Angled Soap Dish

Abstract

A soap dish having a planar surface that is angled from the horizontal to retain a conventional bar of soap. The planar surface has a plurality of ridges that provide the primary resting surfaces for the bar of soap. The planar surface is surrounded by walls that prevent the soap from sliding out of the angled soap dish. At the convergence of the base of the planar surface and the lowermost or front wall are a series of holes or slots to permit water and liquefied soap to exit the angled soap dish. The angled soap dish may be either freestanding or mounted to a vertical surface, such as a shower wall. The freestanding version is capable of being moved to any location desired. The vertical mounted version may be either permanently affixed to the vertical surface or it may be semi-permanently mounted by means such as suction cups secured to the rear wall of the angled soap dish

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims an invention which was disclosed in Provisional Application No. 60/716,804, filed Sep. 14, 2005, entitled “ANGLED SOAP DISH”. The benefit under 35 USC § 119(e) of the United States provisional application is hereby claimed, and the aforementioned application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention pertains to the field of containers used to hold bars of soap on bathroom sinks, kitchen countertops and shower ledges. More particularly, the invention pertains to a soap container that is angled to allow the bar of soap to drain after use so as to retain its material integrity.

2. Description of Related Art

Bars of soap tend to dissolve and/or become slimy after use when water is allowed to collect under and around the bar. Conventional bar soap dishes permit water to pool around the bar resulting in the eventual dissolution of the soap or at the very least making it so saturated with water as to make it unusable or unpleasant to use. A number of devices have been devised to attempt to alleviate this problem.

For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,802, issued Jul. 9, 1991, discloses a device wherein the outer surface contains a number of protuberances and the inner surface is designed to match the contour of a conventional bar of soap. This device is of limited utility because it is not useful for bars of soap having flat or irregular surfaces.

The object of many prior art devices is to limit the amount of surface area on which the bar of soap is resting. U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,753, issued Jun. 4, 1991, discloses a soap holder containing a projection that projects into a recess in a bar of soap. After use, the bar of soap is retained by the projection so as to minimize contact with flat surfaces to prevent pooling of water that might contribute to the dissolution of the bar of soap. The problem with this design is that as the bar becomes smaller with use over time, the continued retention of the bar on the protrusion will weaken the structure of the bar, causing premature fracturing.

Simple wires have been adapted to address this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,124 describes a bar soap holder that consists of bent wire that suspends the soap over, for example, the flat surface of a wash basin. The wire provides minimal contact with the soap and permits water to drain onto the surface of the wash basin. However, as one can imagine, this causes pooling of soapy water on the surface of the basin, which must be cleaned regularly. An variation of this concept is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,427. In this patent, a continuous cord in the pattern of an “X”, supported by four mounts is designed to retain a traditional bar of soap in a horizontal position. The intent is to minimize contact between the cord retention structure and the bar of soap. The problem with wire or cord retainers is that because of the very limited surface area of the cord, the weight of the bar and its water saturated surface condition will cause the bar to sink into the cord making removal of the bar very difficult, if not impossible, when the soap is needed again.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention solves many of the limitations of the prior art devices disclosed above. It consists of a dish having a planar surface that is angled from the horizontal to retain a conventional bar of soap. The planar surface has a plurality of ridges that provide the primary resting surfaces for the bar of soap. The planar surface is surrounded by either segmented walls or a continuous wall to prevent the soap from sliding out of the angled soap dish. At the convergence of the base of the planar surface and the lowermost or front wall are a series of holes or slots to permit water and liquefied soap to exit the angled soap dish.

The angled soap dish may be either freestanding or mounted to a vertical surface, such as a shower wall. The freestanding version is capable of being moved to any location desired. The vertical mounted version may be either permanently affixed to the vertical surface or it may be semi-permanently mounted by conventional means secured to the vertical rear wall of the angled soap dish.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a top elevation view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the present invention along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a cross section of the embodiment of FIG. 1 along line 3-3.

FIG. 4 shows a front elevation view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a top elevation view of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a side elevation view of the second embodiment along line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is an angled soap dish 10th as shown by FIGS. 1-6. Referring to FIG. 1, the angled soap dish 10 consists of a substantially planar surface 12 which has a plurality of upstanding ridges 14. In this embodiment, as represented in FIGS. 1 through 4, the angled soap dish is of a generally rectangular shape. Planar surface 12 is integral with first and second side walls, 16 and 18, respectively, which are aligned substantially 90 degrees from the planar surface 12. Also integral with the planar surface 12 are a rear wall 20 and a front wall 22. The rear wall is angled from about 95 to 115 degrees from the level of the planar surface 12 and the front wall is angled from about 65 to 85 degrees from the level of the planar surface 12. Further, rear wall 20 is substantially taller than front wall 22 so that planar surface 12 is tilted from about 5 to about 25 degrees from true horizontal, as represented by the bottom edge 24 of the second side wall 18 (FIG. 2).

