Disposable dry marker eraser

Abstract

The disposable dry marker eraser is a reusable eraser body and a disposable cleaning sheet removably attached to the bottom surface of the eraser body. The bottom surface of the eraser body may have an adhesive coating, or a hook fabric fastener may be affixed to the bottom of the eraser body. The cleaning sheet is made of a pile fabric, which is removably attached to the adhesive coating, or releasably mates with the hook fastener. The dry marker eraser may be furnished in kit form, including a dispenser box containing a vertical stack of cleaning sheets and having U-shaped cutouts in its side walls, so that a user can insert the eraser body into the dispenser box and apply pressure to attach a replacement cleaning sheet, the box aligning the sheet with the eraser bottom and the cutouts accommodating the user's hand as the stack of cleaning sheets dwindles.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates generally to dry marker erasers. Specifically, the invention relates to a dry marker eraser having a reusable body and a disposable cleaning sheet removably attached to the body, and to a dispenser for the disposable cleaning sheets.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Dry marker erasers have been used for many years to remove multiple color markings from white boards. Conventional handheld felt dry marker erasers are very similar in size to the standard chalkboard type erasers. Such erasers are often supplied for use in cleaning markings off of the whiteboard in order to prepare the whiteboard for another set of markings.

[0005] A problem with conventional dry marker erasers is that after several uses, the user often finds the eraser consumed or saturated with the residue from erased dry markings, such that the eraser is ineffective to remove any more markings. Unlike chalkboard dust, the user cannot simply pat off enough the residue to make the eraser effective again.

[0006] As a result of this problem, the user must periodically seek out a new eraser, usually in the midst of a presentation. The search for a new eraser tends to disrupt the presentation of the user, as well as limiting the time the user has to make his/her presentation. The following references provide examples of the conventional dry marker type erasers.

[0007] U.S. patent Publication No. 2001/0024720 describes a dry eraser member for receiving and releasably retaining a marking composition. U.S. patent Publication No. 2002/0083964 describes a cleaning tool, such as a mop head or cleaning mitt, that uses multiple cleaning sheets, such that as each sheet is used, it is removed, and a replacement sheet is uncovered, ready for the next use.

[0008] U.S. patent Publication No. 2002/0104180, describes a whiteboard eraser having a continuous roll cleaning sheet for quickly providing a fresh cleaning area. The publication describes, in FIG. 2, a prior art dry marker eraser having a removable sheet attached by hook and loop fasteners to a case.

[0009] U.S. patent Publication No. 2002/0106478 describes a cleaning sheet that provides scouring or scraping properties without the use of abrasive particles. U.S. patent Publication No. 2002/0176735 describes a simplified device for wiping and cleaning dirty surfaces. The device has a carrier body for a wiping element and, as an improvement, by using the device, it is more easily possible to remove dirt particles that are adhering to a surface to be cleaned, without any damage to the surface caused by excessive moisture.

[0010] U.S. patent Publication No. 2003/0003832 describes an improved cleaning sheet that effectively removes and retains particulate material from surfaces, while being thick enough and strong enough to withstand the rigors of a typical household cleaning process, even without the incorporation of a polymeric net or scrim material in the structure of the cleaning sheet. U.S. Pat. No. 2,739,334, issued to Hardey, describes cleaning, dusting, and polishing devices which include a resilient pad forming a backing for a removable covering material.

[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 2,916,759, issued to Smith, describes a cleaning tool provided with an accessory for detachably connecting a dusting cloth to the head thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,646, issued to Osborne, describes a chalkboard eraser in which a first portion of the working surface is used for erasing and a second portion is used for storage of chalk dust.

[0012] U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,888, issued to Menz, describes a hand held wiping/cleaning pad gripping device and to which pad the various dry or solvent soaking solutions can be readily applied, and which are used in the various phases of film processing, proof production, printing plate processing, press roller cleaning, and related type of operations.

[0013] U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,250, issued to Young, describes a dual-purpose cleaning device, which can be used for wet/damp mopping when a wiping/polishing sheet is not attached or, alternatively, with such a sheet attached, can be used for wiping or polishing of a surface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,973, issued to Wagner et al., describes a an eraser which can be used by itself and without any accompanying components, and also to an eraser which can hold one or a plurality of markers, so that the user can manipulate the eraser and the marker or markers as a unit, and change from one marker to another marker of different color quickly, thereby avoiding a disconcerting and attention-interrupting break in presentation by the dry board user.

[0014] U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,038, issued to Thorp, describes a dry marker eraser including a rigid support member having a layer of non-abrasive material attached to the bottom surface thereof and a strip of magnetic material attached to the top surface thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,920, issued to Arnold, describes a golf club wiping and cleaning device positioned, by clipping, onto the upper sidewall of a golf shoe in a position for wiping the club's face.

