AU2013205156A1 - Storing plastic containers and lids - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a storage aide for holding a container lid or a stack of container lids against the underside of a rectangular storage container including:termination means engageable with the open end of the container whereby corner connections are provided at diagonally opposite corners of the container; an elastically stretchable support assembly extending between the corner connections and including location means which locate about the opposed base corners of the container beneath said diagonally opposite corners so as to maintain the intermediate portion of the elastically stretchable support assembly extending substantially diagonally across the container beneath the base thereof.

Description

1 Title Storing plastic containers and lids Technical Field This invention relates to methods of and apparatus for convenient storage of plastic containers, particularly rectangular shaped containers, but also round bowls and the like and their lids such as in kitchen drawers, cupboards or shelves. Background Plastic containers are widely used in most kitchens, both domestic and commercial, for the convenient storage of food as closure of a container by its lid creates a sealed confinement for the food therein which can be stored and handled without fear of the contents being spilled or spoiled. Accordingly many kitchens have a wide array of containers of different shapes and sizes as well as containers for special purposes stored for use when required. A frequent problem which is encountered is finding the right lid for a selected container and searching for an elusive lid which is known to be stored can cause time delays and can create frustrations, especially in a busy kitchen. Some of these containers are round but many are rectangular in varying sizes and configurations. This invention in one aspect aims to provide a method of and apparatus for storing rectangular containers and their lids in a compact convenient configuration and whereby selection of a container and its matching lid may be more readily achieved. This invention also aims to provide a method of and apparatus for storing round containers and their lids in a compact convenient configuration. Summary of Invention With the foregoing in view this invention in one aspect this invention resides in a storage aide for holding a container lid or a stack of container lids against the underside of a rectangular storage container including:- 2 termination means engageable with the open end of the container whereby corner connections are provided at diagonally opposite corners of the container; an elastically stretchable support assembly extending between the corner connections and including location means which locate about the opposed base corners of the container beneath said diagonally opposite corners so as to maintain the intermediate portion of the elastically stretchable support assembly extending substantially diagonally across the container beneath the base thereof. The termination means may include an adjustable strap or frame or an elastic ring which may extend closely around an upper end of the container above a lid flange or the like protrusion adjacent the open end to provide the corner connections. Preferably the termination means is a pair of opposed terminations each of which may be operatively retained at a respective opposing open corner of the open topped container to form the corner connections. Each termination may be a terminating hook which may be hooked into the open corner of a container or each termination may be a latch, clip or other termination adapted to engage in a complementary corner formation in a container or each termination means may engage with a formation provided on the container for attaching the lid thereto. In a preferred form each terminating hook is formed so as to positively locate over an open corner of the container. Preferably the terminating hook is shaped to fit closely into the corner so as to maximise the internal diagonal dimension therebetween for accommodating a similar size or relatively large container therebetween substantially within the container supporting the storage aide. The elastically stretchable support assembly may be formed of discrete components all or some of which may be elastically stretchable by being formed of elastically stretchable material or be telescopically expandable and biased to a contracted attitude by spring means or the elastically stretchable support assembly may be formed in one-piece by moulding or fabrication from an elastically stretchable 3 material such as rubber or other elastomeric material or the like and if desired different grades or thicknesses of material may be utilised at different portions thereof to provide the desired characteristic of being able to be used with a range of sizes of rectangular kitchen containers. If desired the elastically stretchable support assembly could be formed of metal such as by utilising thin coil springs. In a preferred form the intermediate portion of the elastically stretchable support assembly which extends substantially diagonally across the container beneath the base includes a substantially centrally disposed ring or other lateral protrusions which is relatively stiff so as to provide a retaining force toward the container base to the stored lids offset from the medial line between said opposed corners. As container lids will have different stiffness characteristics and be of various sizes it is considered that this provision will assist in keeping most forms and sizes of lids secured beneath the container on which the aide is supported. The location means serves not only to position the intermediate portion but also to resist its movement away from its substantially diagonally extending position beneath the container base when lids are forced into their stored position or retained lids are removed. The location means may be respective panels which deform over the respective opposed base corners of a container. Preferably however the location means provides respective locating apertures which locate about the base corners of the container and suitably several locating apertures are provided in series adjacent each end thereof such that the storage aide may be used on shallow containers where locating apertures closer to the termination means may engage over the base corners or on deep containers where apertures further distant from the termination means may engage over the base corners. Suitably the locating apertures are defined by resilient portions of the elastically stretchable support assembly whereby in use, they may stretch to substantially conform to the shape of the container.

