Laundry Hamper For Insertion Into Clothes Washers And Dryers

Abstract

One embodiment of a hamper for the insertion into conventional consumer and commercial clothing washers and dryers. The article is cylindrical shaped article to fit inside typical front load and top load commercial or consumer clothing washer and dryer. This embodiment of our hamper has cut out transport handles 2 in the side of the cylinder and handles in the top lip of the cylinder 3. In addition, the base 6 and cylinder sides contain the apertures 1 for liquid drainage during the washing cycle and ventilation during the drying cycle. The cylinder sides may contain recessed baffles 5 along the cylinder walls to fit over the baffles of existing front load washer and dryers or concavities originating in the base to fit over agitators of top load washers.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]1. Field of Invention[0002]This invention relates to laundry hampers and laundry baskets in the conventional consumer and commercial laundry process.[0003]2. Prior Art[0004]Although the sequence may vary, the laundry process typically begins with a clothing owner removing soiled clothing and placing the clothing in a laundry hamper. Hampers are generally used for the temporary storage of clothing during the common consumer and commercial laundry cycle. When the laundry is desired to be cleaned, or when the hampers are full, the soiled clothes are transferred to another hamper or carrying device, typically a laundry basket, so that the soiled clothing can be transported to the vicinity of the laundry washer and dryer.[0005]Subsequently the clothing is sorted and combined with other soiled clothes that require similar washing and drying processes. Some users sort the soiled clothing by general categories such as light and dark clothing. Other users sort by specific col...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The obvious shortcoming to this type of hamper is that it does not help the user transport, sort, transfer, or group the clothing during the laundry process.

Although this invention solved the sorting problem, it is constructed as a more traditional hamper and is not designed for transport.

In addition, these designs do not facilitate the transport of soiled clothing to the laundry vicinity nor do they aid in the transfer of clothing from the washer to the dryer, nor do they aid in the post-wash grouping of clothing by owner.

Although this device contains dividers to group clothing, and its base mounted wheels facilitate clothing transport, its rectangular shape and externally facing handles make it unsuitable for insertion into a washer or dryer and is unsuitable for participation in the cleaning aspects of the laundry process.

As a result this design does not aid in the insertion, removal, or transfer process during the laundry cycle.

Although this device is designed to keep smaller items, such as the “free wheeling sock” separated from the bigger items, it only solved the problem of small items being lost in the bottom of the washer or dryer or separated from the owner's other clothes.

This design did not aid in the prewash sorting of the larger laundry items nor does it aid in the transport of the clothing during the broader laundry cycle, nor the post wash grouping.

This device facilitates the temporary storage, and removal of clothing from the hamper and the transport, but it does not aid in the pre-wash sorting nor the transfer of clothing during the washing and drying process, nor the grouping of clothing after the washing and drying process.

This design does not contain the shape for insertion into a conventional cylindrical washer or dryer drum.

This design is not desirable for the insertion into the washing and drying drum and therefore does not aid in the transfer of clothing to the washer and dryer.

While these designs focus on the temporary storage of clothes and aid in the transport of the clothing to and from the washing vicinity, they do not participate in the washing and drying process nor aid in the transfer of clothing directly from the washer to the dryer.

There are many disadvantages and unnecessary steps associated with the existing art:(a) Many users have hampers that are not suitable for transport.

As a result, users must sort the clothing according to the laundry process prior to washing and drying, and then regroup by owner at the end of the process.(f) When clothing is removed from the washer and the dryer, small garments such as socks and mistakenly washed pocket items, such as money, are inadvertently left in the bottom of the washer or dryer drum and mixed with other laundry loads.

As a result, those items become separated from their matching clothing, such as matching socks, or they become separated from the owner's clothes and are much more difficult to regroup by owner at the end of the laundry cycle.(g) As clean clothing is manually transferred from the washer to the dryer or manually transferred from the dryer to a laundry container, items frequently fall on the floor or between the washer and dryer and therefore need to be rewashed or brushed off.(h) The existing art requires the user to have an unnecessary amount of laundry baskets to accommodate the temporary storage and transport needs.

Not only are these additional baskets an unnecessary expense for the user, they also occupy a material amount of space when they are not being used.

Images