US3406812A - Paint container and brush enclosure - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 22, 1968 c. w. HENRY PAINT CONTAINER AND BRUSH ENCLOSURE Filed May 12, 1967 llVVE/VTOI? CARLTON W. HENRY United States Patent I PAINT CONTAINER AND BRUSH ENCLOSURE Carlton W. Henry, 4370 Tulane Court, I Springfield, Ohio 45503 4 l Filed May 12, 1967, Ser. No. 638,13

1 1 Claim. (Cl. 206-151) "ABSTRACT OF-THE DISCLOSURE A device for simultaneously preserving the paint in an open paint can and for protecting a paint brush by suspending the bristles of the brush in the open can of paint,

and then enclosing the can and brush so that the paint cannot'harden thereby providing for the temporary prothepaint can thereby sealing it from the air and preventing the paint from drying or hardening. It is then necessary'to clean completely the paint from the brush by rinsing'it in a solvent in the case of oil base paints or in soap and water in the case of water 'base paints. This cleaning is time consuming and usually requires that the person gets paint on his hands. However, the cleaning must be done as failure to remove completely the paint from the brush will cause the paintto harden and destroy the usefulness of the brush. In'some cases, it is possible to wrap tightly the brush to prevent the air from getting to the paint, but this is time consuming and still does not entirely prevent a portion of the paint fromdrying on the brush.

Summary of the invention- This invention relates to a combination brush holder and enclosure for protecting the brush and the paint in an open can for a limited period of time, for example, over night. A support bracket positions the brush above the can so that the bristles of the brush extend into the paint, and the enclosure in the form of a flexible bag easily encloses a paint can, brush, and bracket and is sealed to prevent circulation of air and drying of the paint. In another embodiment, the flexible enclosure is utilized to seal a paint tray and roller combination.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration showing the protective enclosure;

FIG. 2 is another perspective view showing the manner in which the bracket supports the paint brush on the paint can;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the brush supporting bracket;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken through the paint can and showing the manner in which the bracket is supported thereon; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the enclosure.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring to FIG. 1, the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown as including the conventional paint can having a standard paint brush 11 supported therein by the brush support bracket 12 and enclosed in the flexible enclosure 13. The can of paint 10 is standard and is normally of the one gallon size although this size is not a limitation on the invention as both smaller and larger containers of paint may be used. Similarly, the type of brush 11 utilized in the invention can vary without de- 3,406,812 Patented Oct. 22, 1968 parting from the scope of the invention, and thus an elongated brush having a relatively small width or a brush with a very wide width can be used herewith so long as the paint can 10 is of suflicient size to allow the brush 11 to be inserted therein.

The bracket 12 for supporting the paint brush 11 is shown in'FIG'S. 2 and 3 and includes an elongated strip of flexible material 15, for example, cardboard. A brush receiving slot 16 is cut through from one edge 17 thereof into the central portion 18 of the blank. This slot is of suflicient width so that the edges 21 thereof will engage and support the large portion 22 of the handle 23 of'the brush 11 to support the same in a vertical position. A plurality of transverse fold lines 25 are provided on each end of the blank parallel to the width thereof. In each of 'these fold lines, a pair of the V-shaped projections 27 formed by the score lines 28 is provided. When the portions of the bracket 12 are pivoted about any of the fold lines 25, the adjacent projections 27 extend from the plane of the adjacent folded portion.

The projections 27 are utilized to engage the inner peripheral flange 30 on the conventional paint can 10, as

shown in FIG. 4, to support the bracket 12 thereon. The vertical section 31 of the flange 30 thus rests against the vertical portion 12a of the bracket 12 (FIG. 4) whereas the projection 27 extends on the opposite side of the vertical section 31 to hold the bracket 12 in place. Since there are several pairs of projections 27 on each end of the bracket 12, the bracket may be mounted on the can 10 in several different positions, as indicated in broken lines in FIG. 4, to allow the bracket 12 to accommodate brushes 11 of different length, as well as dilferent levels of paint 33 in the can 10 as will be seen.

