EP1634524A2 - Sponge and cleaning product container for such a sponge - Google Patents

Abstract

The sponge (10) can be of any suitable shape, either in a more classic style round and rectangular or in the shape of an animal appropriate for being used by a child. One of the lateral areas is provided with an opening (2) accommodating a sponge insert (3) glued (35) to its inner surface and to be filled with a cleansing fluid. The insert (3) can be surrounded by a sleeve with a stepped inner area (32, 33). In another version the sponge (10) is attached to a container with liquid soap.

Description

The invention relates to a sponge for washing, cleaning, etc. with a foaming detergent consisting of a sponge body, for example made of foam, wherein the sponge body has at least one opening as the sponge body not completely penetrating cutout and / or bore for filling the detergent. Furthermore, the invention relates to a detergent container with such a sponge.

Sponges are known for washing, cleaning, etc. in a variety of configurations. The sponges are often used with a foaming detergent and consist of a sponge body. The cleaning agent is applied to the outside of the sponge body and taken during wiping and / or scrubbing over the object or body to be cleaned by the sponge body of the sponge and foamed by the movements in the sponge body.

In this case, various designs and additional features are known.

For example, German Utility Model DE 91 01 801 U1 discloses a sponge with internal feed of liquids. Thus, the sponge for liquid absorption no longer needs to be immersed in a reservoir. Furthermore, a precise dosage of fluid administration is possible. In this case, the sponge has an integrated soft hose, which feeds liquid into the sponge via a radial bore.

From the Swiss patent CH 521 118, a sponge is known with a sponge body made of plastic with inserted into the sponge body bristle tufts, which can in particular also clean off strongly adhering impurities. In this case, a blind hole is incorporated in the sponge body with a bottom in which a bristle tuft is inserted with a gripping device and glued to the ground with the sponge.

Further, from German patent application DE 24 44 374 A1 a filled with a soap sponge is known, which is designed for cleaning and mild stimulation of the human skin during bathing. In this case, a receiving pocket for a bar of soap is provided in the sponge.

Similarly, this is solved in the German utility model DE 202 17 888 U1, which indicates a sponge for washing, cleaning, etc., in which the sponge is provided with a receptacle into which a detergent in the form of a soap bar can be inserted. This is to fulfill the task of providing a sponge that eliminates the need to carry a separate detergent. The advantage of use lies in the combination of sponge with soap bar recorded therein.

From DE 1 755 549 U a sponge with a cavity for receiving a detergent supply is known, in which the cavity has a separate casing in the form of a bag with a plurality of passage openings for the detergent.

The US 3,114,928 shows a sponge with a one-sided open slot, in which a soap bar can be accommodated.

Likewise, FR 711 293 shows a sponge with a closed cavity with a narrowed access opening for, for example, introducing a piece of soap.

US 2,588,773 also describes a sponge having a cavity in which a piece of soap is insertable, similar to FR 711293. The access opening into the cavity is provided with a closure.

Likewise, the soap holder and applicator of US Re. Built 21,307.

DE 1 894 852 U describes a soap-saving sponge made of foam, which has a cavity for receiving soap scraps, opens into the outside of a slot-like opening.

DE 1 830 950 U describes a bath sponge with a self-contained thermometer inserted into a recess of the sponge body. The access opening for the thermometer simultaneously serves as a viewing window for the recessed thermometer arranged in the recess.

DE 1 887 454 U again shows a sponge with a cavity for receiving a washing or cleaning agent with a self-closing valve and / or with a manually operable closure.

In contrast, an object of the invention to provide a sponge, which supports intensive foaming of the sponge to be used with the foaming detergent and thus improves the cleaning effect and / or reduces the consumption of the detergent.

This object is achieved with a sponge according to claim 1.

