GB2546469A

GB2546469A - Support apparatus and method for human or animal extremity

Info

Publication number: GB2546469A
Application number: GB1520314.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Louise Jerrard Alison; Moose Moss Jonathan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2015-11-18
Filing date: 2015-11-18
Publication date: 2017-07-26
Also published as: GB201520314D0

Abstract

The support apparatus for supporting a human or animal extremity, such as a hand or foot, includes a surface 12 for supporting the extremity, and a holder 14 to accommodate a bottle or container of treatment fluid, such as nail polish or varnish. The support apparatus may be used in pedicures and may be wedge shaped. The holder 14 and surface 12 may be integral. The holder 14 may be in the form of a recess in the support apparatus with an opening at the side of the surface 12. A channel 16 for holding spilt fluid may be provided, potentially near the holder 14 and possibly extending around part or all of the surface 12. The support apparatus may have an adjustable or conformable gripper (20, figure 2) to grip the bottle or container, which may be removable from the holder 14. Also disclosed is a method of using the support apparatus.

Description

SUPPORT APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR HUMAN OR ANIMAL EXTREMITY

Technical Field

The present invention relates to support apparatus for a human or animal extremity, typically a hand or foot, and in particular able to support both such an extremity as well as a container of treatment agent for treating a part of such extremity. The described embodiments are particularly useful for the application of nail varnish or polish to a person’s finger or toe nails, but could equally be used for the application of therapeutic agents.

Background Art

Many treatments of the extremities, that is hands and/or feet of a person or paws of an animal, involve the application of a liquid or fluid substance to a part of the extremity. A common example is the application of nail varnish or polish to a person’s nails, but may also involve the application of other agents including medical or therapeutic agents. Often, such treatments are carried out personally. The holding of the treatment container, for example a bottle of fluid, during such treatment can be difficult, with the risk of spillage and the like. Moreover, when spillages occur, including dripping of fluid off an applicator, this often messes the area around the extremity and can lead to possible inadvertent marking with the split fluid of undesired parts of the person or animal or clothing.

Summary of the Present Invention

The present invention seeks to provide for improved treatment of an extremity of a person or animal.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided support apparatus for a human or animal extremity, the support apparatus providing a unit including support surface for supporting a said extremity and a holding element for holding a treatment agent container.

The support surface is preferably sized and shaped to a said extremity and the holding element is sized and shaped for a treatment agent container.

This structure of unit provides both for supporting the extremity and also the treatment container.

In one example the extremity may be a person’s hand or foot and the treatment container a bottle of nail varnish or polish. The provision of the holding element means that the person does not have to hold personally the container or use another support surface or device.

In the preferred embodiment, the holding element is integral with the support surface and thus with the unit. The apparatus can thus be formed as a single component having the support surface and the holding element.

Advantageously, the holding element includes a recess in the unit with an opening at the side of the support surface. The container of treatment agent can thus be held at least in part recessed in the unit, which reduces the risk of tipping or spilling of the container during treatment of the extremity. The recess may typically be round in cross-section and generally cylindrical, although may taper towards a bottom thereof.

The apparatus preferably includes an adjustable or conformable gripper element associated with the holding element, operable to grip a container of treatment agent, thereby to enhance the holding of such container to the apparatus. Advantageously, the gripper element is at least partially resiliently deformable, most preferably being made of a resilient polymer, rubber or rubberlike material.

It is preferred that the gripper element is shaped and sized to fit at least partially in the recess of the holding element.

The gripper element may be removable from the holding element and thus from the unit.

There is preferably provided adjacent the support surface at least one chamber open at the support surface for holding spilt treatment fluid. The at least one chamber is advantageously disposed proximate or at the holding element. Thus, the chamber or chambers are located at the position where spillages are most likely to occur, that is during transfer of treatment media to the extremity to be treated.

In the preferred embodiment, the unit includes a periphery extending around the support surface, the chamber or chambers being located at the periphery. Most preferably, the chamber or chambers extend around at least a part of the periphery, advantageously around substantially the entirety of the periphery. The chamber or chambers may be in the form of a channel or groove extending at least partially around the periphery.

It is preferred that the unit is wedge-shaped, thereby to cause the support surface to be angled when the unit is placed on a horizontal substrate such as a table or a floor. The holding element is preferably located at or proximate a part of the unit having greatest thickness, thereby to be at a higher or highest point relating to the support surface in use of the apparatus.

The support surface is in the preferred embodiments generally shaped as a hand or a foot. The holder is preferably sized and shaped for a container of treatment fluid.

