Method and device to have a wipe cloth with ice-cream

Abstract

An ice cream stick or an ices stick made hollow with a napkin or a damp wipe cloth inside the hollow. Access to the napkin or cloth is by snapping off the end of the ice stick. Alternatively the napkin or cloth can be either in a sealed plastic bag that is stuck on the side of a conventional ice stick or the napkin or cloth is wrapped around the ice stick with the plastic sealed around it. A further embodiment has a cone shaped protector from ice-cream drips.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is in the field of accessories to the ice-cream industry and in particular a method to have a dry napkin or moist wipe cloth accessible to the consumer of an ice-cream or ices using the ices stick to contain the napkin or cloth, or having the cloth in a separate plastic sleeve that is attached to the ice-cream stick.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ice-creams and ices are often eaten by children who frequently need to have their hands and face wiped during and after consuming the ice-cream. This is a more acute problem with children because they take longer than adults to finish the ice-cream, which begins to melt after a short time out of the freezer. The phenomenon is more noticeable on a hot day than a cool one and it is on hot days that there is more of a desire to eat ice-creams and they melt faster. The ice-cream is often eaten in a car, on a bus or walking along. Usually, in these circumstances there is a lack of facilities to clean ones hands and/or mouth adequately after eating.

Prior art, registered in WIPO number WO/1999/046999 issued to Brown, reveals an ice-cream stick that also serves as a container for a napkin. However, the method of access to napkin in the said container is by opening a sliding door in the container. This makes the stick bulky and increases the expense of the item by a relatively large amount.

This invention comes to alleviate this problem by attaching a dry or a moist wipe to ice-cream and ices' sticks or by making the stick a hollow plastic tube with the wipe inside. The nature of the said plastic in the latter embodiment is firm enough to hold the weight of the ice-cream and brittle enough to be broken at its base to gain access to the napkin or moist wipe cloth inside.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description present embodiments of the invention, and are intended to provide an overview, or framework, for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention and, together with the description serve to explain the principles and operations of the invention.

Moist wipe clothes are well known and widely used to-day for hygienic and other uses. They usually are contained in a semi-airtight package to preserve the moisture as long as possible. The presence of moisture assists with the cleaning process.

The purpose of this invention is for the container of the wipe cloth to also act as the stick for the ice-cream. Alternatively, the wipe cloth container could be a thin nylon sealed bag attached to the stick of an ice-cream or the stick of ices in such a way that it is conveniently detachable from the stick when required for use.

The basic principle can be applied in various ways, some of which are described herein.

Another way of opening the wipe container is by snapping off its base end. This method of opening would be the likely situation where the stick for the ice-cream is also the container for the wipe, whether moist or not. The stick would need to be made of a firm substance like, plastic. Plastic has the advantage of being easy to mass produce, not costly, capable of being made hollow, capable of being made air-tight where required, can be made to be firm enough to hold the ice-cream and brittle enough to snap open at the lower end to extract the wipe cloth stored in the hollow.

In another embodiment the moist wipe cloth is sealed in an airtight plastic bag in order to preserve the moisture therein. The dampness on the wipe cloth could be water or a light soap solution or other cleansing substances suitable for use on the hands and face of adults and children. In the case of a dry wipe cloth the said seal would not need to be airtight.

This bag could be made as close as possible to the size of the cloth to save space and could be made with a semi-perforation or other method to ease opening the bag by for example simply pulling a tab with one hand. This opening procedure is achievable by children so that they can open and use the wipe by themselves.

The said bag containing the moist wipe could be attached to the ice-cream stick by various means, for example, by wrapping the bag around the stick, or by attaching the bag to one side of the stick or at one end of the stick. Another alternative could be to combine the bag and its moist wipe with a cone shaped hand protector. This could be attached to the lower end of the ice-cream stick and opened when the ice-cream is consumed. This embodiment of this invention could be primarily for children's use. The moist wipe bag could be opened independently from the hand protecting cone.

In the embodiment where the said plastic bag or sleeve containing the wipe is made of a firmer plastic whereby that sleeve, probably tubular shaped, would double as the stick for the ice-cream, the cone shaped hand protector could be attached to the tubular ice-cream stick. The wipe cloth would be inside the said tube.

The shape “cone” is not essential and any other suitable shape could be used.

In the embodiment where the stick is tubular with the wipe cloth inside the tube, the “tubular” shape is not essential and any other suitable shape could be used.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain, by way of example only, the principles of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a drawing of the tubular ice-cream stick that contains the wipe cloth inside the tube.

FIG. 2 is a drawing of the ice-cream stick with the wipe-cloth bag attached to one side.

FIG. 3 is a drawing of the ice-cream stick with the wipe-cloth wrapped around the stick.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are cross sections of the drawing in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a drawing of the ice-cream stick with the wipe-cloth bag attached, in a horizontal direction, to the stick.

FIG. 5 is a drawing of the ice-cream stick and a hand protector cone attached to the stick.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As will be appreciated the present invention is capable of other and different embodiments than those discussed above and described in more detail below, and its several details are capable of modifications in various aspects, all without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Accordingly, the drawings and description of the embodiments set forth below are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.

