CA1099765A - Refuse collecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure A hollow cylindrical scoop-shaped device facilitates scooping of solid and semi-solid refuse off hard ground or vegetation covered ground through manipulation of the device by a pivotally attached handle attached forwardly of the center of gravity of the device. The refuse scooped is collected in a detachably attached trailing disposable clamp secured conventional paper sack or plastic bag protected by a guard at the bottom of the device. The handle includes a detachably attached paddle for manual use in sweeping the refuse off sidewalks and the like into the scoop.

Description

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1 ¦ The present invention relates to reEuse collecting

2 ¦devices and, more particularly to devices for collecting

3 the feces of pets.

Periodically and usually daily, home owners who have 6 pets, such as dogs and cats, must remove the feces of their pets from their yards. Often, the feces is picked up with 8 a spade, shovel, hand trowel, or the i.ike. Thereafter, the feces is placed within a container of some sort and ul-~0 timately dumped in a garbage can or toilet. These implements 11 are reasonably satisfactorily useable but the process is more 12 cumbersome than need be. Additionally, for those persons who, 13 because of physical fraility or~injury, cannot easily stoop 14 or bend over, adequate manipulation of the implements may be difficult. Moreover, the process of depositing the picked-up 16 feces into a container i5 cumbersome and at best, somewhat .
17 awkward.

19 Many municipalities, particularly those without a lar~e park system, impose severe fines upon the owners of pets who 21 allow their pets to defecate on the sidewalk. Accordingly, 22 these owners, who exercise their pets on public sidewalks, 23 must carry with them some means for retrieving their pet's 24 feces or else be subject to substantial fines.

26 In any neighborhood, there are, despite the most 27 stringent leash laws, animals which roam unattended. Necessarily, ~8 3~J~5~9765 1 ¦ these animals de~ecate on front lawns other than that o~ their 2 ¦ owner's. The results are not only unsightly but also hazardous 3 ¦ to health. Removal of such eces must be effected b~.the owner.
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¦ The following United States Letters Pa:tents are ¦ representative of various types of devices which have ~een . 7. ¦ invented and which are ~enerally related to the present ; 8 ¦ invention: 3,65~,891, 3,703,158, 3,740,086~ 3,~44,45~, 9 1 3,754,785, 3,757,737, 3,777,708, 3,804,488, 3,830,423, 10 ¦ 3,~68,135, 3,986,7~4, 3,872,831 and 4,012,067. .
' 11 I . .
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13 ¦ . While these devices.will, to a greater or a lesser .
14 ¦ extent, accomplish the purposes sought, they suffer ~rom 15 ¦ various mechanical and operational deficiencies~ In example, 16 ¦ some o the devices requîre specially constructed and ~ormed 17 ¦ collection ~ags; thereby, bags readil~ available in oné's 18 ¦ ho~sehold cannot ~e employed. Some of the devices have 19 ¦ attachment mechanisms for the collection bags which renders 20 ¦ detachment of t~e filled collection bag dif~icult or which 21 ¦ renders it necessary to physically contact the portions of the - 22 ¦ de~ice which:have come in contact with the feces picked up 23 ¦ Some of the devices have no means for protecting the edges :;. 24 ¦ of the bag opening from contacting rough ground suraces ¦ and tearing~ Others of the devices, because of the nature . Z6 ¦ oX the receiving opening~ render it-essent.ially physically 27 ¦ impossible to collect feces from vegetation covered ground 28 ¦ without strenuous manipulation~ A few of the devices require 29 1 that the feces ~e collected during the act o de~ecation; a 30 1 seemingly absurd requirement in most sit~ations.. For those 31 ¦ devi.ces which have no removable collection bag, the cleaning 32 ¦ required to re~ove the collected feces is extremely distasteul, 33 1 particularly i~ the user does not live in a house where outside l . - 3 -1 faucets are available~