4 While the storage aide may be used on round bowls and containers, the cornerless and often tapering lower portion of the container may cause difficulty in use and thus for round containers there is provided a supporting rack assembly having an elevated bowl support on or in which a large round bowl may be supported with room underneath for the rack assembly to support smaller diameter lids and a side rack on which lids may be supported beside the elevated bowl support. Smaller containers of any configuration may be housed in the supported large round bowl. The supporting rack may extend to one or both sides of the elevated bowl support and may be extendable so that its capacity to support lids beside the elevated bowl support may be adjusted. In another aspect this invention resides in a method of storing a rectangular kitchen container and a selected lid, including: providing a storage aide as variously defined above; connecting the elastically stretchable support assembly to an open topped container by operatively engaging the termination means with the open top of the container and arranging the medial portion of the support assembly beneath the base of the container, and inserting the selected lid between the medial portion and the base of the container such that the container with the retained lid may be stowed as a unit in a storage area. A plurality of lids may be so retained beneath a container and the smaller containers which match the smaller retained lids may be accommodated within the first mentioned container for compact storage with their matching lids. Accordingly a method according to this invention includes selecting the largest of a number of containers to be stored as a compact unit whereby the smaller containers may be stored therein, connecting the elastically stretchable support assembly to the largest container by operatively engaging the termination means with the open top 5 of the largest container and arranging the medial portion of the support assembly beneath the base of the largest container and extending substantially diagonally thereacross, and inserting the selected lids between the medial portion and the base of the largest container such that the container with the lids retained therebeneath and the smaller containers accommodated therein may be stowed as a unit in a storage area. In order that this invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate typical embodiments of this invention, and wherein: Fig. 1 illustrates a storage aide disposed in an operative attitude; Fig. 2 illustrates the storage aide folded; Fig. 3 is a view of the storage aide connected to a rectangular container; Fig. 4 is an underside view of the container with storage aide attached from beneath; Fig. 5 illustrates another form or storage aide, and Fig. 6 illustrates a rack assembly for storing round containers. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the storage aide illustrated is a one piece storage device 10 which has opposed corner connectors 11 and an intermediate ring 12 each being formed of relatively stiff material and connected to one another by elastic portions 14 which are stretched in use to bias the intermediate ring 12 toward engagement with the base 16 of a container 15 to which the storage device is operatively attached. The elastic portions 14 in this embodiment are each formed of spaced apart elastic longitudinal members 20 which are bridged by elastic transverse members 21 such that in use an outer end portion of each longitudinal member 20 may lie juxtaposed a respective container side face with a suitable one of the several loop portions 22 formed between the longitudinal members 20 and adjacent transverse members 21 6 encircling the respective lower corners 24 so as to locate the intermediate ring substantially centred on the diagonal line between those corners 24. Each corner connector 11 is formed to hook into an open corner of the container and as illustrated in Fig. 3 the internal portions 25 of the connectors 11 are shaped to substantially conform to the internal corner of a container so as to be positively retained at the corner location and so that they form a minimal protrusion into the container 15 to maximise the size of another container which may be stored therebetween within the container 15. In use, the storage device 10 is secured to a container 15 as illustrated such that the intermediate ring 12 is disposed substantially centrally beneath the base 16 of the container 15 by the stretched longitudinal members 20. The lid 27 for the container 15 or other lids may be inserted between the ring 12 and the base 16 for secure retention against the base 16 and such that the container 15 and the lid or lids secured therebeneath may be stored as a unit separate from other stored pieces in a storage area for retrieval as a unit enabling ready matching of the lids and the matching container suitably stored in the container 15. The ring 12 provides a readily grasped member which may be resiliently pulled away or tilted from the base 16 if desired to enable a lid to be inserted and being of round shape with a circular cross-section the biased ring 12 should not snag a lid as it is inserted into or withdrawn from its stowed position. In the storage device 30 illustrated in Fig. 5 the termination means is in the form of a resilient ring 31 connected to the longitudinal members 32 at diagonally opposite positions thereon such that the ring may be stretched about the open top of a selected container above a lid flange thereof to provide corner connections at diagonally opposite corners of a container. It may also incorporate a retaining strap to secure the smaller containers stored in the selected container.

