SAFETY CUSHION FOR BATHTUB

Abstract

A safety cushion that can be easily attached to and flush mounted on a surface of a bathtub and/or bathtub rim is disclosed. The safety cushion includes an elongated body fabricated from a pliable material such as rubber, silicone or polyurethane, and is provided with a plurality of substantially concave openings extending partially through a thickness of the body from a bottom surface towards a top surface. Each opening is arranged so as to leave a reduced body thickness between an apex of the opening and the top surface. This configuration enables the safety cushion to be attached to a surface of a bathtub or bathtub rim by suction when the pliable material is depressed over each opening from the top surface towards the bottom surface.

Description

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to bathtub injury prevention, and more particularly, to a safety cushion that can be readily flush mounted on a surface of a bathtub and/or bathtub rim.

Every year, thousands of children are injured in bathtubs from slips and falls. A large proportion of these involve very young children and toddlers, with more than half of all bathtub injuries occurring to children under 5 years of age. It is very easy for an active child to strike his or her head on the side of the tub or the rim. Toddlers in particular have a high center of gravity and can easily topple so quickly that even the most vigilant parent may not react quickly enough to prevent a fall. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a tub cushion that can be easily attached to the walls and/or rim of the tub to prevent injury.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a safety cushion for attachment to a surface of a bathtub or bathtub rim. The safety cushion includes a body fabricated from a pliable material that includes a top surface and a bottom surface disposed opposite the top surface to define a thickness of the body between the top surface and bottom surface. The body defines a plurality of integrally formed openings extending partially through the thickness of the body from the bottom surface towards the top surface. The plurality of openings permit attachment by suction of the body to the surface of the bathtub or bathtub rim when the pliable material is depressed over each opening from the top surface towards the bottom surface.

In accordance with a further aspect of the disclosure each opening is substantially concave and leaves a reduced thickness of the body between an apex of the opening and the top surface.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the disclosure, the body is fabricated from one of rubber, silicone and polyurethane, and sized to fit over and conform to the bathtub rim.

In accordance with these and additional aspects that will become apparent hereinafter, the present disclosure will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an illustrative bathtub with three safety cushions attached thereto in an exemplary installation;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are top and bottom isometric views of an illustrative safety cushion in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the illustrative safety cushion;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along lines 4-4 in FIG. 3, showing detail of a substantially concave opening formed in the body of the safety cushion;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4, showing the safety cushion overlying a surface of a bathtub or bathtub rim prior to attachment; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5 depicting the safety cushion being secured to the bathtub/bathtub rim of FIG. 5 by suction in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Specific embodiments of the disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. For simplicity and clarity of illustration, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the examples described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the examples described herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the examples described herein. Also, the description is not to be considered as limiting the scope of the examples described herein.

It will be appreciated that the examples and corresponding diagrams used herein are for illustrative purposes only. Different configurations and terminology can be used without departing from the principles expressed herein. For instance, components and modules can be added, deleted, modified, or arranged with differing connections without departing from these principles.

In the following detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more through understanding of the disclosure. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description.

Referring to FIG. 1 there is depicted an isometric view of an illustrative bathtub 100 with three safety cushions 102a, 102b, and 102c (referred to generally as 102) attached thereto over a rim 104 of the bathtub 100. The cushions 102 may bend over the rim and attach to tub surface 106 as shown. The structural details of cushions 102 are described hereinbelow.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are isometric views of an exemplary safety cushion 202 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Safety cushion 202 includes an elongated body 208 fabricated, such as by injection molding, from a pliable or flexible material such as rubber, silicone or polyurethane. The body 208 includes a top surface 210 and a bottom surface 212 disposed opposite the top surface 210 to define a thickness “t” of the body 208 between the top surface 210 and bottom surface 212. The body defines a plurality of integrally or unitarily formed substantially concave openings 214 extending partially through the thickness of the body 208 from the bottom surface towards the top surface 210 and disposed proximal to each other in rows 216a, 216b and 216c extending between a first side 218 and a second side 220 of the body 208. Each substantially concave opening 214 leaves a reduced body thickness between an apex of the substantially concave opening and the top surface 210.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the safety cushion 302, with the plurality of substantially concave openings 314 in body 308 shown as hidden lines. The substantially concave openings 314 extend from the bottom surface 312 towards the top surface 310, and are spaced along the length of body 308 between first side 318 and second side 320.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along lines 4-4 in FIG. 3, showing a safety cushion 402 with details of a substantially concave opening 414 formed in body 408 of thickness “t” between top surface 410 and bottom surface 412. The substantially concave opening 414 leaves a reduced body thickness “t_r” between an apex 422 of the opening 414 and the top surface 410. It will be understood by those skilled in the art, that although depicted as spherical, an alternative substantially convex opening may include non-spherical segments, such as for example, a flat apex and a conical side extending from bottom surface 412 to the apex. Any integrally or unitarily formed recess capable of providing suction may be employed within the scope of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4, showing a portion of the safety cushion 502 placed on top of a tub surface 504 of tub 500 prior to attachment. As shown, the body 508 of safety cushion 502 includes the substantially concave opening 514 defined in body 508 that overlies tub surface 504. The plurality of substantially concave openings permitting attachment by suction of the body to a surface of a bathtub or bathtub rim when the pliable material is depressed over each substantially concave opening from the top surface towards the bottom surface.

