Patent Application
20240148201
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The disclosure relates to covering devices and more particularly pertains to a new covering device for reducing viral transmission. The present invention discloses a covering device comprising elastomer, which reduces a risk of transmission of pathogens, such as viruses.
The prior art relates to covering devices, which may comprise paper covers that are thin and flexible or somewhat rigid, rigid plastic covers, and multiuse flexible plastic covers that are adhesively attachable to toilet seats, and the like. What is lacking in the prior art is a covering device comprising a disposable sheet, which is made of elastomer and powdered on its opposed faces.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a sheet, which is shaped substantially complementarily to an upper face of a toilet seat. The sheet comprises resiliently flexible, substantially inelastic, elastomer. The sheet is configured to be positioned on, and to substantially cover, the upper face of the toilet seat, whereby the sheet prevents direct contact of the upper face of the toilet seat with a user who is seated upon the toilet seat. The sheet may be one of a plurality of sheets, the sheets of which are sequentially extractable for use, after which they can be disposed of.
Another embodiment of the disclosure include a method of covering a toilet seat. The method comprising a provision step, which entails providing toilet seat covering device according to the disclosure above, an extraction step wherein a respective sheet is extracted from the plurality of sheets, and deployment step, wherein the respective sheet is positioned on an upper face of a toilet seat.
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.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The sheet 12 has opposed faces 18, which are powdered with cornstarch, or the like. The cornstarch, being on both of the opposed faces 18, allows either opposed face 18 to be in contact with the toilet seat 16, while the other opposed face 18 will be in contact with the user. The cornstarch thus deters adhesion of the sheet 12 to the user.
The sheet 12 may be sized to overlay and to overhang the upper face 14 of the toilet seat 16 so that an inner rim 20 and an outer rim 22 of the toilet seat 16 are substantially covered by the sheet 12. The sheet 12 thus is configured to prevent direct contact of the inner rim 20 and the outer rim 22 of the toilet seat 16 with the user who is seated upon the toilet seat 16. The sheet 12 may be shaped complementarily to a toilet seat 16 of a campground toilet, which may be frequently used and infrequently serviced.
As shown in
In use, the toilet seat covering device 10 enables a method of covering a toilet seat 28, as shown in
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.