The angled planar surface 12 is best represented by the cross sectional view of FIG. 3. In operation, a wetted bar of soap (not shown) is placed on the planar surface 12 where it rests on the plurality of ridges 14. Excess water and liquefied soapy residue drains down the sloped planar surface 12 and exits through a plurality of slots 30. As shown in FIG. 1, the slots can be either cut into the front edge of the planar surface 12 or, as shown in FIG. 4, they may be cut out of the bottom of the front wall 22. FIG. 4 is a front elevation view of the first embodiment of the invention which shows the downward sloping of the soap dish.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the angled soap dish 10 is of a generally oval shape. As shown in the side elevation view of FIG. 6, a rear support 31 provides the necessary angle to the angled soap dish 10. The oval shaped angled soap dish 10 has a continuous wall 34 that is angled at its upper edge 36 about 95 to 115 degrees from the level of the planar surface 12 and lower edge 38 is angled from about 65 to 85 degrees from the level of the planar surface 12 to freely allow excess water and soapy residue to exit from slots 30. As in the first embodiment, slots 30 may be cut out of the lower edge 38 of the continuous wall 34 (not shown) or they may be cut out of the lower edge of the planar surface 12, as shown in FIG. 5.

The soap dish 10 of the present invention may be fabricated from any material suitable for surviving long term contact with water. Examples of such materials are plastics, porcelain, fiberglass, glass, wood, clay and aluminum. The soap dish 10 may be freestanding in that it may be easily moved to any horizontal location large enough to accept it, such as the flat surfaces of bathroom or kitchen wash basins or horizontal ledges located within shower stalls or bathtubs. Alternatively, the angled soap dish may be mounted onto a vertical surface, such as the backsplash of a wash basin or the wall of a shower stall. One suitable method for vertical mounting, such as one or more suction cups 21, is shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the vertical mounting means may consist of screws or similar fastening devices 40, as suggested in FIG. 4.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention herein described are merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Reference herein to details of the illustrated embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the claims, which themselves recite those features regarded as essential to the invention.

Claims

1. A soap dish comprising:

a) a substantially rectangular shaped planar surface having a plurality of integral longitudinal ridges, the planar surface sloping from about 5 to about 25 degrees from true horizontal,

b) an integral first side wall and an integral second side wall substantially perpendicular to the level of the planar surface,

c) an integral rear wall angled approximately 95 to 115 degrees from the level of the planar surface, and

d) an integral front wall angled approximately 65 to 85 degrees from the level of the planar surface.

2. The soap dish of claim 1 further comprising plurality of slots in proximity to the integral junction of the planar surface and the front wall.

3. The soap dish of claim 2 wherein the plurality of slots are cut out of the planar surface.

4. The soap dish of claim 2 wherein the plurality of slots are cut out of the front wall.

5. The soap dish of claim 1 wherein the soap dish is freestanding for locating on any horizontal surface.

6. The soap dish of claim 1 wherein the soap dish is secured to a vertical surface by means mounted to the rear wall.

7. A soap dish comprising:

a) a substantially oval shaped planar surface having a plurality of integral longitudinal ridges, the planar surface sloping from about 5 to about 25 degrees from true horizontal,

b) a continuous side wall having an upper edge that is angled from about 95 to about 115 degrees from the level of the planar surface that is integral with a vertical rear support, and

c) a lower edge of the continuous side wall that is angled from about 65 to about 85 degrees from the level of the planar surface.

8. The soap dish of claim 7 further comprising plurality of slots in proximity to the integral junction of the planar surface and the lower edge.

9. The soap dish of claim 8 wherein the plurality of slots are cut out of the planar surface.

10. The soap dish of claim 8 wherein the plurality of slots are cut out of the lower edge.

11. The soap dish of claim 7 wherein the soap dish is freestanding for positioning on any horizontal surface.

12. The soap dish of claim 7 wherein the soap dish is secured to a vertical surface by means mounted to the vertical rear support.