US20070220692A1

Movatterモバイル変換

Info

Publication number: US20070220692A1
Application number: US11/386,425
Authority: US
Inventors: Ben Kusin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-03-22
Filing date: 2006-03-22
Publication date: 2007-09-27
Also published as: WO2007111927A2; WO2007111927B1; WO2007111927A3

Abstract

An apparatus for neutralizing odors in clothing, comprising an applicator for applying a neutralizing substance to a person's clothing, the applicator including: a carrier layer impregnated with the neutralizing substance and a substrate layer having generally the same shape as the carrier layer and bonded to the carrier layer around all but a select portion of the perimeter of the carrier layer. An activating mechanism associated with the applicator may be provided for releasing the neutralizing substance from the carrier layer. In another aspect of the invention, a method comprising the steps of providing an odor-neutralizing applicator having a carrier layer impregnated with an odor neutralizing substance and adapted to be slipped over the person's fingertips of one hand; and manipulating the applicator against the person's clothing to neutralize the odors in the person's clothing. An activating step may be included to release the odor neutralizing substance onto the person's clothing.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to neutralizing unpleasant odors and, more particularly, to apparatus and a method for neutralizing unpleasant odors on the surface of a person's clothing and refreshing the scent of the clothing.

2. Background of the Invention

Dining out, attending concerts or dance performances, going to the theatre or to movies, going to parties, dances and celebrations, going to night clubs and other entertainment venues, or just hanging out with friends are some of the activities people engage in during their free time. Generally, in preparing to participate in these activities, people take great pains to look their best and to present themselves in the best possible light. Personal grooming aids and products are often employed, most of which are scented, in an effort to appear attractive. Perfumes and scented grooming products are used to enhance the effects, particularly among persons interested in attracting other persons of the opposite sex, for example.

Unfortunately, the scented effects tend to diminish rapidly, reducing the intended effect of the personal grooming efforts. Further, many of the venues for the above activities include exposure to a wide variety of odors. These odors typically originate from food and beverages in restaurants, from smoke in restaurants, bars, night clubs, etc., from the perspiration of the persons themselves and other patrons, and from other substances that may be encountered during an evening's entertainment. Many of these odors are unpleasant or become more so with the passage of time. Such odors are readily absorbed by a person's clothing or hair, and are carried with the person for the rest of the evening. Thus, not only are the original scents diminished through the natural evaporation and deterioration that occurs, but they are often overwhelmed or masked by the many odors in the surroundings. These circumstances may be especially worrisome to people in a dating situation, especially as the evening wears on and the persons anticipate extending the evening or just wish to freshen themselves before proceeding with the remainder of the evening's activities.

Conventional remedies include perfume or perfumed products such as cologne applied to a person's skin or clothing, typically provided in a spray container or a bottle. Other similar products may be applied by hand. Further, it is known that certain products, such as dryer sheets for use in clothes dryers, have sometimes been used in an effort to absorb the unpleasant odors from a person's clothing or hair, generally with limited success. However, such dispensing devices as traditionally used for perfume or cologne are not readily available with odor neutralizing capabilities adapted to neutralizing the odors accumulated on a person's clothing. Moreover, the use of paper or fabric odor absorbing devices has heretofore failed to provide more than limited usefulness.

It is known or has been observed that certain paper or fabric products, such as the Bounce® dryer sheets and Swiffer® floor mop products manufactured and distributed by the Proctor & Gamble Corporation for the laundry and floor cleaning markets respectively, and which may respectively contain anti-static or scented compounds or cleaning agents, have certain properties that might suggest possible applications in this field of odor neutralization of clothing. However, the available configuration of these articles is not appropriate or well suited to the application of neutralizing the odors absorbed by a person's clothing in a night club or restaurant venue. The Bounce® dryer sheets and the Swiffer® mop refills are loose sheets of fabric. They are not conveniently packaged for a person's pocket or purse, are not adapted to the particular use of odor neutralization, and do not contain suitable substances for neutralizing odors absorbed into a person's clothing or for refreshing originally applied perfumes or scents.

What is needed is an apparatus and a method of using the apparatus, which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art devices and methods, that can serve both to eliminate or neutralize unpleasant odors that accumulate on a person's clothing during an evening's entertainment in a wide variety of venues, and to refresh or restore the original scent or replace it with an alternative scent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, there is disclosed an apparatus for neutralizing odors in clothing, comprising an applicator for applying a neutralizing substance to a person's clothing, the applicator including: a carrier layer having a generally rectangular shape defined by a perimeter thereof and impregnated with the neutralizing substance, and a substrate layer having generally the same shape as the carrier layer and bonded to the carrier layer around all but a select portion of the perimeter of the carrier layer to form a finger pocket for manipulating the applicator. In an alternate embodiment, an activating mechanism or protective sleeve associated with the applicator may be provided for releasing the neutralizing substance from the carrier layer.

