Patent Application
20150176233
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to waste collection and disposal systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pet waste on streets, walkways, parks, beaches, and private property become a health and aesthetic problem, especially in high density urban communities. Many municipalities have become fiercely proactive in enacting ordinances which require a pet owner to retrieve and properly dispose of pet waste in lieu of being fined. Pet owners are faced with the unpleasant task of collecting and disposing of animal fecal material. In the past, pet owners have used pieces of paper, plastic shopping bags, and rods to collect waste. However, each method carries its own troubles. Paper is the simplest method used. A disadvantage of using paper is that moisture seeps through, causing the paper to fall apart and soiling the owner's hand. Use of plastic shopping bags prevent wet matter from contacting the hand. However, plastic bags can slide off the hand, making it difficult to grasp waste matter. Plastic bags hide the waste from the view of the pet owner which forces the pet owner to make several attempts to pick up the waste, while having to manipulate and apply undue pressure on the waste, which can be an uncomfortable sensation.
Waste collecting rods have also been used to collect and dispose of waste. However, they can cumbersome for the user to carry, especially when walking an overactive pet. Rods are meant to be reusable and, as a result, must be cleaned for sanitary reasons.
Certain other devices for disposing of animal waste have been developed that encase the entire hand. However, they do not allow the user to readily control and collect the waste because the devices do not fit the thumb, do not fit each individual finger of the wearer, and provide the additional surface area between the thumb and each individual finger to collect the waste. Additionally, these hand devices do not provide an easy and quick way to contain waste without soiling the user's hand. Although some hand encasing devices means for enclosing the waste for disposal, these devices require a lot of hand manipulation to enclose and contain waste.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,733, issued to Lerner on Dec. 6, 1998 describes a combined cleaning glove and disposal bag. The device is a thin plastic glove having three compartments; one for the thumb, one for the small finger, and one for the remaining fingers. The glove is ambidextrous and has a tie at the wrist to secure the glove when it is turned inside out. The surface of the glove is covered with a towel layer that is infused with a cleaning solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,708, issued to Jacovitz on Aug. 8, 1995 describes a manual waste collection, containment and disposal glove. The glove has a sleeve that encases the lower arm and handles found at the end of the sleeve. The handles allow the wearer to pull the glove off the hand, in an inverted position, and to tie the inverted glove containing the waste. The palm of the glove has absorbent, non-absorbent or abrasive contact means.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,668, issued to Carpol on Sep. 12, 2000 describes a disposable waste collection garment that covers the hand as well as the wrist and lower arm. Two handles are provided at the end of the garment that covers the lower arm. The handles help invert the garment over the waste and provide a way to tie the garment in a self contained compartment. A cleaning cloth is also found in a pouch placed on the forearm of the garment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,766, issued to May et al. on Nov. 19, 2002 describes a glove like disposal bag made of flexible plastic or rubber. The glove has a flexible bag positioned between the thumb and index finger that can be removed from the glove body to dispose of waste collected in the flexible bag. The glove has a cleansing pad and a sanitizing bar attached to its body to clean the soiled area once waste is removed. A flared wrist portion is attached to the base of the glove body. A drawstring is attached to the end of the wrist portion to close the glove around the wrist and to help tie and close the glove, containing the waste, once it is inverted.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,111, issued to Dooley on Jan. 28, 2003 describes a disposable glove incorporating half webbing between glove fingers, a full, thin padding in the palm and fingers area, and a tapered, extended length cuff with ties at the outer cuff end. The cuff extends midway up the arm of the user. The palm and finger padding may be bubble-wrap in structure, or made paper material, or rigid plastic; it blocks the warmth of the waste from being felt by the user's hand. The half webbing between glove fingers greatly reduces the necessary surface area needed to collect larger proportions of waste material which defeats its intended use. The padding is designed to block the warmth of the waste material, but can reduce dexterity and limit the pet owner's ability to feel the waste material in the glove. Losing the ability to feel the waste material can make picking up the waste more cumbersome by applying undue pressure with the fingers and thumb which is an undesirable sight and sensation. Also, the padding on the one side can restrict the use of the glove to either a right or left handed user.
Other patents showing waste disposal devices the hand include U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,251, issued to Jacobs on Feb. 24, 1987 (two layered glove like waste disposal system); U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,818, issued to Kolic on Sep. 6, 1988 (disposable litter pick-up mitt).
