AU2016100006A4 - Waste Container Advertising Apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

WASTE CONTAINER ADVERTISING APPARATUS 5 Advertising apparatus (10) attachable to an existing waste container (11) having (i) an outer frame (21) having a transparent window (22) attached thereto; (ii) an inner frame or plate (24) releasably attachable to a front wall (20) of the waste container (11) by fasteners (35); and (iii) releasably securing means (37, 38, 39, 40) between the outer frame (21) and the inner frame or plate (24) whereby in use an advertising 10 sheet (23) may be placed between the outer frame (21) and the inner frame or plate (24) which is readily removable from the advertising apparatus (10) when required.

Description

1 WASTE CONTAINER ADVERTISING APPARATUS FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 This invention relates to waste container advertising apparatus and has been developed primarily for waste containers such as garbage or recycling containers or bins which normally have a rear handle and a pair of rear wheels. However it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular use and can be applied to stationary waste containers such as for example a waste container described in US 10 Patent Publication 2005274723 or stationary bins used for dumping waste known in US terms as "dumpsters". BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 15 It is well known to use waste containers for advertising or promotional purposes and reference may be made to Canadian Patent 2510372, WO 2006070293, DE 202004014301, US Patent 1424519, GB 2327332 and GB 2454707 for example. However in CA 2510372 a supporting frame was used for supporting a display panel which was integral with the container which would have been expensive in 20 manufacture. In WO 2006070293 the waste container had an exchangeable cover applied thereto which carried advertising and this would have been time consuming in operation and may have met with objections from local authorities in that the waste container was 25 transformed from a uniform appearance into a garish appearance. In DE 202004014301 an oval waste or refuse container had guides integrally applied to the walls to provide a recess for insertion of a transparent plate having advertising applied thereto which would have met with the same problems already described 30 above in relation to CA 2510372. US Patent 1424519 was also deficient for the same reason as this related to a specialised waste apparatus having an outer cabinet having a rotatable advertising medium and having an inner rubbish container which 2 would have been extremely expensive to manufacture. Similar problems applied to US Patent 1622210. GB 2327332 and GB 2454707 both related to waste containers having an advertising sticker attached to the container in the case of GB 2327332, or a sign hung from the handle in the case of GB 2454707, which were both impractical 5 and inefficient. Another prior art reference AU 2007201949 also used an advertising sticker and this also would not have been practical. US Patent 3803738 relates to a waste container having an aluminum frame applied thereto which is four sided and has E shaped horizontal top and bottom frame 10 members as well as an E shaped pair of side members whereby the frame may readily receive an insertable and removable advertising sign. The frame is attached to a supporting track or bracket which is welded to the container and thus this reference has the same problems as described above for CA 2510372. 15 In summary therefore, the prior art discussed above was largely deficient in that it could not be applied to existing recycling bins because such prior art was largely concerned with manufacture of specialised containers which employed supports such as guides or tracks referred to in US Patent 3803738 which were welded to the container or an integral part of the container. Alternatively the use of stickers such as 20 disclosed in AU 2007201949 was impractical because such stickers had a tendency to separate from the container in adverse weather or become at least partly obliterated. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 25 It is therefore an object of the invention to provide waste container advertising apparatus which is readily attachable to a waste container and which at least partly overcomes the problems of the prior art discussed above. 