3 The.handle supported and operated ones of these devices are less than totally efective in removing feces from sidewalks and the like for ~he following reasons. To scoop up the feces, ' 6 subs-tantial downward force must be employed to distend the scoop edge sufficiently wide to acco~modate the feces some distension.
. 8 may also be required in order to apply a suf-Eicient scraping .~ force to achieve effective removal of the feces. Thè resultant friction between'the device and the sidewalk rendexs manipulation 11 of the device by means o ~he attached handle very difficult, '~ . 12 if not impossible~ , .
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: . 14 , . The present invention was developed with ~ull knowledge '~ ' 15 o~ the state of'the prior art and particular emphasis was16' directe~ towara t~e aevelopment of a device which is ~irst 17 of all ~nctionally adequate, employs disposable collection '18 bags of the type available in any household and may be used upon .
; any~surface by a pivotably attached:handle~ ' .
~` 20 . , ' 21 It .is thereore a primary object'of the'present' ~ 22 inven-tion to provide a device for collecting animal feces in a .
: 23 disposable collection bag. , .. : Z~ . . , , `, , . .
: '25 Another object of the present inventlon is to` -26 provide a re~use colIecting device which detachably attaches and : 27 releasably retains any sized conventional paper sack or p-astic bac .

2 Yet another object of ~he present invention is to provid ; 30 a refuse collection device which may be operatPd ~y manipulation 3Z of a pivotably,attached handle~
_ 4 _ ~9~ 6S

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1 Still another object of the present invention is to 2 provide a pivotably attached handle supporting a removable 3 paddle for use in loading a refuse collecting device.

A further object of the present invention is to 6 provide a refuse collecting device which incorporates a scoop, 7 a handle and a paddle in a single useable unit.

9 A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a removable handle for a refuse collecting device which 11 handle includes a removable paddle for manual manipulation in 12 urging refuse into the device.

14 These and other objects o~ the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description 16 thereof proceeds.

A manually operated refuse collecting device collects 21 refuse in a trailing disposable bag. The device includes a 22 scoop having a ~orwardly extending snout for scooping refuse 23 off of a surface and a rear section about which the opening to 24 the collection bag is attached by a clamp clamping the front edge region of the collection bag to the rear section. A guard 26 is disposed at the bottom rear section and defines a channel 27 for receiving a circumferential portion of the leading edge of 28 the collection bag to protect the leading edge against abrasion 29 and tearing when refuse is being scooped from a surface. A
handle extends from the device to aid in manipulating the device.

31 The handle may be pivotally attached and configured to store a , . . ~, '765 1 paddle, which paddle may be used to help direct the refuse into 2 the scoop.
3 . ~ r

4 The present invention may be described with greater specificity and clarity with reference to the following 6 drawings, in which: :
8 Figure 1 is a perspective view of the refuse collecting 9 device;

11 Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the 12 longitudinal axis of the device;

14 Figure 3 is a front view, taken along lines 3-3, as shown in Figure 2;

17 Figure 4 is a perspective view of a detached attachable 18 handle;

~:

32 - 5a -` ~9~7~;5 l ~ Flgure 5 is a cross-sectional view takeII along lines 5-5 2 ¦ as shown in Figure ~;
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4 ¦ Figure 6 is a perspective view of a further detached ¦ attachable handle; .
, 6 1 ' . ' '' .
: 7 ¦ Flgure 7 is a partial cross sectional view o~ -the ~: ¦ handle shown in ~igure,6;
9 . , . .
Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view takeh along lines 8-8 11 as s~own in Figure 7; and , 12 .' 13 Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 9 9 .
14 as shown in Figure 7.
15 . - , . .
16 .-. Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a refuse collectin 17 aevice l having a scoop lO and a trailing collection,bag 11.
18 The scoop incluaes a forwardly extending snout 12 having its l9 ¦ forwardmost point at the bottom center line o~ the'scoop. .
20 ¦ Rearwardly o the forwardmost point, edges 13 and 14 extend .
21 laterally u~wardly and thence inwardly to define the overall 22 cylindrical configuration of scoop 10, With this configura- .
23 tlon of the forward end of the scoop, it is easy to penetrate 24 grouna covering vegeta~ion to retrie~e feces and yet the 2S capability of retrieving feces off hard surfaces is not ' 26 impaired. The use of an overall cylindrical coniguration 27 of the scoop has several advan~ages~ First, sheet metal is 28 readily formed into a cylinder by conventional and inexpen-29 sive processes, Second, ~he cylindrical configu.ra~ion, aside 30 ¦ from the material itsel employed, lends a certain resiliency 31 ¦ to the scoop not available fxom rectangular or triangular 32 cross-sectional configurations~

