Patent Application
20170198450
The present invention relates generally to waste disposal devices. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a new disposal device for collecting and retaining waste for disposal.
Aside from civilians, law enforcement officers, government officials, and the military may encounter substances they may have to remove, many of these removable in a practical manner only by hand. Police, in particular in collecting evidence use rubber (or other material) gloves so as not to contaminate that evidence. It is common knowledge that both police and military are having to confront a broad range of devices used by terrorist and criminal elements, one class of which is “improvised explosive devices” (IED), but devices not limited to explosives. Radiological elements, such as the commonly found Cesium used in medical settings has been found to fall into malevolent hands, and there is concern that these could be used as personnel dispersement devices. Chemicals, such as hydrofluoric acid, capable of dissolving any material containing oxides or other acids can be integrated with a material, thus exposing the handler to unforeseen harm. In normal circumstances, the person merely scoops up the substance and places it in a container. However, there are circumstances that the threat level can be raised considerably, as in the placement or dispersal of chemical, biological, or radiological agents for which normal gloves and evidence bags are not sufficient. Prior to the collection of the material it is necessary to do a scan of the area for such substances by detectors, something that probably should be done, anyway. However, when human lives are involved, there may be emergency situations that time does not allow for such activity. Even if scans can be performed, it still is desirable to have a way to efficaciously remove small hazardous substances and objects. This larger subset of circumstances obviously includes the normal situations, such as animal waste, decomposing body parts, chemical spills (as in laboratories), and so forth.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a pair of scrapers. The scrapers may be manipulated to urge animal waste or other waste into a bag when the bag is positioned over the animal waste. A closure is coupled to the bag such that the closure may retain the animal waste in the bag. The scrapers furthermore have a hazard detection unit comprising one or more hazard sensors that trigger an alert if hazardous material or conditions are detected.
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.
All illustrations of the drawings are for the purpose of describing selected versions of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. The present invention is to be described in detail and is provided in a manner that establishes a thorough understanding of the present invention. There may be aspects of the present invention that may be practiced without the implementation of some features as they are described. It should be understood that some details have not been described in detail in order to not unnecessarily obscure focus of the invention.
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
Each of the scrapers 32 comprises a panel 34 that has a first surface 36, a second surface 38 and a peripheral edge 40 extending between the first surface 36 and the second surface 38. The peripheral edge 40 has an upper side 42 and a lower side 44. The second surface 38 may have a hand 46 of a user 48 positioned thereon thereby facilitating the panel 34 to be manipulated. Thus, the lower side 44 urges the animal waste 14 upwardly into the bag 12 when the bag 12 is positioned on the animal waste 14. Furthermore, in one embodiment the lower side 44 comprises a tapered edge 68. The tapered edge further facilitates the lower side 44 to be inserted underneath the animal waste 14. In one embodiment, the panel further comprises a plurality of finger indentations 70 traversing into the second surface 38, as shown in
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, each of the scrapers 32 further comprises at least one hazard detection unit 60, a power source 62, a microprocessor 64, and an alert device 66. An example circuit diagram for one embodiment is shown in
It is contemplated that any suitable sensor or combination of sensors may be utilized as the hazard detection unit 60. Referring to
In one embodiment of the present invention, one or more of the hazard detection units 60 is located proximate to the lower side 44 of the panel 34, such as in
Furthermore, a bag 12 may be placed over animal waste 14 when the animal waste 14 lies on a support surface 16. The support surface 16 may be ground. The bag 12 has a bottom wall 18 and a peripheral wall 20 extending upwardly from the bottom wall 18. The peripheral wall 20 has an outer surface 22 and a distal edge 24 with respect to the bottom wall 18. The distal edge 24 defines an opening 26 into the bag 12 such that the opening 26 may be positioned to surround the animal waste 14.
A closure 28 is coupled to the bag 12 such that the closure 28 may retain the animal waste 14 in the bag 12. The closure 28 is positioned on the outer surface 22 and the closure 28 is substantially coextensive with the distal edge 24. The closure 28 has a pair of ends 30 such that the ends 30 may be tied together thereby facilitating the closure 28 to close the opening 26. The closure 28 may comprise a string or the like.
