Patent Application
20060000023
The invention relates to sanitary and decorative changing pad covers for use when changing children's diapers.
The current apparatus used to change diapers typically consists of a foam core covered with a thin white plastic film that is unattractive and can crack over time.
The pad must be removed immediately upon being soiled to prevent stains and/or contamination by urine or feces and unpleasant odors. This creates a large laundry workload for the new family, who must typically purchase at least three covers to rotate onto the pad.
The present invention discussed below eliminates the need for such laundry workload by providing a smooth or essentially flat non-dimpled laminated top surface that is easily cleaned for subsequent uses. Most pads have dimpled top surfaces usually from decorative stitching and/or stitching along crease lines for contoured pads. These stitch lines often crack thereby shortening the life of the pad unless it is repairable. The top surface of the present invention lacks such dimpled surfaces, therefore is easily cleaned and sanitized.
Further, the present invention eliminates the need for an additional cover. When used in nurseries, the laminated fabric changing pad cover of the present invention can remain in the nursery and the pictorial or visual art depictions coordinate with the colors or theme of the nursery environment and decor at all times, thereby giving the nursery owner a more attractive alternative to the white pad covered with cloth or a towel.
Because the present invention eliminates the need for laundering, cost savings can be realized in both time and money. Purchase price of multiple additional covers is eliminated as well as expenses associated with laundering cloth covers, such as soap, electricity and water. Further, savings include the time itself saved from having to launder soiled covers, a premium for any new mother.
In one embodiment, the present invention is generally a changing pad cover for baby diaper changing pads having two generally parallel vinylized/fabric layers spaced-apart and four upright sides connecting each spaced-apart layer. The cover is generally rectangularly shaped. One or both ends of the cover may have its raised sides contoured-shaped on its upper edge to allow for the upper layer of the cover to conform to the contoured upper surface shape of the pad. The cover slips over the pad like a pillow cover and is secured at one end with closure means, such as a zipper or hook and loop fastener connection(similar to VELCRO® fasteners), which in turn can be covered so the baby cannot rub an arm or leg against the zipper or hook and loop fastener surface.
Each vinylized layer preferably comprises a clear vinyl (polymeric) layer, that is, a substantially waterproof or impermeable layer, which is superimposed or in a face-to-face relationship with an underlying material, preferably made from a fabric. Alternatively, the upper portion only of the cover may have the impermeable layer or the combination of the upper portion and the side portions may have the impermeable layer. The underlying material has decorative visual art indicia depicted on it so as to be visually observable through the vinyl layer. The underlying material when made from a fabric material may be made from cotton, polyester, rayon or combinations of these materials. The underlying material may also be made from a polymeric material. The top portion of the cover may also include an opening in which a safety belt-like strap protrudes from the pad itself to prevent the baby from rolling off the changing table/pad. Alternatively, the top portion of the cover itself may include a safety belt-like strap to prevent the baby from rolling off the changing table/pad.
The cover may optionally include heating pad means and/or vibrating means in an underlying relationship to the fabric material of the upper portion of the cover or the heating and vibrating devices may instead be incorporated integral to the fabric material in the manner that electric blankets are made.
In an alternative embodiment, the cover is sized and adapted to generally enclose a changing pad top surface and its sides. In this embodiment, the above-described cover and its different features could be made such that it would comprise an upper portion as above and the side portions as described above; however, the side portions would be either attached to the pad near the bottom portion of the pad or sufficiently extend under the pad so as to attach on the bottom portion of the pad itself. Attachment means known in the art could be used such as hook and loop fasteners, clips and buttons, and other similar attachments. In addition, opposite side portions could be secured one to the other by the use of one or more elastic bands or hook and look fastener straps extending from one side of the side portions, across the underside of the pad, to the opposite side of the side portions. Another method of securing the cover to the pad is to have an elastic along the perimeter of the bottom edges of the side portions similar to what is used with fitted sheets. There are other numerous methods to secure the cover to the pad known in the art, accordingly they need not be repeated herein. A visit to any bedding specialty store will provide many known ideas on how to attach the cover to the pad in this alternative embodiment.
In the accompanying drawings:
a is a cross-sectional conceptual view of the various contemplated layers comprising the present inventive cover, the pad being generic to any shape;
b is a cross-sectional conceptual view of an alternative embodiment of the contemplated layers depicted in
a is an example of typical closure means for the cover, depicting the use of a hidden zipper;
b is an example of typical closure means for the cover, depicting the use of a hidden hook and loop fastener;
c is a sectional view from
a is a perspective view of a generic typical changing pad showing a rectangularly shaped pad with flat upper and bottom surfaces;
b is a perspective view of a generic typical changing pad showing a generally rectangularly shaped pad with a flat bottom surface and an upper contoured surface extending from one edge of the pad to the opposite end of the pad; and
c is a perspective view of a generic typical changing pad showing a generally rectangularly shaped pad with a flat bottom surface and an upper partially contoured surface extending from one edge of the pad to substantially its opposite end, at which end the contour features taper back to the same configuration of the of the side edges of the pad.