Characterized in that a cutout or hole substantially filling insert of an elastic material, in particular foam, is provided, wherein the insert has a preferably centrally arranged small opening which is formed as a slot, bore or recess, is filled with the preferably liquid Detergent in this small opening and a multiple compression of the sponge achieved an intensive foaming of the detergent. In this construction, a frictional effect between the outer walls of the insert and the walls of the provided in the sponge body cutout or hole for intensive foam formation is utilized. Both in the area of the small opening and in the transition region between the insert and cutout in the sponge body of the sponge, a further intensified foaming is thus achieved. The walls of the opening, which are close to or in direct contact with the insert, in combination with the multiple compression or the intended use of the sponge, promote foaming among one another due to the flexing and / or massaging movements and contacts. Due to the high pore volume with a high proportion of air, the suction effect in the sponge body produced during compression or intended use of the sponge strongly promotes foam formation. Thus, the cleaning effect of the optimally foamed cleaning agent is improved. Furthermore, the dosage of the cleaning agent can be reduced. Depending on the cleaning agent and shaping of the opening according to the invention, in particular their walls, the cleaning agent can be reduced to up to 1/10 of the normal dosage.

The opening is formed as the sponge body not completely penetrating cutout, bore, etc. A cutout or a hole can be produced relatively easily in a sponge consisting of a sponge body. Cutouts or Holes can be cut out of the sponge body by appropriate punching or cutting tools.

If the walls of the cutout, the bore and / or the insert have a corrugated, structured or folded surface, the flexing effect of the adjacent walls and thus the foaming is further enhanced. In order to avoid that the sponge shows in the area of the cut-out deteriorated elastic properties, the insert consists of the same material as the sponge body.

If the insert has a preferably centrally arranged, small opening which is formed as a slot, bore or preferably as a recess, in turn an opening for filling the preferably liquid cleaning agent is provided.

Manufacturing technically simple, the cutout and the small recess cuboid shape, preferably cubic shape.

The fact that the insert is glued into the cutout, preferably only in its bottom area, prevents the insert from being lost during use or storage of the sponge. Further, the elastic properties of the sponge-forming sponge body remain substantially unaffected by the sticking.

In an alternative embodiment of the sponge, the insert is designed in several parts, comprising at least one foaming sleeve and one filling sleeve.

Characterized in that the opening is formed as a blind bore, the foaming sleeve is fitted at the bottom of the bore and has substantially annular cross-section, wherein the foaming sleeve preferably on the inside has a structured, corrugated or folded surface, the foaming is intensified in the foaming sleeve.

If the foaming sleeve for structuring the cylindrical inner surface to the cylinder axis has substantially coaxially aligned grooves or webs, they can be easily manufactured by punching out manufacturing technology, said provided on the inner surface grooves or webs intensive foaming in press, Walk and other Washing movements of the sponge effect.

On the outside of the foaming sleeve, the filling sleeve is then fitted in the bore in the sponge body. In this case, the outside of the filling tube is substantially flush with the sponge body to allow a pleasant application of the sponge. The centric opening of the annular filling sleeve forms a filling channel for the preferably liquid cleaning agent.

Characterized in that the filling sleeve is glued into the opening of the sponge body with adhesive, unintentional detachment of the insert from the opening in the sponge body is prevented. However, in order not to adversely affect the elastic properties of the sponge by the adhesive, the adhesive is preferably applied only in a circumferential strip of the sleeve facing away from the outer edge of the sponge body.

Preferably, the introduction of a blind bore in the sponge body is carried out with a rotating cutting shaft. This produces a uniform opening pattern with sufficient dimensional accuracy. The foaming sleeve preferably has the same or slightly larger outer diameter in comparison to the inner diameter of the bore in order to achieve an exact fit, if necessary with interference fit of the sleeve in the blind bore. The The blind hole final filling sleeve also preferably has a slight oversize, so that they can be pressed into the bore in a press fit and thus fixed.

In order to avoid falling out of the insert from the opening even with intensive flexing and pressing movements on the sponge, adhesive is applied to a narrow circumferential strip near the frothing sleeve on the cylindrical wall of the opening, subsequently introduced the filling sleeve into the bore and glued.

Preferably, the sponge is releasably supported on a detergent container. Thus the sponge is held accessible for the user at all times. When the sponge is removably mounted in a recess of the detergent container or in a container attached to the detergent container, the sponge held on the detergent container is protected from damage during transport and storage. For the user, the sponge is connected to the detergent container in a practical way. If the container for removably receiving the sponge on the cleaning container is the lid of the cleaning container, the user is in the opening of the cleaning container, ie removing the lid of the sponge to be used for application of the detergent directly in the access. The sponge can be held in the container in an interference fit in a compressed state.

