GB2342059A

GB2342059A - Debris catchment pocket

Info

Publication number: GB2342059A
Application number: GB9920852A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Anthony Lewis
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-09-08
Filing date: 1999-09-06
Publication date: 2000-04-05
Also published as: GB9819573D0; GB9920852D0

Abstract

A debris catchment pocket 10 comprising back 12 and front 14 portions joined along a base line 50 and connected together along adjacent side edges at each end of the base line so as to form a collecting opening therebetween, the side edges being sealed along their length, leaving no unsealed gaps between the side edges and the base line. The pocket is particularly adapted for collection of debris produced during a drilling operation.

Description

2342059 1 Debris catchment pocket This invention relates to a debris

catchment pocket for catching debris produced during a drilling operation. 5 Devices for collecting the debris produced during a drilling operation are well-known and several designs of such devices have been proposed in the past.

For example, DE29703851 Ul, describes a dust catchment pocket comprising back and front rectangular portions joined along a base line and with their adjacent side edges at each end of the base line joined by a folded W-shaped side portion so that the pocket opens in a V-shape when viewed from the side. This debris catchment pocket is placed against the wall below the drilling point so that the open mouth of the pocket collects debris falling from the drilling point.

However, this dust catchment pocket has the disadvantage that the corners of the pocket between the W-shaped side portions and the base line are not sealed and therefore any fine dust collected during the drilling operation can escape from the catchment pocket through this unsealed gap.

However, the inclusion of additional tabs or sealing strips to seal this gap and prevent the escape of fine dust particles will result in increased complexity of manufacture, and therefore increased expense.

An object of the present invention is to provide a debris catchment pocket which addresses the disadvantages of the prior art by providing the debris catchment pocket, preferably formed from a single sheet of material, for collecting debris during a drilling operation, and avoiding the escape of dust particles through gaps in the debris catchment pocket.

2 Accordingly, a first aspect of the invention provides a debris catchment pocket comprising back and front portions joined along a base line and connected together along adjacent side edges at each end of the base line so as to form a collecting opening therebetween, the side edges being sealed along their length, leaving no unsealed gaps between the side edges and the base line.

Preferably, the side edges of the back and front portions are formed with folded flaps which are connected together to form side pleats that allow the pocket to open to a controlled extent.

These folded flaps can be adhered together by means of an adhesive. Alternatively, at least one of these flaps may be provided with a peelable self-adhesive strip positioned to allow the flaps to be connected together on assembly of the pocket just prior to use.

Preferably, the side edges of the front and back portions of the pocket at each end of the base line are connected via a side flap which is joined to the front and back portions along a continuous fold line extending across the base line with the flap uninterrupted at the base line so that the flap can be folded over the front and back panels and then folded back on itself together with the front and back portions and leaves no gap along the fold lines. The flap may be sealed directly onto itself along its length or may be joined via further flaps or tabs joined to its edges along a further fold line substantially parallel to the fold line of the flap itself so as to form a pleated side wall at each end of the pocket.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the side flaps each comprise a generally rectangular portion abutting against the front and back portions and extending continuously across the baseline. These regions are folded along the join with the 3 front and back portions such that the rectangular region extends inwardly across the front and back portions when the pocket is assembled. Outward of these rectangular portions is provided tab regions which are defined by a fold line arranged parallel to the join between the front and back portions and the rectangular regions. The tab regions are folded such that they extend outwardly of the pocket forming a concertina-type arrangement. Preferably facing surfaces of the tab regions are adhered together, suitably across their entire surface, to form a secure pocket. The tab regions may also be rectangular in shape. They may however be bevelled, for example at the lower edge so as to assist in folding.

This embodiment provides for secure adhesion of the pocket together with secure corner regions since these are formed by the junction between the rectangular portions of the tabs and the front and back portions, which is part of a continuous sheet.

Preferably, the rear surface of the back portion of the pocket is provided with a peelable self-adhesive strip along the upper edge, which is used to attach the pocket to the vertical surface to be drilled. The adhesive in this case is preferably a low tactile adhesive which will allow the pocket to be held in place on the wall during a drilling operation but will not damage any decorative wallcovering such as wallpaper present at the drilling site on removal.

In a preferred embodiment, the back portion extends above the front portion of the pocket such that the extension region can be folded over the front portion once the pocket is filled so as to form a closure flap. A peelable adhesive strip may be provided either on the front or back portion to allow the closure flap to be sealed once in place. This strip is conveniently positioned on the closure flap.

4 The front and back portions of the pocket are suitably generally rectangular in shape but if desired side edges may be inclined inwards in either the upward (as illustrated hereinafter) or downward direction so as to form a generally 5 trapezoid shape.

The debris catchment pocket may comprise a flexible material, such as paper or cardboard.

The debris attachment pocket may be sold in its assembled form as described above, but it may alternatively be sold as a blank ready for the user to assemble into its pocket form. Assembly instructions may be printed on the blank.

Accordingly, a second aspect of the invention provides a blank for a debris catchment pocket according to the first aspect of the invention.

A third aspect of the invention provides a method of collecting the debris from a drilling operation using a debris catchment pocket according to the first aspect of the invention, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

(a) providing a debris catchment pocket according to the first aspect of the invention; (b) attaching the pocket to the vertical surface to be drilled such that the collecting opening of the pocket is positioned below the point of the vertical surface which is to be drilled; (c) carrying out the drilling operation; (d) removing the pocket containing the debris from the drilling operation from the wall and folding the back portion such that the debris becomes sealed within the pocket.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 to 9, in which:

Figure 1 shows a blank of a first embodiment of the invention; figure 2 shows the partially folded blank of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a front view from above of a debris catchment pocket formed from the blank of Figures 1 and 2; figure 4 shows a rear view of the debris catchment pocket of Figure 3; Figure 5 shows a blank of a second embodiment of the invention; Figure 6 shows the blank of Figure 5 in a folded but unsealed configuration; Figure 7 shows a front view from above of a debris catchment pocket formed from the blank of Figure 5; Figure 8 shows a side view of the debris catchment pocket of Figure 7; and Figure 9 shows the debris catchment pocket of Figures 3 and 4 in use during a drilling operation.

