MXPA97005824A - Implement for personal cleaning using a tubular tissue and method of elaborac - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a personal cleaning implement comprising a block of substantially rectangular hydrophilic fibrous material, said block of fibrous material is a piece of tubular fabric made from extruded plastic monofilaments woven in a weaving machine having a set of 32 to 64 needles per diameter of the machine, the monofilaments have substantially circular cross sections in the range of 0.0076 cm (0.003 inches) to 0.0381 cm (0.015 inches) in diameter, said piece of tubular fabric has a longitudinal axis, The piece of tubular fabric has from about 6 to about 9 stitches per 2.54 cm (1 inch) when measured normally along the longitudinal axis, the piece of tubular fabric is invested on itself, at least once, along the length of the piece. longitudinal axis, to form a plurality of concentric layers of tubular tissue, each of these layers has a similar length and said plurality of layers substantially overlap each other, the block of fibrous material has an upper surface, a lower surface and two open ends when the piece of tubular fabric is reversed on itself and is substantially flattened perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the upper surface and lower surface are joined at the two open ends by means of a joining means to keep the block of fibrous material substantially flattened

Description

IMPLEMENT FOR PERSONAL CLEANING USING A TUBULAR FABRIC AND METHOD OF PREPARATION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to manual implements used for personal cleaning, and, more particularly, to implements that have surfaces for scrubbing, made with woven hydrophobic monofilaments. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A variety of cleaning implements have been used to remove dirt and dead tissue from the skin of the user's body during bathing or showering. Traditionally, sponge tissue mitts and natural or synthetic sponges have been used. Each of these has one or more important deficiencies. For example, a sponge has pores or empty spaces that make it difficult to remove the dirt from the implement once the dirt has been removed from the body. A wash wipe often makes foaming difficult even when foaming is a primary function of a cleaning implement. Some sponges absorb the cleaners intended to aid in the removal of dirt. Neither sponges nor wash cloths can dry quickly because they are imbibed in water. As a result, they develop unpleasant odors and become a place for the proliferation of bacteria, mold, etc. In addition, these implements are not normally suitable for cleaning all parts of the body. Cleaning wipes are too soft to exfoliate and stimulate the skin. The sponges are too rough for cleaning the sensitive areas of the skin. Also in the prior art are ball-like structures made of polymer fabric. An example is set forth in U.S. Patent No. 5,144,744 to Ca pagnoli, issued September 8, 1992. Ball-like structures are made of rhombic mesh polyethylene. Rhombic mesh polyethylene is an extruded cotton canvas material that is commonly found covering vegetables, meat and poultry. The implements of this type that are available in the market are sold by The Body Shop of London, England; and Bilange of New York, NY. These constructions are very expensive because they are typically made by hand. One way to make these ball-like structures is to stretch several tubular pieces of rhombic mesh canvas, transversely to their tubular axes. Each piece is then placed on separate support posts. The placed pieces, kept in a stretched condition are arranged either in parallel or at different angles to each other. Tying the pieces together at their centers and then releasing the resilient pieces of the support posts, each piece jumps back to the center tied to generate a ball-like conformation. Tying the canvas in the centers of the pieces produces a hard and compact center, which prevents rinsing and drying. While the surface of a ball-like structure can have a fairly large area on its surface, it is difficult to clean the center of the implement to reuse it. The tubular fabric made of plastic filaments is another material found in the technique of implements for carving. However, tubular tissue is often avoided for such implements, since it is considered as a more expensive material than an extruded canvas. While the material itself can be more expensive, implements made of tubular fabric can provide a better "feel" to a person's skin. The woven filaments can be shaped and sized so that they feel softer than the extruded canvas, when the personal cleansing implement is rubbed against the skin. The individual stitches are free to move and deform when they touch the skin, while the extruded canvas implements have openings formed by the threads or threads that are fixed together at their crossing points. These threads or threads must move and deform more as a group than individually and provide, therefore, a more rigid structure for an open area of a similar density. In addition, the woven filaments are interwoven so as to provide a structure that has a natural bulge, whereas the canvas is typically flat and requires a heat pleat to create a more bulky structure. Although scouring implements are known in the art, they are generally woven from metal or rough fibers for the purpose of being abrasive and for removing dirt from hard surfaces. For example, U.S. Patent No. 4,017,949 to Botvin discloses a scouring pad and the method for making it. A tubular wrap made of polypropylene filament fabric wraps a filling material. In Botvin's latest patent the filling material is the same as that of the woven wrap. The method flips the envelope upside down or inverts it. The tubular fabric is sealed with heat through the open ends. The filaments are either ribbon-like or are elliptical filaments that have a