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US 11,858,733 B2Granted
Waste disposal system having a manual actuator and a rotator
Assignee1316 LLC
InventorsThomas E. McConnell, Yafei Lu, Qianqian Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A waste pail having a manual actuator to indirectly turn a rotator, both of which are enclosed in a lid casing. The rotator rotates the inner collar of the waste pail, and the inner collar is attached to the top rim of a trash bag. A user may twist the trash bag open only when the lid casing is closed, thereby preventing the escape of odor from within the trash bag.
Claims14
A waste disposal pail comprising:
- a top drum having a lid casing and a rotator rotatably disposed under the lid casing;
- a manual actuator disposed on a top side of the lid casing to drive the rotator;
- a bottom drum having a top rim to define a top opening, and an enclosure to receive a waste bag;
- an outer collar coupled to said top rim;
- an inner collar coaxially and rotatably coupled to the outer collar;
- a center opening disposed on the inner collar;
- at least one catcher disposed on the rotator;
- wherein the at least one catcher directly or indirectly engages with the inner collar such that when the rotator rotates, the inner collar also rotates;
- a spring disposed in the top drum to bias the rotator in a first position, which in turn biases the inner collar in a primed position;
- wherein a top rim of the waste bag is attached to the inner collar and a tether of the waste bag is attached to the bottom drum;
- an axis coupled to the rotator, the axis having a circular track;
- wherein the manual actuator is a pull-string having a handle end and an anchor end, and a majority length of the pull-string is wound around the circular track, wherein when the handle end is pulled away from the lid casing, the majority length of the pull-string unwinds thereby causing the rotator to rotate.
9 more elements
A waste management method to minimize an escape of odor from an inside of a waste pail, the method comprising:
- placing a waste bag into a bottom drum of the waste pail;
- anchoring a top rim of the waste bag to a rotatable inner collar that is rotatably coupled to an outer collar, and the outer collar is coupled to a top rim of the bottom drum;
- anchoring a portion of the waste bag via at least one tether to an interior of the bottom drum;
- priming the waste bag by rotating the inner collar thereby wrapping the at least one tether around a neck of the waste bag to close off the inside of the waste bag from an ambient environment;
- providing a lid casing pivotably coupled to the bottom drum capable of covering over the inner collar;
- the lid casing having a rotator disposed on an underside of the lid casing, wherein the rotator either directly or indirectly engages with the inner collar to rotate the inner collar when the lid casing is closed over the inner collar;
- operating a manual actuator on the lid casing to control a movement of the rotator;
- wherein when a user lifts the lid casing to place a waste article into the top opening of the waste bag, the neck of the waste bag remains twisted shut, thereby keeping the inside of the waste bag from being exposed to the ambient environment, and the manual actuator cannot untwist the neck of the waste bag until the lid casing is closed over the inner collar.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.