GB2458021A

GB2458021A - Housing for retaining a heat or cold source at a desired region of a person

Info

Publication number: GB2458021A
Application number: GB0903704A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Janette Russell-Rayner
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-03-04
Filing date: 2009-03-04
Publication date: 2009-09-09
Also published as: GB0803980D0; GB0903704D0

Abstract

A housing/container 1 which is provided with elongate means 12 for enabling the housing/container and any content to be located and retained at a required location with respect to a person's body. Preferably the housing/container 1 can receive a secondary container 3, and is formed of flexible materiel. Preferably the housing/container has a generally rectangular form and is able to receive a conventional hot water bottle or ice pack and has a flap or zip to close the housing/container. Preferably the elongate means are long enough to be retained in position by tying the ends together or fastened in position with hook and loop connections in the end regions of the elongate means. Preferably the housing/container is provided with at least one pocket 14 into which the elongate means 12 can be tucked when not in use, which is preferably open at both ends.

Description

* 2458021 1 HOUSING/CONTAINER 2 This invention relates to facilitating the positioning of containers for housing remedial 3 and/or comfort providing arrangements associated with the application/presentation of 4 such arrangements with respect to a person.

As is well known the application of a source of heat/warmth to the back or front of a 6 person greatly assists in relieving the very common problems encountered by a very 7 high percentage of older persons such as back pain, stomach pains or a general feeling 8 of being cold owing to low environment temperatures by persons of all ages 9 As a result it is well known for many reasons to provide relief for various ongoing discomforts such as those arising from stomach pain, by locating, for example, a hot 11 water bottle or a cold compress adjacent to a region of the body inconvenienced by 12 such discomforts.

13 Additionally, it is a well known common practice for people of all ages and particularly 14 older persons to hold a hot water bottle close to the body i.e., in their laps when sitting or walking around with a view to obtaining additional\warmth over and above local 16 environment temperature levels.

17 It is an object of the present invention to provide means whereby articles such as hot 18 water bottles and other articles can be positioned so as to be co-operable with a 19 person.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a housing/container for 21 enabling a heat or cold source or other remedial treatment source when located within 22 the housing/container to be positioned and retained at a desired region of a person 23 whilst the person is at rest and/or mobile.

24 Prefrably the housing/container incuds means for enabling the hands free retention of, for example, a hot water bottle or ice pack at a required position with respect to a 26 person.

27 A further aspect of the invention providesa housing/container for receiving a secondary 28 container, wherein the housing/container is provided with elongate means for enabling 29 the housing/container and any content therein to be located and retained at a required location with respect to a person's body, and wherein the housing/container is provided 31 with means for storing the elongate means when the housing/container is not required 32 for use.

33 In a preferred construction the housing/container is formed from a 34 flexible/deformable material, which can be positioned upon bare skin without causing a feeling of unpleasant heat or coldness.

36 Preferably the housing/container includes a container section having a generally 37 rectangular overall form and of such size and shape as to be able to receive a hot water 38 bottle or cold source such as an ice pack, or other remedial treatment providing article * -2- 1 And preferably each side of the housing/container is provided with an elongate 2 retaining tie, each said tie long enough to enable the housing/container to be 3 positioned on a person at a required position and to be retained in position by tying the 4 ends of the ties together thereby to hold the housing/container in a required position.

Conveniently, the end regions of the ties are provided with hook and loop connection 6 arrangements in place of or additional to simple tying of the tie end regions.

7 In a preferred construction in order to avoid trailing ties when the housing/container is 8 not in use or is not required for use the housing/container is provided with at least one 9 pocket into which the ties can be tucked when not required.

Conveniently when a single pocket is provided the pocket is open at both ends to 11 allow the ties to be tucked there into the pocket from opposite ends thereof.

12 For a better understanding of the invention and to show how to carry the same into 13 effect reference will now be made to the accompanying drawing which very 14 schematically illustrates a first embodiment of a housing/container incorporating the concepts of the invention.

16 Referring now to the drawing a housing/container 1 shown therein is formed from a 17 flexible/deformable material, which can be, for example a cloth of any fabric material 18 that can be comfortably positioned, if deemed necessary, upon bare skin without 19 causing afeeling of unpleasant heat or coldness.

As may be seen from the Figure the housing/container includes a container section 2 21 having a generally rectangular overall form and of such size and shape as o be able to 22 receive a hot water bottle or cold source such as an ice pack, or other heat/cold 23 providing article. In the Figure a hot water bottle 3 of conventional shape and form is 24 shown in dashed lines.

