Mesh sponge with pocket
A mesh sponge is formed as a batting of multiple layers of a tubular mesh material defining a pocket. The pocket may house a cleaning aid article, for example, a bar of soap or a structural form. Liquid soap may be used in conjunction with the mesh sponge and structural form, which provides a solid feel to the user. The pocket in the mesh sponge may house a bladder that is filled with liquid soap. The bladder may be porous or contain one or more valved openings to facilitate the excretion or dispensing of the liquid soap upon squeezing of the bladder by a user.
This application claims the benefit pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119 (e) of U.S. provisional application No. 60/75,765 entitled “Mesh sponge with pocket” filed on 5 Aug. 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. design patent application Ser. No. 29/235,773 filed 5 Aug. 2005 entitled “Mesh sponge with pocket,” which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This application is further related to U.S. design patent application Ser. No. ______, filed contemporaneously herewith.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to bathing accessories and more particularly to washing utensils for soap application and skin exfoliation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Men do not have a product to use in the shower that, in conjunction with bar or liquid soap, can clean as well as an artificial mesh loofa. At the time of this writing, artificial loofas have been manufactured for about 15 years, primarily in the form of a “pouf,” which is generally a gathered or scrunched flowery ball of plastic mesh material. Men have never really felt comfortable using the loofa pouf due to the feminine design. Most men still will use only a bar of soap, liquid soap, or either or in conjunction with a wash cloth. At present, there is not a bathing or scrubbing tool that is suitable to the taste of men. Most men regard artificial loofa poufs as women's items, and refuse to use them. Prior attempts to market mesh sponges to men have merely been directed to manufacturing artificial loofa poufs out of dark colored mesh materials. However, this still does not address the problem of the unattractive, feminine shape of the artificial loofa pouf.
Although in the past generally unappealing from a marketing standpoint, men can greatly benefit from a mesh material bathing product. The mesh material of loofa poufs actually scrubs and exfoliates the skin, leaving the user with a very clean feeling. Men often get very dirty from work and sport and would greatly benefit from the use of mesh material as a bathing aid. However, most men simply will not put a cleaning item in their shower that looks feminine.
The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded subject matter by which the scope of the invention is to be bound.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is directed to a scrubbing and exfoliating product. In one form, the invention comprises a mesh sponge formed as a batting of multiple layers of a tubular mesh material defining a pocket. The pocket may contain a cleaning aid article, for example, a bar of soap. This allows the mesh sponge to have a very solid feel while allowing for the soap to lather, which passes through the mesh material to the user's skin. The soap may then be stored in the pocket for future use. In another form the mesh sponge may house a structural form within the pocket. In this form, liquid soap may be used in conjunction with the mesh sponge while the structural form provides a solid feel to the user. In yet another form of the invention, the pocket in the mesh sponge may house a bladder that is filled with liquid soap. The bladder may be porous or contain one or more valved openings to facilitate the excretion or dispensing of the liquid soap upon squeezing of the bladder by a user.
Other features, details, utilities, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following more particular written description of various embodiments of the invention as further illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in the appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The following description presents certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention and describes them in conjunction with the figures attached hereto.
Each edge along the lateral sides 112 of the front wall 104 is fastened to each edge along the corresponding lateral sides 112 of the rear wall 106 to define a seam 114 along each lateral side 112 of the mesh sponge 100. The front wall 104 may be fastened to the rear wall 106 along the seam 114, for example, by stitching the mesh material at each edge along the lateral sides 112 of the front wall 104 to corresponding mesh material at each edge along the lateral sides 112 of the rear wall 104. In this manner, the mesh sponge 100 is enclosed on three sides and the opening to the interior pocket 102 is thus formed along the top 110 of the mesh sponge 100.
A loop 116 for hanging or holding the mesh sponge 100 may be affixed to the top 110 of the mesh sponge 100. The loop 116 may be formed of a length of cord 132 passed through the mesh sponge 100 with the ends of the cord 132 tied in a knot 134. As shown to good advantage in
In one embodiment, the loop 116 may only be attached to one of the front wall 104 or the rear wall 106 to ensure ease of accessibility and use of the pocket 102. For example, if the loop 116 were to pass through both the front wall 104 and the rear wall 106 along the top 110 center of the mesh sponge 100, such attachment of the loop 116 could impede the insertion of a cleaning aid article 128 within the pocket 102 of the mesh sponge 100. However, in an alternative embodiment, if the loop 116 were attached to a top 110 corner of the mesh sponge 100, passing through both the front wall 104 and rear wall 106, interference with the insertion of cleaning aid articles 128 into the pocket 102 is also unlikely.