In another aspect of the invention, a method is disclosed comprising the steps of providing an odor-neutralizing applicator having a carrier layer impregnated with an odor neutralizing substance and adapted to be slipped over the person's fingertips of one hand; slipping the applicator over the fingertips of the person's hand; and manipulating the applicator against the person's clothing to neutralize the odors in the person's clothing. In an alternate embodiment the method includes the step of activating the carrier layer of the applicator to release the odor neutralizing substance onto the person's clothing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a plan view of one embodiment of an apparatus for neutralizing odors on a person's clothing;

FIG. 2 illustrates an edgewise view of the embodiment ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 illustrates a pictorial view of the use of the embodiment ofFIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring toFIG. 1, there is illustrated a plan view of one embodiment of an apparatus for neutralizing odors on a person's clothing. Anapplicator10 includes atop layer12, which may bear abrand indicia14 including abrand16, and, as one alternate embodiment, atextual indicia18 includinginstructions20 for using theapplicator10. In an alternative, wherein thetop layer12 includes only a brand indicia, textual indicia may be affixed to or printed upon the packaging for theapplicator10. Abonding region22 is shown, indicating the location of a bond that is formed between thetop layer12 and other layers (not shown inFIG. 1) below thetop layer12. It will be observed, however, that thebonding region22, between the edge of theapplicator10 and the dashed line, surrounds the perimeter of theapplicator10 around all of the perimeter except for one edge of theapplicator10. The edge of theapplicator10 that does not include a bond is selected so that a person's fingertips may be inserted between two of the layers, as will be explained.

Theapplicator10 in its preferred embodiment is intended to be a compact device easily carried in a pocket or purse. Thus, its dimensions are determined accordingly to be slim and only slightly larger than a business card, for example. Theapplicator10 in the illustrative embodiment shown may be approximately3.75 inches long and approximately3.00 inches wide. Thetop layer12 may be a paper material bearing the

indicia

14,18, which may, for example, be printed or embossed thereon by conventional processes. In alternative embodiments, however, the dimensions and shape of theapplicator10 may of course be modified for other applications without departing from the concept illustrated inFIGS. 1, 2 and3. In general, the shape may be any plane figure that is bounded by a closed perimeter, such as triangular, rectangular, circular, eliptical, oval or polygonal. The portion of the perimeter that is open, called theopen space28, to permit the users fingers to be inserted between acarrier layer24 and a substrate layer26 (SeeFIG. 2) in the manner of a finger mit, may be located at any location along the perimeter of theapplicator10. In a preferred embodiment, the shape of theapplicator10 is generally rectangular with rounded corners, wherein theopen space28—an entry side for inserting the user's fingers—is located along one of the shorter sides of theapplicator10. Other embodiments may position theopen space28 along a longer side or a curved side.

Referring toFIG. 2, there is illustrated an edgewise view of theapplicator10. The structure of the embodiment shown includes three layers of material, each with a distinct purpose. Thetop layer12 has been described previously. It may be bonded fully to anintermediate substrate layer24, which may be fabricated from a thin, generally flexible and substantially non-absorbent material that has some stiffness or resiliency to provide shape and “body” to theapplicator10. The purpose of thesubstrate layer24 is to form a pocket in cooperation with thecarrier layer26 when theapplicator10 is prepared for use. Materials suited to this purpose include leather, synthetic, leather-like fabrics, heavy grade papers, and the like. The lower layer, thecarrier layer26, is preferably an absorbent layer of a non-woven fabric, such as may be formed of spun-bonded polyester fibers. This example, of which the fabric such as that used in the aforementioned dryer sheets is just one alternative, is illustrative only and a number of alternative fabric materials are feasible. Thecarrier layer26 is preferably impregnated with an odor neutralizing substance to be described. In alternate embodiments, thecarrier layer26 may include pleasantly scented material such as perfume or cologne, either alone or in combination with the odor neutralizing substance.

Thecarrier layer26 may be bonded to thesubstrate layer24 around the perimeter of thesubstrate layer24 except at the selected open space shown inFIG. 2. This open space is provided for the person using theapplicator10 to insert his or her fingertips into thepocket28 between thecarrier layer26 and thesubstrate layer24 for the purpose of manipulating theapplicator10 during use. The edge of thebonding region22, represented by a dashed line (also indicated by reference number22), is shown within thepocket28 between thesubstrate24 andcarrier26 layers. The dashedline22, also shown inFIG. 1, may in one embodiment indicate one location of stitches for sewing the edges of thebonding region22 together. The edges of thebonding region22 may also be bonded using an adhesive, rivets, staples, clamps or crimped fasteners, or even be an integral part of both thesubstrate24 andcarrier26 layers of theapplicator10. An example of the latter embodiment is provided when thesubstrate24 andcarrier26 layers are formed of a single sheet of material that satisfies the requirements of both layers.

