US2173686A - Paper bedpan cover - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 19, 1939. J. F. HAMJE PAPER BEDPAN COVER Filed Jan. 30, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 19, 1939. J. F. HAMJE PAPER BEDPAN COVER Fi1ed Jan. S50, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 /V I I i d z lNVENTOR Jazm F 1.562131% I BY M ATI mun Patented Sept. 19 1939 UNITED STATES PAPER BEDPAN COVER John F. um, East Bockaway, N. Y,

Application January 30, 1937, Serial No. 123,137

3Claims.

The present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in sanitary covers for bed-pans and the like, and it relates more particularly to an inexpensive paper cover which may be quickly applied and held on the bed-pan and which may thereafter be destroyed so that the sanitary problems incident to laundered fabric covers are entirely eliminated.

with the above and other objects in view which will appear more fully from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, the present invention consists of a paper bag cover for bed-pans and the like which is generally open downwardly and rearwardly, and includes an upper paper panel adapted to extend over the bed-pan and two side panels formed integrally therewith and extending downwardly therefrom on eitherside thereof, and a front panel formed integrally therewith and extending downwardly in the front and connected with the two side panels to constitute a pocket-like formation with said side walls and with the front portion of the top panel, receive the front nose portion of the bedpan.

2! The present invention consists of other novel features and details of construction all of which will appear more fully from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention,

80 there is shown in the accompanying drawings one form thereof which is at present preferred, since the same has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, although it is to be understood that the various instrumentalities of 36 which the invention consists can be variously arranged and organized and that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and organization. of the instrumentalitles as herein shown and described.

0 Referring to the drawings, in which like reference characters indicate like parts:

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a bedpan cover with its sides opened up as it is about to be superimposed upon and applied to a bedpan.

Figure 2 represents a similar perspective view of the bed-pan cover of the present invention as in actual use on a bed-pan.

Figure 3 represents a sectional view on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 represents a plan view of one form of paper blank of which the paper cover of the present invention may be formed.

Figure 5 represents a fragmentary plan view of 66 the front end thereof with the sides folded in.

Figure 6 represents a similar plan view with both side flanges and front flange folded in and with the comers curled up to show partial separability thereof.

Figure '7 represents a perspective view of the bed-pan cover in a generally flat but partly unfolded condition.

Flgure 8 represents a fragmentary perspective view of one inner corner of the front; this view may be regarded as a section on line 8-8 of Figure 7.

The bed-pan cover of the present invention is preferably formed of an inexpensive paper of the type commonly used for making inexpensive paper bags such as inexpensive grocery bags or other merchandise bags, as for instance a twenty pound to thirty pound (more or less) brown kraft paper or bleached white or cream kraft paper, although a crepe paper may also be used. The bed-pan cover of the present invention is preferably formed in a continuous manner on conventional paper handling and formingmachines by feeding a generally continuous web of paper from a roll in the direction of the arrow HI shown in Figure 4; the web being preferably the width ,ll of the blank I! or some multiple width thereof. The paper web is fed through and its longitudinal marginal zones folded inwardly to produce the side flanges l3 and I4, and severed at suitable intervals to form the edges I5 and I6 shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6. Suitable adhesive is applied to the zones l1 and I8 and the front portion is is then folded over from the position shown in Figure 5 to the position shown in Figure 6, so as to afford adhesive engagement between the front terminal portions H and I8 of the side flanges I3 and I4 and the corresponding inturned portions 20 and 2| of the front flange portion l9.

This results in a formation generally indicated in Figures 6, 7 and 8 which in its unused condition is entirely flat, and which may then be unfolded, as indicated in Figures 7 and 8 and as indicated in Figures 1, 2 and 3. 45

When unfolded, a front pocket-like formation results which does not accurately fit the front nose 22 of the bed-pan 23, but which nevertheless sufliciently engages the front nose to adhere thereto with the corners 24 and 25 of the cover projecting substantially beyond the bed-pan.

The length of the front panel 26 is preferably suflicient to extend slightly beyond the rear end 21 of the bed-pan, so that it may be folded down slightly when gripped in the hand as indicated in Figures 2 and 3 in assembled or operative relation to the bed-pan.

The adhesive zones l1 and I8 preferably do not extend for the full width of the side flange portions l3 and I, as indicated particularly in Figure 5, thereby permitting a more open pocket formation in the front of the cover.

