patents, and patent applications cited in this specification are incorporated herein by reference as if each individual publication, patent, or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference and set forth in its entirety herein.