Referring now to Figure 1, the debris catchment pocket comprises a blank 10 with fold lines indicated by dashed lines. The blank comprises back and front portion 12,14 joined along a base fold line 50, and side flaps 20 at each side joined to the back and front portions along fold lines 30. Each flap 20 is rectangular 6 in shape and extends uninterrupted across the base fold line 50 and is folded over the back and front portions before it is folded back on itself together with the back and front portions along the fold line 50. The folded sections of the flap 20 at each side are then connected together to form the final pocket; this being achieved via tabs 16 at the outer edges of the flap 20 each side of the fold line 50. These tabs 16 are joined to the flaps 20 along fold lines 40 and are folded so as to extend outwards of the pocket and are sealed by adhesive in face-to- face contact as shown in Figure 3. The adhesive may be provided by peelable self-adhesive strips.

Figure 3 also shows the 'concertina-like" structure of the pleated sides.

is A flap 60 is provided along the upper edge of the back portion 12 and a self-adhesive strip 70 is provided on the rear surface of the flap 60 along its upper edge so that the adhesive can be exposed by removing the cover strip to allow the pocket to be attached to the vertical surface to be drilled. The drill operator then has both hands free for the drilling operation.

A further self-adhesive strip 80 is provided on the front surface of the flap 60 (Figure 3) which allows the flap 60 to be sealed to the front portion 14 when the pocket is full and thus form a closure flap. The illustrated strip is provided along the upper surface of the flap 60. It may be preferably to space the strip from the upper surface in order to ensure that the strip does not interfere with the drilling operation.

Figure 5 shows the blank of a further embodiment of the present invention wherein individual flap portions 20 are provided along each side edge either side of the base fold line 50. Each flap portion 20 is triangular in shape, and each is provided with a triangular shape tab 16 as shown in Figure 5. In order to form 7 the debris catchment pocket, the blank is folded along line 50, and the flaps and tabs 20,16 are folded as shown in Figure 6.

A peelable self-adhesive strip is provided on one or both flaps and tabs 20,16 to seal the sides of the pocket once folded as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 9 shows the pocket in use, with the flap 60 placed below or over the position of the hole to be drilled in the vertical surface. During the drilling operation, the debris produced falls into the debris catchment pocket. The debris catchment pocket can then simply be removed from the wall, and the flap 60 folded along a line 62. The peelable self-adhesive strip 80 on the front surface of the flap 60 can then have its adhesive exposed and brought into contact with the outer surface of the pocket, thereby sealing the contents of the drilling operation within the debris catchment pocket without risk that the finer dust particles of the debris can escape from the pocket through gaps in the sides.

As demonstrated, the present invention addresses the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a convenient debris collection pocket for collecting debris produced during the drilling operation in a vertical surface, the debris catchment pocket being cheap and simple to manufacture, and being capable of containing even the very small dust particles produced during the drilling operation.

8

Claims

1. A debris catchment pocket comprising back and front portions joined along a base line and connected together along adjacent side edges at each end of the base line so as to form a collecting opening therebetween, the side edges being sealed along their length, leaving no unsealed gaps between the side edges and the base line.

2. A debris catchment pocket according to claim 1 wherein the the side edges of the back and front portions are formed with folded flaps which are connected together to form side pleats that allow the pocket to open to a controlled extent.

3. A debris catchment pocket according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the side edges of the front and back portions of the pocket at each end of the base line are connected via a side flap which is joined to the front and back portions along a continuous fold line extending across the base line.

4. A debris catchment pocket according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the front and back portions are connected together by side flaps each of which comprises a generally rectangular portion abutting against the front and back portions and extending continuously across the baseline, and tab regions extending outwardly of said rectangular portions, the said rectangular portions extending inwardly of the pocket across the front and back portions and the tab regions extending outwardly of the pocket.

5. A debris catchment pocket according to claim 4 wherein facing surfaces of the tab regions are adhered together.

6. A debris catchment pocket according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein the tab regions are bevelled to assist in folding.

9

7. A debris catchment pocket according to any one of the preceding claims wherein a rear surface of the back portion of the pocket is provided with a peelable self-adhesive strip along the upper edge. 5

8. A debris catchment pocket according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the back portion extends beyond the front portion of the pocket so as to form a closure flap.

9. A debris catchment pocket according to claim 8 wherein a peelable adhesive strip is provided to allow the closure flap sealed the pocket.

10. A debris catchment pocket according to claim 9 wherein the 15 peelable adhesive strip is positioned on the closure flap.

11. A debris catchment pocket according to any one of the preceding claims which comprises paper or cardboard.

12. A blank for a debris catchment pocket according to any one of the preceding claims.

13. A method of collecting the debris from a drilling operation using a debris catchment pocket according to any one of claims 1 25 to 11, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

(a) providing a debris catchment pocket according to any one of claims 1 to 11; (b) attaching the pocket to the vertical surface to be drilled such that the collecting opening of the pocket is positioned below the point of the vertical surface which is to be drilled; (c) carrying out the drilling operation; (d) removing the pocket containing the debris from the drilling operation from the wall and folding the back portion such that the debris becomes sealed within the pocket. 5 13. A debris catchment pocket substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

14. A blank for a debris catchment pocket substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.