The present invention relates to a structure of automatically tearing a hole out of a slip-in type sanitary cover for toilet seats and, more particularly, to a structure using dot-shaped hot-melt pressing/bonding points formed on a plastic film by hot melting and subsequent pressing bonding, wherein the dot-shaped hot-melt pressing/bonding points can hook a front end of a toilet seat such that when the toilet seat is slipped-into a sanitary cover including the plastic film, the point-shaped hot-melt pressing/bonding points automatically tear a hole out of the plastic film for excretion purposes.
According to the research by the World Health Organization, about 7-21% of people have dermatitis or sexual diseases, which varies according to the respondents. As an example, 1 out of every 5 persons (about 21%) in the army have dermatitis, and 1 out of every 16 persons (about 7%) in the world have sexual diseases, which is a very high rate. Since everyone could use a public toilet, the toilet seat is highly risky in contagion of bacteria and viruses. Thus, ordinary users are worried about being infected by the dirty toilet seat and, thus, get infected or dirty if they directly sit on the toilet seat.
Thus, many users of a public toilet dare not directly sit on the toilet seat. Instead, they squatted on the toilet seat, and some of them fell from the toilet seat and got injured. Other users used tissue papers or toilet seat covers as an insulating member to avoid direct contact between the buttocks and the toilet seat. Obviously, everybody has noticed the issue of insanitariness and infection of diseases resulting from dirty toilet seats.
Although sanitary covers have been researched and invented, the results were not satisfactory. For example, some sanitary covers deformed or slid (and, thus, difficult to position) after users sit on them. Some sanitary covers made of paper are apt to be wetted (and, thus, could not be used) by water or urine. Automatic equipment for manufacturing the sanitary covers is expensive. Obviously, the prior art sanitary covers have many disadvantages, and seldom of them address the issue of easy carriage.
The applicant of the present invention conducted researches in products that can be folded into a small size for easy carriage and has filed a patent application entitled “SNIP-IN TYPE SANITARY COVER FOR TOILET SEATS” and published as US 2012/0204336 A1. This application discloses a slip-in type sanitary cover for toilet seats 21 in the form of a bag including two opposite sides, a bag opening formed at a side of the slip-in type sanitary cover 21, two side edges respectively located at the opposite sides of the slip-in type sanitary cover 21, a closed side opposite to the bag opening, a bag space 31 formed in the slip-in type sanitary cover 21 and formed between the bag opening, the side edges, and the closed side, and an excreting hole 22 formed through a central section of the slip-in type sanitary cover 21 and communicating with the bag space 31.
There are two methods for forming the excreting hole 22 in the slip-in type sanitary cover 21. The first one includes automatically forming the excreting hole 22 by removing plastic films during the manufacturing process. However, the hollow product (see
Automatic folding by a machine involves repeated folding of a “complete rectangular object” to form a small-size product. The “complete rectangular object” includes a stable structure and a stable shape to allow automatic folding. However, the shape of a hollow product becomes irregular when it is folded in half along the middle line, such that the machine can not fold the hollow product in half again. This is why automatic folding can not be conducted on an easy-to-deform structure.
In the second method, the plastic films are manually removed after manufacturing instead of removal by a machine. Specifically, the plastic bag is cut along a peripheral edge of the excreting hole 22 to be formed, and a plurality of small-area connecting points remains on the peripheral edge. In another approach, a tear line including a plurality of dotted or dashed perforations can be formed along the peripheral edge of the excreting hole 22 to be formed, and the plastic films can manually be torn off to form the excreting hole 22. Although this could allow the product to be automatically folded into a small size, it still has the following disadvantages.
Firstly, the two plastic films removed from the plastic bag could inadvertently be thrown into the toilet and, thus, cause blockage of the toilet, which is a very serious disadvantage. Thus, the product requiring manual tearing is impractical and, thus, does not possess production value.
Secondly, removal of the plastic films after folding into a small-size product requires manual operation, because the plastic films are hidden in the folded product and, thus, could not be removed by a machine. However, human labor is costly, is slow in speed, and does not possess production value.