30 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention therefore in one aspect provides advertising apparatus attachable to an existing waste container which includes: 5 (i) an outer frame having a transparent window attached thereto; (ii) an inner frame or plate which is releasably attached to a wall of the waste container by fasteners; and (iii) releasable securing means between the outer frame and the inner frame or plate whereby in use an advertising sheet may be placed 10 between the outer frame and the inner frame or plate which advertising sheet is readily removable from the advertising apparatus when required. The invention also includes within its scope a waste container which incorporates the 15 advertising apparatus described above. The outer frame is preferably rectangular although other shapes such as polygonal or round may be adopted. The outer frame may also have a surround flange which may support both the transparent window and the advertising sheet but this is not 20 essential. It is preferred that both the transparent window and the advertising sheet are loosely retained between the outer frame and inner frame or plate although this is only a desirable feature and is not essential. In another possible arrangement the outer frame may include a pair of tracks or 25 guides for supporting both the transparent window and the advertising sheet or alternatively the outer frame may incorporate an internal recess for supporting the transparent window and the advertising sheet. The inner plate or frame is preferably a plate so that it abuts a front wall of the waste 30 container in use and thus may be planar in configuration. The inner plate may also be provided with suitable guides or tracks for retaining both the transparent window 4 and the advertising sheet although a plurality of lugs or recesses at the top and bottom of the rear plate may suffice for this purpose. The outer frame preferably has the internal recess described above for retaining also the inner plate so that the inner plate may be retained within the internal confines of 5 the outer frame if required. However it will be appreciated that the inner plate may also have an internal recess or cavity for retaining the outer frame if required. It will also be appreciated that the waste container in some cases can be enclosed by a metal support structure in some cases and it will be appreciated that the advertising 10 apparatus in this case may be applied to the metal support structure if required. The releasable securing means between the inner plate and the outer frame suitably involves the use of fasteners such as screws or bolts although other fasteners such as securing clips or rivets may also be used. 15 The inner plate may be releasably secured to the container by any suitable method such as by use of fasteners such as screws or bolts being inserted into co-aligned apertures in both the inner plate or container. Alternatively suitable clips could be used for this purpose. 20 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Reference may be made to a preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in the attached drawings wherein: 25 FIG 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the advertising apparatus attached to a transportable refuse or rubbish container; FIG 2 is an exploded perspective view of the advertising apparatus shown in FIG 1; FIG 3 is a rear view of an assembly of the advertising apparatus shown in FIG 2; 30 FIG 4 is a top perspective view of the retention of the plastics window and the advertising sheet by a rear panel of the advertising apparatus FIG 5 is a bottom perspective view and is similar to FIG 4; FIG 6 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the advertising apparatus attached to the transportable container; FIG 7 is an exploded perspective view of the advertising apparatus shown in FIG 6; FIG 8 is a rear view of the assembly of the advertising apparatus shown in FIG 7; and 5 FIG 9 shows a vertical sectional view of the assembled advertising apparatus shown in FIG 8. In the drawings there is shown a transportable container 10 having a body 11, rear wheels 12, cover or lid 13, reinforcement ribs 14, handles 15 for cover 13 and rear 10 handle 16 which has pushbar 17 and support brackets 18. It will be noted that transportable container 10 is similar to the well known WHEELIE BIN which is in common use throughout Australia and is used by local authorities such as councils who provide each household or business with container 10 which are then filled with refuse or rubbish by the householder or business owner and which are emptied or 15 unloaded by the council usually every 7 days. It also will be appreciated that such containers are also used in local or public parks, recreation grounds, esplanades and the like. The container 10 is provided with advertising apparatus 19 which is attached to a front wall 20 of container 10. 20 It is emphasised that the terms "rear" and "front" when used herein have regard to the direction of travel of container 10. Advertising apparatus 19 is shown in more detail in FIG 2 and includes a front or outer frame 21, plastics window 22, an advertising sheet 23, and a rear plate 24. 25 Outer frame 21 has a window space 25 and a top and bottom flange 26. The window 22 may be formed from relatively solid or tough plastics material such as polycarbonate, PVC or polyethylene and is suitably transparent so that the contents of the advertising sheet 23 may be visible through window 22. Window 22 may also 30 have a slight convex curvature as shown having regard to outer frame 21. Advertising sheet 23 may have a similar curvature.