In some embodiments it is advantageous for theapplicator10 to be disposable; that is, it may be discarded when the odor neutralizing substance impregnated in thecarrier layer26 is exhausted. Thus, the materials used in the construction of theapplicator10 need not be particularly durable. On the other hand, it is further contemplated that other embodiments of theapplicator10 may be reusable. For example, anapplicator10 constructed of relatively durable materials and configured to be fitted with areplaceable carrier layer26, may be provided. The latter embodiment might provide a marketing advantage in that the applicator may be provided at nominal cost with or without a package of refill carrier layers26 (or, carrier sheets26). A reusable applicator would include a bonding mechanism to enable removal of thecarrier layer26 for replacement by afresh carrier layer26.

Referring toFIG. 3, there is illustrated a pictorial view of theapplicator10 being used to apply the odor neutralizing substance to a person's clothing. Theapplicator10 is shown being manipulated by a wiping action against theclothing30 of a user, as indicated by thearrows36. The user'sfingertips32 of his or herhand34 are inserted into thepocket28 between thesubstrate24 andcarrier26 layers of theapplicator10. In a preferred embodiment, thepocket28 in theapplicator10, when opposite sides (e.g., to the left and right of theapplicator10 as indicated by the triangular marks38,40 inFIG. 3) of theapplicator10 are squeezed slightly, opens wide enough to receive twofingertips32 therein for manipulating theapplicator10. Once installed on the user's fingertips, his or herhand34 is moved in a side-to-side motion36, rubbing or wiping the lower surface portion (not visible in the figure, but will be readily understood) of thecarrier layer26. This action causes the release and transfer of the odor neutralizing substance from a portion of thecarrier layer26 to the surface of the user'sclothing30, as will be described further herein.

Continuing withFIG. 3, the odor neutralizing substance may, for example, be an activated charcoal material, impregnated into or formed into a fabric used to construct thecarrier layer26, that absorbs odor particles on contact with thecarrier layer26. In an alternative embodiment, a compound that combines with the chemicals in food odors and smoke, thereby causing them to be non-odorous, may be activated on contact with the person's clothing. In another alternative embodiment, a compound that volatilizes odorous substances on contact, causing them to disperse by evaporation may be used. Alternate embodiments may utilize a combination of these features in a single device to accomplish odor neutralization. For example, a device may combine the features of absorption and ionization to neutralize odors accumulating on the surface of clothing. Further, the odor neutralizing substance maybe bound in microcapsules impregnated within the carrier layer, thus prevented from escaping until subjected to the pressure associated with the rubbing or wipingcontact36 against the user's clothing surface when theapplicator10 is being used. The odor neutralizing substance may additionally include a perfume or other scented agent. Alternatively, the perfume or scented agent may be separately impregnated into thecarrier layer26.

In one example, an activated charcoal material that is formed into a textile fabric having a microporous structure may be used in thecarrier layer26. The microporous structure provides a very large surface area presented to the odor-causing substances, effectively absorbing them from the person's clothing during use of theapplicator10. The activated charcoal textile material, developed in Britain for its filtering properties, is further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,371 issued to Conant et al.

Theapplicator10 described herein above maybe used multiple times and stored in a person's pocket or purse when not in use. However, in an alternate embodiment, theapplicator10 may be enclosed in a protective wrapper (not shown) that is removed by the user prior to use. This wrapper may be configured to retard deterioration or prevent inadvertent dispersion of the odor neutralization or odor masking substances that may occur between uses. In another alternate embodiment, a protective layer of thin paper or plastic material having a low tack adhesive may be attached as a fourth layer (not shown) to the underside of thecarrier layer26. To activate thecarrier layer26, the user need only remove the fourth layer for use and replace the fourth protective layer over thecarrier layer26 after use. In a variation of this alternate embodiment, microcapsules of the odor neutralizing substance may be embedded in the adhesive that secures the protective layer to the carrier layer. Such microcapsules are well-known in the art for incorporating sample fragrances in periodical advertisements for the fragrance products. The microcapsules are ruptured when the protective layer is peeled away from the carrier layer, thus releasing or activating the odor neutralizing substance just prior to the use of theapplicator10.

While the invention has been shown in only one of its forms, it is not thus limited but is susceptible to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof. For example, the embodiment illustrated in the drawings is shown with the opening disposed in one of the longer sides of theapplicator10. In one modification (not shown because its appearance is readily visualized to one skilled in the art, based on the structural features shown inFIGS. 1, 2 and3), the opening for receiving the user's fingertips maybe provided in one of the shorter sides of the applicator, thus permitting insertion of the user's fingers to a greater extent to provide a firmer grip on theapplicator10.