The mesh sponge 100 of the embodiment depicted in
The openings in the mesh material may generally be quite small, for example, on the order of a few millimeters in length. The openings in the layers 122, 124, 126 of mesh material 120 forming the mesh sponge 100 overlap with each in a manner such as depicted in
In actual use, as depicted in
In an alternative embodiment of the use, a liquid soap may be squeezed onto a surface of the mesh sponge 100 or poured within the pocket 102 opening whereby the liquid soap may permeate throughout the interstitial areas of the mesh sponge 100. In this manner, the mesh sponge 100 can again be used in conjunction with a cleansing soap as a body washing utensil for a user.
The mesh material is generally formed as a tubular extrusion 200 as shown in
In the present invention, a length of tubular mesh extrusion 200 may be flattened as shown in
This folding process creates a shorter length of mesh batting 202 approximately twice as long as the desired height of the end product, e.g., the mesh sponge 100 of
Alternate folding methodologies may be chosen. For example, the flattened mesh extrusion might be folded in half lengthwise and then in half again and further through a series of half-lengthwise folds until the folded length of the mesh extrusion is approximately twice as long as the desired height of the mesh sponge. This method may not be preferred because the ends of the tubular mesh extrusion, which are open, would remain exposed along the top edge of the mesh sponge. Another folding methodology may be to perform a series of accordion-like folds approximately twice as long as the desired height of the mesh sponge. Again, this method may not be preferred because, in some configurations, both ends of the tubular mesh extrusion would remain exposed along the top edge of the mesh sponge. In an alternate configuration, at least one of the ends would remain exposed along the top edge of the mesh sponge, thus being a less-preferred methodology.
In these methodologies, the mesh batting 202 is folded in half once again as shown in
The edges along the lateral sides 212 of the front wall 204 and the rear wall 206 of the mesh sponge 220 may then be stitched or otherwise bound or fastened together as shown in
As shown in
With respect to alternate folding implementations described above in which one or more ends of the tubular mesh material remain exposed, an option for hiding these ends is available. Such exposed ends may be positioned to extend beyond the length of the folded mesh extrusion such that the ends extend beyond the top of the mesh sponge. These ends may then be conveniently folded, for example, over the top of the front wall or rear wall, and tucked into the pocket. In this manner, such ends of the tubular mesh extrusion may be concealed within the mesh sponge. However, in such implementations, the exposed ends are not secured within the pocket of the mesh sponge and may be inadvertently pulled out.
As described above with respect to
As with other implementations, the mesh sponge 300 may be composed of tens of layers of mesh material. The mesh material may be made of nylon or any other material sufficiently resilient and resistant to the growth of bacteria, mildew, or mold. The openings in the mesh material may generally be quite small, for example, on the order of a few millimeters in length. The multiple layers of the mesh material create small interstitial areas, both within each of the mesh openings as well as between each of the layers of mesh material. The interstitial areas act as a sponge to retain viscous liquids, transfer such liquids throughout the interstitial spaces of the mesh sponge through wicking and capillary action, and dispense such liquids in small quantities through contact of the outer layer of the mesh sponge 300 with other surfaces.
The first pinched portion 402 of the tubular mesh extrusion 400 may then be held in place while the open end 404 is pulled distally toward and over the first pinched portion 402 along the outer wall of the tubular mesh extrusion 400, as shown in
Next, as shown in
Once a desired thickness for the mesh sponge is achieved, the distal end 418 of the mesh batting 420 may be bound or fastened, for example, by sewing or stitching a seam 414 between the bottom edges of the front wall and the rear wall as shown in
The mesh sponge may then be completed by turning the folded section 420 inside-out as depicted in
In additional implementations, the cleaning aid article used for insertion within the pocket 502 of the mesh sponge 500 may be a structural form 518 as shown in
In another implementation, the structural form 518 may be formed of foam. The foam may be either closed-cell or open-cell. Closed-cell foams may generally provide attributes of form, density, and tactile sensation to the user. In addition to these attributes, open-cell foams may also provide additional retention of the soap lather within the mesh sponge 500.
As shown in
The loop 516 may be attached to the top of the mesh sponge 500 as depicted in
The structural form may be provided in a variety of shapes and densities or rigidities, for example, to provide alternative gripping configurations for the user or to impart different massaging sensations to the skin and muscles of the user. For example, as shown in
In
In
In yet another embodiment, the cleaning aid article may be a bladder filled with liquid soap for use used in conjunction with the mesh sponge. The soap-filled bladder may be inserted into the pocket of the mesh sponge to dispense soap during use of the mesh sponge. The bladder may be made of any of various materials to both contain the liquid soap and allow for the secretion of soap from the bladder to fill the interstitial spaces of the mesh sponge when in use.
