Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE OF THE INVENTION
DISPOSABLE MANUAL WASTE COLLECTION
CONTAINMENT
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to material collection. More
specifically, the present invention is concerned with disposable manual
waste collection containment suitable for picking up, for example, animal
excrements.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Collection of pet waste has always been an unpleasant
task. A pet owner will typically use an old plastic bag wore as a rude glove
to pick up the pet solid excrements before turning the bag inside out while
still handling the excrements, until its in the bag and the hand outside.
Then the pet owner typically closes the bag with a knot to prevent spillage
and decrease the foul odors.
A first drawback of such conventional method is that the
bag used for the operation is often oversized for the task, which restricts
movement of the fingers, thumb and hand in collecting the material.
Moreover, since conventional plastic bags do not include any closing
means, there is no easy and reliable way to seal the bag after collection.
Dedicated devices are of course known to help the pet
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owner in retrieving the waste material. One of such device is described
United States Patent No. 5,438,708 issued to Jacovitz on August 8, 1995
and untitled "Manual Waste Collection Containment, and Disposal
Device': Jacovitz discloses a glove and an oversized collection pad
attached by fasteners for collecting and disposing of waste materials. A
major drawback of Jacovitz device is that it is complicated and therefore
expensive to manufacture. Another drawback of Jacovitz device is that
the pad restricts the movement of the hand.
Dooley teaches another glove device dedicated for hand
collecting waste material in United States Patent No. 6,511,111 issued on
January 28, 2003 and untitled "Pet Waste Collection and Disposal Glove".
Dooley solves the above-mentioned problem of hand movement. Dooley
device includes a pair of ties provided at the end of the glove to allow
closing of the glove after collection of the waste material. However, the
proposed closing means does not allow sealing of the glove after use. This
can be seen as a drawback when the glove is used to retrieve waste
material that is wet or semi-liquid and that can leak trough the closed
opening.
Improved waste collection containment is thus desirable.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
. An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an
improved disposable manual waste collection containment.
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Another object of the invention is to provide a sealable
disposable manual waste collection containment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
More specifically, in accordance with a first aspect of the
present invention, there is provided a disposable manual collection
containment comprising:
a glove member for enclosing a hand; the glove member
having opposite outside and inside surfaces both extending from a free
proximate end defining an opening to a closed distal end; and
a sealing assembly secured to the glove member near the
proximate end to allow the opening to be sealed when the glove member
is turned inside out.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there
is provided a disposable glove for collecting material comprising:
a hand portion for enclosing the hand of a user; the hand
portion extending from an open end to at least one finger receiving
compartment; the at least one finger receiving compartment generally
defining a closed end of the hand portion;
the improvement consisting of a sealing assembly secured to the hand
portion near the open end thereof for selectively sealing the open end
when the glove member is turned inside out.
The sealing assembly may be in the form of a re-sealable
zipper, an adhesive strip, or the like.
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The glove may be optionally provided with padding means
allowing isolating the hand of the user from adverse feeling while
manipulating waste material.
The sealing assembly according to the present invention
allows to prevent leakage of odors and/or of waste material collected in
the containment.
A containment according to the present invention is
particularly suitable for collecting material that can stain and/or that also
needs a containment for storage and carrying.
Other objects, advantages and features of the present
invention will become more apparent upon reading the following non
restrictive description of preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of
example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the appended drawings:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a disposable manual waste
collection containment glove according to a first illustrative embodiment of
the present invention;
Figures 2A-2C are perspective view of the containment glove
of Figure 1, illustrating the operation thereof;
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Figure 3 is a perspective view of a disposable manual waste
collection containment glove according to a second illustrative
embodiment of the present invention;
5 Figure 4 is a perspective view of a disposable manual waste
collection containment glove according to a third illustrative embodiment of
the present invention;
Figure 5 is a top plan view of the disposable manual waste
collection containment from Figure 4;
Figure 6 is a cross section taken along line 6-6 of Figure 5;
and
Figure 7 is a perspective view of a disposable manual waste
collection containment glove according to a fourth illustrative embodiment
of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Turning now to Figure 1 of the appended drawings, a
disposable manual waste collection containment 10 according to a first
illustrative embodiment of the present invention is illustrated.
