Patent Application
20130220849
The present invention is generally related to a laundry product. Specifically, the present invention relates to a multi-component laundry product that may including more than one laundry product, such as, but not limited to, detergent, dryer sheets, stain treatment product, fabric softener, dryer balls, and/or other ancillary fabric care related products housed in a common container.
Cleaning and treating of a fabric article, such as clothing, by laundering it with laundry detergent, applying a pre-treatment to the fabric for stains, and/or treating the fabric with a dryer sheet during drying, are well known. Additionally, it is also known to employ other fabric treatments, such as treating with fabric softener and/or starch.
As a result, there exist many different laundry products that a consumer needs, or may need, to clean and treat their fabric articles, such as clothing, linen, etc. Each of these products is typically provided separately in their own containers. This requires a consumer to purchase and have on hand a number of different laundry products to meet their specific needs. This further requires a consumer to have to store all these products. Further, the quantity of product provided in the individual various products are not often proportional to one another other. For example, a consumer may run out of dryer sheets, but still have a half a bottle of laundry detergent remaining, so the consumer is left with having to continually replace their various laundry products at differing times, instead of being able to conveniently replace the individual various products in a single shopping trip, for example. In addition, as a result of a consumer needing several different individually packaged laundry products, a large amount of solid waste is generated on an annual basis, for example, millions of pounds of plastic bottles and other laundry product containers are being disposed of in landfills each year.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,531,493 discloses a kit for caring for a fabric article that includes multiple products such as a fabric treatment composition and a laundry detergent composition, a fabric conditioning composition, and/or a second fabric treatment composition. Each of the multiple products contains a coordinated element, such as a brand name, a characteristic ingredient, container graphics, containers, dosages per container, a dye, a perfume, a trade dress, a set of usage instructions, and a combination thereof. However, U.S. Pat. No. 7,531,493 requires each individual fabric treatment product to be provided within its own separate container.
Accordingly, the need exists for an improved laundry product. The need also exists for a laundry product that improves consumer convenience, improves a consumer's efficiency in their fabric care, and requires less storage space. Further, the need exists for a multi-component laundry product that is packaged in a common container that is more environmentally friendly and reduces solid waste.
The present invention is directed to a multi-component laundry product that may including more than one laundry product, such as, but not limited to, detergent, dryer sheets, stain treatment product, fabric softener, dryer balls, and/or other ancillary fabric care related products housed in a common container.
In one embodiment, a laundry product is provided. The laundry product includes, a container having a main housing; and a plurality of fabric care products housed within the main housing. The plurality of fabric care products may include detergent, dryer sheets, fabric softener product, and/or fabric treatment products, such as a stain treatment product, which may be a certified organic stain treatment product. The plurality of fabric care products may be dispensable from the main housing.
The laundry product may further include, a detergent dispenser located on a lower portion of a side wall of the main housing; a detergent storage area located in an interior area of the main housing and operatively connected to the detergent dispenser for dispensing detergent; a dryer sheet removal area formed in a side wall of the main housing; and a dryer sheet housing compartment located in an interior area of the main housing configured and aligned with the dryer sheet removal area such that a user can extract individual dryer sheets through the dryer sheet removal area. The laundry product container may be generally of a rectangular or square shape and be made of a cardboard material, which may include at least a percentage of recycled material.
The plurality of fabric care products may be housed behind perforated sealed or partially sealed areas of the main housing, and may each accessible by a user tearing along designated perforation areas for a particular fabric care product.
The detergent dispenser may be a spigot. The detergent storage area may be a bladder and may be made of a material having a percentage of recycled material. The detergent storage area may have a volume capacity in the range of about 200 oz. The 1 detergent may be a liquid or powder composition, and may be a certified organic detergent.
The laundry product container may include one or more handles, and the one or more handles may be formed on one or more side walls of the main housing, and may be a perforated “knock out” section formed on the main housing and of sufficient size and shape to allow insertion of at least a portion of a user's hand.
The laundry product may further include a fabric treatment holder for holding the fabric treatment product.
The laundry product may further include a measuring device. The measuring device may be housed behind a perforated sealed or partially sealed area of the main housing and may be accessible by a user tearing along designated perforation areas for the measuring device.
The plurality of fabric care products each preferably include a quantity of product to provide approximately a six (6) month supply of laundry products based on about one (1) high efficiency (HE) load per day.
The invention includes a multi-component laundry product that includes two or more laundry products housed in a common container. For example, such laundry products may include, but are not limited to, detergent, dryer sheets, a stain treatment product, fabric softener, dryer balls, and/or other ancillary fabric care related products housed in a common container. The multi-component laundry product preferably includes proportional amounts of each included laundry product, so that a user extinguishes the products at, or about, the same time, as a result the user does not have to continually shop for more. For example, the multi-component laundry product may contain a quantity of detergent for cleaning 200 HE loads of laundry and 200 dryer sheets. In one example, the multi-component laundry product contains laundry products in sufficient quantity to provide for approximately six (6) months of laundry needs, based on a user running about one (1) high efficiency (HE) load per day. However, user rates may vary and therefore the components of the laundry products may be used at a faster or slower rate, thus, the laundry products of the multi-component laundry product may last a shorter or longer duration than approximately six (6) months.