765i 1 ¦ A handle 20r which may be of bent sheet material as 2 ¦ illustrated or of man-made platics, is rigidly attached to the 3 ¦ uppex surface of scoop 10~ This handle permits direct manipula-4 ¦ tion of the scoop to retrieve feces. An extended handle 21, S ¦ which is detachably attached to scoop 10 may be employed by -those ¦ persons who cannot stoop or bend over sufficiently to use 7 ¦ handle 20. Extended handle 21 includes a shaft 22 having a 8 handle or knob 23 disposed at the upper end thereof. Wire elements 24 and 25 extend downwardly from the lower end of handle 22 to straddle scoop 10 (see Figure 3). Ends 26 and 27 11 of these wlre elements are bent inwardly toward one another 12 for penetrating engagement with apertures 28 and 29 disposed 13 in opposed sides of scoop 10~ By positioning apertures 28 14 ¦ and 29 forward of the center of gravity of refuse collecting device l, lifting of the device by extended handle 21 will 1~ cause a downward tilting of the rear end of the scoop and 17 encourage translation of any collected refuse ~rom snout 12 18 into collecting bag 11.
19 ~ ' , ' ' " ' ' .
Referring particularly to Figures 1 and 2, the ~eans 21 for attaching collecting bag 11 will be described. Every 22 household ~as surplus paper bags which are obtained during 23 purchases at stores. These bags come in a variety of sizes.
24 Additionally, many items are purchased which are already -~5 encased within plastic bags, which plastic bags also come 26 in various sizes. To render refuse collecting device 1 as 27 utilitarian as possible, the mechanism for a~taching 28 collection bag 11 was developed to render it use~ul with 29 bags having variously sized openings. Additionally, the refuse collecting device of the present invention is often used on 31 lawns which may be wet or damp from dew, rainfall, etc. It !l ! ` , . I,l 1 I is therefore encumbent upon the collection bag to be as 2 protected as possible from tearing due to reduced strength 3 after ~eing wetted. Moreover, the collection bags, whether of paper or of plastic, will generally easily tear if the

5 edges thereo~ catch upon obstruc~ions such as roots, rocks,

6 etc, `

8 As depicted in Figure 1, opening 35 of the collection 9 bag encircles the xear of scoop 10. The lowex edge of the opening, extending about the bottom portion of the scoop is 11 disposea within a rearwardly opening guar~ 36 (see also 12 Figures 2 and 3~ &uard 36 includes a forwara curved section 37 13 attached to the e~terior surface of the scoop by welaing, bonding 14 or other means. ~ radially extended section 38 trails section 37 and deines, in conjunction with the exterior cylindrical surface 16 of scoop 10, a channel 39. The rear edge 40 o $ection 38 17 may be bent-raaially outwardly or the section may be flaired.

19 The function and purpose of channel 39 is that of sliaably receiving the lower edge of the collection bag and, 21 through section 38, protecting the edge of the bag from ~
22 catching upon any surface discontinuities during operation 23 of the refuse collecting-device. The function ana purpose of 24 radially extenaed edge 40 is ~hat of facilitating insertion of the edge of the collection bag wlthin channel 39. It also 26 -serves a secondary function o deflecting any obstructions away 27 from the trailing exposed surface of the collection bag 2a extending rearwardly fxom the guard~

Clamping of the collection bag ~o the scoop is ef~ected 31 by a spring clamp 45 co~structed from resilient material. The 52 ~ 8 -., : ' .