The containment 10 is in the form of a glove member made
of a lightweight inexpensive material and configured and sized so as to
allow enclosing of a hand. The material is chosen so as to be un-tearable
and air and moisture tight. Suitable materials include, for example,
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polymerized materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl
chloride.
The glove member may be made sufficiently oversized so as
to allow a hand wearing a first layer of conventional glove to be
accommodated therein. The first layer of glove may be made, for example,
of cotton or from another material so as to allow isolating the hand 31 of a
user from the fierce sensation of the hand closing onto excrement or onto
other waste materials.
Even though it may be advantageous in some applications to
use a translucent material for the glove member 10, so as to allow
inspection of waste materials carried by the glove member 10 as will be
explained hereinbelow, an opaque material can also be used.
The glove member 10 includes integral hand and sleeve
portions 12-14. The proximate end of the glove member 10 consists in the
free end 16 of the sleeve portion 14, which defines an opening 18 of the
glove member 10. The hand portion 12 includes finger-receiving
compartments 22, defining a closed end of the glove member 10. Of
course the length of the sleeve portion may vary.
Even though the glove member 10 illustrated in Figure 1
comprises five (5) finger-receiving compartments 22, one for each finger of
the hand, it can include any number of finger receiving compartments; a
glove member including for example a single finger-receiving compartment
defining a mitt.
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The glove member 10 has opposite outside and inside
surfaces 24-26.
The glove member 10 further comprises a re-sealable zipper
28 secured to sleeve portion 14 near the proximate end 16 of the glove
member 10 and defining a sealing assembly.
More specifically, the re-sealable zipper 28 includes opposite
cooperating female and male strip members 30-32 secured to the outside
surface 24 of the glove member 10, and allowing for selectively sealing the
opening 18 when the glove member 10 is turned inside out as will be
explained furthering. An example of zipper 28 is commercialized under
the "ziplock" trademark.
Alternatively, the re-sealable zipper may be of the type that
cannot be opened after sealing.
Turning now to Figures 1, and 2A to 2D, the operation of the
disposable manual waste collection containment 10 will now be described.
As can be seen in Figure 1, a user first inserts a hand 31 into the glove 10
so that the sealing assembly 28 is located outside the sleeve portion 12 as
illustrated in Figure 1.
As can be seen in Figure 2A, the user can then pick up
excrements 33 or any waste material by closing the hand, protected by the
glove member 10, onto the excrement 33.
The user, still closing a hand 31 onto the waste material 33
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then uses the other hand 34 to remove the glove 10 while reversing it
upside down as illustrated in Figure 2B.
Once the glove 10 is removed (Figure 2C), the waste
material is enclosed in the glove member 10 then acting as a bag. The
user then uses the sealing assembly 28, which is at this step located on
the inside surface 18 of the glove 10, to seal the opening and prevent
leakage of odors and/or of waste material.
The male and female members 30-32 of the zipper 28 may
be of different colors, allowing to better verify the seal after closing the
zipper 28 as it is commonly known in the art.
A disposable manual waste collection containment 100
according to a second illustrative embodiment of the present invention will
now be described with reference to Figure 3. Since the containment 100
is very similar to the containment 10 described hereinabove, and for
concision purposes, only the difference between these two embodiments
will be described.
According to the second illustrative embodiment, the sealing
assembly of the containment 100 is in the form of a reusable or non-
reusable adhesive strip assembly 102, including a strip of adhesive 104
secured to the outside surface 24 of the glove member 100 and a peelable
strip 106 removably adhered to the adhesive strip 104. The strip
assembly 102 allows for selectively sealing the opening 18 when the glove
member 100 is turned inside out. Indeed, the user simply has to remove a
peeiable strip 105 to expose the adhesive strip once the waste material is
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picked-up and the glove member 100 is turned inside out. Since such
adhesive strip assemblies are believed to be well known in the art, they
will not be described herein in more detail.