cross section with E'4C.1 an axis greater than 0.030 inch and a minor axis 0.009 inch. The advantage of the strip and other films in strips for abrasive scrubbing is that they fibrillate, creating a rough surface. Implements made from these materials are not soft enough when rubbed against human skin to be considered "soft" and, therefore, are not acceptable implements for personal cleansing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In another aspect of the present invention, an implement for personal cleansing comprises a block of fibrous, hydrophobic, substantially rectangular material, which is a piece of tubular fabric made of extruded plastic monofilaments, woven in a weaving machine that It has a set of from 32 to 64 needles per diameter of the machine. The monofilaments mainly have circular cross sections in the range of 0.003 inch 0.015 inch in diameter. The piece of tubular tissue has a longitudinal axis. The piece of tubular fabric has from about 6 to about 9 stitches per inch along the longitudinal axis, as typically measured by hand in the industry. The piece of tubular fabric is inverted on itself at least once along the longitudinal axis to form a plurality of concentric tubular tissue layers. Each of the layers has approximately the same length and overlaps the other layers. The block of fibrous material has an upper surface, a lower surface and two open ends, when the piece of tubular fabric is inverted on itself and then substantially flattened, perpeular to the longitudinal axis. The upper surface and the lower surface are joined at the two open ends by means of a joining means to keep the block of fibrous material substantially flattened. The personal cleansing implement may further comprise a means for hanging, so that it dries more quickly after rinsing. The extruded plastic monofilament is linear low density polyethylene. This monofilament, in the range of diameter and in the above separation parameters, provides a properly "soft" feel when an implement for personal cleaning is constructed in this way. More preferably, the monofilaments have a diameter less than 0.009 inches and the block of fibrous material comprises 8 layers of tubular tissue when substantially flattened. In another aspect of the present invention, a method for the construction of an implement for personal cleansing comprises the steps of: knitting a piece P4 3 of tubular fabric in a weaving machine having a set of 32 to 64 needles per diameter of the machine, and using extruded plastic monofilaments having substantially circular cross sections, in the range of 0.003 inch to 0.015 inch in diameter. The piece of tubular fabric has approximately 6 to 9 stitches per inch, typically measured along a longitudinal axis of the tubular fabric. Another step includes inverting the piece of tubular fabric on itself, at least once, along the longitudinal axis, to form a plurality of concentric layers for scrubbing. Each of the layers is inverted to have a similar length and such that the layers substantially overlap with the other layers. Yet another step includes substantially flattening the piece of tubular tissue perpeular to the longitudinal axis to form a block of fibrous material. Flattening generates an upper surface and a lower surface of the block of fibrous material. The block of fibrous material has two open ends. A final step includes joining the upper and outer surfaces of the block of fibrous material at the two open ends by means of a joining means, to keep the block of fibrous material substantially flat. The method can also include the passage of E r > I add a handle to the piece of tubular fabric to hang the personal cleaning implement. The joining means may include a seam or thermal bond.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS While the specification concludes with claims that particularly point out and clearly claim the present invention, it is believed that the present invention will be better understood from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the drawings which are attached, in which like reference numbers identify identical elements, and wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred piece of tubular tissue of the personal cleansing implement of the present invention, which exposes a tube that it has length considerably greater than the diameter; Figure 2 is a perspective view thereof, showing the right end bent back over at least a quarter of the original length of the tubular fabric; Figure 3 is a perspective view thereof, showing the left end bent back over at least a quarter of the original length of the E'4r > 3 tubular tissue; Figure 4 is a perspective view thereof, showing the inverted right end, folded back over the inverted left end of the tubular fabric, so that the resultant concentric layers that are exposed have substantially the same length and their ends are aligned; Figure 5 is a perspective view thereof, showing the tubular tissue inverted to form a rectangular block of fibrous material; Figure 6 is a top plan view of a block of flattened fibrous material, showing stitches through two open ends of the tubular fabric and a handle linked through the block of fibrous material; and Figure 7 is a front elevational view thereof, showing the block of fibrous material maintained in substantially flattened form due to the closed end, but with sufficient bulge to be used as an implement for personal cleansing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to Figure 1, a first preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown, which provides a piece of tubular tissue and which is indicated E generally as 10. The tubular fabric 10 is woven in a commercial knitting machine, such as a standard circular knitting machine 12 inches in diameter, made by Scott & Williams of New York, N.Y. An elevated open area is achieved between the monofilaments by a cross seam of 32 