Compact, foldable indoor and outdoor bag holder

Claim 2

A compact, foldable holder for maintaining a limp bag open for filling, said holder comprising: a lower, planar frame adapted to be supported flatwise on a horizontal surface, said frame having prong means at one end adapted to be inserted in the ground, and having an opposite end; a vertical standard having a lower end pivotally connected to the said opposite end of said frame and extending upwardly to an upper end at a predetermined height above said surface; an upper, planar frame pivotally connected to said upper end of said standard for supporting the open end of said bag; stop means associated with the pivotal connection of said upper frame and standard for normally supporting said upper frame horizontally; and locking means associated with the pivotal connection of said lower frame and standard for selectively affixing said lower frame either in parallelism with said upper frame, or in extension of said standard, with said prong means in the ground.

Claim 3

A holder as specified in claim 1, wherein: said lower planar frame is generally triangular in configuration, with an integral cross bar as a foot rest.

Claim 4

A holder as specified in claim 1, wherein: said lower planar frame includes at least a pair of oppositely disposed side frame elements, spaced apart to provide a firm base for said holder, but having free terminal ends in parallelism, and forming said prong means.

Claim 5

A holder as specified in claim 1, wherein: said upper planar frame is a closed loop outlining a circle, said standard is a channel open to the front, and said stop means is an integral tail depending from said loop into said channel; whereby said depending tail maintains said frame in a horizontal plane but said frame may be pivoted up and around through an angle of 270* to fold flatwise against the back of said standard.

Claim 6

A holder as specified in claim 1, wherein: said locking means includes a plate slidably pivotable in the lower end of said standard and having a U-shaped slot, a pivot pin received in said slot, and a pair of recesses at the terminal end of said standard adapted to receive the adjacent part of said lower frame and lock thereon when said frame is in parallelism with, or normal to, said upper frame.

Claim 7

A holder as specified in claim 5, wherein: said upper planar frame is of resilient metal-like material adapted to be distorted and snapped into said pair of recesses and said plate includes an arcuately curved edge in contact with said upper frame when so snapped in said recesses; whereby the resilience of said upper frame biases said lower frame into compact, folded condition flatwise against the front of said channel and said upper frame may be snapped out of said recesses by the leverage of said lower frame to unfold said device.

Claim 8

A holder as specified in claim 1, plus: clamping means, mounted on and cooperable with said upper frame and extending at least partially therearound, for clamping on the material of a bag in said frame and detachably gripping the same.

Claim 9

A holder as specified in claim 7, wherein: said upper planar frame is a circular ring with an exterior annular groove therein; and said clamping means is a similar ring of resilient, deformable material arranged to snap in and out of said annular groove.

Claim 10

A holder as specified in claim 7, wherein: said upper planar frame is a closed loop formed of magnetizable material; and said clamping means comprises at least two magnets adapted to adhere to said material and grip the open end of said bag therebetween.

Claim 11

A compact, foldable holder for maintaining a limp bag open for filling said holder, comprising: standard means of predetermined height having an upper end and a lower end; upper frame means pivotally mounted at the upper end of said standArd means to fold from a vertical position flatwise against, and in parallelism with, said standard to a horizontal, bag-holding position normal to said standard means; lower frame means pivotally mounted at the lower end of said standard means to fold from a vertical position flatwise against, and in parallelism with, said standard, to a horizontal base-forming position normal to said standard means and to a vertical, ground-insertion position in extension of said standard means, said lower frame means including prong means; and locking means for selectively affixing said frames in said various positions relative to said standard means; whereby said frames may be folded against said standard for compactness, unfolded to support a bag on a floor, and further unfolded, with said prong means thrust in the ground, to support a longer bag outdoors.

Claim 12

A compact, foldable holder for maintaining a limp bag open for filling said holder, comprising: standard means of predetermined height having an upper end and a lower end; upper frame means pivotally mounted at the upper end of said standArd means to fold from a vertical position flatwise against, and in parallelism with, said standard to a horizontal, bag-holding position normal to said standard means; lower frame means pivotally mounted at the lower end of said standard means to fold from a vertical position flatwise against, and in parallelism with, said standard, to a horizontal base-forming position normal to said standard means and to a vertical, ground-insertion position in extension of said standard means, said lower frame means including prong means; and locking means for selectively affixing said frames in said various positions relative to said standard means; whereby said frames may be folded against said standard for compactness, unfolded to support a bag on a floor, and further unfolded, with said prong means thrust in the ground, to support a longer bag outdoors.

Claim 13

A holder as specified in claim 10, plus: cover means comprising a pair of clamp rings, one fitting relatively closely within the other, and a sheet of limp plastic clamped between said rings and stretched tautly thereacross, said rings being substantially equal in area to said upper frame means to form a detachable closure therefor.

Claim 14

A holder as specified in claim 1, plus: cover means in the form of a pair of clamping rings, having a plastic bag stretched tautly thereacross to form a light weight, planar, cover fitting over said upper planar frame.

Claim 15

A compact, foldable holder for maintaining a limp bag open for filling, said holder being of the type having a lower planar frame adapted to be supported flatwise on a surface, a vertical standard having a lower end pivotally connected to said lower frame and extending upwardly to an upper end at a predetermined height above said surface, and an upper planar frame pivotally connected to said upper end of said standard for supporting the open end of a bag, said frames being foldable from bag supporting position normal to said standard to storage position in parallelism with, and flatwise against, said standard, said bag holder being characterized by: at least one of said frames being formed of resilient, deformable material and defining a closed loop with an integral tail, having a cross-dimension substantially equal to the said height of said standard; a locking recess proximate the end of said standard remote from the pivot location of said at least one frame adapted to receive the free portion of said frame in storage position; and locking means associated with the other said frame for selectively affixing the same in either normal or parallel position relative to said standard.

Claim 16

A compact, foldable holder for maintaining a limp bag open for filling, said holder being of the type having a lower planar frame adapted to be supported flatwise on a surface, a vertical standard having a lower end pivotally connected to said lower frame and extending upwardly to an upper end at a predetermined height above said surface, and an upper planar frame pivotally connected to said upper end of said standard for supporting the open end of a bag, said frames being foldable from bag supporting position normal to said standard to storage position in parallelism with, and flatwise against, said standard, said bag holder being characterized by: at least one of said frames being formed of resilient, deformable material and defining a closed loop with an integral tail, having a cross-dimension substantially equal to the said height of said standard; a locking recess proximate the end of said standard remote from the pivot location of said at least one frame adapted to receive the free portion of said frame in storage position; and locking means associated with the other said frame for selectively affixing the same in either normal or parallel position relative to said standard.

Claim 17

A compact, foldable holder as specified in claim 13, wherein: said locking means includes a cam face engagable with said at least one frame proximate said locking recess, and fixed to the other said frame, the unfolding of said other frame causing said cam face to unseat said at least one frame from said locking recess.

Claim 18

A compact, foldable holder as specified in claim 13, wherein: said vertical standard is a single central channel having side walls and the integral tail of said at least one frame fits within said channel when said frame is in position normal to said standard.