Fabric rectangle with pendent compartment and carrier made therefrom

Abstract

A pocket pendent from a rectangular fabric such as a towel provides means for storage of small objects, such as soap. The rectangle with the pendent pocket may also have side closure means on the rectangle so placed that a carrier can be formed from said rectangle and the pocket is positioned inside the carrier.

Description

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to materials for use in personal care. The product of the invention provides a fabric item with has a pendent pocket into which can be placed various personal care products or other small objects.

Towels with compartments for soap and other items are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. D510,195 discloses a towel with a pocket sewed onto the surface of the towel. The pocket rises from the surface of the towel.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,881 discloses and claims a soap dispensing washcloth system having a pocket of on the face of the washcloth in which soap is dispensed through a permeable fabric. The pocket is attached to one surface of the washcloth.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,467 teaches a bath towel having several pockets which are located upon the face of the towel in various locations. The pockets are for holding various items.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,177 teaches a bath towel having connecting means on corners which interact to form a bag in which can be stored various bathing and other personal care items.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The instant invention relates to a fabric piece such as a towel having a pendent pocket for holding personal care items such as soap and other items. It is the purpose of this invention to provide a piece of fabric for drying the body or for resting upon such as a towel or small blanket to rest upon. The pendent pocket can be used to hold items in such a manner that if the materials in the pocket become damp the whole of the larger portion of the fabric does not become damp and impregnated with the materials in the pocket.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the fabric from which the pocket extends has fastening means on the sides and can be folded over to form a bag with the pocket falling inside the bag when the fastening means on the sides of the fabric are folded so that fastening means interact.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The use of towels with pockets attached to the face of the towel are known, as illustrated by the patents cited above. All of the prior art towels with pockets have several disadvantages. Because the pockets are on the face of the towel or washcloth, wetting the pocket results in an equally damp towel. Hence, the surface of the towel becomes less useful for drying. Furthermore, the soap or other agent within the pocket seeps into the towel or cloth as the towel dries. This problem is addressed by having the pocket dependent from the towel area. A further advantage attained with the invention is that any slippery material does not fall free in the tub or shower. Hence, likelihood of slipping and falling is minimized.

The towels of the invention may be made of any appropriate material, though terry cloth would probably be the more common fabric for the towel. The pocket of the towel may be of any material. The most likely fabric, for purposes of economy and ease, will be the same as that used in the towel. However, other materials may be used on the pocket to achieve varying desired effects. For example, more open fabric such as tulle or mesh may be used on at least one surface of the pocket to increase friction with the body surface being scrubbed and to allow soap to flow through the pocket onto the body more readily. Additionally, if desired, the surface of the pocket may have adherent thereto sponge or other absorbent or mildly abrasive materials. The towel portion may be equipped with a loop or other hanging means so that the towel can be hung up with the pocket at the opposite end of the fabric. This allows the towel to dry whilst the seepage of moisture and soap (or other personal care material) from the pocket into the larger portion of the towel is minimized.

Should a more luxurious feel be desired, fabrics such as satin, whether of natural fibers such as silk or man-made fibers such as polyester, may be used on at least one surface of the pocket. Additionally, the towel portion may be two sided with one side being very smooth and soothing and the other side rough. A terry cloth with a sateen layer on the other side is both luxurious and practical.

The pocket may have any of several closure means, including snaps, buttons, a zipper or adherent materials such as VELCRO™.

Referring to the figures, FIG. 1 shows a towel (1) having a large drying surface (2), said towel having a pocket (3) pendent from the body of the towel. The pocket has a closure means (4) and a handle or loop (5) suitable for use in hanging the towel at the end of the towel most distant from the pocket. FIG. 2 shows a towel having a pocket pendent therefrom on which one surface (7) of the pocket is a mesh. Mesh on any surface may be of any appropriate material such as nylon, plastic or polyester. In this figure, the edge of the towel nearest the pocket (6) is gathered and the corners of the towel farthest from the pocket (8) have been tucked in. There is a rigid loop (9) attached to the towel for purposes of hanging. Such a loop may be made of any appropriate material such as metal, hard plastic or glass.

