IMPROVED LAUNDRY BAG

SAC A LESSIVE AMELIORE

English Abstract

A laundry bag comprising a fillable part, a fold, a flap, at least one
attachment, at least
one complementary attachment receptacle and a hook.

Claims

CLAIM
1. A laundry bag comprising
a fillable part wherein articles of clothing are put in, a fold marking where
a flap begins;
at least one attachment, and at least one complementary attachment receptacle
to maintain
said flap closed;
a hook to hang said laundry bag upside down and at least one pocket to hang
said laundry
bag onto a rack;
said fillable part comprised of two panels sown together.

Description

CA 02399449 2002-08-28
IMPROVED LAUNDRY BAG
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the invention
This invention relates to laundry bags in general but more specifically to
laundry bags used in
institutions such as hospitals and the like.
Description of the prior art
Laundry bags are well known in hospitals and several patents for such bags
have been
obtained over the years. Patent 4,120,335 by Mitchell elequently gives a
background of the
requirements, and shortcomings of current laundry bags. It is true that
because of the rough
handling and the frequent reuse of laundry bags in the health care industry,
strong and
resilient bags are a must. Besides durability, a persistent problem with bags
using a draw
string to close the bag opening is that the draw string gets caught, mangled,
jammed and
stuck so that the bag cannot be opened. Workers are instructed to simply cut
the string and
throw the bag over for repairs instead of wasting time trying to unmangle the
string.
Of course, those bags with the cut strings can't be readily reused and have to
be sent out for

CA 02399449 2002-08-28
repairs, which engenders additional costs. It would therefore be a great
advantage to have a
bag which does not have a bag opening mechanism which can be subject to
jamming or
inoperability.
Some of the prior art describes bags having a flap which serves as closure
means some of
the flaps described are sown on their side in order to, when in an opened
configuration, serve
as means to hold the bag to a support frame and when flipped over, procure a
tight sealing of
the opening. The drawback of such a system is that it can quite often jam if
the bag is too
tightly filled and can be harder to open than drawstring bags which, as
described earlier, only
require their drawstring to be cut.
Moreover, the way seams are sown together also affects the durability of the
bags, therefore,
a better, more reliable laundry bag is needed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present laundry bag uses an innovative extension fold in the bag that
folds upon itself
when the cover flap is closed. This insures a tight seal that blocks even the
tiniest pieces of
clothing from escaping the bag. The flap is maintained in the closed position
by attachments,
thus effectively keeping the bag shut.
2

CA 02399449 2003-11-28
FIG. 3a perspective view of the bag in a closed configuration and full.
FIG. 3b perspective view of an alternate attachment configuration.
FIG. 4 front elevation showing details of the hook stitching.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A laundry bag (10) is comprised of a fillable part (12) wherein articles of
clothing are put in, a
fold (14) marking where a flap (16) begins, at least one attachment (18) and
at least one
complementary attachment receptacle (20) to maintain the flap closed, a hook
(22) to hang
the laundry bag (10) upside down and at least one pocket (24) to hang the
laundry bag (10)
onto a rack . The fillable part (12) is comprised of two panels (30) and (30')
sown together
using several parallel rows of stiches (32) including overlock stitches and
all stiches, running
on both sides plus the bottom, are made on the inside of the bag for a clean
exterior finish.
An extra piece of fabric (34) running across the width of the panel (30)
insures proper
anchoring and durability of the attachment receptacles (20). To ensure
durability, straps (28)
are sown into the entire length of the flap (16) so that the attachments (18)
won't give way.
FIG. 2a Industry regulations limit the weight of the contents in the bag (10)
and it is therefore
very unusual for the contents to reach or exceed the height of the fold (14).
At any rate, users
of the bag (10) should know that the fold works best when the two opposing
sides (26) and
(26 ') that constitute it are to mate in order for the fold (14) to work
properly. The simple
action of closing the flap (16) and attaching it using the attachment (18) and
attachment
receptacles (20) insures that the laudry bag (10) is properly shut.
3

CA 02399449 2003-11-28
FIG. 2b In order to facilitate in the filling of the laundry bag (10), various
types of mouting rack
exist in the industry which conform to standard laundry bag sizes. The rack
(26) shown here
is for illustrative purpose only to indicate the workings of the pockets (24).
FIG. 3a The laundry bag (10) filled and closed.
FIG. 3b It should be understood, as shown in this figure, that one attachment
(18) can equally
be used as more than two can also be used.
FIG. 4 The hook (22) which is used for hanging the laundry bag (10) upside
down when
emptying is sown just above the stiches (32) used in joining the panels (30)
and (30')
together. In order to add additional durability to the hook's (22) attachment
to the laundry bag
(10), an additional row of stiches (34) runs across the bottom (38) of the
laundry bag (10) and
across the ends of the hook (40). In order to reinforce the bottom of the bag
(38), yet another
row of stiches (36) runs across the bottom of the bag (38) just under the ends
of the hooks
(40)
4

Representative Drawing