US20040197031A1

US20040197031A1 - Apertured leaf bag

Info

Publication number: US20040197031A1
Application number: US10/407,665
Authority: US
Inventors: Rhett Torick
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-04-07
Filing date: 2003-04-07
Publication date: 2004-10-07

Abstract

A leaf collection bag of plastic apertured in a predetermined pattern about its side surfaces, fastenable along its top to an outlet port of one of a leaf vacuum and a convertible leaf blower/vacuum.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

NONE

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Research and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program

REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX

NOT APPLICABLE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the gathering of falling leaves, in general, and to the collection of such leaves for dispensing in a landfill, in particular.

2. Description of the Related Art

As is well known and understood, among the attractions of living in a home on a wooded lot are the large number of songbirds inhabiting the trees during the year and the shade to the hot summer sun which the trees afford. As is also known, however, one of the detractions are the quantities of leaves which fall and gather on the ground at season's end. Although the most common way of gathering these leaves for collection is through raking, there have been developed in recent years hand-held, and over-the-shoulder harnessed, vacuums and convertible blower/vacuums both to suck up the leaves from the ground or to clump them together so that they may be burned (when permitted) or bagged. As will be appreciated, in some localities, private or public sanitation workers simply lift and throw the bagged leaves into their vehicles for dispersal in a landfill or in a controlled incineration; while in others, the bags are first slit open and their leaf contents dumped into the vehicle for carting away, with the cut-open bags then being thrown back onto the ground for pick-up by the property owner.

Those hand-held or shoulder-harnessed leaf vacuums and convertible leaf blower/vacuums presently available typically come equipped with a 2-3 gallon capacity cloth bag for collecting the leaves sucked up. While adequate to do their intended jobs, these collecting cloth bags require continual emptying into the larger sized leaf collecting bags usually left for the sanitation vehicle pick-up—which almost always are of a capacity in excess of 20 gallons, and commonly of 30, 35 and 40 gallon sizes. As a result, numerous removals of the filled cloth bag from the vacuum or blower/vacuum are required for filling the leaf collection bag. To avoid this, some manufactures, instead, are of a type where the vacuum system is part of a collecting plastic type can which can be rolled or pulled about on wheels in going from place-to-place to suck up the fallen leaves along with their acorns, fruits and other such adornments which accompany them to the ground at season's end. Besides being more cumbersome to maneuver than where the hand-held or over-the-shoulder type of equipment is being used, the emptying of filled containers of this type becomes more onerous as a heavier weight of leaves, etc. has to be lifted.

Clearly, something beyond these two alternatives to gathering and collecting fallen leaves would be quite desirable.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved manner of leaf collection that obviates these disadvantages of the prior art.

It is an object of the invention, also, to provide such a leaf gathering and collection arrangement that continues to be operable either hand-held, or carried over-the-shoulder, or across the shoulders as a knapsack.

It is another object of the invention to provide a leaf gathering and collection arrangement which is inexpensive to manufacture, simple to operate, and easy in its utilization.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a leaf gathering and collection arrangement of this type which can be employed together with those types of leaf vacuums and convertible leaf blower/vacuums already in use and already on the market, essentially without any modification of their manufactures and modes of use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As will become clear from the following description, the present invention follows from my development of a new and improved leaf collection bag entirely different from those 2-3 gallon cloth bags presently employed. As will be seen, this follows from a development which allows the type of plastic bag left for sanitation vehicle pick-up to be coupled directly with the leaf vacuum or convertible leaf blower/vacuum to begin with. While early attempts to solve the problem proved somewhat deficient because the plastic bag tended to be blown off as the vacuum generated was sucking up the leaves, the leaf collection bag of the invention overcomes that difficulty by allowing a continual air flow out through the bag even while the bag is connected to the discharge or outlet port of the vacuum in receiving its mulched leaves, acorn, fruit, etc.