Hereinafter, three embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It shows:

Fig. 1

a sponge of a duck-shaped sponge body in a longitudinal section with an opening in a first embodiment,

Fig. 2

the sponge of FIG. 1 in a view from below,

Fig. 3

in cross section a section of a sponge with an opening in a second embodiment,

Fig. 4

a foaming sleeve belonging to the sponge in the second embodiment in cross-section,

Fig. 5

a filling sleeve belonging to the second embodiment likewise in cross-section,

Fig. 6

a detergent container with container for the sponge in a spatial view and

Fig. 7

the detergent container shown in Fig. 6 with removed container and removed sponge in a spatial view.

In Fig. 1, a sponge 1 is shown in longitudinal section. In the illustrated embodiment, the sponge 1 is punched out of a plate-shaped foam material in the outline of a duck. Of course, any other forms of sponge, as well as a simple cuboid shape are possible.

The sponge 1 formed from a sponge body 10 has an opening 2 on the underside of its body. The opening 2 is preferably in a central position, possibly in the region of the largest Body cross section arranged. Of course, a plurality of openings 2 may be provided in a sponge body 10. The opening 2 leaves walls 21 with a bottom portion 22 in the sponge body 10 arise.

In the first embodiment, the sponge consisting of a sponge body 10 has an opening or cutout 2 in cube shape in the underside of its sponge body 10. As can be seen in the bottom view of the sponge 1 shown in FIG. 2 in the first embodiment according to FIG. 1, an insert 3 consisting of the same foam material as the sponge body 10 is inserted in the cutout 2. The correspondingly shaped, ie cube-shaped insert 3 has in its center a small opening 31, which serves to fill the liquid cleaning agent.

The insert 3 is fixed in the bottom region 22 of the opening or the cutout 2 with an adhesive or by thermal fusion. This is to avoid that the insert 3 is lost. Furthermore, the fact that the bonding takes place only in the bottom region 22, a negative influence on the elastic properties of the sponge 1 is largely avoided.

In a second embodiment, the sponge consisting of a sponge body 10 has an opening 2 'in the form of a blind bore. In this case, the same reference numerals are used for functionally identical objects. In Fig. 3 a section of the sponge with the blind bore 2 'is shown in a sectional view. In the bore 2 ', a two-part insert 3 is inserted. The insert 3 consists of a substantially annular foaming sleeve 33 and a likewise substantially annular filling sleeve 32nd

The foaming sleeve 33 and the filler neck 32 have substantially the same or slightly larger outer diameter than the inner diameter of the bore, so that the insert elements 32, 33 are fixed precisely or with a slight interference fit in the bore 2 '.

The foaming sleeve 33 has on its annular inner surface a structuring of grooves or webs 34, which are aligned substantially coaxially with the cylinder axis, as shown in Fig. 4 in cross section. The webs 34 increase the effective surface area in the foaming sleeve 33 and intensify foaming during pressing and flexing movements. The resulting in the aforementioned embodiment star-shaped section of the foaming 33 thus allows for very little use of detergents / bath additives a long-lasting foaming in the sponge body 10 and thus an intensive cleaning effect.

The foaming sleeve 33 is inserted to the bottom 25 of the opening formed as a blind bore 2 ', as shown in Fig. 3. Above the filling sleeve 32 is used. The filling sleeve 32 forms substantially flush with the outer edge of the sponge body 10 an outer cleaning and bearing surface.

The filling sleeve 32 is, as shown in Fig. 5 in cross section, also formed annular. The central opening (small opening 31) in the filling sleeve 32 forms a filling channel for the liquid cleaning agent.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of this second embodiment, the blind bore 2 'has a diameter of 25 mm and a depth of about 34 mm. Both the filling sleeve 32 and the foaming sleeve 33 have an outer diameter of 26 mm, so that when inserting the insert 3 into the bore 2 'a slight press fit arises. The height of the foaming sleeve is about 17 mm, whereas the height of the inlet sleeve is about 15 mm. Due to dimensional tolerances and unevenness, a flush installation of the two insert pieces with the outer edge of the sponge body 10 is nevertheless substantially achieved, as shown in FIG. 3.