The pendent compartment would usually be centered on the side of the towel from which it extends. While any method may be used to make the pendent compartment, one means is to remove part of the fabric from the corners of a rectangle, then fold the fabric from the edge farthest from the towel toward the body of the towel to form a pocket. See FIG. 3 (a) wherein, from the fabric forming the towel (10), a portion (11) has been removed. The remaining fabric could be said to form the body of the towel (12) and a pendent fabric portion (13). The fabric now has an edge (14) that is located at the end of the main body of the towel which extends from a line (15) which defines the point at which the pendent compartment will extend from the body of the towel. Referring to FIG. 3 (b), the edge of the pendent fabric farthest from the body of the towel (16) is then folded over to form a flap (17). A closure means (18) is attached to the flap. In FIG. 3 the closure means is a VALCRO™ strip sewn on the flap.

Referring to FIG. 4 (a), The folded edge (19) of the flap (17) is brought up to a position about even with the edge identified as (15) to form a pocket. Closure means can be attached to the flap and on the area to which the flap will be facing when the pocket is formed. The closure means may be attached either before or after sewing the sides (20) of the pocket. FIG. 4(b) shows the pocket in place with sides (20) sewn.

In another embodiment of the invention a rectangle of fabric having two shorter edges and two longer edges as a pocket pendent from at least one narrow edge of a rectangular material. The rectangle has complimentary closure means along two longer edges with a first part of said closure means extending one half of the length of each opposing side and the second complementary part of said closure means extending along the second half of the length of each opposing side. A bag results from folding the rectangle in such a manner that the narrow edges, wherein at least one has a pocket pendent therefrom, are brought together so that complementary parts of closure means along each longer side of the rectangle interact with each other to form the bag. When the rectangle is laid open the ends with the pockets may be rolled under the ends of the resulting rectangle. Hence, if a person is lying on the rectangular piece items can not be easily be taken from the pockets without disturbing the person resting thereon.

Referring to FIG. 5, this figure shows another embodiment of the invention wherein at least one of the narrower sides of a rectangular material has a pocket pendent from the narrow side of the rectangle. The rectangular material, which may be, for example, a towel or blanket, has closure means along the longer edges wherein the first part of the complementary closure means extends one half of the length of each longer side of said rectangle and the second complementary part of the closure means extends the second half of the length of each longer (opposing) side of the rectangle. The rectangle may, for example, be a beach towel or blanket. The rectangle (21) has a pocket (22) with closure means (23) attached thereto. There are complementary interacting closure means (24) and (25) on each side of the rectangular piece of fabric. A first part of the closure means extends about ½ the length of the side, with the complementary part of the closure means extends the other ½ of the way to the opposite end of each side of the fabric in such a manner that when the end of the fabric with a pocket pendent therefrom is brought up to the opposite end the rectangle, closure means on the sides which are complimentary interact to provide a bag for storing items. The pocket then becomes a smaller compartment in the bag. The pocket is most conveniently sewn as a separate object and thereafter attached to one of the narrower edges of the larger fabric. This may be done by sewing a binding (26) to the narrow edges of the fabric in such a manner that the one edge of the pocket easily falls inside the bag formed when the closure means are connected to make the bag. Handles (27) may be added.

Referring to FIG. 6, this figure is a drawing of a bag as formed when the complementary closure means on the top and bottom halves of each side are interacting in a complimentary fashion and the pocket is flipped to inside the bag (see broken line at (28)). Closure means for the bag as illustrated in FIG. 6 was a draw string (29) pulled through the binding (30). The small pocket, which is unseen when the bag is closed, provides storage for small items.

Closure means may be tapes with snaps, a series of snaps, or interacting toothed means such as VELCRO™. Fabric will depend on use. Absorbent material such as knits of natural fibers or terry cloth will probably be the most common choices. For the pocket, any material can be used. However, if materials such as soap which is to be applied to the body is to be stored in the bag, it may be desirable to have a mesh, which may be made of any material, including nylon, polyester, linen, cotton, ramie, etc., so that some of the soap will pass through the net for application to the body.

Claims

1. A towel having a pocket pendent from one edge, said pocket having closure means.

2. A towel of claim 1 wherein said pocket has at least one surface which is mesh.

3. The towel of claim 1 having, on the edge opposite the pocket, a means for hanging said towel.

4. A rectangle of fabric having two shorter edges and two longer edges, at least one narrow edge having a pendent pocket, said rectangle having complimentary closure means along two longer edges wherein part of said closure means extends one half of the length of each opposing side and the complementary part of said closure means extends the second half of the length of each opposing side.

5. A bag which results from folding the rectangle of claim 4 in such a manner that the narrow edges, wherein at least one has a pocket pendent therefrom, are brought together so that complementary parts of closure means along each side interact with each other to form said bag.

6. The bag of claim 5 having handles.

7. The bag of claim 5 having a drawstring closure.