Conclusively, the disadvantages of the conventional slip-in type sanitary cover 21 for toilet seats include: (1) an increase in the labor cost if automatic folding could not be used, (2) troublesome manual removal of the plastic films is required if the plastic films of the product are not automatically removed during manufacturing, or (3) the risk of blockage of the toilet if the manually torn plastic films are thrown into the toilet. In view of these advantages of the prior art, a need exists for a novel sanitary cover permitting automatic folding during manufacturing, automatic tearing off permitting easy use, and avoiding blockage of the toilet seat.
The above need and other problems in the field of sanitary use of public toilets are solved by providing a slip-in type sanitary cover for toilet seats. The slip-in type sanitary cover is a plastic bag and includes a cut peripheral edge to define a plastic film. The slip-in type sanitary cover is adapted to receive a toilet seat. The plastic film is adapted to be torn along the cut peripheral edge to form a hole allowing passage of feces and/or urine of a user using the toilet seat received in the slip-in type sanitary cover. A plurality of extremely-small-area connecting points is provided on the cut peripheral edge of the plastic film. The extremely-small-area connecting points are spaced from each other. A larger-area connecting point is located on a front end of the cut peripheral edge of the plastic film. The plastic film is connected to the sanitary cover by the plurality of extremely-small-area connecting points and the larger-area connecting point before forming the hole. The plastic film includes at least one hot-melt pressing/bonding point. The at least one hot-melt pressing/bonding point is adapted to hook a front edge of an outer rim of the toilet seat when the toilet seat is slipped into the slip-in type sanitary cover. The plurality of extremely-small-area connecting points is pulled and torn off to form the hole when the toilet seat is completely slipped into the slip-in type sanitary cover. The larger-area connecting point is adapted to be still connected to the plastic bag after the hole is formed.
The cut peripheral edge can include a plurality of dash-shaped perforations.
The at least one hot-melt pressing/bonding point can be dot-shaped.
In an embodiment, the cut peripheral edge further includes a rear end spaced from the front end of the cut peripheral edge in a length direction. The cut peripheral edge further includes two lateral sections spaced from each other in a width direction perpendicular to the length direction. Each of the two lateral sections extends between the front and rear ends of the cut peripheral edge. The extremely-small-area connecting points are located on the rear end and the two lateral sections of the cut peripheral edge.
In an embodiment, the sanitary cover includes a plurality of hot-melt pressing/bonding points located between the two lateral sections of the cut peripheral edge.
The plastic film includes left and right sides spaced from each other in the width direction and located between the two lateral sections of the cut peripheral edge. The hot-melt pressing/bonding points can include a first row of hot-melt pressing/bonding points located on the left side of the plastic film and a second row of hot-melt pressing/bonding points on the right side of the plastic film. The first row of hot-melt pressing/bonding points are spaced from each other in the length direction. The second row of hot-melt pressing/bonding points are spaced from each other in the length direction. The first and second rows of hot-melt pressing/bonding points are located between the front and rear ends of the cut peripheral edge.
The primary technical feature of the sanitary cover according to the present invention is that the sanitary cover can hook the front edge of the outer rim of the toilet seat by the hot-melt pressing/bonding points, and the plastic film can be automatically torn off to form the hole during the slipping in procedure, with the hole allowing passage of feces and/or urine of the user using the toilet seat received in the slip-in type sanitary cover. The main features of the present invention include:
1. The sanitary cover according to the present invention is a plastic bag and includes extremely-small-area connecting points on the cut peripheral edge thereof for connecting the plastic film to plastic bag. The shape and the structure of the plastic bag can be maintained to allow automatic folding by a machine.
2. The hot-melt pressing/bonding points on the plastic film can hook the front end of the toilet seat while slipping the toilet seat into the sanitary cover, such that the extremely-small-area connecting points can be pulled and torn off to form the hole for excretion purposes.
