Patent Application
20100287678
I provide methods and systems for protecting clothing from being stained by dyes.
A person wearing multiple articles of clothing and accessories may find some of their articles stained by dyes that have rubbed off from a separate article of clothing or accessory. This unwanted occurrence happens because many articles of clothing include dyes for coloring, such as indigo dyes, that may stain other items of clothing upon contact. This can happen, for example, when a person wears shoes that abut against the bottom and inside cuffs of that person's pants. In this case, dyes from the pants may rub off on the shoes, permanently damaging them. Conversely, dyes from the shoes may rub off on the pants. While several articles are on the market to deal with such an occurrence, few are able to substantially prevent transfer of all types of dyes or fade the clothing being protected. Some products, such as suede cleaners, are only useable to remove existing stains. As one would expect, these cleaners do not prevent the stain from occurring in the first place and may fade or otherwise discolor the material. Furthermore, while some protective products can be added prior to staining, some of these, such as waterproofing sprays, do not effectively protect against dyes if at all. Other items may provide some level of protection but additionally fade the color of the material they are trying to protect. Therefore, there remains a need for clothing protectors that can prevent dye staining on clothing without fading the clothing.
I provide methods and systems using a physical protective guard that protects a portion of a piece of clothing from becoming stained by dyes that transfer from other clothing articles or accessories.
I also provide methods of protecting clothing from staining by transfer of dyes that include separating a sheet of protective guard from a roll of protective guard along a perforation, wherein the sheet of protective guard has an outer substantially dye proof layer, an inner removable backing layer and an adhesive layer between the outer and inner layer. The method of use further includes removing the backing layer from the sheet of a protective guard thereby substantially uncovering the adhesive layer, and thereafter attaching the touch based adhesive layer to the portion of the first clothing
I further provide systems for preventing dye transfer that includes one or a multiplicity of sheets of protective guard and a multiplicity of perforations on the sheets of protective guard, wherein a length of the one or a multiplicity of sheets of protective guard is defined by the distance between perforations. Each sheet of the one or a multiplicity of sheets of protective guard has an outer substantially dye proof layer, an inner removable backing layer, and a touch based adhesive layer between the outer and inner layers. The protective guard is applied to a portion of a first clothing to substantially protect staining by transfer of dyes between the first clothing and a second clothing that would otherwise touch the first clothing.
Without restricting the full scope of my disclosure, various preferred forms and its related articles are illustrated in the following drawings.
It will be appreciated that the following description is intended to refer to specific examples of structure selected for illustration in the drawings and is not intended to define or limit the disclosure, other than in the appended claims.
Non-stick backing layer 12 provides a layer that, when removed, reveals adhesive layer 14 beneath. Backing layer 12 can be made of wax paper, plastic film or any suitable material known in the art and can be colored, printed and/or can be of different surface textures or embossed. Adhesive layer 14 may be in contact with backing layer 12 such that the backing layer can be peeled off from the adhesive layer. Adhesive layer 14 can be any adhesive known in the art that is suitable for room temperature attachment onto clothing. Adhesive layer 14 may include pressure sensitive adhesives that are normally tacky at room temperature and can be adhered to a surface by application of light finger pressure, such as rubber based adhesives.
Substantially dye-proof layer 16 includes a waterproof substance that substantially prevents dyes passing through protective guard 12. Such material is preferably a polyethylene film because of its strength, resilience and waterproof nature, thus preventing water based dyes from seeping through the polyethylene. Alternate or additional materials such as a glass cloth or a polyester may be used to give protective guard 10 more flexibility. Substantially dye-proof layer 16 can be colored, printed and/or can be of different surface textures or embossed.
The substantially dye-proof layer 16 may be considered the outer layer of protective guard 10, with the backing layer 12 the inner layer, and the adhesive layer 14 in between substantially dye-proof layer 16 and backing layer 12. When backing layer 12 is removed, the adhesive layer 14 becomes the de-facto inner layer that contacts and attaches the protective substantially dye-proof layer 16 to a portion of clothing.
As shown in
Protective guard 10 may further include a strengthening layer 32 between the substantially dye-proof layer 16 and adhesive layer 14, as shown in
Roll 20 preferably has a multiplicity of perforations 24 that divide protective guard 10 into one or a multiplicity of sheets 26 to aid separation of protective guard 10 from roll 20. Perforations 24 may run substantially parallel to each other. Perforations of any pattern can be used, however, and roll 20 can reasonably have any number of sheets 26 desired.
Perforations can be added to the protective guard by any means known in the art, such as by pins and needles. Rotary pinned perforation rollers are precision tools used to make perforations, wherein the pins and needles can be used cold or heated. Hot needle perforation melts a material being perforated and creates a reinforcing ring around the perforation that assists in keeping the integrity of the material. Alternatively, laser perforation can place many precise holes in a web and look similar in many respects to hot needle perforations.
As shown in
Substantially dye-proof layer 16, adhesive layer 14 and backing layer 12 may have substantially the same length and width dimensions. In alternate aspects, as shown in
The protective guard as described provides substantial prevention of clothing dyes from passing there-through and transferring onto a protected portion of clothing. As shown in
As shown in the structure represented in
Protective guard 10 can be removed from clothing 34 by peeling it off as one peeled off the adhesive layer from the backing-layer. The removed pressure based adhesive will not cause substantial fading or damage to most types of clothing material.
I create a method and system for protecting a portion of a clothing item from dyes that may rub off from the same or other clothing or accessories. Various changes and modifications can be made in the invention without departing from its scope or spirit. For example, while
Although the apparatus and methods have been described in connection with specific forms thereof, it will be appreciated that a wide variety of equivalents may be substituted for the specified elements described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure as described in the appended claims.
