Patent Application
20230397677
This invention was not federally sponsored.
Louis Hayward, resident of Carlsbad, CA, and citizen of USA.
Safety_Sleeve
Field of the invention: This invention relates to the general field of safety devices, and more specifically to a protective sleeve for use in the food and beverage industry that not only protects the arm from burns, but also retains plates during meal service.
Brief Description of Invention. The invention is a sleeve of neoprene or another similar heat-resistant material that is worn over the forearm of a cook, barista or waiter, with a second patch attached to the sleeve which has non-skid properties that help prevent plates from sliding while a waiter is carrying food to a table.
Statement of the Problem. Cooks often burn their forearms due to splattering of hot grease and water, and touching hot cooking pans and other hot objects. Waiters often carry plates that are both hot and slippery. Baristas, dishwashers, food runners and other people who work around hot food and machines that expel hot steam from time to time are often burned by the steam, hot plates, and food that was just removed from the oven. Dishwashers have the added danger of touching hot plates and utensils when a load is done, and baristas have to prepare and carry hot cups of coffee and other beverages. Thus, it would be desirable for the food and beverage industry to have a device that both protects workers from getting burned by hot objects, hot liquids, or hot steam, and gives waiters and other servers a better grip on plates and cups as they are serving food or hot drink.
There exist large, bulky “oven mitts” that have forearm protection built in, but these are too bulky for many cooks to like them, and they are not professional enough in appearance for waiters to use.
The current invention provides just such a solution by providing a sleeve made from a heat-resistant, breathable material such as neoprene, that fits over the forearm of a cook or waiter, thereby protecting the wearer against burns from hot food, hot cooking pots and utensils, and hot plates. The sleeve also has a patch of a second material attached to the sleeve which in addition to providing additional protection against heat and burns, also provides a non-skid surface that will help a waiter keep plates from sliding off his/her arms while carrying food to a table.
In a preferred embodiment, the invention is a forearm sleeve made from breathable neoprene, with a patch of a non-skid material attached to the sleeve.
It is contemplated that the sleeve could be made from Airprene®, Ventaprene®, Lycra®, Spandex® or a similar compound.
It is contemplated that the non-skid patch could be made from strata “ribbed” neoprene, slickskin neoprene, strata slickskin neoprene, or other non-skid material.
It is contemplated that the invention could be made by attaching the patch to the sleeve, or by 3D printing the patch and sleeve as one unit using a minimum of two types of material.
It is contemplated that among the methods of making the sleeve and attaching the patch to the sleeve include, but are not limited to flat stitching, blind stitching, overlock stitching, glue, heat sealing, being sprayed on, and/or being painted on.
It is also contemplated that the sleeve could be adjustable or removable, through hook and loop fasteners, magnets, snaps, buttons and other removable contact items.
One object of the invention is to provide a protective sleeve that will protect a cook or waiter from getting burned by hot food, liquids, grease, pots and pans, and service plates.
A second object of the invention is to provide a means by which a waiter can effectively retain one or more plates in a balanced position on his/her arm during serving.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. The features listed herein and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
It should be understood the while the preferred embodiments of the invention are described in some detail herein, the present disclosure is made by way of example only and that variations and changes thereto are possible without departing from the subject matter coming within the scope of the following claims, and a reasonable equivalency thereof, which claims I regard as my invention.
Several preferred forms of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with references made to the drawings below. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. Instead, emphasis is placed upon clearly illustrating the components of the present invention. Moreover, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts through the several views in the drawings. Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention are not limited in their application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The embodiments of the invention are capable of being practiced and carried out in various ways. In addition, the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
In addition to the embodiments discussed using these figures for purposes of illustration, a number of additional embodiments are contemplated.
While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above-described embodiments, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention.
It should be understood that while the preferred embodiments of the invention are described in some detail herein, the present disclosure is made by way of example only and that variations and changes thereto are possible without departing from the subject matter coming within the scope of the following claims, and a reasonable equivalency thereof, which claims I regard as my invention.
All of the material in this patent document is subject to copyright protection under the copyright laws of the United States and other countries. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in official governmental records but, otherwise, all other copyright rights whatsoever are reserved.
This application claims priority back to U.S. Provisional No. 63/351,398, filed Jun. 12, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated by reference into this utility patent application.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63351398 | Jun 2022 | US |
