Patent Application
20070204568
The invention relates generally to shoe covers. Particularly, the invention relates to devices and methods for applying disposable shoe covers onto shoes used in clean rooms.
Shoe covers are widely utilized in a variety of fields, such as medical laboratories, operating rooms, animal rooms, house keeping works, and real estate industries. For protection purposes, these shoe covers are usually made disposable with flexible fabrics and elastic band in a simple manner.
Disposable shoe covers made with elastic band and flexible fabrics are naturally curved in irregular configuration. Their openings are usually folded and hidden in wrinkles. Therefore, manual manipulation of shoe covers by hands is a common requirement. Valuable time of doctors and nurses has been wasted for wearing the cheapest shoe covers. Besides, it is also an uncomfortable and physical demanding process. The wearer has to stand on one leg, bend another leg up, keep balance, and maintain the body in a difficult gesture. It is often a struggle for wearers to put on shoe covers before body falls.
A device and method for shoe cover application are highly desirable.
Attempt has been made. Gultekin et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,075 B2, suggests a shoe cover application device using continuous shoe covers. Unfortunately, after knowing the needs, Gultekin has made simple but lethal mistakes, which could result in failure of the device.
The first mistake:
Gultekin thought shoe covers could be folded nicely flat in a storage package, as shown in FIG. 2 of his draws. Gultekin has failed to understand a simple fact. That is, his shoe covers can never be folded into such a nicely flat pattern like paper sheets. An elastic band 370 is used to strain his shoe covers into wrinkles. It is a common knowledge that elastic band has elasticity. It elongates when shoe cover is stretched. Then, its resilient force shrinks shoe cover shorter and tighter, which creates wrinkles and irregularities.
The reality is, those shoe covers will be out of control and shrink in random shapes.
The second mistake:
Gultekin expects a reliable delivery of shoe covers in one by one order from randomly packed storage bin to an application stage. Gultekin has also failed to understand that flexible fabrics, after being packed tightly in wrinkles and folds, could not be dispensed smoothly like paper sheets in a printer. Neighboring units of shoe covers are sticking together via fabric frictions, wrinkles, and interlocking irregularities.
The reality is, those shoe covers will jam the device frequently.
The third mistake:
Gultekin has found that his shoe covers fail to work without a guiding system. Therefore, a guiding member 45 is added for guiding two tubes 330 of shoe covers, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 10 of his draws. Unfortunately, Gultekin has further lost a chance to correct his mistakes. Gultekin device would be workable if guiding member 45 were extended all the way up into every unit of shoe covers in storage bin 200. But Gultekin has failed.
The reality is, there is no possibility for Gultekin to extend guiding member 45 into storage bin because:
A reliable device and method for shoe cover application are highly desirable but remains unsolved.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a reliable device and method for shoe cover application.
The advance of the invention can be summarized as follows:
The lethal mistake of Gultekin device is the lack of a control system inside storage bin. Guiding tubes 330 prevent Gultekin from correcting the failure.
To explain an embodiment of the invention, it is helpful to describe shifting rail in a package of shoe covers used by the embodiment. Inside that package, a shifting rail engages every unit of shoe covers, as shown in
Application member is the key element. Its guiding paths, 220 and 270, are continuations of shifting rails in packing box 248. Shifting rails 250 and 251 are made by a piece of thread 256 for being disposable. A penetration of end wall 255 of packing box 248 provides support to shifting rails 250 and 251.
Also in
To change a new packing box 248 of shoe covers 258 onto the device, the steps are:
To apply a shoe cover onto a shoe, the wearer should:
There are many options to control the movement of next unit of shoe covers 258 after releasing the first unit. For example, a motorized arm can be added to the device to pull shoe covers 258 one by one from packing box 248 to shoe insertion space 265. Alternatively, a piece of thin thread can be used to link neighboring units of shoe covers sequentially. A foot movement during exit will pull a next unit of shoe cover 258 from packing box 248 onto shoe insertion space 265.
Although the descriptions above contains specifications, it is apparent to those who skilled in the art that a number of other variations and modifications can be made to the invention without departing from its spirit and scope. Cutters 201 and 291, for examples, can be omitted. Four turns can also be omitted without causing failure of shoe cover application. Paths 220 and 270 can be made in plastic instead of stainless steel. Packing box can be replaced by different enclosures. Packing box can also be placed underneath base 200. Therefore, the descriptions as set out above should not be constructed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustration of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention.
