US 7,530,537 B2 · Cabinet door mounted grocery bag holder

Abstract

A holder for holding a plastic shopping/grocery bag open includes a bracket joined to U-shaped frame formed by a base and a pair of coplanar bag support arms, the frame forming an outwardly open U-shaped space to receive and hold the bag by the handles at the openable end of the bag and suspend and maintain the mouth of the bag in an upwardly open position. The bracket is designed for mounting the holder atop a kitchen cabinet door or held by hand. Each support arm includes two axially spaced slots that open outwardly and away from the U-shaped space to hold a respective looped handle of the bag. Reinforcing rib structure operates to resist flexure between the arms, bracket, and base. In use, the looped handles of the bag are secured into the slots and the bag suspended from the extensions and held open by its looped handles being secured into slots of the extensions.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A shopping/grocery bag holder, comprising:

an inverted U-shaped mounting bracket having forward and rearward walls,
two extensions that allow for suspending a plastic shopping/grocery bag open by the handles, wherein said extensions are generally planar, have upper and lower surfaces and each said extension is provided with two axially spaced attachment slots for holding a respective of the bag handles and positioning a mouth of the bag in an upwardly open position,
means for connecting the two extensions to the mounting bracket in a manner that the two extensions form cantilever beams and an outwardly open throat and space between the extensions for receiving the bag inserted therein, said means for connecting including a base plate disposed at a right angle to and extending outwardly and away from said forward wall, and
stiffening means for stiffening the connection between the bracket and the base plate, said stiffening means comprising an array of laterally spaced first ribs operating between the upper surface of said base plate and the forward wall of said bracket, and a Y-shaped stiffening rib formed, at least in part, on the lower surface of said base plate and said extension.

1 more element

A bag holder for supporting a conventional shopping/grocery bag and maintaining an openable mouth thereof in an open position, the bag being formed of a limp plastic material and provided with opposite loops for handles, the holder comprising a bracket in the form of an inverted U-shape, a base member connected to the bracket, two generally flat axially elongated extension arms for suspending and holding the bag in the open position, an array of first ribs for resisting flexure of the base member relative to the bracket, and a pair of Y-shaped second ribs for resisting flexure between the base member and said extension arms, the extension arms and base member being coplanar and having upper and lower surfaces and forming, a U-shaped holding frame, the extension arms having inner and outer edges and a free end and the base member and inner edges of the holding frame combining to form an outwardly open entry space for receiving the bag inserted therewithin, the outer edge of each extension arm having a pair of spaced-apart holding slots into which a respective loop of the plastic shopping/grocery bag is attached, each slot opening outwardly and facing away from the outwardly open space, the bracket including a forward facing surface generally at right angles to said upper surface and the bracket downwardly open for mounting over the top of standard door with the bag hanging in a generally vertical direction from the extensions or forming a hand grippable handle for carrying the bag in an upwardly open position to enable portability for picking up remote refuse for deposit in the open bag, each said first rib projecting upwardly, at least in part, from said upper surface and said forward surface and extending, at least in part, away from said forward facing surface, and each said Y-shaped second rib projecting from the lower surface of a respective extension arm and base member and including a first portion that extends axially between the holding slots and a second portion that branches off and extends transversely of the first portion.

A bag holder for supporting and holding open a flexible bag of the type having a pair of loop handles disposed on opposing sides of the bag and adjacent to an opening formed at an upper portion of the bag, comprising:

a handle for hanging on top of a cabinet door, a base fixedly connected to the inverted U-shaped handle, at least one L-shaped reinforcement rib for stiffening the connection between the U-shaped handle and the base and two mirror image arms fixedly cantilevered to the base and laterally spaced from one another to form with the base a U-shaped outwardly open space for receiving and supporting the upper end of the bag inserted therewithin, the arms being flat, coplanar with one another and, in use, generally horizontally disposed, the arms each provided with a pair of holding slots that engage a respective loop handle, the slots being axially spaced a suitable distance to hold the mouth of the flexible bag open for users to deposit household produced trash into the bag and oriented to be outwardly open and face away from the open space to receive the loops inserted therewithin, wherein the holding slots include a rearward slot proximate to the base and a forward slot proximate to the free end, the rearward slot being L-shaped and the forward slot being keyhole shaped.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Cabinet door mounted grocery bag holder

Life of this patent

Cabinet door mounted grocery bag holder

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims9