US2849177A - Wastebasket - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 26, 1958 H. MEYER 2,849,177

' WASTEBASKET Filed May 13, 195'? INVENTOR. HOW/1RD MfYL-E United States Patent WASTEBASKET Howard Meyer, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application May 13, 1957, Serial No. 658,689

1 Claim. (Cl. 232-431) This invention relates to a wastebasket and more particularly to a wastebasket adapted to fit between adjacent legs of a desk.

It is an object of this invention to provide a waste basket adapted to fit between the adjacent legs of a conventional desk having a pair of legs to each side of the desk knee-hole.

It is a further objective of this invention to remove wastebaskets from the aisles where they take up valuable space and are an encumbrance to walking in the aisle.

It is a further object to provide a wastebasket adapted to prevent loss of accidentally dropped papers.

These and other objects will become apparent upon reading the following descriptive disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which;

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one modification of the wastebasket showing in dotted outline the raised position of the front and the rear door,

Fig. 2 is a side view broken away in part, of a modified wastebasket having a front door having a rear upright lip for engaging a transverse desk bar to prevent undue movement of the basket from under the desk,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the front door axis of the modification of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 is a detail view of the manner of journaling the front door axis to the front door.

The wastebasket of this invention is essentially a box having a somewhat rectangular shape and of a size to suitably fit underneath a desk between a pair of adjacent desk legs 11, shown in dotted outline in Fig. 2, having a cross bar 13 between said desk legs 12.

The wastebasket 10 may be made of sheet metal, Wood, plastic, etc. and preferably is provided with a semicircular front wall or a front wall 14 having rounded corners.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the substantially rectangular wastebasket it) is provided with a rear rectangular cleanout door 15 secured by a conventional piano hinge 16 to top wall 17. The top wall 17 and bottom wall 18 (Fig. 2) are secured by welding or adhesive to the integral wrap-around vertical wall 19 of which the front wall 14 is an integral portion.

A feature of this invention is that the wraparound wall 19 is provided with a suitable cut-out area so that the front wall 14 and a part of the side Wall adjacent each front wall corner is of lesser height by the length of edge 20 than is the height of the wastebasket 19 as shown by the height 21 of the rear door 15.

The piano hinge 16 is preferably a conventional springof top wall 17. The door 23 is provided with the curvatured configuration of front wall 14 but as shown in Fig. 2 extends beyond the front wall 14 when in horizontal position. Thus an accidentally dropped paper could not fall in the wastebasket 10. In fact even with the door disposed at an inclined angle the front edge of the door 23 does not extend rearwardly behind the front wall 14 (Fig. 2 dotted door). Thus in use the wastebasket is pulled forward a suitable distance from underneath the desk so that the basket protrudes in front of the desk at least the distance of door 23. The hinge 24 is preferably not spring loaded so that the door 23 raised to a suitable angle remains at this angle due to friction. The door 23 is not depressable below the horizontal level (Fig. 1) due to the arresting effect of the conventional piano hinge used.

The wastebasket is preferably provided with buttons 27 to effect easy sliding on the floor 28.

In emptying the wastebasket of Fig. l, the door 23 is grasped in one hand and the wastebasket is pulled out from underneath the desk whereupon the rear door 15 is opened and the contents slide out due to gravity.

A modified form of the wastebasket is shown in Figs. 2 to 4. In this modification the front door 29 is provided with an axle 30 so that the front door consists essentially of the door 23 and a rear integral plate piece 29X. Plate piece 29X is provided at its rear edge with an upright wall 31 of a height suitable to engage desk transverse bar 13 when the door 29 is in horizontal position (Fig. 2).

Clearly the wastebasket of the modification of Fig. 2 has a shortened top wall 17X in front of which upright wall 31 may be disposed.

A preferred method of journaling axle 30 to front door 29 is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. In this modification the integral door 29 is provided with a suitable center trough to receive axle 30 and a pair of opposed suitable curvatured edge channels 32 for engaging axle 30 adjacent its ends.

The wrap-around wall of the modification shown in Fig. 2 is provided with a pair of opposed suitably apertured upright lugs 33 to receive frictionally the protruding axle ends 34.

Thus the axle 30 is frictionally fitted as by pushing into the apertures of lugs 33.

The door 29 in use may be horizontally disposed with upright 31 engaging bar 13 so that the wastebasket can not be easily kicked or moved as by pulling from under the desk. Also the door 29 may be raised to an elevated position (Fig. 3) when in use, if so desired.

The cleaning out of this modification is done similarly to the manner recited above for cleaning out the modification of Fig. 1.

This invention has been described by means of two modifications but clearly other obvious modifications fall within the scope of the inventive concept.

The wastebasket provided is therefore substantially free from exposed sharp edges, easily emptied, mobile, safe in use as it prevents loss of valuable papers, and is of large capacity.

It may be made of aluminum sheet and may be provided with Wheels. Optionally the wastebasket may be placed in a desk drawer or on top of the desk if desired.

The front gate 29 is limited in its forward movement to a horizontal position by stop block 35 secured to the inside surface of wrap-wall 19 by adhesive or other conventional means.

I claim:

A substantially rectangular wastebasket adapted for use between the legs of an office desk consisting essentially of an integral substantially U-shaped vertical wall having a rounded front vertical wall segment integral with two opposed planar vertical wall segments, said front wall segment and a portion of the side wall segments adjacent thereto being of lesser vertical height than the remainder of the opposed side walls forming a cut-out portion; alhorizontal top wall disposed in space relationship behind said cut-out portion and fixedly secured to the top edges of said opposed side walls, said side walls having opposed axle receiving apertures between said cut-out portion and said top wall; .a rear fiat wall hingedly secured throughout its length to the rear edge of said top wall and adapted to close the opening of said U-shaped wall; a flat bottom wall secured to the entire bottom periphery ofv said U-shaped wall; an axle disposed in said opposed apertures of said side walls; and a swingable door secured to said axle intermediate the front edge and the rear edge of said door, said door References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 525,616 Ostermeyer Sept. 4, 1894 845,964 Mittendorf Mar. 5, 1907 933383 Bryant Sept. 14, 1909 2,399,038 Jones Apr. 23, 1946

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