Patent Application
20150306741
Sanding blocks and sanding sponges have been used to sand flat surfaces over the years. A sanding block or a sanding sponge is manufactured from material that makes the sanding block or sanding sponge difficult to wear out structurally and can be used on many home improvement projects over several years. The main drawback of a sanding block or a sanding sponge is that once the abrasive, sanding grit surface has been worn away the sanding block or the sanding sponge is rendered useless. Further, the sanding block or the sanding sponge may be use only to sand flat surfaces. A sanding block or sanding sponge have not been adapted to sand rounded surfaces.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems, devices, and methods for sanding a surface (e.g. flat, rounded, etc.) using a sanding sleeve adapted to substantially fit over a sanding block or a sanding sponge to extend the useful life of the sanding block or sanding sponge.
The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated in and form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrate embodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.
The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the scope of the subject matter presented herein. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of difference configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated herein. Further, in the foregoing description, numerous details are set forth to further describe and explain one or more embodiments. These details include system configurations, block module diagrams, flowcharts (including transaction diagrams), and accompanying written description. While these details are helpful to explain one or more embodiments of the disclosure, those skilled in the art will understand that these specific details are not required in order to practice the embodiments.
Embodiments of the present disclosure include a device or apparatus that includes a sanding sleeve adapted to slide over or substantially cover a sanding block such that the sanding block includes a bottom side, top side, a left side, a right side, a front side, and a rear side. Further, the sanding sleeve includes a bottom side, top side, a left side, and a right side. In addition, the sanding sleeve is adapted to fit the sanding block such that the bottom side of the sanding sleeve substantially covers the bottom side of the sanding block, the top side of the sanding sleeve substantially covers the top side of the sanding block, the left side of the sanding sleeve substantially covers the left side of the sanding block, and the right side of the sanding sleeve substantially covers the right side of the sanding block.
The sanding sleeve 10 may be manufactured from sandpaper which in turn may be composed of different materials that include paper, cloth, and/or abrasive surfaces known in the art. The sanding sleeve 10 is preferably manufactured, from a flexible, durable sheet of material with a rough surface on one side. Components, component sizes, and materials listed above are preferable, but artisans will recognize that alternate components and materials could be selected without altering the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.
The surfaces (12-13) provide a sandpaper surface, and the front end 11 and rear end 11A are open of the sanding sleeve 10. The sandpaper block 14 may slide into the sanding sleeve 10 with a snug fit thereby the sanding sleeve 10 substantially covers the sanding block 14. The sanding sleeve 10 is provided in a variety of sizes to fit any type of sanding block 14, and in a full range of roughness grades.
A use of the sanding sleeve 10 may include the user unwrapping the sanding sleeve 10 and inserting (i.e. covering) the sanding block 14 into one end of the sanding sleeve 10, sliding sanding sleeve in until the top surface, side surfaces, and bottom surface of the sanding block 14 are substantially covered by the sleeve 10. The user may then continue using the sanding block 14. When the sanding sleeve 10 has been worn out, the sleeve 10 may be discarded and replaced.
In other embodiments, instead of the sanding sleeve 10 sliding over the sanding block 14, the sanding sleeve 10 may be a flat sheet with an adhesive mechanism at each end. Thus, the flat sheet may wrap around the sanding block 14 to become a sanding sleeve 10 substantially covering top side, bottom side, left side and right side of the sanding block 14. The sanding sleeve may be held in place to substantial cover the respective sides of the sanding block 14 by the adhesive.
Further, the handle 400 includes a handle bottom surface 420 that is used to couple the handle with the sanding sleeve 10 and the sanding block 14. In such an embodiment shown in
In some embodiments, the handle shown in
In some embodiments, the handle bottom surface 530 may be, but not limited to, an insert that is placed in between the top side of the sanding block 14 and the top side of the sanding sleeve 10. Further, in some embodiments, the handle shown in
The handle 700 includes several components that includes a grip 710 and a handle insert 720. The grip 710 allows a user to grasp the handle 700. The insert 720 allows the handle 700 to be coupled with the sanding sleeve 10 and the sanding block 14. The handle insert 720 is placed between the bottom surface of the sanding block 14 and the bottom surface of the sanding sleeve 10. Such a handle 700 coupled to the sanding sleeve 10 and sanding block 14 allows a user to sand hard to reach surfaces that may be farther than arm's length. In some embodiments, the handle shown in
As with other embodiments, the sanding sleeve 810 can be used with a sanding block 810 that has been worn smooth after initial use thereby extending the life and use of the sanding block 814. Further, in some embodiments, the sanding block 814 may have a hole or cavity 830 to allow and insert from a handle to be coupled to the sanding block 814. Such a handle may be similar to the handle shown in
The method 1100 further includes placing an insert in between the sanding sleeve and sanding block to allow for sanding of surfaces (not limited to the embodiments described in the present disclosure), as shown in block 1120. In addition, the method 1100 includes coupling a handle to the sanding sleeve such that the sanding sleeve, when substantially covering the sanding block, to sand surfaces, as shown in block 1130. The handle may be, but not limited to, a grip side handle, a grip center handle and a roller handle. Moreover, the method 1100 includes coupling an extender to the handle to sand surfaces that are substantially farther than arm's length, as shown in block 1140. The sanding sleeve can be made of ductile material as described herein that allows the sanding sleeve, when substantially covering the sanding block, to sand rounded surfaces.
Such a handle with two grips (710 and 1410) allows a user to sand hard to reach surfaces as well as provide more force to sanding surfaces than simplay using a sanding sleeve with no handle(s) or sanding block.
Note, although the sanding sleeves discussed herein are for sanding blocks that are in the shape of rectangular prisms or triangular prisms, persons of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the sanding sleeves described herein may be adapted to slide over or cover substantially or partially any shape sanding block (e.g. cylinder, trapezoidal prism, etc.).
In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present teachings.
The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued.
Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”, “having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by “comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”, “approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined as being close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and in one non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, in another embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and in another embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly and not necessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.
It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one or more generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such as microprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored program instructions (including both software and firmware) that control the one or more processors to implement, in conjunction with certain non-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of the method and/or apparatus described herein. Alternatively, some or all functions could be implemented by a state machine that has no stored program instructions, or in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certain of the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, a combination of the two approaches could be used.
Moreover, an embodiment can be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium having computer readable code stored thereon for programming a computer (e.g., comprising a processor) to perform a method as described and claimed herein. Examples of such computer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flash memory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill, notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choices motivated by, for example, available time, current technology, and economic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principles disclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such software instructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.
The present application is related to and claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/983,632 filed on Apr. 24, 2014, the entire contents of which is being incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61983632 | Apr 2014 | US |