In another modification, theapplicator10 may be enlarged such that a user's entire hand fits within thepocket28 between thesubstrate24 andcarrier26 layers. This configuration enables the use of the applicator as a hand mitt, for applying odor neutralizing substances to a larger fabric surface area, for example, such as to upholstery in vehicles or on furniture or draperies and curtains in offices or residences, etc.

Yet another modification is to provide a pouch or sleeve (not shown, but readily visualized by persons skilled in the art) for enclosing and storing theapplicator10 within when not in use. Such a pouch or sleeve may also protect thecarrier layer26 from contact with other surfaces or substances that could degrade its functional characteristics. A sleeve could also be employed as part of a mechanism for activating the applicator just prior to use, if that is a particular objective of the product. In this embodiment, removing theapplicator10 from enclosure or contact with the sleeve may serve to activate the odor neutralizing substance for use.

Claims

1. An apparatus for neutralizing odors in clothing, comprising:

a finger mitt applicator for applying an odor neutralizing substance to a person's clothing, the applicator including:

a carrier layer having a generally bounded shape defined by a perimeter thereof and impregnated with the odor neutralizing substance; and

a substrate layer having generally the same shape as the carrier layer and bonded to the carrier layer around all but a select portion of the perimeter of the carrier layer, thereby forming a pocket with the carrier layer and an open space for inserting one or more of a user's fingers therein.

2. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the applicator comprises:

a top layer attached to an opposite side of the substrate layer from the carrier layer; and

indicia including a brand image imprinted on the top layer.

3. The apparatus ofclaim 2, wherein the indicia includes instructions for use of the applicator.

4. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the substrate layer and the top layer are combined in a single substrate layer having an imprintable outer surface.

5. The apparatus ofclaim 4, wherein the substrate layer is selected from the group consisting of leather and a leather substitute.

6. The apparatus ofclaim 1, further comprising:

an activating mechanism associated with the carrier layer of the applicator for releasing the odor neutralizing substance from the carrier layer.

7. The apparatus ofclaim 6, wherein the activating mechanism is a wrapper configured for enclosing the carrier layer until use.

8. The apparatus ofclaim 7, wherein the wrapper is configured to enable re-use of the applicator.

9. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the pocket formed in the applicator is adapted for being slipped over a user's fingertips to enable manipulating the applicator to release the odor neutralizing substance.

10. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the pocket is formed in the applicator by squeezing first and second opposite sides of the applicator, thereby providing an open space for inserting a user's fingers.

11. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the carrier layer is a non-woven, absorbent fabric sheet.

12. The apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein the carrier layer is fabricated from spun-bonded polyester fibers.

13. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the odor neutralizing substance includes a perfume.

14. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the odor neutralizing substance includes a pleasing scent.

15. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the carrier layer is also impregnated with a perfume.

16. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the odor neutralizing substance is a perfume.

17. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the substrate layer is a non-absorbent paper.

18. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the odor neutralizing substance is impregnated into a first portion of the carrier layer and a second substance having a pleasing odor is released from a second portion of the carrier layer.

19. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the substrate layer is bonded to the carrier layer around all but a select portion of the perimeter of the carrier layer using a bonding means selected from the group consisting of sewn stitches, adhesive, rivets, staples, and clamps.

20. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the generally bounded shape defined by a perimeter comprises a plane figure selected from the group consisting of triangular, rectangular, circular, eliptical, oval, and polygonal.

21. A method of neutralizing odors present in a person's clothing, comprising the steps of:

providing an odor-neutralizing applicator having a carrier layer impregnated with an odor neutralizing substance and adapted to be slipped over the person's fingertips of one hand;

slipping the applicator over the fingertips of the person's hand; and

manipulating the applicator against the person's clothing to release the odor neutralizing substance onto the person's clothing thereby neutralizing the odors in the person's clothing.

22. The method ofclaim 21, wherein the step of manipulating comprises the step of:

rubbing the carrier layer of the applicator against the surface of the person's clothing to release the odor neutralizing substance onto the person's clothing.

23. The method ofclaim 21, further comprising the step of:

activating the carrier layer of the applicator, prior to the step of manipulating, to enable release of the odor neutralizing substance.

24. The method ofclaim 23, wherein the step of activating further comprises the step of:

removing a protective wrapper from the applicator thereby exposing an active portion of the carrier layer.

25. The method ofclaim 24, further comprising the step of:

replacing the protective wrapper over the active portion of the carrier layer for subsequent re-use of the applicator.