In one exemplary embodiment shown in
In a further exemplary embodiment shown in
Alternatively, the bladder 800 may be fashioned with one or several valves 810 as shown in
A valve 810 may be positioned in either or both of the first sheet 802 and the second sheet 804. The valve 810 allows soap to be excreted or extruded from the bladder 800 when the bladder 800 is placed under pressure. The valve 810 may further be designed to prevent backflow in order to not dilute the soap remaining within the bladder 800. The valve openings 812 in the valves 810 may be formed of slits in one or more laminar sheets. If there is more than one laminar sheet, the slits may be arranged in an overlapping, but angularly offset manner. For example, the slits in two adjacent laminar sheets may be arranged to form an X. In one exemplary embodiment, the valve 810 may be similar to laminar valves on the lids of spill-proof cups for children. Again, a removable seal (not shown) may be placed on the valve 810 to prevent accidental leakage until the bladder 800 is ready for use.
All directional references (e.g., proximal, distal, upper, lower, upward, downward, left, right, lateral, front, rear, back, top, bottom, above, below, vertical, horizontal, clockwise, and counterclockwise) are only used for identification purposes to aid the reader's understanding of the present invention, and do not create limitations, particularly as to the position, orientation, or use of the invention. Connection references (e.g., attached, coupled, connected, and joined) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediate members between a collection of elements and relative movement between elements unless otherwise indicated. As such, connection references do not necessarily infer that two elements are directly connected and in fixed relation to each other.
Although various embodiments of this invention have been described above with a certain degree of particularity, or with reference to one or more individual embodiments, those skilled in the art could make numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention. It is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not limiting. Changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the basic elements of the invention as defined in the following claims.
Claims
1. A mesh sponge comprising
- a plurality of layers of tubular mesh material, flattened and folded to define a front wall; a rear wall; and a bottom; wherein
- the front wall and the rear wall are attached at respective lateral side edges along respective seams;
- the bottom is seamless; and
- the front wall, the rear wall, and the bottom form a pocket with an opening to the pocket at a top of the front wall and the rear wall.
2. The mesh sponge of claim 1, wherein one end of the tubular mesh material is housed within the pocket.
3. The mesh sponge of claim 1, wherein the lateral side edges are housed within the pocket.
4. The mesh sponge of claim 1 further comprising a cord; wherein
- at least one of the front wall and the rear wall defines a hole through the plurality of layers; and
- the cord passes through the hole.
5. The mesh sponge of claim 4, wherein the hole is positioned adjacent a top edge of the mesh sponge.
6. The mesh sponge of claim 4, wherein the hole is positioned adjacent one of the lateral side edges.
7. The mesh sponge of claim 1 further comprising a cord having a first end and a second end; wherein
- the first end of the cord is attached to a top edge of the front wall; and
- the second end of the cord is attached to a top edge of the rear wall.
8. The mesh sponge of claim 1 further comprising
- a first engagement means along a top edge of the front wall; and
- a second engagement means along a top edge of the rear wall; wherein
- the first engagement means and the second engagement means releaseably attach with each other to close the pocket.
9. The mesh sponge of claim 1 further comprising a cleaning aid article within the pocket.
10. The mesh sponge of claim 9, wherein the cleaning aid article is a bar of soap.
11. The mesh sponge of claim 9, wherein the cleaning aid article is a structural form.
12. The mesh sponge of claim 11, wherein the structural form is porous.
13. The mesh sponge of claim 10, wherein the structural form is nonporous.
14. The mesh sponge of claim 11, wherein the structural form is selected from a group of shapes consisting of a rectangular box, a sphere, a half-sphere, a cylinder, a half-cylinder, and an ellipsoid.
15. The mesh sponge of claim 9, wherein the cleaning aid article is a bladder filled with liquid soap.
16. The mesh sponge of claim 1, wherein the plurality of layers comprises substantially between 10 and 30 layers inclusive.
17. A mesh sponge comprising
- a plurality of layers of tubular mesh material, flattened and folded to define a front wall; a rear wall; and a bottom; wherein
- the front wall and the rear wall are fastened at respective bottom edges along a seam;
- the front wall and rear wall are seamlessly contiguous; and
- the front wall, the rear wall, and the bottom form a pocket with an opening to the pocket at a top of the front wall and the rear wall.
