Patent Application
20160174694
The present invention relates to wearable devices that emit aromas.
Small items, such as key and flash drives, are often kept in pockets, wallets, or purses. It is common to occasionally find oneself in a situation where these storage choices are not easily available. For example, athletes, such as runners or swimmers, are required to leave their personal items including wallet and purses in a locker. Some of the small items must be carried around such as prescribed medications for patients for emergency use. Traditionally patients were asked to carry large bottles, loose pills, or blister packs with them in order to process the medication when needed.
Wearable storage device were developed that could be kept within reachable area of a body. For example, U.S. Patent No. US20130174320A1 disclosed a wristband with a concealed key pocket. U.S. Pat. No. 565,828S1, and No. US20110167536A1 disclosed sports wristband with a zipper pocket and sports wristband with layered transparent pockets respectively. U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,872 disclosed a watch casing capable of containing an object such as a cigar cutter.
Numerous patents disclosed wearable storage devices specifically designed for medical application. Some of these patents included an alarm clock to remind the user when to take the medication. U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,740 disclosed a wristband mounted timing pillbox. U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,626 disclosed a medication timing and dispersing apparatus. Pat. No. 5,802,014 disclosed a strap-on tablet dispersing system includes a system unit which provides timing and alarm functions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,196B1 disclosed a compact medication-dispersing unit with a multiple alarm timepiece. U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,242 disclosed a strap-on storage, reminder and watch device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,389 disclosed a combined watch and storage container. U.S. Pat. No. 20110139823A1 disclosed a wristband for dispersing a solution in gelation, foam, or liquid form.
While numerous patents on the wearable storage devices are published, none of them are constructed to be significantly difficult for children to open and not difficult for adults or elderly to open. Other non-wearable devices, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,037 (disclosing an alarm pill box in which the alarm can be cancelled by the opening of the lid), mentioned that the lid for the alarm pill box is preferable to be strongly resiliently urged toward its closed position and if necessary, latching or locking to make the lid “child-proof.” The disclosures of all the aforementioned applications and patents described in this section are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes.
Numerous commercially available wearable storage devices are in the market. Examples are PocketBands, a wristband with a hidden pocket, BeatFirst, a wristband that stores medication, Nitro Pill Case, a small pill case that connects to a necklace, Bellus Mosquito Repellent Wristband, a wristband that carries mosquito repellent. The Bellus Mosquito Repellent Wristband has a sealed container that allows a user to irreversibly punch holes on the top of the container so that the mosquito repellent can be released.
Various embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings:
The exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described and illustrated below to encompass methods, systems, and devices related to re-sealable wearable devices for fragrance or insect repellant. Of course, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the preferred embodiments discussed below are exemplary in nature and may be reconfigured without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. However, for clarity and precision, the exemplary embodiments as discussed below may include optional steps, methods, and features that one of ordinary skill should recognize as not being a requisite to fall within the scope of the present invention.
The container 1 is typically relatively thin, shallow, and approximately the size of a wristwatch. The container is typically composed of plastic and is connected to a covering lid 2 by a hinge-type connection 3. Inside the container 1, any suitable aromatic 7 (depicted in
The covering lid 2 includes holes 6 that are big enough to allow the aromatic 7 to disperse aroma into the air. The holes 6, however cannot be so big to allow the aromatic 7 to fall out of the container 1. For certain applications, the hole 6 diameter can be between 300 micrometers to 3 millimeters. The holes 6 optionally also allow users to refill the liquid ingredients 8 into the aromatic 7 inside the container 1 by using a needle syringe 9.
However, in the depicted embodiment, the covering lid 102 is engaged with the body 101 through both the arrow hook(s) 104, which locks under the ledge 110, and a lip 111, which creates a seal with the channel 112. Except for the holes 106, folding the covering lid 102 onto the body 101 preferably creates a substantially airtight seal.
A substantially airtight seal is desirable because a re-sealable lid 113 allows for the holes 106 to be sealed, creating a substantially airtight chamber for the aromatic. The re-sealable lid 113 is attached to the covering lid 102 through a hinge 114. The re-sealable lid 113 includes both a lip 115 on one side of the re-sealable lid 113 and protrusions 116 on the other side of the re-sealable lid 113.
When the covering lid 102 is engaged with the body 101, the re-sealable lid 113 can be engaged with the body 101 in two positions: “open” and “close.” In the open position, the aroma from the aromatic is allowed to escape the chamber and the lip 115 of the re-sealable lid 113 is engaged in the channel 117 on the body 101. In the close position, the chamber is made substantially airtight by engaging the protrusions 116 of the re-sealable lid 113 with the holes 106 of the covering lid 102. As used herein, the phrase “substantially airtight” means the quantity of aroma released into the air (typically measured in parts-per-million or parts-per-billion) in the close position is significantly less than the quantity of aroma released into the air in the open position. In some applications, the difference between released aroma in the two positions is at least an order magnitude. The re-sealable lid 113 may be placed in either open or close position while being worn on the wrist using the wristband 118.
One advantage of the depicted embodiment is that, except for the aromatic, the entire wearable device could be made with a single injection-molded piece of thermal plastic. However, one skilled in the art could create numerous variations without undue experimentation if this advantage was not deemed important. For example, the arrow hook 104 and ledge 110 assembly could be replaced by a lock/unlock mechanism that allows for easier refilling of the aromatic by allowing the entire covering lid 102 to be opened. The re-sealable lid 113 could be a wholly separate cover that does not have a hinge 114 connecting it with the covering lid 102. The wristband 118 could be replaced with any wearable assembly, such as a belt clip, key ring or a lug hole/spring bar configuration (used for generic watch wristbands). Even if a single contiguous piece was desired, modifications could include a re-sealable lid 113 that uses latches or other non-permanent sealing mechanisms to engage with the body 101 in both the open and close positions. The holes 106 might take on any number of shapes and sizes that allow the aroma to escape while keeping the aromatic in the chamber. Further, wristband 118 could be replaced with any wearable assembly, including a belt, a pet collar, or a necklace.
In order for the cap 17 to be closed and locked onto the container 13, the two thick ribs 20 on the cap need to be aligned with the ribs 21 on the container, so that the detent 19 is aligned with the discontinuity on the lip 18. After the alignment, the cylindrical container 13 can be pushed into the cap 17 until the edge of the container 22 touches the top wall 23 of the cap, and simultaneously the lip 15 is grasped with the mating indentation 16. The cap 17 is then turned so that the thick ribs 20 on the cap do not match with the thick ribs 21 on the container.
The locking mechanism allows the device to be child-resistant in that (A) it requires an adult strength to pull the lip 15 out of its mating indent 16, and (B) when the detent 19 is placed over the lip 15 so that the detent 19 is difficult to pass through the lip 15 at any point other than at the discontinuity 18. A similar principle but different design for child-resistant bottles is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,192, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
A clock with an alarm function can be mounted on the cap of a child-resistant wearable device, as shown in
Following from the above description and invention summaries, it should be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that, while the methods and apparatuses herein described constitute exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the invention contained herein is not limited to this precise embodiment and that changes may be made to such embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Additionally, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by the claims and it is not intended that any limitations or elements describing the exemplary embodiments set forth herein are to be incorporated into the interpretation of any claim element unless such limitation or element is explicitly stated. Likewise, it is to be understood that it is not necessary to meet any or all of the identified advantages or objects of the invention disclosed herein in order to fall within the scope of any claims, since the invention is defined by the claims and since inherent and/or unforeseen advantages of the present invention may exist even though they may not have been explicitly discussed herein.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/083,389, filed Nov. 24, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62083389 | Nov 2014 | US |