to 64 needles. This generates a monofilament separation of about 6 to about 9 monofilaments per inch of tubular fabric, as typically measured in industry, along the longitudinal axis of the tubular fabric, by hand stitching and measuring a short piece of tissue. tubular. It is believed that the preferred benefit of the sudsing associated with said knitted implement is due to this separation between the monofilaments. The piece of tubular fabric 10 is preferably made of extruded plastic monofilaments. The extrusion of filaments prevents fibrillation and roughness associated with the filaments of film in strips. Fibrillation and roughness provide poor rinsing and drying ability. The fibrillated strands retain water by capillary action. It is believed that the preferred soft "feel" of a woven implement is primarily due to the size and shape of the extruded monofilament used. Preferred monofilaments are substantially E'4 3 circular cross section, have a diameter that varies from 0.003 inch to 0.015 inch. Within this diameter range different materials have different stiffness. It is believed that the monofilament stiffness is the main variable that controls the soft "feel". Within a given implement it is possible to use monofilaments of two different sizes or two different materials to create a composition that has the most acceptable "feel". Nevertheless, for the lowest cost implement it has been found that extruded monofilaments made of linear low density polyethylene and smaller than 0.009 inch in diameter have an optimal "feel". The circular filaments in cross section are easily twisted when rubbed against a person's skin. The easy twist also helps circular monofilaments in cross section pass from the bobbins through the guides of the weaving machine without breaking. For the particular weaving machine and the size and material of the filament noted above, it is believed that the oval shape of the monofilament cross sections of 1.7: 1 or a larger proportion of the larger / smaller diameter tend to break when they pass through. machine. The tubular fabric 10 is approximately 5 E'4r? 3 inches in diameter. Cut lengths of 24 to 28 inches in length of the continuous tubular fabric are cut to generate the personal cleansing implements of the present invention. Figure 2 shows a right end 12 of the tubular fabric 10 which is inverting or bending backward on an outer surface 14 of the tubular fabric 10, towards a left end 16. Preferably, both the right end and the left end of the tubular fabric 10 are reversed on the outer surface 14 so that the ends 12 and 16 overlap slightly near the center of the tubular tissue 10. New opposite ends 18 and 20 are formed by this inversion. The end 20 is then inverted again, but this time the end 20 reaches the end 18 to create four concentric layers of tubular fabric that substantially overlap each other and have open ends 22 and 24. Figures 4 and 5 show the woven structure double folded having open ends 22 and 24. Figure 5 also shows the flattening of tubular fabric 10 within a block of fibrous material 26 of 8 layers 8 having an upper surface 28 and a lower surface 30. The block of material fibrous 26 is substantially flattened by closing the f4 c »3 ends 22 and 24. The closure is carried out by sewing or by thermal bonding processes, commonly known in the art. The thermal bond can include contact with a hot die, use of adhesive, ultrasonic welding, or other thermal processes. The seam allows a connection that is less rigid and compact than that which normally provides the thermal bond. The seam is shown in Figure 6. A block of closed fibrous material 26 forms an implement for personal cleansing, generally indicated as 34. During or after closure of the ends of the inverted tubular tissue 10, a handle 36 is attached preferably the block of fibrous material 26 bonding it through the upper and lower surfaces 28 and 30. This is shown in Figures 6 and 7. The handle is preferably placed inside a stitch and near a corner of the implement. The handle 36 allows the user to hang the implement for personal cleansing after rinsing, so that it can dry quickly. The handle 36 is preferably a braided hydrophobic rope made of polypropylene, a hydrophobic rope material 3.5 mm in diameter, such as the W-01 specification number available from Maxi-Cord of Chicago, IL. The implement 34 has an open and elastic raised area of hydrophobic materials. This combination provides a significant amount of foam when used with a liquid, gel or solid skin cleanser. The implement is held in one hand. The cleaner is added preferably to the implement and not to the skin. The cleaner is then rubbed against the skin by means of the implement in the presence of water, lifting the dirt and exfoliated skin on the implement. It is believed that foaming improves removal of dirt and exfoliated skin from the body surface. The implement of the present design allows to develop substantially more foam and foam of better consistency than is generally possible with a sponge or wipe for cleaning. Once the bath or shower is finished, the implement 34 can be rinsed and dried quickly, thus avoiding the slow drying of cleaning wipes, sponges or implements with compact hard centers. The construction of the implement 34 provides a central portion that does not have a compact hard center. Therefore, it is believed that the structure of the implement 34 is more hygienic than most implements of the prior art that are used for personal cleansing. If the seams are used in place of the thermal bond, the seams are preferably made with hydrophobic yarn made of polyester. This thread is And available at the Beachwood Market, Ltd. of Cleveland, Ohio. It has the specification number 2743 MAA. While the particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it is intended to cover all those modifications in the appended claims. which are within the scope of the invention.

