GB2194246A - Floating soap tablet - Google Patents

Abstract

A soap tablet includes a buoyancy chamber so that the tablet will float in water. The chamber may be defined by a hollow plastics moulding of a shape designed to be attractive to children and encapsulated in soap by a dipping or other suitable process.

Description

SPECIFICATION Improved soap tablet This invention relates to soap products for personal use more particularly by children.

There are available a wide variety of floating and other bath toys which serve to make bath time more enjoyable for children. However, whilst children may enjoy playing with such toys, they are not in that way encouraged to wash themselves. It is an object of this invention to provide a novel soap tablet which is likely to be attractive to children and to encourage usage.

Accordingly, the present invention consists in a floating soap tablet comprising a body of soap including within itself at least one buoyancy chamber.

Advantageously, the buoyancy chamber is defined by a substantially hollow plastics moulding encapsulated in soap.

In one form of the invention, a plastics moulding is employed which has an appearance and possibly a colouration which is attractive to children. The moulding could, for example, take the form of a character well known to children. The moulding can suitably be produced by blow moulding or vacuum forming and is substantially hollow and airtight. By a dipping, coating, moulding or other suitable process, the plastics moulding is encapsulated in soap and the volume of the buoyancy chamber formed by the plastics moulding is so chosen that the resulting soap tablet will float.

In addition to the novelty value to a child of a soap tablet which floats, usage of the soap will be encouraged if the child wishes to gain access to the character representation or other moulded article within soap. There will be advantage in certain circumstances of producing a range of soap tablets which are identical in external appearance but which contain different character representations from a defined set of characters known to children. In this way, children will be encouraged to use soap so as to collect a set of characters.

In another form of the invention, the encapsulation process is modified so that the external shape of the soap tablet is substantially determined by the shape of the moulded article. The moulded article need not represent a character but could take a wide variety of other forms. If desired, more than one article could be included within one soap tablet.

It should be understood that a buoyancy chamber could be formed in a soap tablet according to this invention by means other than an encapsulated moulded article. The soap tablet could itself define an internal buoyancy chamber, for example. Alternatively, the soap tablet could be produced by a process which results in a large number of small buoyancy chambers distributed throughout the soap body.

It should be recognised that this invention has been described by way of examples only and a variety of still further modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

1. A floating soap tablet comprising a body of soap including within itself at least one buoyancy chamber.

2. A floating soap tablet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the buoyancy chamber is defined by a substantially hollow plastics moulding encapsulated in soap.

3. A floating soap tablet as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plastics moulding is employed which has a shape representative of a human or animal figure.

4. A floating soap tablet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said moulding is produced by blow moulding or vacuum forming.

5. A floating soap tablet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the plastics moulding is encapsulated in soap by dipping, coating, moulding or other suitable process.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (5)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. SPECIFICATION Improved soap tablet This invention relates to soap products for personal use more particularly by children. There are available a wide variety of floating and other bath toys which serve to make bath time more enjoyable for children. However, whilst children may enjoy playing with such toys, they are not in that way encouraged to wash themselves. It is an object of this invention to provide a novel soap tablet which is likely to be attractive to children and to encourage usage. Accordingly, the present invention consists in a floating soap tablet comprising a body of soap including within itself at least one buoyancy chamber. Advantageously, the buoyancy chamber is defined by a substantially hollow plastics moulding encapsulated in soap. In one form of the invention, a plastics moulding is employed which has an appearance and possibly a colouration which is attractive to children. The moulding could, for example, take the form of a character well known to children. The moulding can suitably be produced by blow moulding or vacuum forming and is substantially hollow and airtight. By a dipping, coating, moulding or other suitable process, the plastics moulding is encapsulated in soap and the volume of the buoyancy chamber formed by the plastics moulding is so chosen that the resulting soap tablet will float. In addition to the novelty value to a child of a soap tablet which floats, usage of the soap will be encouraged if the child wishes to gain access to the character representation or other moulded article within soap. There will be advantage in certain circumstances of producing a range of soap tablets which are identical in external appearance but which contain different character representations from a defined set of characters known to children. In this way, children will be encouraged to use soap so as to collect a set of characters. In another form of the invention, the encapsulation process is modified so that the external shape of the soap tablet is substantially determined by the shape of the moulded article. The moulded article need not represent a character but could take a wide variety of other forms. If desired, more than one article could be included within one soap tablet. It should be understood that a buoyancy chamber could be formed in a soap tablet according to this invention by means other than an encapsulated moulded article. The soap tablet could itself define an internal buoyancy chamber, for example. Alternatively, the soap tablet could be produced by a process which results in a large number of small buoyancy chambers distributed throughout the soap body. It should be recognised that this invention has been described by way of examples only and a variety of still further modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. CLAIMS

1. A floating soap tablet comprising a body of soap including within itself at least one buoyancy chamber.

2. A floating soap tablet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the buoyancy chamber is defined by a substantially hollow plastics moulding encapsulated in soap.

3. A floating soap tablet as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plastics moulding is employed which has a shape representative of a human or animal figure.

4. A floating soap tablet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said moulding is produced by blow moulding or vacuum forming.

5. A floating soap tablet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the plastics moulding is encapsulated in soap by dipping, coating, moulding or other suitable process.