Even though the adhesive strip assembly 102 is illustrated in
Figure 3 as a peripheral strip located near the opening 18, it can have
other configuration and position without departing from the spirit and
nature of the present invention. For example, the adhesive strip may be
provided on only half the periphery of the inside surface 26 and an
additional foldable tab (not shown) of material may be provided on the
opposite side of the inside surface 26 so as to allow sealing of the opening
18 by folding the tab onto the adhesive strip after the glove member 100 is
turned inside out, similarly to securing the flap of an envelope.
A disposable manual waste collection containment 200
according to a third illustrative embodiment of the present invention will
now be described with reference to Figures 4 to 6. Since the containment
200 is very similar to the containment 10 described hereinabove , and for
concision purposes, only the difference between these two embodiments
wilt be described.
The containment 200 is still in the general shape of a glove
but is further provided with padding means 202 on the palm side of the
hand portion 12. As can be better seen in Figure 6, the padding means 20
is in the form of a padding layer of a polymeric material that includes air
bubbles 204. An example of such material is commercialized under the
Bubble WrapT"" trademarks. The padding layer is advantageously secured
onto the outside surface 24 of the glove member 200, but can also be
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secured onto the inner surface 26. Alternatively, the air bubbles 24 can be
incorporated directly in the glove material.
The padding means 202 allows isolating the hand 31 of a
5 user from the fierce sensation of the hand 31 closing onto excrement or
onto other waste materials. The padding means 202 also allow to isolate
the hand 31 of the user from feeling the difference of temperature caused
by the waste material and that contributes to the adverse sensation.
10 Optionally, padding means may be provided on other
portions of the glove 200.
The padding means 202 may also take the form of an
additional layer of material of sufficient thickness to allow isolating the
hand 31 of a user from adverse sensation.
Also, even though this third embodiment is illustrated as a
right hand glove, the padding means may be positioned on the other side
of the opening 18 so as to be suitable for a left hand.
Alternatively, padding means may be provided on both sides
of the opening 18 so that the glove 200 is adapted for both right and left-
handed users.
A disposable manual waste collection containment glove 300
according to a fourth illustrative embodiment of the present invention is
illustrated in Figure 7. Since the glove 300 is very similar to the glove 10
illustrated in Figure 1, and for concision purposes, only the difference
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between the glove 300 and the glove 10 will be described herein.
The glove 300 further includes means 302 for securing the
containment to the wrist of the user, his clothes, to an animal leash or the
like (not shown).
The securing means is in the form of a loop made of glove
material attached to the containment 300 or integral thereto. The securing
means 302 may also be used as a handle helping removing the glove 300.
To ease the removal and the handling of the glove 300 using
the loop 302, the loop 302 is secured to the inside surface 26 of the glove
300.
Even though the loop 302 is illustrated in Figure 7 positioned
between the sealing means 28 and the hand portion 12, it can be secured
to other portions of the glove 300 on the inside surface 26 thereof. When
the loop 302 is only intended to be used as a means to ease the removal
of the glove 300, it can be secured to glove 300 so as to extend from the
outside surface thereof.
Even though a glove according to the present invention has
been described as a disposable manual waste collection containment, it
can also be used in other applications where a person has to collect
material that can stain and/or that also needs a containment for the
material for storage and carrying. An example of such an application is in
food markets where a glove according to the present invention can be
used for handling and choosing in bulk food such as fruits.
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Disposable manual waste collection containments according
to the present invention may be manufacture in different size to
accommodate users having different size of hands.
Although the present invention has been described
hereinabove by way of preferred embodiments thereof, it can be modified
without departing from the spirit and nature of the subject invention, as
defined in the appended claims.
