Patent Application
20230120326
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The disclosure and prior art relates to foot cleaning devices and more particularly pertains to a new foot cleaning device for assisting a person in cleaning the bottom side of their foot or footwear to prevent the spread of germs across a floor surface.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing defined by an outer wall. The outer wall includes a top wall, a bottom wall, and a perimeter wall is attached to and extending between the top and bottom walls. A reservoir is positioned within the housing and contains a fluid. The fluid is a sanitizing agent. A pump is positioned within the housing. A supply conduit is fluidly coupled to the reservoir and to the pump and draws the fluid from the reservoir. A plurality of apertures extending through the top wall. A plurality of dispersant tubes is positioned within the housing. Each of the apertures is fluidly coupled to one of the dispersant tubes and each of the dispersant tubes is fluidly coupled to the pump. The pump receives fluid from the reservoir and ejects the fluid outwardly of the apertures when the pump is turned on.
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
A reservoir 22 is positioned within the housing 12. The reservoir 22 is configured to contain a fluid 24. The fluid 24 will typically comprise a conventional a sanitizing agent which is used for killing viruses and bacteria. These may include, for example, alcohol based sanitizing agents or common antibacterial compounds such as benzethonium chloride. A fill opening 26 may be positioned in the outer wall. The fill opening is in fluid communication with the reservoir 22 and a cover 28 is removably positioned on the fill opening.
A pump 30 is positioned within the housing 12 and a supply conduit 32 is fluidly coupled to the reservoir 22 and to the pump 30. The pump 30 is thereafter configured to draw fluid 24 from the reservoir 22. A plurality of apertures 34 extends through the top wall 16. A plurality of dispersant tubes 36 is positioned within the housing 12. Each of the apertures 34 is fluidly coupled to one of the dispersant tubes 36 and each of the dispersant tubes 36 is fluidly coupled to the pump 30. In this manner, when the pump 30 is turned on it receives fluid from the reservoir 22 and pumps the fluid into the dispersant tubes 36 to eject the fluid outwardly of the apertures 34. The pump 30 is powered by a power supply 38 that is electrically coupled to the pump 30. The power supply 38 may comprise a battery mounted within the housing 12 or a power plug electrically coupled to the pump 30 and pluggable into a standard wall outlet.
An actuator 40 is in communication with the pump and turns on the pump 30 when the actuator 40 is actuated. In one embodiment the actuator 40 comprises a motion sensor. The pump 30 may be turned on for a preselected amount of time after the actuator 40 is actuated. This preselected amount of time will typically be less than 10.0 seconds. However, the pump 30 may be constructed such that it is only turned on for a single pulse of fluid 24 dispersant.
While not necessary, a plurality of nozzles 42 may be provided wherein each of the apertures 34 is covered with one of the nozzles 42. The nozzles 42 atomize and spread out the fluid 24 when the fluid 24 is ejected from an associated one of the apertures 34.
In use, the housing 12 is filled with the sanitizing fluid 24 and a person places their foot, or feet, onto the housing 12 such that the actuator detects the foot. This will cause the pump 30 to be turned on and the bottom of the foot to be sprayed with the sanitizing fluid 24. The foot will then be sanitized to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses across a floor surface.
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.
