1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a plastic container and specifically a large plastic refuse container that includes two external side fork pockets secured to walls of the container in a manner that facilitates the lifting of the container with the forks of a refuse truck. Additionally, this invention relates to a refuse container drain, and a refuse container that can be stacked and nested for shipping purposes.
2. Prior Art
The use of plastic to fabricate refuse containers is well known in the art. Until recently however, all large plastic refuse containers, i.e., those having a volume of a yard or more were manufactured by roto-molding, or by blow molding. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,813 (Lee, et al.) discloses a blow molding apparatus useful for fabricating a plastic container. In contrast, the large plastic refuse container of this invention is manufactured using plastic injection molding techniques. As a result many problems directly related to injection molding the container had to be overcome in designing the plastic refuse container of this invention.
The use of lift tubes associated with refuse containers is well known in the art as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,623,631 (Ford); 3,823,972 (Ramer); and 4,335,828 (Robinson, et al.) However, the lift tubes of the containers disclosed in those patents are all integral to the walls of metal containers.
The use of a metal lift tube sleeve in conjunction with a plastic container is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,849 (Adsit). However, the metal lift tube of the '849 patent is incorporated into the container during the roto-molding process. Additionally, the lift tubes of the '849 patent are integral to the inside dimension of the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,374 (Smith) describes stackable or nestable, plastic containers. The containers include platforms in the top portion of the open, inner dimension of the container that are complementary to depressions in the bottom dimension of the same container allowing multiple containers to be stacked, one on top of the other, for shipping and handling purposes. The '374 patent does not disclose stacking platforms associated with external elements of a plastic container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,257 (Edelhoff) discloses a small plastic refuse container including an integrally molded-in pocket that supports the container during mechanical lifting.
Other embodiments of plastic containers are known in the art. The art, however, is devoid of large plastic refuse containers having attachable side fork pockets.