7 The storage aide may be moulded as a one-piece plastics article with suitable form stiffening, such as wire inserts at the corner connectors to enable them to maintain their operative shape and function as corner hooks. The storage aide may utilise different grades of plastics in different sections thereof to provide the stiffness and elasticity where necessary or suitable reinforcing may be incorporated to provide the necessary stiffness. Alternatively, separate elastic sections may be clipped or otherwise secured in place between the corner connectors and the intermediate ring to provide the desired elasticity for biasing the intermediate ring toward the base of a container on which the storage device 10 is utilised, and of course, rectangular as used herein includes substantially rectangular and square shapes. Fig. 6 illustrates a storage rack assembly 40 for round containers 41 and their lids 42. This rack assembly has spaced pairs of longitudinal rails including a lower pair of closely spaced rails 43 for supporting small diameter lids on edge and upper more widely spaced rails 44 for supporting larger diameter lids on edge. An elevated central ring support 45 provides stable support for a relatively large bowl such that there is space therebeneath to support very small lids at 47 lying flat on the rails 43 or 44. Arched end stops 48 are provided at each end of the rails to retain lids which are supported inclined against the bowl 49 supported in the elevated central ring support 45. The stops 48 may also provide anchors for an elastic strap which may be secured over the bowls and lids in the rack to make them more secure as a separately storable assembly. In this embodiment, one end stop 48 and the rails 43, 44 attached thereto are received telescopically in respective co-axial tubular sockets 50, 51 respectively whereby that end stop 48 may be moved closer to or further away from the elevated central ring support 45 to suit the number and /or sizes of the lids to be supported at that side of the support 45.

8 It will of course be realised that the above has been given by way of illustrative example of the invention and that all modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as is defined by the appended claims.

Claims (14)

1. A storage aide for holding a container lid or a stack of container lids against the underside of a rectangular storage container including: termination means engageable with the open end of the container whereby corner connections are provided at diagonally opposite corners of the container; an elastically stretchable support assembly extending between the corner connections and including location means which locate about the opposed base corners of the container beneath said diagonally opposite corners so as to maintain the intermediate portion of the elastically stretchable support assembly extending substantially diagonally across the container beneath the base thereof.

2. A storage aide as claimed in claim 1, wherein the termination means is a pair of opposed terminations each of which may be operatively retained at a respective opposing open corner of the open topped container to form the corner connections.

3. A storage aide as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each termination is a terminating hook.

4. A storage aide as claimed in claim 3, wherein each terminating hook is formed so as to positively locate over an open corner of the container and is shaped to conform with said corner.

5. A storage aide as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the elastically stretchable support assembly is formed in one-piece from an elastically stretchable material.

6. A storage aide as claimed in claim 5, wherein the intermediate portion of the elastically stretchable support assembly adapted to extend substantially diagonally across the container beneath the base includes a relatively stiff lateral protrusion.

7. A storage aide as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the location means is formed by respective locating apertures formed in the elastically stretchable support 2 assembly and adjacent each termination means and adapted in use to locate about the base corners of a storage container.

8. A storage aide as claimed in claim 7, wherein the elastically stretchable support includes several locating apertures along each end portion thereof.

9. A storage aide as claimed in claim 8, wherein the locating apertures are defined by resilient portions of the elastically stretchable support assembly.

10. A storage aide substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

11. A method of storing a rectangular kitchen container and a selected lid, including: providing a storage aide as defined in any one of claims 1 to 10; connecting the elastically stretchable support assembly to an open topped container by operatively engaging the termination means with the open top of the container and arranging the medial portion of the support assembly beneath the base of the container, and inserting the selected lid between the medial portion and the base of the container such that the container with the retained lid may be stowed as a unit.

12. A supporting rack assembly having an elevated bowl support on or in which a large round bowl may be supported and a side rack on which lids may be supported beside the elevated bowl support.

13. A supporting rack assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. A method of storing containers and their lids including: selecting the largest of a number of containers to be stored and placing smaller containers therein; operatively connecting a storage aide as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10 3 to the largest container by operatively engaging the termination means with the open top of the largest container and arranging the medial portion of the support assembly beneath the base of the largest container and extending substantially diagonally thereacross, and inserting the selected lids between the medial portion and the base of the largest container whereby the containers with the lids retained therebeneath may be stowed as a unit in a storage area.