For more secure fixation of the insert 3 in the bore 2 'is further provided that at least the filler sleeve 32 is glued into the bore 2'. For this purpose, adhesive is applied in a narrow circumferential strip near the already inserted foaming sleeve 33 on the inner wall of the bore 2 '. As soon as the filling sleeve 32 is brought into its position shown in FIG. 3 under a slight press fit, the lower outer circumferential surface of the filling sleeve 32 is glued to the sponge body 10 by the adhesive 35 applied in the bore 2 '.

By the edge-distant application of the adhesive 35 on the one hand prevents adhesive from entering the surface and there lead to contamination and adverse effects of the sponge surface. Furthermore, the edge-remote bonding also avoids excessive impairment of the elastic properties of the sponge.

Preferably, the sponge 1 is brought into connection with a detergent container 4, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The detergent container 4 has a receiving volume 41, in which the cleaning agent is received. Furthermore, the detergent container 4 has an outlet opening 42 with a closure or lid, from which the detergent is introduced into the small opening 31 of the sponge 1.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated here, the detergent container 4 has at its lower end a container 43 (FIG. 6) in which the sponge is inserted in a compressed manner (FIG. 7). Of course, the container 43 may also be arranged elsewhere on the detergent container 4. Conceivable is a combination of lid and receptacle for the sponge or a recess in the detergent container for receiving the sponge. 1

In Fig. 7, the container 43 has been separated from the detergent container 4 in the illustrated embodiment. For example, the container 43 may be connected by means of plug-in or snap-in connections with the remaining detergent container 4.

Now the user can remove the inserted in the container 43 sponge 1 the container 43 and fill in the small opening 31, the detergent R according to in Fig. 7 darem Pfeil. After completion of the application, the user can press the sponge back into the container 43 and clip the container 43 to the detergent container 4.

The detergent container 4 with releasably retained sponge 1 thus forms a functional unit, on the one hand protects the sponge 1 during transport and storage from damage and on the other hand facilitates access to the sponge for receiving cleaning agents before use.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

sponge

10

sponge body

2,2 '

Opening; Cutout, hole

21

wall

22

floor area

25

ground

3

commitment

31

small opening

32

Einfüllhülse

33

Aufschäumhülse

34

Groove or bridge

35

adhesive

4

Detergent tank

41

receiving volume

42

discharge opening

43

container

P

pressing movement

R

cleaning supplies

Claims (11)

Sponge for washing, cleaning, etc. with a foaming cleaning agent consisting of a sponge body (10), which is for example made of foam, wherein the sponge body (10) at least one opening (2) as the sponge body not completely penetrating cutout and / or bore to Filling of the cleaning agent, characterized in that a cutout or bore substantially filling insert (3) made of an elastic material, in particular foam, is provided, wherein the insert (3) has a preferably centrally arranged small opening (31) is designed as a slot, bore or recess. Sponge according to claim 1, characterized in that walls (21) of the opening (2) close to or directly touching with the opening (2) substantially filling insert (3). Sponge according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the insert (3) is formed of the same material as the sponge body (10). Sponge according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the insert (3) in the cutout (2), preferably only in its bottom region (22), is glued. Sponge according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the insert (3) is designed in several parts, consisting of at least one frothing sleeve (33) and one filling sleeve (32). Sponge according to claim 5, characterized in that the opening (2) as a blind hole (2 ') is formed, the foaming sleeve (33) at the bottom (25) of the bore (2') is fitted and has substantially annular cross section, wherein the Foaming sleeve (33) preferably has on the inside a structured, corrugated or folded surface. Sponge according to claim 6, characterized in that the foaming sleeve (33) for structuring the cylindrical inner surface to the cylinder axis has substantially coaxially aligned grooves or webs (34). Sponge according to claim 6 of 7, characterized in that the filling nozzle (32) has an annular cross-section, in the bore 12 "') is fitted and the outside substantially flush with the sponge body, wherein the small opening (31) in the filling sleeve ( 32) forms a filling channel for the preferably liquid soap. Sponge according to claim 8, characterized in that the filling sleeve (32) in the opening (2 ') of the sponge body (10), preferably only in a circumferential strip of the sleeve facing away from the outer edge of the sponge body (10), glued with adhesive (35) is. Detergent container (4) with a sponge (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the Sponge (1) is releasably supported on the detergent container (4). Detergent container (4) according to claim 10, characterized in that the sponge (1) is detachably mounted in a recess of the detergent container (4) or in a container (43) attached to the detergent container (4).

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