A. Field of Invention
This invention relates to means for facilitating the loading of bulk solids into flexible containers.
B. Description of Prior Art
Floods occur during the rainy season or Spring thaw in most parts of the world. During flooding, public and private property is commonly protected from water damage by the creation of temporary embankments around the property to prevent the intrusion of flood waters. Frequently, this is accomplished by creating a wall of sandbags--burlap bags filled with sand, gravel or rock, or some combination thereof. These empty sandbags are normally stored in police and fire stations in flood-prone areas, and are filled with locally available materials as and when an acute flood danger is present.
At such times, professional and volunteer help normally fill thousands of these sandbags with whatever material is available and place them in the embankment as quickly as possible, since there is generally little warning when the flood danger arises. Typically, filling a sandbag consists in one worker raising the empty bag and spreading its opening, while another worker rapidly shovels the material into it, filling it approximately half way. At that point, one or the other of these workers, or a third worker, takes the partially filled bag, which may or may not be tied off to prevent escape of its contents, and adds it to the top of the embankment being constructed.
It can easily be seen that these bags could be filled much more rapidly if each worker could fill these bags alone, without the assistance of someone to hold the bag. However, since the bags are limp and lacking in any structure, some means must be provided to hold the bag open, so that it can accept each shovelful of material.
Obviously, a single worker could hold the bag with one hand while attempting to shovel with the other, but this would be rather inefficient.
Various sorts of wire hoop devices have been used in the past. Such devices are generally utilized by opening the bag upward and wiring or clipping the open end of the bag to the hoop, the latter being attached to some sort of structure which keeps the open end of the bag raised above the ground.
While such devices may work quite well during the first few shovelfuls of sand, dirt or rock which are loaded into the bag, the increasing weight of the bag eventually pulls it away from the hoop and down to the ground, or even collapses the entire structure.
Obviously, one could conceive of much more complex apparatus for holding bags and causing them to be filled in a conveyor-like fashion with automatic machinery. However, such devices would be somewhat expensive, difficult to transport to the sometimes rather inaccessible spot where they are to be used and would require a source of energy which might not be available in a flood crisis.
A simple, inexpensive apparatus which would permit a single worker to fill sandbags with a minimum of effort would, therefore, be advantageous.
Similarly, a simple, reliable apparatus to enable homeowners, professional gardeners, maintenance men, construction workers, and the like, to easily fill bags or trash containers would be quite useful.