19~'765 ~ ~

- 1 clamp includes attachment m~ans 46, such as a sheet metal serew 2 or a nut and bolt, for attaching the forward end of the clamp to the upper center line of the scoop. By convoluting clamp 45, as shown by convolution 47, the requisite resiliency and 5 ¦ spring~ e action of -the elamp can be achieved. A down-- 6 wardly extending section 48 bears toward exterior surface o scoop 10 and proviaes a clamping orce upon any material 8 inserted inte~mediate the clamp and the scoop surface.
9 collection bag piercing prong 43 may extend from scoop 10 to engage aperture 44 in clamp 4S and penetratingly engage the 11 bag to lock khe bag in place. Rear end 49 of the clamp may 12 be bent upwardly to facilitate insertion of a part of the 13 collection bag beneath the clamp.

To help maintain the bag about the scoop, prongs, 16 such as prongs 41 and 42 may extend radially from the scoop 17 for penetrating engagement with the overlyiDg edge of the bag.

To attach a eollection bag to scoop 10, a portion of ~20 the bag opening is inserted within guard 38 and t~e dia-21 metrically opposed portion of the bag opening is foreed 22 intermediate clamp 45 an~ the underlying surface of the 23 scoop~ In the event the opening of the eoll~ection bag is ; 24 greater in diameter than the diameterOf exterior surface of the scoop, the bag is attached as described abo~e and 26 the excess of the bag material is drawn tight on one slde or 2~ the other of clamp 45 The excess material is ~olded over 28 adjacent the underlying portion of the bag and inserte~
29 beneath clamp ~5; thereby, c]amp 45 maintains the Eolded o~er portion 55 (see Figure 11 in place to preclude expansion oE
-the opening and disengagement o-f the bag Erom the scoop .' f 1~ 1(19~ 6S
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1 After the refuse to be collected has been retrieved by 2 scoop 10 and slidably tr~nslated into collection bag 11, the 3 upper end of the collection bag may be ~rasped by one handl 4 the other hand holding on~o handle 20 of the scoop, and the bag is pulled reàrwardly out of engagement with the scoop.
6 Depending upon the holding power of clamp 45, it may or may

7 not have to be lifted; it is expected that disengagement with

8 the prongs is efected by allowing the prongs to tear free.

9 Thereafter, the top of the bag can be folded or rolled o~er and disposal of the refuse bag may be undertaken. It may be 11 noted that the only por~ion of scoop 10 coming in contact wi~h 12 the refuse during collection thereof is snout 12. No other 13 external portion of the scoop necessarily contacts the refuse.
14 After the re~use has been collected in collection bag 11, the bag is simply and readily disengagea ~rom the scoop with no 16 difficulty. Prior to the next use of the scoop, it may, o 17 course, be cleaned, but such cleaning is not necessary to avoid 18 manual contact with reuse remnants from the last use of the 19 refuse collecting device~

21 In some situations, it may be necessary to apply 22 a downward orce upon scoop 10 in order to establish a 23 sufficient scraping force to properly and effectively remove 24 refuse.~ This problem usually arises when the refuse is deposited upon ~ard suraces, such as sidewalks and the like. Such 26 scraping necessarily creates a substantial friction force 27 intermediate the scoop and ~he hard surface~ Because of the 2~ friction force, it may be awkward or so~ewhat difficult to 29 use the scoop if extended handle 21, rather than handle 20, is employed to manipulate the scoop.

Il ) 1099765 1 To aid in collection of the refuse by scoop 1.0 under 2 these circ~nstances, a handle 21a, as shown in Figure 4, may he 3 employed~ This handle includes a shaft 60 supporting wixe elements 24 and 25 having ends 26 and 27, respectively, for pivotal engagement with scoop 10~ Clamps 61 and 62 extend from 6 shaft 60 and support haft 63 of paddle 64.... A sweep member 65 7 is attached to the lower end o~ haft 63. .