18. The mesh sponge of claim 17, wherein one end of the tubular mesh material is housed within the pocket.
19. The mesh sponge of claim 17, wherein the bottom edges are housed within the pocket.
20. The mesh sponge of claim 17 further comprising a cord, wherein
- at least one of the front wall and the rear wall defines a hole through the plurality of layers; and
- the cord passes through the hole.
21. The mesh sponge of claim 20, wherein the hole is positioned adjacent a top edge of the mesh sponge.
22. The mesh sponge of claim 20, wherein the hole is positioned adjacent one of the lateral side edges.
23. The mesh sponge of claim 17 further comprising a cord having a first end and a second end, wherein
- each of the first end and the second end is fastened to the bottom edges within the seam; and
- a loop formed by the cord extends out of the pocket above the top of the front wall and the rear wall.
24. The mesh sponge of claim 17 further comprising a cord having a first end and a second end, wherein
- the first end of the cord is attached to a top edge of the front wall; and
- the second end of the cord is attached to a top edge of the rear wall.
25. The mesh sponge of claim 17 further comprising
- a first engagement means along a top edge of the front wall; and
- a second engagement means along a top edge of the rear wall; wherein
- the first engagement means and the second engagement means releasably attach with each other to close the pocket.
26. The mesh sponge of claim 17 further comprising a cleaning aid article within the pocket.
27. The mesh sponge of claim 26, wherein the cleaning aid article is a bar of soap.
28. The mesh sponge of claim 26, wherein the cleaning aid article is a structural form.
29. The mesh sponge of claim 28, wherein the structural form is porous.
30. The mesh sponge of claim 28, wherein the structural form is nonporous.
31. The mesh sponge of claim 28, wherein the structural form is selected from a group of shapes consisting of a rectangular box, a sphere, a half-sphere, a cylinder, a half-cylinder, and an ellipsoid.
32. The mesh sponge of claim 26, wherein the cleaning aid article is a bladder filled with liquid soap.
33. The mesh sponge of claim 17, wherein the plurality of layers comprises between 10 and 30 layers.
34. A method of making a mesh sponge comprising
- folding a length of tubular mesh material a plurality of times to form a batting of mesh material;
- forming a front wall and a rear wall from the batting of mesh material; and
- fastening at least one edge of the front wall to a corresponding edge of the rear wall to form a pocket.
35. The method of claim 34, wherein
- the folding operation further comprises folding the tubular mesh material to an intermediate length approximately twice as long as a final dimension of the mesh sponge; and
- the forming operation further comprises folding the batting of mesh material in half.
36. The method of claim 34, wherein
- each of the front wall and the rear wall comprise respective lateral side edges; and
- the fastening operation further comprises fastening the lateral side edges of the front wall to the respective lateral side edges of the rear wall.
37. The method of claim 34, wherein
- each of the front wall and the rear wall comprise respective bottom edges; and
- the fastening operation further comprises fastening the bottom edge of the front wall to the respective bottom edge of the rear wall.
38. The method of claim 34, wherein the first folding operation further comprises
- turning a proximal end section of the length of the tubular mesh material inside-out along an outer surface of an adjacent section of the tubular mesh material; and
- repeating the turning operation along the length of the tubular mesh material until the batting of the intermediate length is formed.
39. The method of claim 34 further comprising flattening the first length of tubular mesh material.
40. The method of claim 34 further comprising flattening the batting of mesh material.
41. The method of claim 34 further comprising turning the pocket inside-out.
42. The method of claim 34 further comprising attaching a cord to at least one of the front wall and the rear wall.
43. The method of claim 34 further comprising inserting a cleaning aid article into the pocket.
44. A bladder for use in conjunction with a bathing utensil, the bladder comprising
- at least two walls formed of a flexible material capable of retaining a liquid; wherein
- the at least two walls are sealed together to form a pocket therebetween to retain the liquid; and
- at least one of the walls defines a means for conveying the liquid from the pocket to an exterior surface of the at least one of the walls.
45. The bladder of claim 44, wherein the conveying means comprises at least one porous area of the flexible material forming the at least one of the walls.
46. The bladder of claim 44, wherein the conveying means comprises the flexible material forming the at least one of the walls, wherein the flexible material is porous.
47. The bladder of claim 44, wherein the conveying means comprises a valve positioned within the at least one of the walls.
48. The bladder of claim 44 further comprising a removable seal over the conveying means.
49. The bladder of claim 48, wherein the removable seal comprises a film adhered to the exterior surface of the at least one of the walls.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 7, 2006
Publication Date: Mar 22, 2007
Inventor: Anthony Shaw (Lakewood, CO)
Application Number: 11/483,112
International Classification: A47K 7/02 (20060101);