U.S. patent application number 11/650425 was filed with the patent office on 2008-07-10 for fabric rectangle with pendent compartment and carrier made therefrom.
Invention is credited to Charles Brown.
Application Number | 20080163443 11/650425 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39593007 |
Filed Date | 2008-07-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080163443 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Brown; Charles |
July 10, 2008 |
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.
Inventors: |
Brown; Charles; (Amherst,
VA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HENDRICKS, GLENNA;Hendricks and Associates
P.O. Box 2509
Fairfax
VA
22031
US
|
Family ID: |
39593007 |
Appl. No.: |
11/650425 |
Filed: |
January 8, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
15/210.1 ;
15/208; 2/247; 2/251; 224/576 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A45C 13/02 20130101;
A45C 3/10 20130101; A47K 10/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
15/210.1 ;
15/208; 2/251; 2/247; 224/576 |
International
Class: |
A47K 7/02 20060101
A47K007/02; A41D 27/20 20060101 A41D027/20; A45C 15/00 20060101
A45C015/00 |
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.
Description
FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 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.
[0002] 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.
[0003] 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.
[0004] 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.
[0005] 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
[0006] 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.
[0007] 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
[0008] 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.
[0009] 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.
[0010] 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.
[0011] The pocket may have any of several closure means, including
snaps, buttons, a zipper or adherent materials such as
VELCRO.TM..
[0012] 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.
[0013] 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.TM. strip sewn on the flap.
[0014] 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.
[0015] 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.
[0016] 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 1/2 the
length of the side, with the complementary part of the closure
means extends the other 1/2 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.
[0017] 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.
[0018] Closure means may be tapes with snaps, a series of snaps, or
interacting toothed means such as VELCRO.TM.. 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.
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