As is well known a conventional hot water bottle 3 has a generally rectangular shape 26 water container incorporating two main, usually rubber, panels 4 with rounded corners 27 whereby when the bottle is empty the waIls 4 lie flat one against the other. One end of 28 the bottle 3 is provided with a shaped neck region 5 that is provided with an opening to 29 enable the introduction of hot water into the bottle This opening is so formed as to provide a relatively thick walled threaded solid block 31 (not shown) which is such as to be able to receive and mount a screw threaded sealing 32 stopper (not shown). The neck r egion 5 of the bottle is conventionally provided with 33 a flexible surrounding in the form of an outwardly flared skirt 6 which serves to shield 34 the stopper and its mounting from contact with a person's skin.

As will be appreciated this block and its tubular neck region 5 with the skirt 6 facilitates 36 the handling of the bottle 3 during its filling with hot water and during stopper insertion 37 and whilst the bottle is being emptied after usage. * -3-

1 In order to be able introduce the bottle or other article 3 into the interior of the 2 container section 2 one end thereof is provided with an opening 7 of sufficient length as 3 to allow the hot water bottle or other article 3 to be readily introduced into the interior 4 of the container section 2 The opening 7 is of a slit like form and has edges 8 and 9 that extend across 6 substantially the full width of the container section 2 and is so located a short distance 7 inwards from an end thereof as to provide a short flap like region 10 located in from an 8 end.

9 The positioning of the opening 7 is such that when the bottle 3 is introduced into the interior of the container section 2 the neck region of the bottle with its closure member 11 5 and the skirt 6 are able to tuck under the flap-like region 10 12 To ensure that the bottle 3 is fully located within the container section 2 and retained 13 within the container section 2 such that it is not possible for any part of the hot water 14 bottle 3 to become exposed during application of the housing/container 1 the latter is provided with a flap like closure member lithat extends for the width of the opening 7 16 and is of such length that it is able to tuck into the opening 7 so as to form a further 17 barrier between the hot water bottle 3 and the opening.

18 If desired this flap could be replaced by a Zip fastener or other means of closing the 19 opening 7 relative to the interior of the container section.

Each side of the housing/container 1 is provided with an elongate retaining tie 12.

21 These ties 12 are long enough to enable the housing/container 1 to be positioned on a 22 person at, for example, the waist region and to be retained in position by tying the 23 ends 13 of the ties 12 together thereby to hold the housing/container 1 in a required 24 position.

These ties 12 can be made from the same material as that used for the 26 container/housing 1 or from other materials that allows them to be tied together 27 If desired the end regions 13 of the ties 12 can be provided with arrangements such as 28 hook and loop connection arrangements in place of or additional to simple tying of the 29 end regions 13 together.

In order to avoid trailing ties when the housing/container is not in use or when the 31 housing/container is not required for use to be held in place the housing/container is 32 provided with a pocket 14 into which the ties can be tucked when not required.ln the 33 embodiment shown the pocket 14 comprises a piece of material secured to the main 34 body of the housing container 2 and is open at both ends 15 to allow the ties 12 to be tucked into the pocket 14 from opposite ends thereof.

36 As a variation from the single pocket 14 the housing/container could be provided with 37 two pockets (not shown) respectively positioned to receive the appropriate tie. * -4-

1 It will be understood that whilst the above discussion has been mainly concerned with 2 containing a hot water bottle 3 for the purpose of applying heat to a required location 3 of a person, the housing/container 1 could be used to house an ice pack or similar cold 4 compress or any other article that may be considered appropriate to introduce into the housing/container 1.

6 In the light of the usage of the housing/container of the invention the material for the 7 purposes above discussed is conveniently selected so as to ensure that the 8 housing/container is both attractive in appearance and of a comfortable feel.

9 A further feature arising from the provision of the ties is that the housing/container 1 could if considered appropriate be attached to a chair back, a chair armrest, or other 11 article i.e., a bed thereby allowing positioning of the housing/container 1 such that 12 when a person sits or is otherwise positioned relative to the chair of other article the 13 housing/container 1 is located such that the hot water bottle, ice pack etc. Is positioned 14 as is necessary to facilitate the application of and the requisite retention of the housing/container in a required location as a means for enabling a source of heat/cold 16 or other remedial treatment to be applied to a predetermined location with respect to a 17 person. * -5-