Referring now to the drawings,
As further conceptually depicted in
The upper, lower and upright side portions 14a, 14b, 14c further comprise a see-through liquid impermeable top layer 16, which is superimposed in a face-to-face relationship with an underlying layer 18.
The underlying layer 18 has decorative visual art indicia 20 depicted on the underlying layer 18 so as to be visually observable through the see-through liquid impermeable top layer 16. This indicia 20 is typically located on at least the underlying layer 18 part that underlies the impermeable top layer 16 of the upper portion 14a of the cover 10. Indicia 20 can be any desired art work, such as animals, plants, trees, gardens, simple colored stripes, sport themes with players and appropriate backgrounds, environmental themes such as waterfalls, solid colors, multiple colors and almost any combination of art work imaginable. This is intended to allow the cover 10 to blend in with color schemes of the environment where it is to be used or with a specific room color scheme or other desired theme. The floral depiction shown in
The cover 10 is sized to fully enclose a changing pad 12. The sizing is such that the pad 12 can be easily inserted in the cover 10, not much different than how one might slide a pillow into a zippered pillow cover.
In order to properly secure the pad 12 inside the cover 10 after insertion of the pad 12, closure means 22 are provided at one end of the cover 10. This can be done in a number of ways known in the art, including the use of a zipper system 22a such as that exemplified in
Although the underlying layer 18 can be made from assorted materials including polymeric materials (such as a vinyl material), it is preferred that it be made from a fabric material. The fabric material may be made from cotton, polyester, rayon or combinations of these materials. Obviously the print indicia 20 on the fabric can be selected to project whatever color scheme or theme one desires as a coordinate to various rooms in which the cover 10 will be used.
The see-through liquid impermeable layer 16 is preferably made from a polymeric material, such as a poly-vinyl material. It is see-through in the sense that it is clear or at least sufficiently transparent to be able to see the pictorial indicia 20 on the underlying layer 18.
As observable from the various examples of pad shapes depicted in
As a matter of safety for the child, it is recommended that means 24 for securing a child on the upper portion 14a of the cover 10 be incorporated at an intermediate location and transverse to the length of the cover 10 as shown in
In an alternative embodiment (see
For example, the upper portion 14a of the cover may optionally include means 26a for providing heat through the top layer 16. This can be provided by including another underlying heating pad layer 26a, which is effectively in a face-to-face underlying relationship to at least a portion of the underlying layer 18 of the upper portion 14a. That is, the heating pad apparatus (see conceptual 26a in
Another alternative way to provide a heating feature is to provide heating elements integrally, that is, by integrally incorporating the heating elements or means 26 (see conceptual 26b in
Another alternative embodiment is to provide means 28 for providing a therapeutic vibrating sensation to a child on the upper portion 14a of the cover 10. As with the heating feature discussed above, the means 28 for providing the therapeutic vibrating sensation to the child on the upper portion 14a of the cover 10 includes vibration means included in a pad (see conceptual 28a in
An alternative to this embodiment is where the means 28 for providing the therapeutic vibrating sensation to the child on the upper portion 14a of the cover 10 includes vibration means (see conceptual 28b in
Of course, it is also contemplated that both heating and vibratory features can be incorporated in the cover 10, for example, in a separate pad underlying layer 18 or integrally incorporated in the underlying layer 18.
As described above in the summary portion of this description, in an alternative embodiment, the cover 10 is sized and adapted to generally enclose a changing pad 12 top surface and its sides. In this embodiment, the above-described cover 10 and its different features could be made such that it would comprise an upper portion 14a as above and the side portions 14c as described above; however, the side portions 14c would be either attached to the pad 12 near the bottom portion of the pad 12 or sufficiently extend under the pad 12 so as to attach on the bottom portion of the pad itself. Attachment means known in the art could be used such as hook and loop fasteners, clips and buttons, and other similar attachments. In addition, opposite side portions 14c could be secured one to the other by the use of one or more elastic bands or hook and look fastener straps extending from one side of the side portions 14c, across the underside of the pad 12, to the opposite side of the side portions 14c. Another method of securing the cover 10 to the pad 12 is to have an elastic along the perimeter of the bottom edges 14d of the side portions 14c similar to what is used with fitted sheets. There are other numerous methods to secure the cover to the pad known in the art, accordingly they need not be repeated herein. A visit to any bedding specialty store will provide many known ideas on how to attach the cover to the pad in this alternative embodiment.
It should be understood that the preceding is merely a detailed description of one or more embodiments of this invention and that numerous changes to the disclosed embodiments can be made in accordance with the disclosure herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The preceding description, therefore, is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined only by the appended claims and their equivalents.
