Patent Application
20060186132
The present disclosure generally relates to wipes used for hygienic purposes and containers therefor.
Various types of wipes are generally known in the art. These include dry wipes, identified herein as wipes having a water content of less than approximately 10%, and wet wipes, identified herein as wipes having a moisture content of greater than 10% by weight. Wet wipes are often used in hygienic applications to clean waste or other material from a body surface. For example, they may be used for cleaning hands, for cleaning small children and infants when changing diapers, or as a bath tissue (instead of toilet paper). Typically, a plurality or stack of wet wipes is sized for storage inside a container, often a plastic tub with a hinged lid on the top. The lid may be opened to remove an individual wet wipe sheet. Once the plurality of wipes is used, the container may be reused with replacement wipes.
As the use of wet wipes becomes more widespread, there is an increased likelihood that the replacement wipes used to refill a container originate from a source different than that of the original wipes. Where the replacement wipes and the original wipes are substantially similar, there is little risk of detriment to the consumer. On the other hand, the consumer may experience harmful or costly consequences when the replacement wipes significantly differ from the original wipes. For example, if the original wipes are suitable for disposal in a toilet while the replacement wipes are not, a consumer may unwillingly damage his or her plumbing by toilet disposal of the replacement wipes. Similarly, discomfort and/or injury may occur when using a replacement wipe having a chemical composition or substrate structure that is different from the original. Still further, when a consumer uses the original container with a different, inferior replacement wipe, he or she may associate the undesirable refill wipe characteristics with the container brand. It is advantageous, therefore, to provide visual reinforcement that the replacement wipes originate from the same trusted source as the tub and/or original wipes, or are otherwise compatible with the original container.
In addition, current replacement wipes fail to provide or direct a consumer to information related to one or more characteristics of the wipes. As noted above, whether or not a wipe is suitable for disposal in a toilet may result in serious consequences to the consumer, and therefore communication of a wipe's suitability for toilet disposal is desirable. In addition, a wipe may have a particular procedure for use or may exhibit other characteristics that could be advantageously communicated to the consumer.
More recently, wet wipes and the containers in which they are stored have been modified for use by, and marketing efforts have been targeted to, children. The foregoing problems with conventional wipes are exacerbated when the user is a child.
The present disclosure is directed to a combination of a wipe and container carrying cross-referencing indicia. The indicia provided on both the container and the wipe may include a common visual element that communicates compatibility between the container and the wipe or other information to a consumer. In certain exemplary embodiments, the container and/or the wipe communicates suitability of the wipe for disposal in a toilet. These and other embodiments are disclosed in greater detail below.
A container 10 for storing wipes is illustrated at
An exemplary embodiment of a wipe 34 for use with the container 10 is illustrated at
In the preferred embodiment, the wipe 34 is a wet wipe suitable for disposal in a toilet. As such, the wipe substrate 36 preferably comprises a cellulosic content, or other biodegradable fiber content, of at least approximately 80%. Furthermore, as used herein, the term “wet wipe” indicates a wipe substrate having a moisture content of greater than 10% by weight. Such wet wipes often having a moisture content of approximately 50% to approximately 400% or more by weight. This is in contrast to a “dry wipe” which is used herein to indicate a wipe substrate having a moisture content of less than approximately 10%.
The substrate 36 may further include other components or materials added thereto, as known in the art, to improve appearance, surface texture, color, or odor. The substrate 36 may further incorporate a cleaning composition. As used herein, the term “incorporate” means that the substrate is coated or impregnated with a preferably liquid cleaning composition. The composition may be formulated in any suitable form, for example as a solid, paste, or liquid. The composition may include a variety of ingredients including, but not limited to peroxygen bleach, disinfecting components, organic acids, surfactants, chelants, solvents, builders, stabilizers, bleach activators, soil suspenders, dye transfer agents, brighteners, perfumes, anti-dusting agents, enzymes, surfactants, rheology modifiers, dispersant, dye transfer inhibitors, pigments, perfumes, radical scavengers, ph buffers, dyes, or mixtures thereof.
