Patent Application
20070084846
U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,696 to Nakamura et al. disclosed a wet tissue warmer. This prior art may only warm the wet tissue. It can not play double roles for simultaneously warming tissue and a liquid container such as a nursing bottle.
The present inventor has found the shortcomings of the prior art and invented the present warmer for warming wiper and fluid container simultaneously or alternatively.
The object of the present invention is to provide a warmer including: a main casing adapted for storing a wiper box therein; a drawer casing slidably engaged in the main casing and operatively withdrawn outwardly for storing a fluid container including nursing bottle or beverage cup in the drawer casing; and a heating device provided in the casing for warming a wet tissue or wiper in the wiper box stored in the main casing and for warming the fluid container in the drawer casing; whereby when the warming of the fluid container is unnecessary, the drawer casing may be pushed inwardly into the main casing just for warming the wiper box only and also for saving the volume of the complete warmer device.
As shown in the drawing figures, a preferred embodiment of the warmer of the present invention comprises: a main casing 1, a drawing casing 2 slidably engaged with the main casing 1, and a heating device 3 formed under the drawer casing 2 for warming material or container stored in the main casing 1 and in the drawer casing 2.
The main casing 1 is provided for storing a wiper (or wet wiper) box such as a tissue box T or a baby wiper box or other thin pieces in the casing 1; while the drawer casing 2 provided for storing a fluid container such as a nursing bottle N or beverage cup C in the drawer casing 2.
Either casing 1 or 2 may be made of plastic materials, but not limited, in accordance with the present invention. The shapes of the casing 1, 2 may also be modified to be different from the parallelepiped as shown in the drawing figures, not limited in this invention.
The main casing 1 includes: a lower shell 11 slidably engaged with the drawer casing 2, an upper cover 12 pivotally secured to the lower shell 11 for combinably forming the main casing 1, a wiper cover 14 pivotally secured to the upper cover 11 for normally closing the wiper cover 14, and an actuator 13 formed on the upper cover 12 and operatively depressed for opening the wiper cover 14.
Naturally, the actuator 13 may also be eliminated in this invention, and the wiper cover 14 will then be modified to have locking and unlocking mechanism provided therein (not shown) so that the wiper cover 14 will then be directly closed on or opened from the upper cover 12 of the present invention.
The lower shell 11 includes: a trough 111 recessed in the lower shell 11 for slidably engaging the drawer casing 2 in the trough 111, a pair of guiding projections 112 formed on opposite side walls of the lower shell for slidably engaging a pair of guiding grooves 211 recessed in opposite outer walls of the drawer casing 2, and a pair of pivots 113 formed on a rear wall of the lower shell for pivotally securing the upper cover 12 on the lower shell 11.
The main casing 1 defines an interior 10 therein and the drawer casing 2 defines a drawer interior 20 in the casing 2 to cooperatively store the wiper box T (such as tissue box) in the interiors 10, 20 for warming the wiper or tissue when the drawer casing 2 is retracted into the main casing 1 such as shown in
The upper cover 12 includes: a pair of pivot holes 120 formed in a rear portion of the upper cover 12 to be pivotally engaged with pivots 113 formed on the lower shell 11 for pivotally securing the upper cover 12 to the lower shell 11; a wiper opening 121 formed through the upper cover 12 for pick up of wiper or tissue from the wiper box T stored in the casing 1, 2; a wiper cover 14 pivotally secured on the upper cover 12 for normally closing the wiper opening 121; and an actuator 13 formed on the upper cover 12 for operatively opening the wiper cover 14 when it is intended to pick up wiper or tissue from interior 10, 20 in the casing 1, 2.
The wiper cover 14 includes: a pair of pins 141 formed on a rear portion of the wiper cover 14 to be pivotally engaged with a pair of pin holes 123 recessed in the upper cover 12 for pivotally securing the wiper cover 14 on the upper cover 12; a first engaging portion 142 formed in a front portion of the wiper cover 14 to be engaged with a second engaging portion 127 of the actuator 13 when closed on the upper cover 12 (
For simplifying purpose, the cover 14 may be modified to be a cap (not shown) to be detachably or removably closed on or opened from the opening 121 of the upper cover 12.
The actuator 13 includes: a push button 130 having a pair of button pins 131 pivotally engaged with a pair of recesses 125 formed in the upper cover 12 for pivotally or seesawly mounting the push button 130 in a button socket 124 in the upper cover 12, a spring plate 126 resiliently retained in the button socket 124 and having a protruding portion of the spring plate 126 normally urging the push button 130 upwardly to be ready for depression when opening the wiper cover 14, and a second engaging portion 127 formed on a rear hook portion of the spring plate 126 to be engaged with the first engaging portion 142 of the wiper cover 14 when closing the wiper cover 14; whereby upon depression of the push button 130 of the actuator 13, the spring plate 126 will be depressed to disengage the second engaging portion 127 from the first engaging portion 142 to allow the restoring spring 122 to urge the wiper cover 14 upwardly for opening the upper cover 12.