: Clamps 61 and 62 are oriented about shaft 60 to position paddle 64 forwardly of the shaft after attachment of 11 the latter to.scoop 10. Thereby, a user can readily detach 12 the paddle with his/her free hand and s~eep the refuse into .
13 the scoop in the manner of loading a dust pan.
14 .
A variant of the handle is illustrated in Figure 6, 16 which varlant is identiied by the numeral 21b. Handle 21b .
17 includes a shaft 70 supporting wire elements 24 and 25 for .18 detachable pivotal engagement with scoop 10. The shaft includes . .
19 a recess 71 formed ~herein to receive and removably retain . ~a paddle 72, as further ill~strated in Figures 7, 8~and 9.
2~.
22 . The paddle incluaes a haft 73 ha~ing a hand grip .
23 74 disposed at one end and a sweep member 75 disposed.at 24 the opposed end. Recess 71 includes an elongated section 76 . ~ 25 for receiving thè haft and a lateral].y expanded sectlon 77 .
26 for receiving hand grip 74. The dèpth of the recess is 27 sufficient to receive a substantial length oE the hat and 28 the complete hand grip. The lower end o haft 73 is joggled 29 to bring the lower end. out of ~he recess and suppor~ sweep 30 ~ member 15 external to handle 70~ .
`. 311 32 j ~ddle 72 ;s maintainad ~odgod wtihin handle 70 I
l .-~ ~9D765 .` 1. .

1 ¦ by clamp means 78 releasably retaining haft 73 and by a 2 joggled key 79 attached to and extending from the haft~ Key 3 79 is penetrabl~ disposed through a web 80 in handle 70 via aperture 81 to lockingly engage the opposed surface of the web on sliding movement of the paddle with respect ito shaft 70. A
6 recess 85 is locatea at the upper ena of handle 21b to proviae 7 finger access to the hand grip 74 ana facilitate lifting of the 8 paddle from within the handle.
.' 9 ~ Remo~al of paddle 72 fxo~ handle 21b is effected by 11 inserting one's finger in recess 85 to lift the hand grip and pivo :

12 the paddle about key 79, which upward movement of the paddle 1~ results in disengagement of the paddle with clamp 78. On sliding 1~ the paddle to the reax, key 79 will disengage from the aajacent web and the paddle can be lifted out of recess 71. ~einsertion 16 -of the paddle is achieve~ by reversing the above steps.

17 ~ -18 ~ It may be noted that as sweep member 76 may become 19 soiled upon use, such soilage will not be transferred to handle 21~.

21 .

22 It is presently anticipated that handle 21b is to be ~3 manufactured from~man-made plastic materials using a molding 24 technique. Thereby, the total mass o~ the handlemay be minimize~

and yet no impairment of strength results if suitable flanges 26 and webs are incorporatea in the handle.

28 From the above descriptions, it will become apparent 29 -that both handles 21a and 21b, including the respective encased paddles, define structures which are readily hand maneuverable anc 31 manipulatable and yet provide xeady access to ~he employment 32 of the attached paddle when needea~ Preferrably, handles 21a and 12 ~
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1~997~S
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1 ¦ 21b are attached to scoop 10 in such a manner as to place the 2 ¦ respective paa~le ~acing -Eorwardly to facilitate removal and . I reattachment o~ the paddle. Moreover, such positioning o-f the ¦ paddles maintains sweep member 75 out of contact with the bag .
. 5 ¦ trailing the scoop-6 I . .
7 ¦ From the above descriptlon, it will become apparent . 8 I that the use of refuse collecting aev:ice 1 is equally ~aeile `
.9 ¦ whether handle 20 or handles 21, 21a or 21b are.employed during