Container indicia 30 and wipe indicia 38 are disposed on the container 10 and wipe 34, respectively, to communicate information to a consumer. As used herein, the phrase “disposed on” is used to mean that the indicia 30, 38 are disposed on or otherwise provided with the container 10 and wipe 34. For example, the container indicia 30 may be printed directly on the container side wall 14, or printed on a separate substrate, such as a label 31 that is affixed to the container 10. The indicia 30, 38 may be applied using any known method, including printing. As used herein, the term “print” is intended to broadly cover all forms of forming visible marks on a product, container, label, tag, wipe, or other substrate. Other mechanisms for applying the indicia include embossing (such as thermal embossing or mechanical embossing), hydro-embossing (sometimes known as molding or hydro-molding) and air-pressure embossing. The indicia 30, 38 are selected to communicate information to a user. The information may relate to the general compatibility or desirability of using the wipe 34 with the container 10, or may provide instructional or descriptive information regarding the wipe 34 and/or container 10.
As used herein, the term “communicate” refers to the ability of indicia to impress an idea or message upon, or trigger a cognitive response within, a user. As such, communication may rely upon a user's experience or knowledge to arrive at the intended message. Additionally or alternatively, the indicia may illustrate simple concepts that are understood at a basic or visceral level that does not require the prior knowledge or experience of a user. In any event, the indicia is cognitively functional in that it conveys a message that is generally capable of being understood by a recipient user.
The indicia may be in the form of any visual communication suitable for communicating information regarding the wipe and/or container to a consumer. Accordingly, the indicia may include icons, which may comprise, but are not limited to, pictorial symbols, photographs, drawings, cartoons, and logos. For example, the icons may be provided as drawings of a child or an anthropomorphic image of an animal using the wipe and/or container. Similarly, the icons may include well-known cartoon characters or brand logos, or characters specifically created to be associated with the products. The icons may further include symbols, such as arrows, to indicate motion or movement.
The indicia may be arranged in any manner as long as they communicate the desired information to a consumer. The indicia may be a single icon or a series of icons. Each icon may include one or more visual prompts. Where a series of icons are provided, the images may be arranged in any suitable fashion, such as, but not limited to, vertically, horizontally, diagonally, circular, and combination thereof.
The indicia may optionally include a character graphic that can increase a user's interest in the product. The term “character graphic” is used herein to refer to a graphic containing an anthropomorphic image, and in particular an image having or suggesting human form or appearance which ascribes human motivations, characteristics or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, natural phenomena, toys, cartoon characters, or the like. The character graphic may be associated with popular characters in the media, advertising or well known in a particular culture. Ideally they are characters that the user, particularly if a child, care about and want to identify with.
Exemplary indicia 48 that may be used as both the container indicia 30 and the wipe indicia 38 is illustrated at
The icons may further include numerical representations to identify the order in which to perform the steps shown in the icons. As illustrated in
As noted above, the same indicia 48 may be provided on both the container 10 and the wipe 34. As such, it will be appreciated that both the container indicia 30 and wipe indicia 38 incorporate several common visual elements. For example, both indicia include the common visual elements of an image of a container, an image of an anthropomorphic frog, and an image of a toilet, among others. The use of common visual elements conveys to a consumer that the wipe 34 and container 10 are intended for use with one another.
While the illustrated embodiment shows both the container 10 and wipe 34 having identical indicia, it will be appreciated that the indicia may be different, as long as the container indicia 30 and the wipe indicia 38 include at least one common visual element. Furthermore, the common visual element need not be identical in both the container indicia 30 and wipe indicia 38, but instead may be merely similar. Examples of similar graphical representations that would be considered as illustrating a common visual element include similar icon themes (such as using non-identical images of an anthropomorphic frog), similar color schemes, or similar text fonts or syntax. Furthermore, while the embodiment of
While the exemplary indicia 48 includes a series of icons as common visual elements, other types of graphical representations may be used. For example, the common visual element may be a common color or color scheme shared by both the container 10 and the wipe 34. Alternatively, the common visual element may be similar text provided on both the container 10 and wipe 34. The common text may be a brand name, catch phrase, or other words that are marketed in conjunction, or are otherwise associated, with the container 10 and wipe 34.