[0015] U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,891, issued to Davis et al., describes a message board having a frame adapted to receive and firmly retain various accessories in a convenient manner. U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,121, issued to Carver, describes a dry marker and eraser system the uses a small-scale eraser attached to a marker for making minor erasures without accidentally erasing larger portions of the white board.

[0016] U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,250, issued to Kenmochi et al., describes a rectangular wiping sheet adapted to be attached to a rectangular plate-like head which is, in turn, combined with a stick mounted on a top surface of the plate-like head to form a cleaner device used to clean a surface of floor or the similar surfaces, wherein the wiping sheet is provided adjacent a pair of sides thereof extending in parallel to each other with a plurality of slits extending through a thickness of the wiping sheet and each of the slits has a length of 5.about 0.30 mm as measured in a direction along the pair of sides.

[0017] U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,898, issued to Rhodes et al., describes a dry erase marker eraser having a flexible tubular sleeve with internal ribs. U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,115, issued to Frazier, describes a white board eraser provided for removal of ink dust and conditioning of white boards. The eraser has a plurality of treated layers of fabric which are used to clean and condition a white board and which are removed one at a time to present a new layer for use.

[0018] W.I.P.O. Patent Document No. WO 90/05478, published May, 1990, illustrates a device for cleaning floors by attaching floor cleaning cloths to footwear. The floor cleaning cloths are generally strips of fabric mechanically adhered to the soles of shoes. Japanese Patent No. 6-183196, published July, 1994, illustrates a continuous roll of white board eraser sheets, provided in a dispenser. Each sheet is individually dispensed, used, and discarded.

[0019] German Patent No. 4,321,596, published January, 1995, illustrates a fastening system for a cleaning cloth of a mop. The system allows the attachment of the cleaning cloth to the mop in a desired position and tension.

[0020] Japanese Patent No. 9-188097, published July, 1997, illustrates a white board eraser having a magnet for maintaining the eraser to the white board by magnetic attraction. Japanese Patent No. 2002-144791, published May, 2002, illustrates an eraser for a white board and blackboard. The eraser has a hollowed out portion, wherein a removable cleaning part fits therein.

[0021] None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a disposable dry marker eraser solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0022] The disposable dry marker eraser for erasing markings from whiteboard has an eraser body in the shape of a rectangular block. The bottom surface of the eraser body may be coated with adhesive, or it may have a hook fabric fastener affixed thereto. Disposable cleaning sheets are provided which are made from a pile type material which releasable attaches to either the adhesive coating or the hook fabric fastener. The dry marker eraser is packaged in a rectangular dispenser box having an open top and a pair of U-shaped cutouts defined in the opposing sides, the dispenser box being dimensioned so that the cleaning sheets lie in a vertical stack and the eraser body fits on top of the stack to align the top cleaning sheet with the bottom of the eraser body, the cutouts enabling the user to grasp the side surfaces of the eraser body while applying pressure to attach the cleaning sheet to the eraser body.

[0023] Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a dry marker eraser.

[0024] It is another object of the invention to provide a dry marker eraser having removable cleaning sheets.

[0025] It is a further object of the invention to provide a dry marker eraser having a plurality of removable cleaning sheets provided in a dispenser box.

[0026] Still another object of the invention is to provide a disposable dry marker eraser with a plurality of disposable cleaning sheets packaged in a dispenser box which aligns the cleaning sheet with the bottom surface of the reusable eraser body to properly apply the cleaning sheet.

[0027] It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.

[0028] These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of a disposable dry marker eraser according to the present invention.

[0030] FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective view of the disposable dry marker eraser according to the present invention with the disposable cloth peeled back from the bottom surface.

[0031] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a disposable dry marker eraser according to the present invention showing use of the eraser with a dispenser for the disposable cloth.

[0032] FIG. 4 is an environmental, perspective view of the disposable dry marker eraser in use according to the present invention.

[0033] Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0034] The present invention is a disposable dry marker eraser. The dry marker eraser is used to quickly remove markings made on a whiteboard with dry erase markers. The eraser has a removable cleaning sheet that allows the eraser to be reusable by simply removing a consumed sheet from the bottom surface of the eraser body and replacing it with a new sheet. The dry marker eraser may be provided in kit form, including the eraser body, a plurality of cleaning sheets, and a storage/dispenser box for maintaining the eraser and sheets in a convenient and economical manner, and which facilitates the process of attaching a replacement cleaning sheet to the eraser body.

[0035] The eraser and cleaning sheet dispenser are illustrated in the FIGS. 1-3. The dry marker eraser 10 is shown in storage in FIG. 1, with the storage/dispenser box 12, a handheld eraser block or body 22, and a plurality of cleaning sheets 34.

