Wire rack for plastic bag

Claim 1

A wall-mountable wire rack for holding a plastic bag open by its oppositely disposed integral handle loops so that the bag may be loaded, said wire rack comprising, (a) left and right vertical mounting posts each comprising a first single piece of wire forming multiple loops including (i) upper and lower mounting loops adapted for mounting said rack on a vertical wall, and, (ii) upper and lower single journalling loops, each in a horizontal plane and vertically spaced apart relative to each other, one on either side of a U-shaped post loop; and, a second piece of wire welded to said first piece, said second piece forming (iii) said U-shaped post loop lying in a horizontal plane and projecting forward at a location intermediate said upper and lower mounting loops; (b) a spacer frame including upper and lower parallel wire frame members, the upper wire frame member welded near each end at two points to each said upper mounting loop of said mounting posts, and the lower wire frame member welded near each end at two points to each said lower mounting loop of said mounting posts, so as to maintain said mounting posts in horizontally spaced apart relationship with each other; and, (c) left and right swing panels, each swing panel comprising a single piece of wire forming a continuous loop bent to provide (i) a tab-shaped horizontal upper portion to engage a handle loop of the plastic bag, (ii) a lower portion, downwardly inclined from the horizontal at an angle less than 45°; and, (iii) a posterior vertical portion journalled in said upper and lower journalling loops and having a forwardly projecting U-shaped panel loop in a vertical plane and adapted to swing over said post loop; and, (d) locking means to lock said post loop and panel loop together.