Thus, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the leaf collection bag includes a plastic bag having opposing side surfaces joined at their bottoms and spreadably open at their tops. A plurality of apertures are provided about the side surfaces, together with means along the tops of the opposing side surfaces for fastening the plastic bag to the outlet port of the leaf vacuum or convertible leaf blower/vacuum. In this preferred construction, the apertures are laid out in a predetermined pattern about the side surfaces of the bag—for example, along the opposite edges defining the opposing side surfaces, or in an orthogonal layout across the face of the surfaces themselves. To allow a continuous air flow which prevents the gathered leaves from blowing the bag off the outlet, the apertures may be spaced apart at 1-2 inch intervals, and of a diameter at least {fraction (3/16)} inches. Testings have shown that a plastic bag of 35 gallon capacity and of a 3 mil thickness performs optimally in this respect, and analysis has shown that similar, advantageous results occur when the bag is of 30 gallon capacity, or of at least a 2 mil thickness. Whereas different manners of fastening the plastic bag to the discharge or outlet port could be employed, approaches of using either a drawstring or “zip-tie” about the tops of the opposing side surfaces and secured there prove quite beneficial. When employing the “zip-tie version”, moreover, the removal of the leaf collection bag once filled is very easily done just by cutting the tie to unfasten the bag.

As will be appreciated, even in those localities where the filled bag is not lifted and thrown into the sanitation collecting vehicle but is simply slit open and its contents removed for dispersal, the numbers of cut-open bags left behind can be far reduced in number than where the 2-3 gallon size cloth bags of the type commonly provided with the leaf vacuum or convertible leaf blower/vacuum are used—and, in any event, require far fewer fillings before the capacity of the plastic bag is reached.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: [0017]
FIG. 1 is a pictorial illustration of the face of an opposing side surface of a plastic bag for leaf collection in accordance with the teachings of the invention; [0018]
FIGS. 2A and 2B are edge views of one opposing side surface along its face, and at its top where fastening means to a leaf vacuum or convertible leaf blower/vacuum is located; [0019]
FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate different fasteners that can be employed in tying the leaf collection bag of the invention to the vacuuming apparatus employed; [0020]
FIGS. 4A and 4B are pictorial views helpful in an understanding of the manner of fastening the leaf collection bag of the invention to the vacuum apparatus; [0021]
FIG. 5 is a pictorial illustration of the leaf bag being inflated when in use sucking up the gathered leaves; and [0022]
FIGS. 6A and 6B are illustrations of the leaf collection bag when filled, and when tied ready for pick-up at a curbside, for example, respectively.[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the Drawings, the leaf collection bag of the [0024] invention 10 includes a plastic bag 12 having opposing side surfaces (only one of which is shown for purposes of simplicity), as at 14, joined at the bottoms 16 and spreadably open at the tops 18. A plurality of apertures 20 are provided about the side surfaces—preferably of at least {fraction (3/16)} inches in diameter, and spaced apart in 1-2 inch intervals in a predetermined pattern. As FIG. 1 indicates, such pattern may be orthogonal in appearance—but effective results follow where the apertures 20 are just along the edges of the opposing side surfaces as at the first and last columns illustrated, at the top and bottom rows. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, control of the air flow through the plastic bag once coupled to the leaf vacuum or convertible leaf blower/vacuum can be had both by increasing/decreasing the number of apertures and/or increasing/decreasing the diameters of the apertures.
To couple the [0025] plastic bag 12 to the discharge or outlet port of the vacuum device, any appropriate type of fastener may be employed, circumventing the top 18 of the bag's opposing side surfaces, and secured there—and two such fasteners are shown as the drawstring type 30 of FIG. 3A and of the zip-tie type 32 of FIG. 3B. Such fasteners may be inserted as at 34 in the edge surface of FIG. 2B adjacent the top of the bag's side surfaces, reference numeral 36 in FIGS. 2A and 2B representing the edge of the remaining face of the side surface. Such drawstring or zip-tie closure of the top of the spreadably open bag 10 about the discharge or outlet port is shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B—where the fastener employed is shown at 40 wound about the discharge outlet port 42 of the vacuum apparatus 48.
FIG. 5 illustrates the utilization of the invention with the leaf vacuum in operation. In essence, the individual leaves [0026] 50 are sucked up from the pile 52, to exit through the discharge outlet port 42 into the bag 12, but the air stream continues to flow out through the apertures 20 whose size is selected too small to allow the leaves to pass through, whether or not the vacuum apparatus 48 is of a type to first mulch the leaves, or not (as shown in the Drawings). FIG. 6A shows the leaf collection bag 10 just about filled, with the weight of the leaves orienting the bag 10 to sit vertically on the ground 60. Once filled, the drawstring 30 or the zip-tie 32 fastening the bag about the discharge outlet port 42 is then cut, and the bag re-tied in any appropriate manner for sitting on the ground adjacent to a curbside 62 for pick-up at the sanitation vehicle (FIG. 6B). As will be understood, the fastening of the plastic bag 12 about the vacuum outlet port prevents the airflow stream of the vacuum or blower 48 from simply blowing the bag off the outlet port 42—which, however, would be the situation if the side surfaces of the plastic bag 12 were not apertured in the manner described.
While there have been described what are considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein, of aperturing the plastic bag to allow an outlet air stream while capturing the mulched or unmulched leaves within. In this respect, it will be understood that since the vacuum speeds commonly employed in the types of leaf vacuums and convertible leaf blower/vacuums commonly available oftentimes are as high as 200 mph and greater, the size and number of apertures employed to a large extent depend upon the material thickness for the plastic bag as well as its overall capacity. For at least such reason, therefore, resort should be had to the claims appended hereto for a true understanding of the scope of the invention. [0027]

