Laundry basket and hamper having selectable internal compartments thereof

Abstract

An integrated laundry basket and hamper includes a solid rectangular structure having integral vertical sidewalls formed of a preferably resilient material, such as plastic polymer, and including therewith, for purposes of aeration, a multiplicity of apertures exhibiting an aesthetic geometry. Internally of the solid rectangular structure, there are provided a plurality of co-parallel tracks proportioned for the slidable receipt of substantially vertical partition panels to thereby provide selectively different internal compartments to the hamper/laundry basket for purposes of pre-separation, at the time of insertion of an article of clothing into the hamper, in accordance with any one of a number of criteria. The inventive hamper/laundry basket is also optionally provided with a snap-fittable cover which is particularly useful when the laundry basket is employed as a hamper, as opposed to use as a laundry basket. Upon removal of such the snap-fittable cover, laundry may easily be inserted or removed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, useful and non-obvious and, accordingly, secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:  
     
         1 . An integrated hamper/laundry basket comprising: 
 a substantially solid rectangular structure having therein: 
 (a) means for the selectable slidable receipt of one or more vertical partitions to thereby separate the hamper/laundry basket into a plurality of compartments into which respectively different types of laundry may be separated at the point of deposit of such articles into the hamper/laundry basket; and  
 (b) void space within each lateral wall of said structure that does not exceed two-thirds of the area of each wall.  
   
     
     
         2 . The hamper/laundry basket as recited in    claim 1    in which said vertical lateral walls thereof include a multiplicity of apertures, having an aesthetically pleasing geometry and sufficient size, to assist in the aeration of clothing within the hamper/laundry basket, said apertures thereby defining void space of at least one-third of the area of each of said lateral walls.  
     
     
         3 . The hamper/laundry basket as recited in    claim 2   , further comprising a selectably attachable cover thereof press-fittably securable to a circumferential upper mouth of the basket.