The unit may be made of a plastics material.

The invention also provides a method of applying a treatment to an extremity of a person or animal using apparatus as taught herein, the method including the steps of: placing the person’s or animal’s extremity of the support surface, placing a container of treatment media in the holding element, applying the treatment media to the extremity while the container is disposed in the holding element.

The treatment is preferably solely a cosmetic treatment.

Other preferred features of the teachings herein will become apparent from the specific description which follows.

Brief Description of the drawings

Embodiments of the present invention are described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of support apparatus;

Figure 2 is a view of the apparatus Figure 1 including a gripper element as disclosed herein;

Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of the apparatus of Figures 1-3;

Figures 5-8 are views similar to Figures 1-4, of a second embodiment of support apparatus; and

Figures 9 and 10 are, respectively, top plan view and side elevational views of the embodiment of gripper element.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Described below are various embodiments of support apparatus for supporting the extremity of a person or animal for treatment of that extremity. The preferred embodiments relate to apparatus designed specifically for applying treatment to a person’s nails, typically a cosmetic treatment such as application of nail varnish or polish or any other cosmetic treatment known in the art. It will be appreciated, though, from the teachings below that the invention is not limited solely to the embodiment described and can be used for effecting other treatments on a person’s animal’s extremity, including therapeutic treatments.

Referring first to Figure 1, there is shown a first embodiment of apparatus which includes a support unit 10 having a representative form of a hand and designed to support a person’s hand during treatment. The support unit 10 includes a support surface 12 which in this embodiment is generally flat, although in other embodiments may be contoured for example to the shape of the palm of a person’s hand. The support surface 12 has a shape indicative of a person’s palm and fingers, for comfort as well as to indicate how a person’s hand is to be oriented on the support surface.

The support unit 10 also includes a holding element 14, in the form of a recess which is substantially round in transverse cross-section and substantially cylindrical throughout its length. The holding element 14 is located at the position of the support unit 10, in this embodiment, which would typically be adjacent the person’s middle finger. The holding element 14 preferably has a depth of two or more centimetres, in practice to hold the major portion of a bottle or other container of treatment media, such as nail polish or the like.

Extending around the support surface 12 is a channel 16, which extends all the way from the recess of the holding element 14 around the outside of the support service 12, to end again at the recess of the support element 14. The channel 16 has a contour 18 which preferably follows the shape of the support surface 12.

Referring now to Figure 2, the support unit 10 is shown with a gripper element 20 disposed within the holding element 14. The gripper element is described in further detail below, particularly with regard to Figures 9 and 10. It is preferred that the gripper element 20 is removably disposed within the holding element 14 but it is not excluded that it could be fixed to or into the holding element 14.

Referring to Figure 3, this shows a side elevational view of the support unit 10 of Figures 1 and 2 and in which it can be seen that the unit 10 has a wedged shape, with a greater height at the end of the holding unit 14, relative to the palm end of the unit 10. Thus, in practice, the top of the holding element 14, and in particular the location in which a bottle or other container of treatment media is positioned in the unit 10, is a highest location, which is considered most advantageous particularly when the unit 10 is used personally, that is by the person who is receiving the treatment.

Figure 4 shows a bottom plan view of the support unit 10. This view shows the base 24 of the holding element 14 and the base 26 of the channels 16, which preferably together form a planar surface such that the unit 10 can be placed on a table top or desk top, a floor or other flat surface.

It is preferred that the unit 10 is made of a moulded component to reduce its weight and the amount of material used in its construction. For this purpose, within the bottom recess of the unit 10, there are preferably provided strengthen ribs which may, as shown, criss-cross along the underside of the support surface 12.

Figures 5 to 8 show a second embodiment of support unit 110 having equivalent characteristics to the embodiment of Figures 1 to 4. In this embodiment, the support unit 110 is shaped to support a person’s foot, thus has a more elongate form with a narrow heal end a broader toe end to the device. The toe end is raised in similar manner to the finger end of the embodiment of Figures 1 to 4. Given the similarities of these embodiments, the foot unit 110 is not described in detail. The reader will appreciate that the equivalent features of the embodiment of Figures 5 to 8 are depicted with the corresponding reference numerals, these being 100 greater than the reference numerals used in connection with the embodiment of Figures 1 to 4.