[0036] The dry marker eraser 10 has a reusable body 22 that is sized and configured for being held in a hand. The eraser body 22 has a conventional, elongated, rectangular box shape including a top surface 24, a bottom surface 30, and first, second, third and fourth side surfaces. The first and third side surfaces 26 are parallel and have a first length. The second and fourth side surfaces 28 are parallel and have a second length. The first length is at least equal to the second length such that the perimeter of each of the side surfaces 26, 28 is substantially a regular rectangle.

[0037] The bottom surface 30 of the block 22 has means for attaching a disposable cleaning sheet 34 thereto. The attachment means covers the entire area of the bottom surface 30. The attachment means has the ability to securely hold a cleaning sheet 34 for use during erasure of a whiteboard, and to effectively release a cleaning sheet 34 with a minimal amount of force. The attachment means is made from one of a myriad of holders or fasteners. For example, the attachment means may be a surface coating of a releasable adhesive, or a hook fabric fastener 32 of the type used in hook and loop fastening material. When the attachment means is an adhesive, the adhesive maintains the bottom surface 30 in a tacky state sufficient for adherence of a cleaning sheet 34 to the bottom surface 30. When the attachment means is a hook fabric fastener 32, the properties of the fabric from which the cleaning sheet 34 is made permit releasable attachment of the cleaning sheet 34 to the bottom surface 30 without the necessity of adhering a separate sheet of loop fastening material to the cleaning sheet 34.

[0038] Each one of the cleaning sheets 34 has a rectangular form corresponding to or congruent to the bottom surface 30 of the eraser body 22. Referring to a single sheet 34, the descriptions and properties apply to all of the cleaning sheets 34. The cleaning sheet 34 has a thickness 36, and top and bottom surfaces 38. The cleaning sheet 34 is formed of woven or non-woven fibrous fabric material. The fibrous material, when formed into the cleaning sheet 34, is a pile type fabric having a plurality of looping eyelets (not shown) along the top and bottom surfaces 38. The looping eyelets of the cleaning sheet 34 mate with the hook fabric fastener 32 in order to attach the cleaning sheet 34 to the bottom surface 30 of the eraser body 22.

[0039] When the attachment means is an adhesive coating, the looping eyelets are adhesively attached to the adhesive coating on the bottom surface 30 of the eraser body 22. When the attachment means is the hook fabric fastener 32, the looping eyelets are attached to the hook fastener 32 as in conventional hook and loop fasteners. In either scenario, the top surface 38 the cleaning sheet 34 is securely adhered to the bottom surface 30 of the eraser body 22.

[0040] The looping eyelets also provide the bottom surface 38 of the cleaning sheet 34 with the cleaning ability for cleaning whiteboard. Referring to FIG. 4, the eyelets allow the cleaning sheet 34 to completely remove markings 48 from whiteboard 40. The eyelets of the cleaning sheet 34 nonabrasively scour the whiteboard 40 surface, thereby removing the markings 48 and collecting the removed markings as marker dust within the thickness 36 of cleaning sheet 34. After using the cleaning sheet 34 several times, the cleaning sheet 34 becomes saturated with, or consumed by, the marker dust and is thusly rendered unusable. Once the cleaning sheet 34 is saturated or consumed, it is discarded and replaced by a new cleaning sheet 34.

[0041] According to the present invention, a storage/dispenser box 12 having a closed bottom (not shown), an open top 14, two closed side walls 16, and forward and rear walls 18 is provided. The two closed side walls 16 and the forward and rear walls 18 arise from the closed bottom and define a rectangular form. The plurality of cleaning sheets 34 and the support member 22 are dimensioned and configured to fit within the rectangular form defined by the storage/dispenser box 12. The rectangular form defined by the storage/dispenser box 12 is sized and configured to hold the cleaning sheets 34 and the eraser body 22 in a vertical stack, such that the interior perimeter of the box 12 circumscribes the exterior perimeter of the cleaning sheets 34 and the eraser body 22. Thereby, the dispenser box 12 may be used to package both the dry marker eraser 10 and the cleaning sheets 34.

[0042] The dispenser box 12 provides additional utility. In particular, the forward and rearward walls 18, include a centrally disposed substantially U-shaped cutout 20. The U-shaped cutout 20 provides access to the eraser body 22 as it rests atop the vertical stack of cleaning sheets 34. The eraser body 22 is readily grasped from the top of the stack, the U-shaped cutouts 20 allowing the user 44 to grasp the eraser body 22 by its side surfaces 26 even though the top of the stack of cleaning sheets 34 is lowered as more cleaning sheets are used and disposed of. The dispenser box 12 serves to properly align the cleaning sheet 34 with the bottom surface 30 of the eraser body 22 so that the user 44 does not have to struggle with installation of the cleaning sheet 34 on the eraser body 22.