Referring now to
A detergent dispenser 110 is preferably located on a lower portion of a side of main housing 105 and housed behind a detergent door 115. In use detergent dispenser 110 may be accessed through, or extracted from, detergent door 115 and may, in one example, protrude through detergent door 115. Detergent door 115 may be configured as a perforated sealed area and a user may access detergent dispenser 110 by tearing along the designated perforated areas. Detergent dispenser 110 is preferably configured to dispense detergent 160 from a detergent storage area 150, housed in main housing interior 145. In one example, detergent dispenser 110 may be configured as spigot. However, it is contemplated that detergent dispenser 110 may take other forms suitable to dispense liquid or powder detergent, examples of other detergent dispenser 110 configurations may include, but is not limited to, a scoop, pump, valve, gravity feed, or the like. In one embodiment detergent storage area 150 is in the form of a bladder; such a bladder may be made of plastic, or other suitable material, and may include some percentage of recycled material. In one example, detergent storage area 150 has a volume capable of holding approximately 200 oz of detergent 160; however, other suitable volumes are contemplated. For example, a suitable volume to provide for approximately six (6) months of laundry needs, based on a user running about one (1) high efficiency (HE) load per day. Further, detergent 160, stored in detergent storage area 150, may be of a liquid or powder composition. Further, in one embodiment detergent 160 may be a USDA certified organic laundry detergent.
Main housing 105 may further include a dryer sheet removal slit 120 formed in a side of main housing 105. Dryer sheet removal slit 120 is preferably positioned and configured to allow a user to extract individual dryer sheets 125 from a dryer sheet housing compartment 155 located in main housing interior 145. Dryer sheet removal slit 120, prior to initial use, is preferably a perforated sealed area and a user may tear along the designated perforated areas to initially access dryer sheets 125. In one embodiment, dryer sheet removal slit 120 and dryer sheet housing compartment 155 are located on an upper portion of the same side of main housing 105 as that of detergent dispenser 110.
With regard to
With regard to
Further laundry product container 100 may include a measuring device (not shown), such as a cup, scoop, or spoon for measuring detergent 160 or other laundry product. Such a measuring device may also be accessible from a side panel of main housing 105, and may be housed behind a perforated sealed, or partially sealed, area of main housing 105 prior to initial use, and a user may tear along the designated perforated areas to initially access the measuring device. In one example, the measuring device is housed in common with detergent dispenser 110 behind detergent door 115.
The above description discloses some non-limiting examples of laundry products that may be housed in laundry product container 100. It is contemplated that in other embodiments, laundry product container 100 may include other ancillary laundry products, such as fabric softener, wrinkle reducer, dryer balls, and/or other well known fabric care laundry products.
The present invention provides for a more convenient, user and environmentally friendly laundry product. The present invention allows for a user to purchase a single multi-component laundry product that includes multiple laundry products housed in a common container, with proportional quantities so a user does not continually have to shop for more products. In use, a user is not required to open laundry product 100, rather all the component laundry products are conveniently accessible and dispensable from one or more side panels of main housing 105. This allows not only for more user convenience, but allows the laundry product container to also act as the dispenser, thus reducing the number of separate containers previously needed to contain and dispense the multiple laundry products. This reduces the amount of consumer storage space, shelf space, and even shipping space required by eliminating the need for several different individually packaged laundry products. Further, the present invention provides a laundry product that contains laundry products in sufficient quantity to preferably provide for approximately six (6) months of laundry needs (based on a user running about one (1) high efficiency (HE) load per day). Further still, the present invention significantly reduce the amount of solid waste generated by having multiple laundry products packaged and dispensed from a common container, rather than having several different individually packaged laundry products.
The foregoing detailed description of embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments of the invention. Other embodiments having different structures and operations do not depart from the scope of the present invention. The term “the invention” or the like is used with reference to certain specific examples of the many alternative aspects or embodiments of the applicant's invention set forth in this specification, and neither its use nor its absence is intended to limit the scope of the applicant's invention or the scope of the claims. This specification is divided into sections for the convenience of the reader only. Headings should not be construed as limiting of the scope of the invention. The definitions are intended as a part of the description of the invention. It will be understood that various details of the present invention may be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the foregoing description is for the purpose of illustration only, and not for the purpose of limitation, as the present invention is defined by the claims as set forth hereinafter.
This patent application is related to and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/604,708, filed on Feb. 29, 2012, entitled “Laundry Product” the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61604708 | Feb 2012 | US |
