Patent Application
20070001023
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of air fresheners. More specifically, the present invention discloses an air freshener in which the scent elements are held in place within the air freshener.
2. Statement of the Problem
A wide variety of air fresheners have been used for many years. For example, the present applicants have marketed spherical air fresheners under the SNEAKER BALLS® and SPEEDBALL® trademarks for many years. A cross-sectional view of this prior art air freshener is shown in
Both free-floating paper balls and disks have two drawbacks. First, the scent element can come to rest on the ring assembly and the essential oil sometimes leaks out of the air freshener through the openings in the ring assembly and stains the packaging or external objects. Second, neither a flat disk nor a paper ball offers a maximum amount of surface area. The surface area is important to maximize the release of the essential oil. Therefore, a need exists for an air freshener with a scent element that addresses these shortcomings.
3. Solution to the Problem.
The present invention addresses these concerns by employing scent elements that are held in place within the shell of the air freshener by the inner lip of the ring structure to help minimize the risk of leakage of essential oil. In addition, the scent elements deform during assembly of the air freshener to follow the generally hemispherical contour of the interior surfaces of the shells to thereby increase the surface area available for the release of essential oil.
This invention provides an air freshener having two hemispherical shells joined by a ring that includes a number of openings into the interior of the air freshener. A lip of the ring protrudes into the interior region and holds a scent element in place within the air freshener.
These and other advantages, features, and objects of the present invention will be more readily understood in view of the following detailed description and the drawings.
The present invention can be more readily understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
a is a side elevational view of the air freshener with the ring assembly in the open position.
b is a side elevational view of the air freshener with the ring assembly in the closed position.
Turning to
In the preferred embodiment, both the upper and lower shells 10, 12 are made of molded plastic to produce a configuration with a generally hemispherical outer surface and a generally hemispherical inner surface. Both shells 10, 12 also have generally circular openings of similar diameters to facilitate joining the shells 10, 12 to the ring assembly 20. For example, the upper and lower shells 10 and 12 can be identical, which simplifies manufacture and reduces costs. However, the shapes and sizes of the shells 10, 12 are largely a matter of design choice and aesthetics.
A ring assembly 20 is secured to the circular openings of the upper and lower shells 10, 12 by means of adhesive or the like to form a generally spherical container with an interior region to hold the scent elements 30, 32. A number of openings extend through the container to allow fragrance to escape from the scent elements 30, 32 in the surrounding atmosphere. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the ring assembly 20 is made of an upper ring 22 and a lower ring 24 with interlocking teeth that engage one another, but allow a degree of rotation between the rings 22, 24. In the preferred embodiment, both rings 22 and 24 are identical to simplify manufacture and reduce costs.
The scent elements 30 and 32 are held in place within the interior region of the air freshener by means of the lip 28 of the ring assembly 20 that protrudes into the interior region of the air freshener around at least a portion of the circular opening of the shells 10, 12, as shown in the cross-sectional view provided in
This approach allows two or more scent elements 30, 32 to be placed inside the air freshener (at least one in each hemispheric shell 10, 12) greatly increasing the amount of scent and the surface area for release. Thus, the present invention solves both of the problems associated with the prior art and is also easy to assemble. Because the scent pads 30, 32 are held in place against the interior surfaces of the shells 10, 12 and have only minimal contact with the ring assembly 20, essential oil is much less likely to leak out.
It should be noted that any number- of scent elements could be used, and that scent elements of a variety of shapes and dimensions could be used. In the specific embodiment shown in
The above disclosure sets forth a number of embodiments of the present invention described in detail with respect to the accompanying drawings. Those skilled in this art will appreciate that various changes, modifications, other structural arrangements, and other embodiments could be practiced under the teachings of the present invention without departing from the scope of this invention as set forth in the following claims.