Furthermore, while the exemplary icons illustrate a series of steps, the icons need not instruct use and/or disposal of the wipe. As shown in
In addition to including a common visual element, at least one of the container indicia 30 and wipe indicia 38 may further include an informational image communicating a characteristic of the first wipe 34 to the consumer. For a wipe that is toilet disposable, for example, the indicia may include an informational image communicating to the consumer the ability to dispose of the wipe in a toilet. As used herein, the term “toilet disposable” includes the following characteristics of a wipe: flushability, dispersability, and biodegradability. As used herein the term “flushable” and “flushabilty” refer to a product's ability to pass through typically commercially available household toilets and plumbing drainage systems without causing clogging or similar problems that can be directly associated with the physical structure of the product. The term “dispersible” as applied herein to a wipe refers to an article which will disperse into at least two fragments in mildly agitated water. Such a device will break into pieces in a conventional toilet and/or domestic plumbing system, and will ultimately affectively process through a sewage treatment system. The term “biodegradable” as used herein refers to a wipe which is preferably partially constructed of biodegradable materials.
The exemplary indicia 48 includes an informational image communicating the ability to dispose of the wipe 36 in a toilet. As best shown with reference to
The informational image may communicate other concepts in addition or alternative to the ability to dispose of the wipe in a toilet. For example, the informational image may simply communicate that the wipe 34 is compatible with the container 10. Referring again to the exemplary embodiment illustrated at
A plurality of replacement wipes may have different or alternating indicia to assist a consumer in using a proper amount of wipes. Replacement wipes are typically provided in the form of a stack of multiple wipes. If care is not exercised, it is possible that more than one wipe may be pulled from the container. If too many of wipes are simultaneously disposed of in a toilet, it is possible that the wipes may clog the plumbing. This is particularly a problem when the wipes are used by a child, who may enjoy using (or at least dispensing) the wipes and therefore may deliberately dispose of an excessive number of wipes without appreciating the potential plumbing consequences.
To help a user, and particularly a child user, identify the proper number of wipes to use, different indicia may be applied to adjacent wipes in a stack of refill wipes. As illustrated in
While the first and second wipe usage images are illustrated as icons, it will be appreciated that the indicia may comprise alternating colors, text, or other graphical representations. For example, the first wipe 72 may have a background 80 of a first color while the second wipe 76 may have a background 82 of a second color. The first and second background colors 80, 82 may be used alone, without the character graphics, to identify the first and second wipes 72, 76.
The location of the indicia on the wipe may further communicate to the user where to grasp the wipe during use. Specifically, it has been found that printing on the edge of a wipe will encourage a user to grasp the wipe at the edge location. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated at
Graphics other than the image of a hand may be used to attract a user's attention and indicate a gripping location. When the wipes are intended for use by a child, they may carry images of a cookie, spoon, or other object commonly grasped by a child. Alternatively, the indicia may include images of stars, balloons, or other items easily recognized by a child, or patterns and decorative designs that would attract a child's attention.
The indicia disclosed herein are particularly suited for wipes and containers intended for use by children. As such, the exemplary indicia illustrated herein are intended to be readily understandable by a pre-literate child. As used herein, the terms “pre-literate” and “incapable of reading” are used interchangeably to mean the inability of a child to correctly understand, comprehend and follow prompts written in a language that the child can speak without assistance of a caregiver. The ability of a child to recognize letters and/or read one or two isolated words still means that the child is “incapable of reading” since he or she is unable to understand, comprehend and follow such written prompts, without assistance. However, this definition of “incapable of reading” does not exclude the child from being able to understand, comprehend and follow visual prompts which are presented in the form of drawings, icons, symbols, gestures, cartoons and the like. Furthermore, while the disclosed embodiments are capable of being understood by a pre-literate child, it is not necessary for the indicia to be understood at this level.
While particular embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this disclosure.
This application is a continuation-in-part of prior copending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/061,269, filed Feb. 18, 2005
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11061269 | Feb 2005 | US |
| Child | 11331472 | Jan 2006 | US |