While in the accompanying drawings and in the foregoing description reference has been made only to a construction in which the front corners 24 and 25 extend loosely beyond the front of the bed-pan, the construction may be modified within practical range to absorb the free front corners 24 and 25 by folding them inwardly and pasting themdown. Thus, instead of the construction indicated in Figures 4 and 5, the nose may be formed initially rounded.

The paper bed-pan covers of the present invention are supplied in a stack of flat units in a manner similar to cheap paper bags, such as grocery bags or merchandise bags, and such a supply is to be kept in the supply rooms of hospitals. When a bed-pan is called for, the nurse instead of using a fabric, cotton or linen cover or toweling material, takes one of these paper bed-pan covers from the stack, superimposes it upon the bed-pan in the manner shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, and reapplies the same after use. Upon return, the paper bed-pan cover is destroyed so that but a single use is made of each cover. This eliminates any laundering and also the hazards due to infection by successive use of a fabric or textile cover without intervening laundering or sterilization.

I am aware that bed-pan covers of various types have been proposed from time to time, as for instance those illustrated in ,United States Patents Nos. 708,371; 1,362,671; 1,918,083 and others, and I make no claim to such prior bedpan covers;the bed-pan cover of the present invention being distinguished therefrom in the manner more particularly pointed out in the claims hereinbelow contained. 7

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is hereby claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

1. A one-use pan cover formed from a blank of relatively light-weight flexible paper having a main panel, foldable side flanges extending. along opposite longitudinal edges of said main panel, a foldable end flange extending beyond one transverse edge of said main panel, adjacent terminal portions of said flanges being arranged to overlap when said flanges are folded down over said main panel, said adjacent terminal portions each being interconnected by a gen erally rectangular extension common to said end flange and a different one of said side flanges, a portion of each of said extensions being adhesively secured to a terminal portion of the adjacent side flange, and said rectangular extensions each being foldably related to the adjacent side flange in more or less diagonal-wise fashion and each further being foldably related to said end flange along a fold line disposed between said extensions and said end flange, the transverse end portion of said main panel remote from said foldable end flange being substantially flat, and the terminal portions of said side flanges adjacent the latter end of the main panel being freely foldable away from said main panel to any desired degree, whereby the end of said pan cover remote from said "foldable end flange may operatively be brought down over an end of said pan in unhindered fashion when said pan end and neighboring cover end are jointly gripped by hand.

2. A one-use pan cover formed from a blank of relatively light-weight flexible paper having a main panel, foldable side flanges extending along opposite longitudinal edges of said main panel, a foldable end flange extending beyond one transverse edge of said main panel, adjacent terminal portions of said flanges being arranged to overlap when said flanges are folded down over said main panel, wtwo generally rectangular extensions each formed in continuation of at least one of said flanges and disposed in proximity to said overlapping terminal flange portions, a portion of each of said extensions being secured to one of said overlapping terminal flange portions, and said rectangular extensions each being foldably related to the flange to which it is secured along a line running more or less diagonally across said extension, and each of said extensions further being foldably related along an edge thereof to the flange overlapping the aforesaid flange to which said extension is. secured, the transverse end portion of said main' panel remote from said foldable end flange being substantially flat, and the terminal portions of said side flanges adjacent the latter end of the main panel being freely foldable away from said main panel to any desired degree, whereby the end of said pan cover remote from said foldable end flange may operatively be brought down over an end of said pan in unhindered fashion when said pan end and neighboring cover end are jointly gripped by hand.

3. A one-usepan cover formed from a blank of relatively light-weight flexible paper having a main panel, foldable side flanges extending along opposite longitudinal edges of said main panel, a foldable end flange extending beyond one transverse edge of said main panel, adjacent terminal portions of said flanges being arranged to overlap when said flanges are folded down over said main panel, gummed flange-connecting means connecting the adjacent terminal portions of said flanges and limiting the degree to which said terminal portions may be folded away from said main panel, whereby said flanges when unfolded will form with said main panel a pocket-like formation for receiving the front nose of a pan, the transverse end portion of said main panel remote from said foldable end flange being substantially flat, and the terminal portions of said side flanges adjacent the latter end of the main panel being freely foldable away from said main panel to any desired degree, whereby the end of said pan cover remote from said foldable end flange may operatively be brought down over the rear end of said pan in unhindered fashion when said pan end and neighboring cover end are jointly gripped by hand. I

JOHN F. HAMJE.

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