FIG. 1 shows a plastic tubular or hollow container 100. Inside is a moist wipe cloth. The position for opening the tube 100 is marked 102 whereby, in the case where the substance of the said tube is brittle plastic or a similar such substance, the end piece would be snapped off at this point 102, revealing the moist or dry wipe cloth inside, which would then be easily accessible by pulling it out. Alternatively, the opening procedure could be by pulling a tab across the indentation 102.

In the embodiment of this invention where the said container is in the shape of a tubular or hollow sleeve, the container would also act as the stick for the ice-cream. FIG. 2 shows an ice-cream 120 on a stick 122. The bag 100 containing the moist wipe cloth is wrapped around the stick 122 or attached to the side of the stick 122 by means of glue or other suitable means. This attachment is sufficient to hold the bag 100 on the stick 122 when the tab 104 is pulled to open the bag 100 on the indentation 102. The attachment of bag 100 can be made to detach from the stick 122 when the bag 100 is pulled with reasonable force, for those who wish to hold the bag 100 separate from the stick 122.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of this invention where the moist wipe cloth is wrapped around the stick 122 or folded against one side of the stick 122 and the plastic covering 132 is sealed over the cloth therein and around the stick 122.

FIG. 3A shows the cross sectional view of the stick 122 and the wipe cloth 130 wrapped around the stick 122 with the plastic cover 132 sealed around the cloth 130.

FIG. 3B shows the cross sectional view of the stick 122 and a moist wipe cloth 130 folded against one side of the stick 122 with the plastic cover 132 sealed around the cloth 130 and the stick 122.

FIG. 4 shows an ice-cream stick 122 with the bag 124 containing the moist wipe cloth compacted in a horizontal ring around the stick 122. This embodiment causes less interference with the hand holding the stick 122, although the bag 124 will protrude more than the bags shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. In this embodiment the opening tab 126 would be pulled in a horizontal direction to tear open the bag 124 and reveal the wipe therein.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of this invention whereby the moist or dry wipe cloth in or on the ice-cream stick is combined with a hand protecting cone 150, that would be folded when in storage and could be opened out when beginning to eat the ice-cream.

The purpose of the cone 150 is to protect the hand of the consumer of the ice-cream from drips of melted ice-cream. This usually occurs on hot days when the consumer does not eat the ice-cream fast enough. This will normally apply to children.

The ice-cream 120 is attached to the top end of the stick 140. At the lower end of the stick 140 is the cone attachment. The cone 150 could be made of paper or plastic and is folded neatly against the stick 140, when in storage. When the cone is required to be opened to protect the hand of the consumer, it is unfolded to its cone-shape. There is still ease of access to the end of the stick 140 which in one embodiment of this invention is a tubular plastic stick, and needs to be snapped off at its end in order to have access to the wipe cloth that is situated inside the tubular stick 140.

Another embodiment of this invention is where the bag 124 containing a moist or dry wipe cloth is attached to the stick 140. The bag 124 is opened by pulling the tab 126 along the indented line 128. The cone 150 which is initially folded on the stick 140 is opened to a cone shape that enables the hand to grip the stick 140 while being protected from dripping ice-cream.

There could be an up-curved rim 152 circumventing the base circumference of the cone 150 which could catch excess drips from falling on the consumer's arm or sleeve.

Claims

1. A method and device to insert a wiping cloth in an ice-cream stick comprising;

a plastic container for the said wipe-cloth and also for an ice-cream stick,

a cloth stored inside the said plastic container,

whereby the consumer of the said ice-cream can break open the said plastic container in order to take out the said cloth.

2. A method and device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said plastic container is tube shaped.

3. A method and device as claimed in claim 2 wherein the said container is brittle, at least at its base end, so that it may be snapped off to gain access to the said wiping cloth.

4. A method and device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said cloth is moistened with water.

5. A method and device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said cloth is moistened with a cleansing substance.

6. A method and device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said plastic wrapping is sealed airtight.

7. A method and device as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is an indentation in the said container that does not pierce the said plastic container in order to maintain the said airtight seal and to facilitate opening the said container.

8. A method and device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said cloth is made of paper.

9. A method and device to add to an ice-cream stick a wiping cloth comprising;

a plastic bag wherein the said cloth is folded against the said stick with the wrapping being sealed over the said cloth and onto the said stick.

10. A method and device as claimed in claim 9 wherein the said cloth is wrapped around the said stick with the said wrapping being sealed over the said cloth and onto the said stick.

11. A method and device as claimed in claim 9 wherein the said cloth is sealed inside the plastic wrapping and the said wrapping is attached to the said stick.

12. A method and device to add to an ice-cream stick a cloth and a drip protector comprising;

a plastic wrapping,

a cloth stored inside the said plastic wrapping,

an indentation in the said plastic wrapping to ease opening the said wrapping,

a drip protector attached to the said stick,

whereby the consumer of the said ice-cream can tear open the said plastic wrapping and take out the said cloth and have his hand and sleeve protected from drips from the said ice-cream.

13. A method and device as claimed in claim 12 wherein the said drip protector is folded against the said stick when in storage and expands to a cone-like shape when opened.

14. A method and device as claimed in claim 12 wherein the said drip protector has around its lower rim a lip to collect liquids.