Patent Application
20230009772
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The disclosure relates to sanitizing devices and more particularly pertains to a new sanitizing device for sterilizing bed pans and urine bottles. The device includes a housing, a pair of light emitting units and a heating unit. Each of the light emitting units is positioned in the housing and the heating unit is positioned in the housing. A pair of trays is positioned on the housing for supporting a bed pan and a urine bottle. The light emitting units emit ultraviolet light and the heating unit heats the interior of the housing. In this way the bed pan and the urine bottle are sterilized.
The prior art relates to sanitizing devices including a variety of washing machines that wash and sanitize a bed pan. The prior art discloses a sterilizing device that includes ultraviolet lights and a dehumidifier for sterilizing equipment in a hospital. The prior art discloses a sterilizing device that includes a housing, a single ultraviolet light emitter and a blower for circulating air in the housing. The prior art also discloses a housing, an ultraviolet light emitter and an ozone generator for sterilizing articles. In no instance does the prior art disclose a housing, a plurality of ultraviolet light emitter and a heating unit for sterilizing articles.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing and a pair of trays that is each of the trays is positioned within the housing. Each of the trays can have a respective one of a bed pan and a urine bottle positioned thereon. A pair of light emitting units is each positioned within the housing to emit light into an interior of the housing. Each of the light emitting units has an operational frequency within the ultraviolet spectrum to sterilize the bed pan and the urine bottle when the light emitting units are turned on. A heating unit is integrated into the housing to heat the interior of the housing when the heating unit is turned on for enhancing sterilizing the bed pan and the urine bottle.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The plurality of air vents 14 includes a set of front air vents 30 each extending through the front side 20 of the outer wall 18, and the plurality of air vents 14 includes a set of back air vents 32 each extending through the back side 22 of the outer wall 18.
A plurality of rollers 34 is each rotatably coupled to the bottom wall 16 of the housing 12 for rolling the housing 12 along a support surface 36. Each of the rollers 34 is aligned with a respective one of four corners of the bottom wall 16. Each of the rollers 34 may comprise a caster, a wheel or any other type of roller. A release button 38 is movably integrated into the front side 20 of the outer wall 18 of the housing 12. The release button 38 is in mechanical communication with the engagement 28 and the engagement 28 is urged into a releasing condition when the release button 38 is depressed.
A lid 40 is hingedly coupled to the housing 12 for opening 26 and closing the housing 12. The lid 40 has a bottom surface 42 and a back edge 44, and the back edge 44 is hingedly coupled to the back side 22 of the outer wall 18 of the housing 12. The bottom surface 42 rests on the distal edge 24 of the outer wall 18 when the lid 40 is closed. The bottom surface 42 is displaced from the distal edge 24 when the lid 40 is opened. A coupling 46 is coupled to and extends downwardly from the bottom surface 42 of the lid 40. The coupling 46 extends into the engagement 28 when the lid 40 is closed for releasably retaining the lid 40 in a closed position. Additionally, the engagement 28 disengages the coupling 46 when the release button 38 is depressed to facilitate the lid 40 to be opened.
A pair of trays 48 is provided and each of the trays 48 is positioned within the housing 12. The trays 48 are vertically distributed in the housing 12 and each of the trays 48 can have a respective one of a bed pan 50 and a urine bottle 52 positioned thereon. The trays 48 are spaced apart from each other and are distributed between the bottom wall 16 of the housing 12 and the distal edge 24 of the outer wall 18 of the housing 12. The bed pan and the urine bottle 52 may be the type that would commonly be employed in a medical setting for a bedridden patient or the like.
A pair of light emitting units 54 is each positioned within the housing 12 to emit light into an interior of the housing 12. Each of the light emitting units 54 has an operational frequency within the ultraviolet spectrum. In this way each of the light emitting units 54 can sterilize the bed pan 50 and the urine bottle 52 when the light emitting units 54 are turned on. A respective one of the light emitting units 54 is positioned between the pair of trays 48, and a respective one of the light emitting units 54 is positioned between a topmost one of the trays 48 and the distal edge 24 of the outer wall 18 of the housing 12. Each of the light emitting units 54 may include a plurality of light emitting diodes, or other type of electronic light emitter, that emits ultraviolet light.
A heating unit 56 is provided and the heating unit 56 is integrated into the housing 12. The heating unit 56 is in thermal communication with an interior of the housing 12 to heat the interior of the housing 12 when the heating unit 56 is turned on. Additionally, the heating unit 56 is positioned on an inside surface 58 of the front side 20 of the outer wall 18 of the housing 12 and the heating unit 56 is aligned with the set of front air vents 30 in housing 12. The heating unit 56 might include electric heating coils that have an operational temperature of at least 220.0.
A blower 60 is integrated into the housing 12 and the blower 60 is aligned with the heating unit 56. The blower 60 is aligned with respective ones of the air vents 14 to urge air inwardly through the respective air vents 14 and across the heating unit 56 when the blower 60 is turned on. In this way the blower 60 circulates heated air throughout the housing 12 thereby facilitating the heated air to enhance sterilizing the bed pan 50 and the urine bottle 52. The blower 60 is aligned with the set of front air vents 30 in the housing 12, and the blower 60 might include an electric motor and a fan that is rotatably coupled to the motor.
A power cord 62 is coupled to and extends away from the outer wall 18 of the housing 12. The power cord 62 is electrically coupled to each of the light emitting units 54, the heating unit 56 and the blower 60. The power cord 62 has a distal end 64 with respect to the outer wall 18 and a male plug 66 is electrically coupled to the distal end 64. Additionally, the male plug 66 can be electrically coupled to a power source 68 comprising a female electrical outlet.
In use, the bed pan 50 and the urine bottle 52 are positioned on one of the trays 48, the lid 40 is closed and the power cord 62 is plugged into the power source 68. Each of the light emitting units 54, the heating unit 56 and the blower 60 are turned on when the power cord 62 is plugged in. In this way bed pan 50 and the urine bottle 52 are sterilized with ultraviolet radiation and with heat. The power cord 62 is left plugged in for a sufficient duration of time to fully sterilize the bed pan 50 and the urine bottle 52. In this way the risk of transmission of infectious diseases is significantly reduced, thereby enhancing the health and safety of caregivers that are caring for the bedridden patient.
The power cord 62 is unplugged, the release button 38 is depressed to facilitate the lid 40 to be opened and each of the bed pan 50 and the urine bottle 52 are removed from the housing 12.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