3. The larger-area connecting point on the cut peripheral edge keeps the connection between the plastic film and the plastic bag after formation of the hole, avoiding the plastic film from being torn off from the plastic bag and preventing the plastic film from falling into and blocking the toilet.
It can be appreciated that the disadvantages of (1) folding, (2) manual tearing before use, and (3) blockage of the toilet of the conventional sanitary cover are solved by the sanitary cover according to the present invention. Specifically, the hole of the sanitary cover according to the present invention is not formed during manufacture. Instead, only a portion of the peripheral edge of the plastic film for forming the hole is cut, but the plastic film is still connected to the plastic bag by the extremely-small-area connecting points. The shape and the structure of the plastic bag are stable and, thus, allow automatic folding by a machine. Secondly, during the slipping in procedure, the hot-melt pressing/bonding points will hook the front end of the toilet seat, such that the extremely-small-area connecting points can be pulled and torn off to form the hole for excretion purposes. Thus, troublesome manual tearing of the plastic film by the hands of the user for using the sanitary cover is not required. Thirdly, since the sanitary cover according to the present invention is a plastic bag, the whole plastic film is pushed and squeezed into the front end of the plastic bag after automatic tearing while the larger-area connecting point assures the plastic film with the hole to be still connected to the plastic bag, avoiding the plastic film from being torn off from the plastic bag and preventing the plastic film from falling into and blocking the toilet.
Thus, the sanitary cover according to the present invention can solve the three disadvantages of the conventional sanitary cover and allow easy, automatic production and easy use.
The present invention will become clearer in light of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments of this invention described in connection with the drawings.
The illustrative embodiments may best be described by reference to the accompanying drawings where:
All figures are drawn for ease of explanation of the basic teachings only; the extensions of the figures with respect to number, position, relationship, and dimensions of the parts to form the illustrative embodiments will be explained or will be within the skill of the art after the following teachings have been read and understood. Further, the exact dimensions and dimensional proportions to conform to specific force, weight, strength, and similar requirements will likewise be within the skill of the art after the following teachings have been read and understood.
Where used in the various figures of the drawings, the same numerals designate the same or similar parts. Furthermore, when the terms “upper”, “lower”, “front”, “rear”, “side”, “end”, “portion”, “section”, “vertical”, “lateral”, “spacing”, “length”, “width”, and similar terms are used herein, it should be understood that these terms have reference only to the structure shown in the drawings as it would appear to a person viewing the drawings and are utilized only to facilitate describing the illustrative embodiments.
Since the conventional sanitary cover 21 shown in
The extremely-small-area connecting points G are located on the cut peripheral edge H of the plastic film 22P. Since the area of each extremely-small-area connecting point G is extremely small, a very little force is sufficient to tear off the extremely-small-area connecting points G. The larger-area connecting point Gend is located on a front end of the cut peripheral edge H of the plastic film 22P. Namely, a longer, uncut section is provided between two end points of the cut peripheral edge H adjacent to a front side 211c of the sanitary cover 21. Since the larger-area connecting point Gend has a larger area, it is less likely to be torn off The present invention further includes special designs to avoid the plastic film 22P from being completely torn off from the plastic bag, preventing the plastic film 22P from falling into the toilet and blocking the toilet. The special designs are shown in
In the form shown in
The conventional sanitary cover 21 of
Plastic films possess hot melting and pressing/bonding properties. Namely, the plastic films will melt by heat and can be pressed to bond tightly. The sealing line of the above plastic bag is a line formed by sealing an end of the plastic bag by hot melting and pressing/bonding. Thus, for an ordinary plastic bag with three sealed sides, a sealing line obtained from hot melt and pressing/bonding can be seen aside from the two sides resulting from flattening the plastic tube by pressing.
With the same processing principle, the present invention also uses the hot melting and pressing/bonding properties to form a dot-shaped structure including a plurality of hot-melt pressing/bonding points D on the plastic film 22P. Only one of the hot-melt pressing/bonding points D is sufficient to hook a front edge 111c of the outer rim 111 of the toilet seat 11, providing an automatic hole-forming effect.