The enclosure 13 may he made of any air tight material, e.g., polyethylene, and must be of sufiicient size and flexibility to accommodate easily the paint can 10 with the bracket 12 and brush 11 in place. This enclosure extends upwardly around the can and the open end thereof is sealed by a releasable clasp 35 which may be of plastic material having a slot therein for receiving the end portion 37 of the enclosure 13 to clamp the same together and prohibit the passage of air into the enclosure. Since there is no pressure differential between the interior of the enclosure 13 and the surrounding atmosphere, it is merely necessary to hold the ends of the enclosure tightly together in order to provide the necessary seal. The size and shape of the enclosure 13 is carefully correlated with the size of the can 10 and the height bracket 12 so that a minimum of air is sealed inside of the enclosure 13.

In operation, when the painter is finished for the day or wishes to terminate the painting for several hours, he removes the bracket 12 and enclosure 13 from a suitable storage packet and deforms the bracket 12 into a U-shape (FIG. 4) so that the slot 16 is in the central portion 18 thereof. It is necessary for the user to deter-mine which of the pairs of fold lines 25 will be deformed by judging the depth of paint in the can 10 and the length of the brush 11. This normally can be approximated by holding the U-shaped bracket 12 adjacent the can 10 with the brush 11 in place. The end portions 12b of the bracket are deformed inwardly about the appropriate fold lines 28 so that the projections 27 are exposed and can easily be mounted in place. It is important that the bristles 11a be substantially completely submerged in the paint when the bracket 12 is mounted in place on the can.

The bracket 12 is then placed on the can 10 so that the appropriate pairs of projections 27 engage the peripheral flange 30, as described above. The paint brush 11 is then placed into the can 10 with the handle 23 supported on the bracket 12 so that the ends 11b of the bristles 11a are spaced at least a short distance above the bottom 37 of the can 10 to prevent deformation of the bristles. The

on a flat surface and the can placed thereon to enable two sides of the enclosure to be moved upwardly around the bracket 12 and sealed by the clasp 35.

In this position, there is not suflicient air in the enclosure 13 to cause the paint to dry more than a negligible amount and, therefore, it is not necessary to clean the brush 12 or seal the can 10 during this temporary discontinuance of the use thereof. Because the enclosure 13 and the bracket 12 are relatively inexpensive, they can be given away as promotion items and discarded after being used once without any great loss or expense.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 5 wherein the conventional paint roller 4-0 and its elongated paint tray 41 are protected from drying by use of an appropriately shaped enclosure 43. Accordingly, when the painter wishes to discontinue painting with the roller 40 for a short time, he merely places the roller in the tray 41 and then places the flexible enclosure 43 which has been appropriately shaped around the entire tray and roller and seals the end of this bag with the clasp 35, as described above. The entire tray 41 is thus protected from an exchange or circulation of air, and therefore only negligible amount of drying will occur thus eliminating the necessity of cleaning the tray 41 and roller 40 each time there is a temporary halt in painting.

Accordingly the invention has provided an inexpensive combination for protecting the paint in an open can and the paint brush or roller without requiring the usual cleaning operations for each temporary halt in the painting operation. The flexible enclosure and bracket are so shaped to fit a particular size of can and are adjustable to accommodate different sizes of brushes and varying levels of paint in the open can.

While the forms of apparatus herein described constitute preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these precise forms of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:. v

1. Apparatus for simultaneously protecting a paint brush and for preserving paint in an open can having an internal flange around the open top thereof for receiving a cover, comprising a brush support member engaging the internal flange of the paint can at theperiphery of the opening in the top thereof, said support member being made from an elongated strip of relatively stiff but flexible material which defines a U-shaped bridge above the open paint can, said support member having a brush handle support portion in the central section thereof, said handle support portion including an open ended slot cut in the central portion of said strip for receiving the handle of a paint brush to hold the brush positioned in the paint can, said holder means being adjustable so that different size brushes can be supported thereby and to compensate for varying levels of paint in the can to allow the bristles of the brush to be submerged in thepaint, a plurality of projections extending outwardly of the plane of said elongated strip on each end of said support member releasably engaging the internal flange around the open top of the paint can, said projections adapted to position adjustably said central section of said strip above the center of the opening in the can, a flexible air tight enclosure completely surrounding said can with said holder means and the brush in position thereon, and means for releasably sealing said enclosure to prevent the circulation of outside air around the paint and brush but which permits easy removal of the enclosure for subsequent use of the paint and brush without cleaning.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,983,619 12/1934 Lent.

2,047,641 7/ 1936 Mares.

2,5 33,829 12/ 1950 Merryweather.

2,776,050 1/ 1957 Switzer.

2,798,239 7/1957 Freund 2201 RAPHAEL H. SCHWARTZ, Primary Examiner.

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