The embodiment of Figures 5 to 8 also shows the provision of two slots 130 in the support surface 12, which slots are designed to support a strap (not shown) useful for strapping, in this example, the person’s foot to the unit 110. This can be particularly useful should a person move during the treatment, for example to a more comfortable or more convenient position, in that the person’s foot would remain attached to the unit 110 throughout the treatment. The strap can have any suitable fastening, such as a buckle or hook and eye fastening (typically Velcro™). It will be appreciated that the embodiment of Figures 1 to 4 could equally be provided with appropriate slots and strap as with the embodiment of Figures 5 to 8.

Referring now to Figures 9 and 10, these show an embodiment of gripper element 20, which in this example is made of an elastomeric material, such as a rubber or rubber like polymer. The gripper element 20 includes an upper wall 40 which provides, in this example, four inwardly curved flanges 42 which deliminate an opening 44 in the top wall 40. The gripper element 20 also includes a depending wall 46 of substantially cylindrical form, which terminates in a radially outwardly extending flange 48 provided on at least one side with a flange extension 50 which extends radially outwardly by a greater amount than the flange 48.

The inwardly curved flange elements 42 in effect provide constrictions to the opening 44 and, given their resiliency, are able to be deflected on insertion of a bottle of nail varnish or other bottle or container, so as to hold the bottle or other container firmly in place within the gripper element 20 by the restoring force generated by the flanges 42. Moreover, the resiliency of the flanges 42 enables them to be used with bottles and containers of different shapes and sizes, thereby making the gripper element 20 useful for accommodating a variety of different treatment bottles and containers.

The flange 48 and flange extension 50 hold the gripper element 20 at the bottom of the recess of the holding element 14 and in particular provide a flat surface conforming with a flat surface at the bottom of the recess of the holding element 14.

In use, in this embodiment, a person would place a hand or foot on the support surface 12, 112 of the appropriate unit 10, 110, a bottle or container of treatment fluid within the gripper element 20 in the holding element 14, 114 and then apply the treatment as required. Given that the container of treatment fluid is firmly held within the unit 10, 110, there is significantly less risk or spillage of fluid, as well as facilitating application of the treatment fluid.

Should, nevertheless, treatment fluid be spilt, for example during its transfer to the person’s hand or foot, the channel 16, 116 is able to hold that spilt fluid, thereby minimising the risk of spillages elsewhere.

It is preferred that the unit 10, 110 is made of a brightly coloured material. Typically, the unit 10, 110 may be made of a plastics material.

It will be appreciated that the channel 16, 116 need not be continuous around the periphery of the unit 10, 100 and could instead be formed of a plurality of channel sections. Similarly, the channel 10, 100 need not extend around the entirety of the periphery of the support surface 12, 112.

The disclosure in the abstract accompanying this application is incorporated herein by reference.

Claims

1. Support apparatus for a human or animal extremity, the support apparatus providing a unit including a support surface for supporting a said extremity and a holding element for hold a treatment agent container.

2. Support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding element is integral with the support surface and thus with the unit.

3. Support apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the support surface and the holding element are a single component.

4. Support apparatus according to claim 1,2 or 3, wherein the holding element includes a recess in the unit with an opening at the side of the support surface.

5. Support apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the recess is round in cross-section and generally cylindrical.

6. Support apparatus according to any preceding claim, including an adjustable or conformable gripper element associated with the holding element.

7. Support apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the gripper element is at least partially resiliently deformable.

8. Support apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the gripper element is formed of a resilient polymer, rubber or rubber-like material.

9. Support apparatus according to claim 6, 7 or 8, wherein the gripper element is shaped and sized to fit at least partially in the recess of the holding element.

10. Support apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the gripper element is removable from the holding element.

11. Support apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein there is provided adjacent the support surface at least one chamber open at the support surface for holding spilt treatment fluid.

12. Support apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the at least one chamber is disposed proximate or at the holding element.

13. Support apparatus according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the unit includes a periphery extending around the support surface, the chamber or chambers being located at the periphery.

14. Support apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the chamber or chambers extend around at least a part of the periphery.

15. Support apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the chamber or chambers extend around substantially the entirety of the periphery.

16. Support apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the chamber or chambers are in the form of a channel or groove extending at least partially around the periphery.

17. Support apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the unit is wedge-shaped floor.

18. Support apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the holding element is located at or proximate a part of the unit having greatest thickness.

19. Support apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the unit may be made of a plastics material.

20. A method of applying a treatment to an extremity of a person or animal using apparatus according to any preceding claim, the method including the steps of: placing the person’s or animal’s extremity on the support surface; placing a container of treatment media in the holding element; and applying the treatment media to the extremity while the container is disposed in the holding element.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein the treatment is solely a cosmetic treatment.