Bars of soap have been used for many years as a convenient way to clean one's hands by rubbing the bar between wet hands and letting the soap mingle with water to create a soapy lather that can perform cleaning actions. Bar soap is often used in this way in household and other similar settings where access to the bar is limited to a relatively small number of familiar people. The use of bar soap often becomes less appealing in settings where it is available to large numbers of people due to worry of cross contamination or the bar being carried off, for example. These concerns can hamper use of specialty or luxury bar soaps (which have become increasingly popular in recent years) in settings where access is somewhat limited but still public in nature, such as in bathrooms of upscale restaurants, for example.
One way to overcome these concerns is to restrict access to the bar itself and allow removal of shavings from the bar which then can be used for cleaning purposes. Use of bar soap in this manner allows many people to use the same bar in a public setting without worry of cross contamination or loss. Therefore, it would be advantageous for those wishing to expand markets for specialty bar soaps to have an automated device which easily and conveniently provides shavings from bar soap without having to come into direct physical contact with the bars themselves. This would allow use of bar soap in settings where liquid hand soap dispensers are currently used.
Others have thought of and patented various soap slicing or grating devices. These include:
U.S. Pat. No. 534,117 issued in 1895 shows a push pull device that slices of pieces of soap like a modern mandolin kitchen product.
U.S. Pat. No. 879,780 shows a dispenser with a rocking action where each rotational up and down action slices off a piece of soap.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,441,034 discloses a soap dispenser that also uses a rotational motion to dispense soap that is already in a shredded form.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,480,271 shows a soap dispenser that has a reciprocating cutter blade which cuts on a 45-degree angle.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,204,440 shows a horizontally disposed rotary handle that causes a slicing action within a container. There is a push plate that forces the soap (or food) down into the grinding blades.
Although others have patented ways of slicing thin pieces of soap to be used for cleaning purposes, there still remains deficiencies in the prior art. One shortcoming is that soap cutting devices of the prior art use slicing actions, rather than a grating or shredding action, to cut the soap which results in larger pieces being produced. A grating action can produce finer soap shavings which make them easier and faster to dissolve when exposed to water. Another shortcoming is that prior designs do not provide fully automated systems which are configured to conveniently drop a portion of soap shaving into a person's hands for easy use in washing one's hands. Finally, previous designs do not allow users to easily see when the soap needs to be replaced. It would additionally be advantageous to display the bar of soap being grated so that people who enjoy the experience of using the soap gratings can take note of the soap brand and be able to perhaps purchase bars of that brand for their own private use.
A primary object of the invention is to provide an automated device for grating shavings of soap from a bar of soap and dispensing them into a person's hand for use in cleaning.
Another object of the invention is to provide a soap grater and dispenser that allows a person to insert a standard bar of soap into the grater and to visually see when the soap needs to be replaced.
One form of this invention is a congealed product grating and dispensing machine housed inside an housing. An electric motor mounted within the housing has a rotatable driveshaft. A guide channel that is oriented perpendicularly to the driveshaft's axis of rotation is mounted within the housing, over an aperture through a wall of the housing. A serrated plate is slidably engaged with the guide channel and is connected to the driveshaft through a transmission that translates rotational movement of the driveshaft into reciprocating movement of the serrated plate when the motor is energized. A congealed product feeder is mounted stationary within the housing and is arranged perpendicularly adjacent the guide channel. It is biased to feed congealed product toward the guide channel. An actuator in circuit with the motor energizes it for a preset time period when it is actuated.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.
The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
Detailed descriptions of preferred embodiments are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.
Referring now to
Electric motor 122 is preferably a continuous duty, low-speed (16 rpm max.), high-torque (starting at 640 in.-oz.) motor of relatively small size to fit within housing 112. It is powered by operation circuit 132, shown as a battery-powered circuit with battery box 134. Alternatively, operation circuit 132 may include an AC plug and transformer for energizing the circuit (not shown).
Transmission 124 is shown as a scotch-yoke-type transmission that converts rotational energy from the motor's driveshaft 136 into linear reciprocating motion of serrated plate 128.
Operation circuit 132 generally comprises proximity detection sensor 154 (
While the invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments, they are not intended to limit the scope of invention to the particular forms set forth, but on the contrary, they are intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, there may be additional compartments built into the housing to hold a stick of aromatic material such as scented soap, or scented liquid.
It should be further understood that grater-dispensers according to this invention may be designed for use with other products of similar character to bar soap. For example, a grater-dispenser according to this invention may be designed more specifically for other bar or block congealed products, such as blocks of cheese for example.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/344,188 filed Jun. 1, 2016 which application is hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
534117 | Malzacher | Feb 1895 | A |
879780 | Lewis | Feb 1908 | A |
1357925 | Asel | Nov 1920 | A |
2029701 | Burditt | Feb 1936 | A |
2349017 | Storer | May 1944 | A |
2441034 | Pumphrey | May 1948 | A |
2480271 | Sumner | Aug 1949 | A |
2527557 | Lang | Oct 1950 | A |
2893960 | McNally | Jul 1959 | A |
7204440 | Fouse et al. | Apr 2007 | B2 |
9980615 | Maercovich | May 2018 | B1 |
20070151419 | Nishio | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20180078097 | Willingham | Mar 2018 | A1 |
20180184855 | Maercovich | Jul 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62344188 | Jun 2016 | US |