FIG. 6 illustrates attachment of the safety cushion 602 to tub or rim surface 604 of the tub 600. Finger pressure “FP” is applied from the top surface 610 over the substantially convex opening (515, FIG. 5) to push the area of reduced thickness t_r of body 608 to make contact against tub/rim surface 604. In this manner suction is applied in the remaining annular space 624 to attach a portion of the safety cushion 602 to tub 600. This procedure is repeated for the plurality of substantially convex openings in body 608 to attach the entire safety cushion 602 to tub 600. In order to aid in the attachment, the bottom surface 612 of body 608 may have water applied to surface 612 to assist in proper suction. To remove the safety cushion 602, the body 608 is simply peeled away from the tub/rim surface 604.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Having thus described the invention of the present application in detail and by reference to embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims as follows:

Claims

1. A safety cushion, comprising:

a body fabricated from a pliable material and including a top surface and a bottom surface disposed opposite the top surface to define a thickness of the body between the top surface and bottom surface;

the body defining a plurality of openings extending partially through the thickness of the body from the bottom surface towards the top surface, the plurality of openings permitting attachment by suction of the body to a surface of a bathtub or bathtub rim when the pliable material is depressed over each opening from the top surface towards the bottom surface.

2. The safety cushion of claim 1, wherein each opening is substantially concave.

3. The safety cushion of claim 2, wherein each substantially concave opening leaves a reduced thickness of the body between an apex of the opening and the top surface.

4. The safety cushion of claim 1, wherein the pliable material is one of rubber, silicone and polyurethane.

5. The safety cushion of claim 1, wherein the body is sized to fit over and conform to the bathtub rim.

6. The safety cushion of claim 1, wherein the body is further defined by a first side and a second side and elongated between the first side and the second side, and the plurality of openings are disposed proximal to each other between the first side and second side.

7. The safety cushion of claim 4, wherein the plurality of openings are disposed in rows extending between the first side and the second side.

8. The safety cushion of claim 1, wherein the bottom surface of the body is flat.

9. A safety cushion, comprising:

a body fabricated from a pliable material and including a top surface and a bottom surface disposed opposite the top surface to define a thickness of the body between the top surface and bottom surface;

the body defining a plurality of substantially concave openings extending partially through the thickness of the body from the bottom surface towards the top surface, each substantially concave opening leaving a reduced body thickness between an apex of the opening and the top surface, the plurality of substantially concave openings permitting attachment by suction of the body to a surface of a bathtub or bathtub rim when the pliable material is depressed over each substantially concave opening from the top surface towards the bottom surface.

10. The safety cushion of claim 9, wherein the pliable material is one of rubber, silicone and polyurethane.

11. The safety cushion of claim 9, wherein the body is sized to fit over and conform to the bathtub rim.

12. The safety cushion of claim 9, wherein the body is further defined by a first side and a second side and elongated between the first side and the second side, and the plurality of substantially concave openings are disposed proximal to each other between the first side and second side.

13. The safety cushion of claim 12, wherein the plurality of substantially concave openings are disposed in rows extending between the first side and the second side.

14. The safety cushion of claim 9, further comprising indicia on the top surface to indicate an area above each substantially concave opening to be pressed from the top surface to effect suction.

15. The safety cushion of claim 9, wherein the bottom surface of the body is flat.

16. A safety cushion, comprising:

an elongated body fabricated from a pliable material and including a top surface and a bottom surface disposed opposite the top surface to define a thickness of the body between the top surface and bottom surface;

the body defining a plurality of substantially concave openings extending partially through the thickness of the body from the bottom surface towards the top surface and disposed proximal to each other in rows extending between a first side and a second side of the body, each substantially concave opening leaving a reduced body thickness between an apex of the substantially concave opening and the top surface, the plurality of substantially concave openings permitting attachment by suction of the body to a surface of a bathtub or bathtub rim when the pliable material is depressed over each substantially concave opening from the top surface towards the bottom surface.

17. The safety cushion of claim 16, wherein the pliable material is one of rubber, silicone and polyurethane.

18. The safety cushion of claim 16, wherein the body is sized to fit over and conform to the bathtub rim.

19. The safety cushion of claim 16, wherein the bottom surface of the body is flat.