6 There is also provided a rear or inner plate 24 which is provided with a central support rib 28, a pair of planar components 29 which in cross sectional view are in the shape of a shallow U thereby defining recesses 31 and a pair of vertical or side webs 32. There is also provided a pair of side flanges 33 each having a peripheral vertical 5 lip 34. It will be noted from FIG 2 that rear or inner plate 24 is connected to front wall 20 of container 10 by bolts or fasteners 35 which each extend through a co-aligned aperture 36 in each flange 33. There is also provided fasteners 37 and associated nuts 38 which extend through co 10 aligned apertures 39 in top and bottom flanges 26 in outer frame 21 and 40 in central support rib 28 which attach each of outer frame 21 to rear plate 24 as shown in FIG 3 wherein each of fasteners 35 which extend outwardly from rear plate 27 extend through aligned apertures (not shown) in front wall 20 of container 10. 15 FIG 3 also shows that each side flange 41 of outer frame 21 and top and bottom flanges 26 each fully accommodate rear plate 24 and plastics window 22 and advertising sheet 23. In FIGS 4-5 there is shown that each web 32 is provided with top and bottom 20 recesses 42 that each accommodate or receive plastics window 22 and advertising sheet 23 in combination with an outwardly extending lug 43 and adjacent ledge 44. In FIG 6 there is provided another embodiment in the form of transportable container 10 which has advertising apparatus 19A attached thereto in a similar manner as 25 already described for container 10 in FIGS 1-5. FIGS 7-9 show advertising apparatus 19A in greater detail which includes outer frame 21A which is similar to outer frame 21 in the FIGS 1-5 embodiment having top and bottom flanges 26 and window space 25. However the rear plate 24A now includes 30 an internal cavity 45 which accommodates both plastics window 22 and advertising sheet 23 as shown in FIG 9. Also side flanges 41 and top and bottom flanges 26 of outer frame 21A retain or accommodate rear plate 24A which in this second 7 embodiment has top and bottom flanges 46 and a pair of side flanges 47 which are all retained within an internal recess 48 defined by top and bottom flanges 26 and opposed side flanges 41 of outer frame 21A as shown in FIG 8. Rear plate 24A also has internal sockets 49 each defining a retaining aperture 61 for fasteners 50 which 5 each extend through pre-drilled or preformed apertures (not shown) in front wall 20 of container 10. There is also provided top and bottom apertures 51 in outer frame 21A which are each aligned with corresponding apertures 52 in top and bottom flanges 46 in rear 10 plate 24A and which can be connected thereto by fasteners 53 and associated washers 54. This means that both outer frame 21A and rear plate 24A are securely connected together as shown in FIG 8. FIG 8 also shows that rear plate 24A also has internal vertical reinforcing ribs 55, 56 15 and 57 as well as internal horizontal reinforcing ribs 58, 59 and 60 and outwardly extending fasteners 50 before attachment to front wall 20 of container 10. FIG 9 also shows internal cavity 45 for accommodation of plastics window 22 and advertising sheet 23 and internal socket 62 for fastener 53. 20 From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the advertising apparatus of the invention is extremely effective in use and does not require any modification to an existing waste container and thus can be applied to existing waste containers. The advertising apparatus is also durable and provides a permanent support for 25 advertising sheets which is not the case with stickers for example. The nature of the advertising sheets may be in the form of decals, printed sheets, plastic sheets or any other form of display material suitable for the advertising apparatus described herein. The term "advertising" as used herein also includes 30 sheets for the purpose of display, marketing or promotional activities.

8 The outer frame and rear plate may be formed from metal such as aluminum or stainless steel or may be formed from durable plastics materials such as HDPE, polycarbonate or PVC.

Claims (5)

1. An advertising apparatus releasably attachable to a stationary support structure enclosing a separate transportable waste container, the apparatus including: an outer frame sized and configured to receive a transparent window; an inner frame configured to be releasably secured to the support structure, said inner frame including a plurality of retaining apertures; a plurality of rotatable fasteners configured for insertion into respective retaining apertures to releasably attach the advertising apparatus to the stationary support structure; an internal cavity configured to accommodate a sheet of advertising; and a releasable opening means between said outer frame and said inner frame configured to permit placement of the sheet of advertising into the internal cavity.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said releasable opening means includes only two rotatable fastening means located along a single vertical plane that intersects a top and a bottom of said outer frame.

3. The apparatus of either claim 1 or 2, wherein said opening means is off-set relative to each of said retaining apertures when said outer frame is fully engaged with said inner frame.

4. The apparatus of any one of the above claims, wherein said inner frame is configured to be releasably attachable to a stationary support structure that is metallic.

5. The apparatus of any one of the above claims, wherein said window is configured to be moveable relative to said inner frame.