[0043] Another convenience provided by the box 12, is that the storage/dispenser box 12 is dimensioned to be disposed on a ledge 42 of the whiteboard 40, as shown in FIG. 4. This convenience allows the replacement cleaning sheets 34 to be readily accessible as the user 44 works on the whiteboard 40. If the cleaning sheets 34 were stored in a supply cabinet, each time a cleaning sheet 34 is consumed and discarded a user 44 would have to leave the vicinity of the whiteboard 40 go to the supply cabinet and retrieve a new cleaning sheet 34. The ability to reside on the ledge 42 of the whiteboard 40 clearly makes the dry marker eraser 10 of the present invention user-friendly.

[0044] In use, the dispenser box 12 is placed on the ledge 42 of whiteboard 40. A user 44 makes markings 48 on the whiteboard 40 with dry erase markers (not shown). When an error occurs, or when new markings 48 are to be added to the whiteboard 40, the user 44 grasps the eraser body 22 via the U-shaped cutouts 20 from the box 12. Due to the attachment means on the bottom surface 30 of the eraser body 22, a cleaning sheet 34 is securely attached thereto. The user whisks the eraser body 22 across the whiteboard 40 so that the cleaning sheet 34 rubs over the markings 48, and removes them, the marker dust being collected within the thickness 36 of cleaning sheet 34.

[0045] Upon cleaning sheet 34 becoming saturated or consumed with the marker dust, the effective cleaning ability is diminished. Promptly, the user 44 will grasp a corner or end of the cleaning sheet 34 and peel, or otherwise, remove the cleaning sheet 34 from the attachment unit 32. Once removed, the cleaning sheet 34 is preferably discarded in a conveniently located refuse receptacle 46. The user 44 then places the eraser body 22, bottom surface 30 down, on the remaining stack of cleaning sheets 34 in the box 12. The attachment means immediately attaches the surface 38 of the topmost cleaning sheet 34, thereby making the eraser ready for immediate usage.

[0046] It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A disposable dry marker eraser, comprising:

a substantially rectangular block defining an eraser body having a top surface, a bottom surface, and first, second, third and fourth side surfaces;

a disposable cleaning sheet made from a pile material capable of cleaning markings from a whiteboard; and

attachment means for releasably attaching the cleaning sheet to the bottom surface of the eraser body;

whereby, the cleaning sheet is removable and disposable after use, the eraser body being reusable.

2. The disposable dry marker eraser according to claim 1, wherein said attachment means comprises an adhesive coating disposed on the bottom surface of said eraser body.

3. The disposable dry marker eraser according to claim 1, wherein said attachment means comprises hook fabric fastener material affixed to the bottom surface of said eraser body, the pile material of said cleaning sheet mating with the hook fabric fastener in order to releasably attach said cleaning sheet to said eraser body.

4. A disposable dry marker eraser kit, comprising:

a substantially rectangular block defining an eraser body having a top surface, a bottom surface, and first, second, third and fourth side surfaces;

a plurality of disposable cleaning sheets made from a pile material capable of cleaning markings from a whiteboard;

attachment means for releasably attaching the cleaning sheets to the bottom surface of the eraser body one at a time; and

a dispenser box having a substantially rectangular shape including a bottom wall and two pairs of opposing side walls arising from the bottom wall and defining a side wall height, the bottom wall having a perimeter slightly greater than one of said cleaning sheets and slightly greater than the bottom surface of said eraser body, one of the pairs of opposing side walls having a U-shaped cutout defined in each member of the pair, the cutout having a depth slightly less than the height of the side walls, the plurality of cleaning sheets being stacked vertically in the dispenser box;

whereby the cleaning sheet are removable and disposable after use, the eraser body being reusable; and

whereby the eraser body is capable of being grasped by the side surfaces and pressed against a replacement cleaning sheet in the dispenser box in order to releasably attach the replacement cleaning sheet to the bottom surface of the eraser body, the U-shaped cutouts accommodating a user's hand and the dispenser box aligning the eraser bottom with the replacement cleaning sheet.

5. The disposable dry marker eraser kit according to claim 4, wherein said attachment means comprises an adhesive coating disposed on the bottom surface of said eraser body.

6. The disposable dry marker eraser kit according to claim 4, wherein said attachment means comprises hook fabric fastener material affixed to the bottom surface of said eraser body, the pile material of said cleaning sheet mating with the hook fabric fastener in order to releasably attach said cleaning sheet to said eraser body.