The drawer casing 2 includes a rear-opened drawer 21 slidably engaged with the trough 111 in the main casing, a grip 22 formed on a front portion of the rear-opened drawer 21 for pulling the drawer casing 2 outwardly, and a top opening 23 formed in a top of the drawer 21 for placing a fluid container F (including nursing bottle N or coffee cup C, etc.) in the top opening for warming the fluid container. The bottom of the casing 2 is preferably made of heat conductive.
An annular packing member (for instance, made of rubber or flexible material) 231 may be fixed on the drawer 21 of the drawer casing 2 along the top opening 23 for sealing or partially sealing the aperture between the fluid container F and the top opening 23, and a retainer ring 232 provided for fixing the packing member 231 on the drawer 21.
The packing member 231 may be radially cut with a plurality of slits 231s for adjustably fastening the fluid container F with different diameters or size.
The heating device 3 as secured to a bottom of the drawer casing 2 includes: a heating element 31 secured on a board 32 which is fastened to the bottom of the drawer casing 2 through a heat-dissipating plate 34 and a warming platform 30 by screws or bolts B and by a retainer plate 33 backed under the board 32; with warming platform 30 exposed to the interior in the main casing 1.
The heating element 21 may be a PTC (positive temperature coefficient) heating thermistor or any other electric heater.
The heat-dissipating plate 34 is sandwiched between the heating element 21 formed on the board 32 and the warming platform 30 which is formed under the bottom of the drawer casing 2 for transferring the heat from the heating element 21 to the warming platform 30. The plate 34 may be made of aluminum alloy or any other heat conductive materials.
The warming platform 30 may be made of plastic materials, for example, polycarbonate or any other materials having electric resistance, but having suitable heat conductance for transferring the heat from the heating element 21 through the heat-dissipating plate 34 to the warming platform 30 having the wiper (tissue) box T placed on the warming platform 30 for warming the wiper or tissue, and for warming the fluid container in the drawer casing 2 having a bottom of the casing 2 thermally contacted with the warming platform 30.
The elements of the heating device 3 may be modified or simplified, e.g., the board 32, the plate 34 and the platform 30 may also be integrally formed for saving assembly cost.
The warming platform 30 may have a length generally equal to or slightly less then a length of the main casing 1 having the drawer casing 2 retracted into the main casing 1; while the drawer casing 2 having a length being generally about one-half of the length of the warming plate 30 or of the main casing 1, whereby upon an outward withdrawal of the drawer casing 2 from the main casing 1 as shown in dotted line of
When the drawer casing 2 is pulled outwardly for warming the fluid container F as stored into the opening 23 of the drawer casing 2, the wiper box T may be supported by a resilient member S (such as an elastomer foam or a spring member, not limited in this invention) which is resiliently formed in a rear bottom portion of the main casing 1. Therefore, the box T may be stably supported on the platform 30 partially and on the resilient member S as dotted line shown in
Naturally, the wiper or tissue box T may also be supported by side rails 114 as formed on a rear bottom portion of the main casing 1 (
The heating element 31 is electrically connected to a power supply 36 including a coiled electric cord as shown in
When the drawer casing 2 is retracted and received in the main casing 1, the wiper or tissue box T is stored in the interior 10 in the casing 1 and in the interior 20 in the drawer casing 2. The heating device 3 provided on the bottom of the casing 2 may warm the wiper box T as laid on the warming platform 30. Upon opening of the cover 14, a warming tissue or wiper will then be picked up from the opening 121 of the upper cover 12. It may provide a warm tissue which is especially comfortable for use in a cold winter season.
When it is necessary to simultaneously warm a cup of coffee in a container, for example, the drawer casing 2 is withdrawn outwardly from the main casing 1, the container as placed in the casing 2 (
When it is not necessary to provide a hot drink, the drawer casing 2 may then be retracted into the main casing 1.
Accordingly, it is very convenient to render a warm tissue or warm drink just by a single device of the present invention. In other words, there is no need to parallelly prepare two sets of warming devices including a tissue warmer and a drink heater to thereby save cost and volume of the instruments. A warming device may warm tissue and drink simultaneously, thereby affording a comfortable, efficient and cost-saving warming device especially suitable in a cold weather or season. The present invention is therefore superior to the prior art.
The present invention may be modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The heating device 3 may also be formed in the main casing 1. The drawer casing 2 may be further provided with a telescopic cover such as a bellows on the casing 2 for completely covering and thermally insulating the fluid container when inserted in the casing 2.
