Container for housing documents outdoors

Description

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to containers, and more particularly to containers for housing documents outdoors.

Selling residential and commercial real estate, and many other functions, relies on communicating information to prospective buyers. Often, documents (that is, hand-outs) containing information about an available property are placed in a container for prospective buyers to access and remove. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,039 and its commercial embodiment discloses a clear tube having a pair of end caps that fit over the tube ends and a metal bracket that can be attached to a conventional for sale sign by a screw or nut.

Many prior art containers for housing documents outdoors, such as that disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,039, have drawbacks. For example, many tubular or horizontally mounted containers rely on the prospective buyer to replace the cap after removing documents from the container. Often, however, the cap is either not replaced on the tube or is placed incorrectly on the tube, therefore allowing rain or snow to contact the documents, which is of course detrimental to the purpose of providing the documents. Conventional box-like structures may be oriented vertically and have a hinged flap at its top that tends to close because of its own weight.

There is a general need for improved containers that adequately house documents outdoors while making the documents easy to access.

SUMMARY

A container system for housing documents outdoors, according to an aspect of the present invention, inhibits water ingress into the container's interior without relying on the user replacing a cap or closing a flap. The container system includes a tube, a closure, and a resilient hinge. The tube has a sidewall and a pair of opposing ends. At least one of the ends has a rim that forms an opening.

The closure has (i) a closed position in which the closure blocks or encloses the opening and (ii) an open position in which the closure is pivoted away from the opening to enable access to documents housed in the tube. The closure may be pulled from its closed position to its open position by a handle to enable access to the documents.

The hinge, which preferably is resilient, is connected between the tube and the closure and is deformed when the closure is in its open position to bias the closure toward the closed position. Preferably, the hinge also exerts a force or moment against the closure even when it is in its closed position to enhance sealing between the closure flange and tube rim.

Preferably, in its closed position, the closure includes a plug portion that is located at least partially within the opening when the closure is in the closed position, and preferably the closure includes a flange that extends from a circumference of the plug portion. The flange contacts the tube rim when the closure is in the closed position. A pair of cable ties circumferentially extend around an exterior of the tube to enable the tube to be affixed to an article. More that two cable ties may be used.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a container system for housing documents outdoors includes a tube, a closure, a hinge, and cable ties for affixing the tube to an article. The tube has a sidewall and a pair of opposing ends, and at least one of the ends has a rim that forms an opening therein.

The closure includes a grip, such as a handle, and has the closed and open positions described above. Preferably, the plug portion includes a peripheral flange that contacts the rim of the tube.

The hinge, which preferably is resilient to bias the closure toward the closed position, is connected between the closure and the tube. The cable ties for wrapping around the tube and around a fixed article, such as a for sale sign or other structure, enables the tube to be affixed to the article.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A is a partially diagrammatic side view of a container system having a closure in its closed position, and illustrating aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is an enlarged view of a portion of the container shown in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 1B is a partially diagrammatic view of the container shown in FIG. 1A having its closure shown in its open position;

FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a portion of the container shown in FIG. 1B;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, cross sectional view of a portion of the closure; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a component of the container system shown in its rest state.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A container system 10 is capable of housing removable documents, especially printed materials such as brochures, in an outdoor environment that is subjected to rain, snow, or other precipitation. Container system 10 includes a container 12 and cable ties 14 to affix container 12 to an article 16, which may be a freestanding structure, such as a conventional residential “for-sale” sign or mailbox, or a portion of a larger structure, such as a building. Article 16 is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1A in dashed lines to indicate that the present invention encompasses any structure for article 16. Cable ties 14 typically do not require tools and can be affixed to a variety of structures. These advantages are apt where container system 10 is used to house real estate documents because containers that require attachment by a screw or bolt are unpopular with some real estate agents as, in many situations, access to even basic tools is inconvenient.

Container 12 includes a tube 20, a cover 22 located at a first end of the tube, and a closure 24 located at an opposing, second end of the tube. Tube 20 includes a right circular cylinder body 28 that terminates at circular rim faces 30a and 30b, each of which preferably is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of tube 20. The present invention is not limited to rim faces that are perpendicular to the tube longitudinal axis, but rather encompasses any configuration of tube ends. Circular openings 32a and 32b are formed by or within rim faces 30a and 30b. The interior surface of tube 20 forms an interior or chamber 34 in which documents (not shown in the Figures) may be located. Tube 20, when cylindrical, has the advantage of being strong and relatively aerodynamic compared with some prior art configurations.