A strap 50 is provided that has a first end 52 and a second end 54. The strap 50 is coupled to the first surface 36 and the strap 50 is positioned proximate the upper side 42 of the panel 34. The strap 50 wraps around the panel 34 such that the strap 50 extends along the second surface 38. Thus, the strap 50 maybe wrapped around the user's hand 46. Each of the first end 52 and the second end 54 are matable such that the strap 50 retains the panel 34 on the user's hand 46. The strap 50 should be positioned on the panel 34 such that when in use, the strap 50 is mounted to the user's upper metacarpal bone for optimal leverage when using the present invention. More particularly, when in use around the user's hand the strap 50 should be positioned approximately between the four metacarpal bones and the four phalangeal bones adjacent to the metacarpal bones. Thus, the strap is separated a certain distance from the upper side 42 of the panel 34 toward the lower side 44. For example, in one embodiment, the strap 50 is located one half inch from the upper side 42. In another embodiment, the strap 50 is located one and a quarter inches from the upper side 42.
In one embodiment, the strap 50 is an elastic band. In one embodiment, the strap is made of two separate pieces and is adjustable. Therefore, in one embodiment a first coupler 56 is coupled to the strap 50 and the first coupler 56 is positioned adjacent to the first end 52. A second coupler 58 is coupled to the strap 56 and the second coupler 58 is positioned adjacent to the second end 54. The first coupler 56 and the second coupler 58 are complementary such that the first coupler 56 and the second coupler 58 may retain the panel 34 on the user's hand 46. In one embodiment, each of the first coupler 56 and the second coupler 58 may comprise a hook and loop fastener or the like. In one embodiment, the first coupler 56 and the second coupler 58 may comprise a button snap connection or the like.
In use, the bag 12 is positioned on the animal waste 14 such that the opening 26 surrounds the animal waste 14. Each of the scrapers 32 is coupled to one of the user's hands 46. Each of the scrapers 32 is manipulated to urge the animal waste 14 upwardly into the opening 26 in the bag 12. Each of the scrapers 32 engages the peripheral wall 20 of the bag 12 rather than directly engaging the animal waste 14. The bag 12 is manipulated to be turned upright thereby facilitating the animal waste 14 to fall into the bag 12. The closure 28 is manipulated to close the opening 26 such that the animal waste 14 are contained within the bag 12. The bag 12 is disposed of and the scrapers 32 are retained to be used later.
In one alternative embodiment shown in
In the case of the present invention being used in a hazardous waste environment, if one or more sensors of the hazard detection unit 60 (all or any of chemical, biological, or radiological sensors) detects the presence of a hazard, the present invention and will emit an indication by sound or visually, as with a flashing light. If the sensors are integrated into the scrapers 32 or bag 12, the situation takes care of itself. If they are not, the sensor(s) is/are attached at appropriate places, as suggested by the figures. In some embodiments, when sophisticated detection is required or where the detection and readout equipment is bulkier, each sensor will have either by radio-transmission or by direct wire) a connection to that equipment, which may be on a cart or backpack, or other carrying device or mode. Such equipment may be remote, if the transmission is wireless. It is expected that such equipment may be integrated into a larger computerized system and its databases.
In use, the two scrapers are placed on the opposite hands of the user with the adjustable strap covering the upper metacarpal bone. The hands are inserted inside the bag, stretching it taut. Now that the scraper is part of the hand it can pull the bag open with resistance against the side of the bag. With the hands near but not on the ground surface the waste is covered in a dome like fashion. Pressure can be exerted by the fingers to flex the scraper and scoop under the waste, meeting in the middle. The weight of the waste now can be used to help assist flipping the bag over so that it is inverted and ready to tie off for disposal. If no waste that has a mandatory special handling requirement (as in hazardous waste) is present, the pocket size scrapers can be reused again as they are clean, having never touched the waste. The unique aspect of the lifters is the adjustable strap that covers the metacarpal bone thereby giving the fingers resistance to flex and go under the covered waste, in addition to the hazard detection unit.
If hazardous waste is detected, an alarm will be triggered, either visually, by sound, or by another method. In one common modality, the user, as the hand is brought close to the material, will see on the band or paddle flashing light and/or hear a beeping sound as a warning. Because the equipment is miniatured, such warning may only be a general warning (“go or no go”), potentially requiring a more sophisticated analysis of exact intensity, quantity, and type of substance being detected.
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.
Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/801,907 filed Jul. 17, 2015.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14801907 | Jul 2015 | US |
| Child | 15470674 | US |