With reference to
The suffix “1, 2, 3 . . . n”, “l” (left)' and “r” (right) after each numeral “D” (the hot-melt pressing/bonding point) and each numeral “G” (the extremely-small-area connecting point) in the drawings is provided for ease of explanation.
Next, the front edge 111c of the outer rim 111 of the toilet seat 11 presses against a portion of the plastic film 22P that has been torn off and squeezed together (see the creased portion in
With reference to
1. Considering the larger-area connecting point Gend as a center, it is in a location where the curvature of the plastic film 22P reverses (see
2. A vertical spacing A between the larger-area connecting point Gend and each of two hot-melt pressing/bonding points Dnl, Dnr of the plastic film 22P above the larger-area connecting point Gend is larger (see
3. A vertical spacing B between the larger-area connecting point Gend and the front side 211c of the sanitary cover 21 below the larger-area connecting point Gend is smaller (see
4. Namely, the upper vertical spacing A is slightly larger than the lower vertical spacing B.
By the above special designs, after the hot-melt pressing/bonding points Dnl, Dnr have hooked the front edge 111c of the outer rim 111 of the toilet seat 11, the sanitary cover 21 is further moved towards the rear end of the toilet seat 11 until the front side 211c of the sanitary cover 21 contacts the front edge 111c of the toilet seat 11, completing the slipping-in procedure, as can be seen from
Since the upper vertical spacing A is slightly larger than the lower vertical spacing B, the larger-area connecting point Gend in the curvature reversal position of the overlapped structure is not pulled and, thus, will not be torn off. Thus, the plastic film 22P is still connected to the sanitary cover 21 without the risk of being torn off.
Since the larger-area connecting point Gend is not pulled and, thus, will not be torn off, the front edge 111c of the outer rim 111 of the toilet seat 11 will press against the whole plastic film 22P after the slipping-in procedure, as shown in
Now that the basic teachings of the present invention have been explained, many extensions and variations will be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art. For example, the cut peripheral edge H of the sanitary cover 21 can be dot-shaped or dash-shaped perforations. The hot-melt pressing/bonding points D1l-Dnl, D1r-Dnr can be rectilinear, plane, or of other different shapes, rather than point-shaped. As an example, two end points of a curvature can be used to replace the dot-shaped hot-melt pressing/bonding points D1l-Dnl, D1r-Dnr. As another example, two elongated sealing lines can be formed on the left and right sides of the plastic film 22P by hot-melt pressing/bonding to replace the dot-shaped hot-melt pressing/bonding points D1l-Dn1, D1r-Dnr. Furthermore, hot-melt pressing/bonding points D1l-Dnl, D1r-Dnr different from the embodiment shown in number, locations, or spacings can be used to provide a better hooking and tearing effect. Furthermore, larger-area connecting points Gend different from the embodiment shown in number and/or a different length can be used to reliably avoid the plastic film 22P from being torn off from the sanitary cover 21. Furthermore, sealing lines different from the embodiment shown in number or location can be used to reinforce the sanitary cover 21 and to reduce the tension force.
In view of the foregoing, the primary technical feature of the sanitary cover 21 according to the present invention is that the sanitary cover 21 can hook the front edge 111c of the outer rim 111 of the toilet seat 11 by the hot-melt pressing/bonding points D, and the plastic film 22P can be automatically torn off to form a hole during the slipping-in procedure, with the hole allowing passage of feces and/or urine of the user using the toilet seat 11 received in the slip-in type sanitary cover 21. This does not belong to the current techniques including pre-formation of the excreting hole by a machine or manual removal of the plastic films nor can it be easily accomplished by one having ordinary skill based on the conventional technical concepts. Thus, the sanitary cover 21 according to present invention possesses non-obviousness.
Thus since the illustrative embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or general characteristics thereof, some of which forms have been indicated, the embodiments described herein are to be considered in all respects illustrative and not restrictive. The scope is to be indicated by the appended claims, rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102215665 | Aug 2013 | TW | national |