10 ¦ collect;on o~ the.refuse~ -:, ,' ' ~ 11 I , ' '' , '' ' . ' .12 ¦ While the principles o~ the invention have now been .
13 made elear in an illustrative embodiment, there will ~e 14 immediately o~vious to those skilled in the axt many modi-fications of structure, arrangement, ~roportions, elements, ~6 .-materials, and--components, usea in t~e practice of the . .
17 invent;on whieh are particuLarly adapted~or speeifie en~iron-18 ments and operating requirements without departing from those ~ .
19 principles...... ` .
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~24 ZS ~ '' ' ' , ~ ~, ~26 27 . .
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` 30 .: 31 32 . . ~ 1 . '.
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Claims (20)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A manually operated refuse collecting device for collecting refuse in a trailing disposable bag, said device comprising in combination:

a. a scoop for scooping refuse off a surface, said scoop including a forwardly extending snout disposed along the bottom thereof and a rear section for circumscribingly receiving the opening of the bag;

b. handle means secured to said scoop for manipulating said device;

c. a rearwardly opening guard disposed at the bottom of the rear section of said scoop for protecting the bottom front edge region of the bag, said guard defining a channel adjacent the lower bottom surface of said scoop for receiving and retaining the lower front edge region of the bag; and d. clamp means disposed upon said scoop for clamping an upper front edge region of the bag adjacent the exterior surface of said scoop;

whereby, the bag is detachably attached to said scoop by said guard and said clamp means.

2. The device as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said scoop is cylindrical with the longitudinal axis thereof extending from the front to the rear.

3. The device as set forth in Claim 2 wherein a front part of said guard is secured to a lower cylindrical rear section of said scoop and a rear part of said guard is radially extended from said scoop for defining said channel adjacent the surface of said scoop.

4. The device as set forth in Claim 3 wherein said clamp means comprises a resilient member bearing against a front edge region of the bag for retaining the bag attached about the rear section of said scoop.

5. The device as set forth in Claim 4 wherein said resilient member is in general alignment with the longitudinal axis of said scoop and includes attachment means for securing the forward end of said resilient member to said scoop.

6. The device as set forth in Claim 5 wherein said resilient member further includes at least one convolution for promoting the resilient characteristic of said resilient member.

7. The device as set forth in Claim 6 wherein said handle means includes an extended handle having a pair of depending opposed wire elements pivotally secured to the front opposed sides of said scoop.

8. The device as set forth in Claim 3 wherein said clamp means comprises a resilient member having a forward end and a rearward end, said forward end including attach-ment means for securing said resilient member to said scoop, said rearward end including a contact point bearing against the underlying surface of said scoop for clamping the front edge region of the bag against said scoop.

9. The device as set forth in Claim 8 wherein said handle means includes an extended handle having a pair of depending opposed wire elements pivotally secured to the front opposed sides of said scoop.

10. The device as set forth in Claim 8 wherein said handle means comprises a rigid handle extending from said scoop.

11. The device as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said handle means includes a detachable paddle means for aiding in directing refuse into said scoop.

12. The device as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said handle means includes:

(a) pivot means for pivotally attaching said handle means to said scoop;

(b) paddle means for use in directing refuse into said scoop; and (c) attachment means for releasably retaining said paddle means mounted to said handle means during non use of said paddle means.

13. The device as set forth in Claim 12 wherein said paddle means comprises a haft and a sweep member.

14. The device as set forth in Claim 13 wherein said attachment means comprises clasp means for securing said haft to said handle means.

15. The device as set forth in Claim 13 wherein said haft includes means for maintaining said sweep member in a non contacting relationship with said handle means.

16. The device as set forth in Claim 13 wherein said haft includes a handgrip and wherein said handle means includes a recess for receiving said haft and said handgrip.

17. The device as set forth in Claim 16 wherein said haft includes a key for locking engagement with said handle means.

18. The device as set forth in Claim 17 wherein said attachment means includes clasp means for engaging said haft to prevent unlocking of said key with said handle means.

19. The device as set forth in Claim 16 wherein said haft includes means for maintaining said sweep member in a non contacting relationship with said handle means.

20. The device as set forth in Claim 19 wherein said maintaining means comprises a joggled section of said haft.