P453

Claims (14)

1. CLAIMS 1. A personal cleansing implement comprising a block of substantially rectangular hydrophilic fibrous material, said block of fibrous material being a piece of tubular fabric made from extruded plastic monofilaments woven in a weaving machine having a set of 32 to 64 needles per diameter of the machine; the monofilaments have substantially circular cross sections in the range of 0.0076 cm (0.003 inches) to 0.0381 cm (0.015 inches) in diameter, said piece of tubular fabric has a longitudinal axis, the piece of tubular tissue has from about 6 to about 9 stitches by 2.54 cm (1 inch) when measured normally along the longitudinal axis, the piece of tubular tissue is inverted on itself, at least once, along the longitudinal axis, to form a plurality of concentric layers of tubular tissue; each of these layers has a similar length and said plurality of layers substantially overlap with each other, the block of fibrous material has an upper surface, a lower surface and two open ends when the piece of tubular fabric is inverted on itself and is substantially flattened perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the upper surface and the surface P4C > 3 below are joined at the two open ends by means of a joining means to maintain the block of fibrous material substantially flattened.
2. 2. The implement for personal cleansing of claim 1, further comprising means for hanging said implement for personal cleansing.
3. 3. The personal cleansing implement of claim 1, wherein the attachment means comprises a seam.
4. 4. The personal cleansing implement of claim 1, wherein the attachment means comprises a thermal bond.
5. 5. The personal cleansing implement of claim 1, wherein the extruded plastic monofilament comprises linear low density polyethylene.
6. 6. The personal cleansing implement of claim 1, wherein the monofilaments have a diameter less than 0.0228 cm (0.009 inches).
7. The personal cleansing implement of claim 1, wherein the block of fibrous material comprises 8 layers of tubular fabric when substantially flattened.
8. 8. A method for constructing an implement for personal cleansing, comprising the steps of: a) weaving a piece in the form of a tube in a P4 3 weaving machine that has a set of between 32 to 64 needles per diameter of the machine, and use molded plastic monofilaments that have substantially circular cross sections in the range of 0.0076 cm (0.003 inches) to 0.0381 cm (0.015 inches) of diameter, the piece of tubular fabric has about 6 to about 9 stitches per 2.54 cm (1 inch) as measured normally along the longitudinal axis of said tubular fabric; b) flipping the piece of tubular fabric over itself, at least once, along the longitudinal axis, to form a plurality of concentric layers of tubular fabric, each of said layers having a similar length and the plurality of layers being substantially overlap each other; c) substantially flattening said piece of tubular tissue perpendicular to the longitudinal axis to form a block of fibrous material, thereby generating an upper surface, a lower surface, and two open ends of said block of fibrous material; d) joining the upper and lower surfaces of the block of fibrous material at the two open ends, by means of a joining means, to maintain the block of fibrous material substantially flattened.
9. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein E r? 3 the extruded plastic monofilament comprises linear low density polyethylene.
10. The method of claim 8, comprising the step of attaching a handle to the piece of tubular fabric for hanging the personal cleansing implement.
11. 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the joining means comprises a seam. The method of claim 8, wherein the joining means comprises a thermal bond. The method of claim 8, wherein the monofilaments have a diameter less than 0.0228 cm (0.009 inch). The method of claim 1, wherein the block of fibrous material comprises 8 layers of tubular fabric when substantially flattened. P453 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An implement for personal cleansing (34) comprises a block of fibrous, hydrophobic, substantially rectangular material (26). The block of fibrous material (26) is a piece of tubular fabric (10) made of extruded monofilaments of linear low density polyethylene, in a weaving machine having a set of from 32 to 64 needles per diameter of the machine. The monofilaments mainly have circular cross sections in the range of 0.003 inch 0.015 inch in diameter. The piece of tubular fabric (10) has a longitudinal axis with about 6 to about 9 stitches per inch along the longitudinal axis, as typically measured by hand in the industry. In addition, the piece of tubular fabric (10) is inverted on itself, at least once, along the longitudinal axis, to form a plurality of concentric tubular fabric layers, which are then sub-substantially flattened to form the block of fabric. fibrous material (36). Each of the layers has approximately the same length and overlaps with other layers. The block of fibrous material (26) has an upper surface (28), a lower surface (30) and two open ends (22, 24). The upper and lower surfaces (26, 28) are joined at the two open ends (22, 24) by means of a joining means to maintain P r? 3 to the implement (34) substantially flattened. However, the block of fibrous material (26) retains sufficient spongy characteristics to function as a cleaning implement (34). P r? 3