Tube 20 preferably is formed of heavy gauge PVC, such as commercially available pipe. In one embodiment, tube 20 may be formed of a continuous section of 3 inch, schedule 40 PVC pipe, 12 inches long. Tubing may also be used, and a 3 inch inside diameter, one-quarter inch wall thickness, is preferred. The present invention encompasses any configuration and dimensions of tubing, and it is preferred that tube 20 be long enough to house conventional flyers or brochures, such as conventional 11 inch paper, 297 mm paper for A4 size, or longer for use with legal size paper, architectural drawings, and the like according to the particular documents intended to be used.

As best shown in FIG. 3, cover 22 preferably is a commercially available plug, such as a 3 inch plug-type cap as manufactured by Charlotte Pipe Company to fit into the preferred tube size of 3 inch, schedule 40 pipe. Cover 22 includes a cup 23a and a flange 23b that extends around the periphery of an upper portion of cup 23a. Cup 23a may be right-cylindrical or tapered. Preferably, when applied to opening 32a of tube 20, flange 23b is sealed, for example by glue, to the tube's first rim face 30a to prevent any ingress of water into tube interior 34 at tube first end 32a and cup 23a extends into opening 32a. Cover 22 may also be inserted into opening 32a merely by a press fit or retained by other means. The present invention encompasses any plug or cap over the first tube opening 32a.

Closure 24 includes a cover 36, a resilient hinge 38, and a grip, such as handle 60. For simplicity, cover 36 may be identical in shape to that of cover 22. Accordingly, FIG. 3 illustrates each one of cover 22 and cover 36. Cover 36 includes a cup-like plug portion 40a and a flange 40b. Plug portion 40a preferably has straight sidewalls 42 that form a short right circular cylinder and a flat face 44. Alternatively, cover 36 may have a tapered plug portion (not shown in the figures). The outboard surface of plug sidewall 41 forms a plug contact surface 43. Flange 44 has a lower surface that forms a flange contact surface 45.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show hinge 38 assembled as part of closure 24 in its closed position and open position. FIG. 4 shows hinge 38 in its rest position. Hinge 38 includes a pair of contact surfaces 46 and 48 and a resilient body 50 between contacts 46 and 48. Each one of contact surfaces 46 and 48 includes a pre-formed through-hole 49. Preferably hinge 38 is a three-eighths inch nylon cable clamp, Gardner Bender part number PPC-1538. As is clear from a comparison of FIGS. 4 with FIGS. 2A and 2B, hinge 38 is deformed from its at-rest state while closure 24 is in either of its closed state or it open state.

As best shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, first hinge contact 46 is fastened to cover face 44 by a conventional rivet 52 and second hinge contact surface 48 is fastened to tube 20 by a conventional rivet 52. Closure 24 is illustrated with through-type rivets 52, and the present invention encompasses any means of joining hinge 38 to tube 20 and closure 24, such as by any fastener or adhesive, as will be understood by persons familiar with fastening technology.

Handle 60 preferably is a loop of plastic trimmer line that is inserted through holes in cover face 44 and having ends deformed to retain the enlarged ends. The present invention encompasses any handle or grip.

As best shown in FIG. 2, plug 40 of cover 22 is located within opening 32b and face contact surface 45 contact tube rim 30 when closure 24 is in its closed position. Body 50 of resilient hinge 38 is deformed from its rest state of FIG. 4 such that hinge 38 exerts a force or moment on cover 36 to urge it toward tube face 30, which promotes a seal between surface 30 and 45.

To operation container system 10, a user may grasp handle 60 and pull outwardly and downwardly (in the orientation shown in the figures) from the closed position to pivot cover 36 from tube opening 32b. As used herein, the term “pivot” is not limited to purely rotational motion, but encompasses some translational motion. In this regard, cover flange contact surface 45 separates from tube rim 30b as handle 60 is moved outwardly and downwardly until it slides onto the outer surface of tube 20, as shown in FIG. 2B. In the fully open position shown in FIG. 2B, hinge 38 is deformed from its closed state such that it exerts a closing force or moment on cover 36. Accordingly, the user may release handle 60 while cover 36 is in its open state, and hinge 38 will move cover 36 toward its closed position until cover 36 is in its closed position. As explained above, hinge 38 preferably is deformed from its rest state even when closure 36 is in its deformed state such that cover 36 is pressed against tube 20.

The present invention is illustrated by description of a particular embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to the particular structure described and shown herein, nor is the invention limited to only embodiments that contain all or any of the advantages referred to in the specification. For example, the present invention is not limited to any tube shape or orientation, to a container that is fastened to an article with cable ties, nor to a container that can be affixed to an article without tools. Further, the present invention is not limited to any configuration of closure, but rather encompasses a flat plate, a cap-type, and un-flanged plug, or other structure. Accordingly, the language of the claims is the measure of the scope.