Many devices attempt to aid the pet owner in retrieving the pet waste. U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,733, issued to Lerner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,708, issued to Jacovitz, U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,766, issued to May et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,251, issued to Jacobs, U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,818, issued to Kolic discloses a fully webbed finger glove and an oversized collection pad for collecting and disposing waste. The bulky pad and full webbing between the finger portions can restrict movement of the fingers, thumb, and hand in collecting waste. U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,167, issued to Gilley, discloses a glove and bag combination for waste collection, including an absorbent layer. The device permits only limited finger and hand motion for the process.
Mitt and bag combinations for collecting waste are known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,781, issued to Strickland et al.; discloses an invertible hand mitt for collecting contaminated materials; three-quarter webbing feature of the present invention are not disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,283, issued to Rojko et al.; teaches an invertible mitt for wiping babies, which allows the user to avoid contact with baby waste, but does not allow manipulation of the hand and fingers to pick up waste efficiently.
Disposable gloves used for general cleaning are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,733 issued to Lerner (previously referenced); U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,881 issued to Murray; U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,160 issued to Cano; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,099 issued to Grindberg. A reusable general purpose cleaning glove is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 720,640 issued to Torrens, which shows a glove for washing and scrubbing.
A need exists for a device to conform to the user's hand, especially the thumb and each finger, allowing the user to readily grasp waste material. A need also exists for a device to contain waste in which the device can be easily pulled off the gloved hand, inverted for enclosing the waste material, and tied to contain the waste for disposal in the most simplistic manner.
The instant invention provides a pet waste collection and disposable device in the form of a disposable glove-like member made of thin, flexible, preferably biodegradable material (polyethylene, vinyl, latex, polypropylene, cellophane etc.). The glove is of length to extend up a user's forearm, and may be manufactured in many widths and lengths to fit a variety of users.
Webbing is provided three-quarters (to the joint at distal and intermediate phalanges) up the fingers and thumb portion of the mitt/glove. The webbing provides additional surface area needed to collect larger proportions of waste material which the user's hand normally could not control and maintain, permits acceptable dexterity of the user's fingers and thumb in collecting the waste in various proportions, and prevents any liquid oozing from the waste and escaping around the user's fingers and onto the back of the mitt/glove.
The open end of the cuff should be flared outward and long enough to allow the user to pull the mitt/glove up, around, and over the hand in such a manner that the user does not have to apply undue pressure on the hand, fingers, and thumb by squeezing the waste to get the mitt/glove inverted; this can be a most uncomfortable and repulsive feeling.
A quantity of identical gloves can be folded and stacked for quick and convenient dispensing. The mitt/glove can be made in a variety of colors, patterns, or prints. The invention can similarly be utilized for retrieval and disposal of waste from all livestock, wild, and domestic.
Accordingly, the invention provides a simple and efficient device for hand collection and disposal of pet waste, where a user's hand is protected from direct contact with the pet waste.
The invention also provides a device for collecting pet waste which allows full use of the fingers and hands to pick up the waste, while preventing the waste from leaking around and onto the back of the hand and fingers of the user. The three-quarter webbing also provides additional surface area needed to collect larger proportions of waste material which the user's hand normally could not control and maintain.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
As illustrated in
A feature of the invention is the provision of three-quarter webbing 17 between the fingers 12 and thumb 14 of the glove. Three-quarter webbing as opposed to full webbing known in the art is preferred because the user may manipulate his or her fingers with full dexterity in collecting the pet waste. Such webbing extends only three-quarters up the finger and thumb portions of the device, and not all the way to the ends, as is the case in some known collection gloves. Equally important, the three-quarter webbing 17 prevents any liquid oozing from the waste from escaping around the user's fingers and onto the back of the glove.
As shown in
Attention is now directed to
Utilizing the present invention can be fast and easy. A single mitt/glove is removed from the dispenser 19. The user inserts his or her hand into the mitt/glove to retrieve pet waste W as shown in
Although the presently disclosed subject matter and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made wherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the presently disclosed subject matter as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the presently disclosed subject matter is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments described in the specification. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such modifications.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2013/518033 | Dec 2013 | CN | national |