Claims

I claim:

1. A leaf collection bag comprising:

a plastic bag having opposing side surfaces joined at the bottoms thereof and spreadably open at the tops thereof;

a plurality of apertures about said side surfaces; and

means along said tops of said opposing side surfaces for fastening said plastic bag to an outlet port of a leaf vacuum.

2. The leaf collection bag of claim 1 wherein said plurality of apertures are punched in a predetermined pattern about said side surfaces.

3. The leaf collection bag of claim 2 wherein said plurality of apertures are punched along opposite edges defining said opposing side surfaces.

4. The leaf collection bag of claim 2 wherein said plurality of apertures are at least {fraction (3/16)} inches in diameter.

5. The leaf collection bag of claim 2 wherein said plurality of apertures are spaced apart at 1-2 inch intervals.

6. The leaf collection bag of claim 3 wherein said plurality of apertures are at least {fraction (3/16)} inches in diameter and spaced apart at 1-2 inch intervals.

7. The leaf collection bag of claim 1 wherein said plastic bag when spreadably open is of at least 30 gallon capacity.

8. The leaf collection bag of claim 1 wherein said plastic bag is of at least a 2 mil thickness.

9. The leaf collection bag of claim 8 wherein said plastic bag when spreadably open is of 35 gallon capacity and of a 3 mil thickness.

10. A leaf collection bag comprising:

a plurality of apertures about said side surfaces; and

means along said tops of said opposing side surfaces for fastening said plastic bag to a vacuum outlet port of a convertible leaf blower/vacuum.

11. The leaf collection bag of claim 10 wherein said plurality of apertures are punched in a predetermined pattern about said side surfaces.

12. The leaf collection bag of claim 11 wherein said plurality of apertures are punched along opposite edges defining said opposing side surfaces.

13. The leaf collection bag of claim 11 wherein said plurality of apertures are at least {fraction (3/16)} inches in diameter.

14. The leaf collection bag of claim 11 wherein said plurality of apertures are spaced apart at 1-2 inch intervals.

15. The leaf collection bag of claim 12 wherein said plurality of apertures are at least {fraction (3/16)} inches in diameter and are spaced apart at 1-2 inch intervals.

16. The leaf collection bag of claim 10 wherein said plastic bag when spreadably open is of at least 30 gallon capacity.

17. The leaf collection bag of claim 10 wherein said plastic bag when spreadably open is of at least a 2 mil thickness.

18. The leaf collection bag of claim 10 wherein said plastic bag when spreadably open is of 35 gallon capacity and of a 3 mil thickness.

19. The leaf collection bag of claim 1 wherein said means includes one of a drawstring and zip tie circumventing said tops of said opposing side surfaces and secured thereat.

20. The leaf collection bag of claim 10 wherein said means includes one of a drawstring and zip tie circumventing said tops of said opposing side surfaces and secured thereat.