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Disposable headrest sheet and attachment means

Disposable headrest sheet and attachment means description/claims

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a disposable head sheet and attachment means for use in covering the upper portion of a seat where the head contacts the seat for use in mass transportation vehicles such as in railroad cars, buses and airplanes.

2. Description of the Related Art

Commercial transportation seating is used by many people over the period of a day, week or month. It is fairly universal that these seats do not have independent head rests and that each passenger rests their head against the upper portion of the front of the seat back. Accordingly, to present a clean and sanitary surface to the passenger, a cloth or sheet is frequently removably attached to the surface such that it will engage the back of the head of the passenger sitting in the seat. Originally, these types of sheets were made of linen or fabric which could be laundered and reused. More recently, headrest sheets are made of relatively inexpensive linen or paper type material and disposed after each use.

A number of different disposable sheet materials are widely known that are used. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,447 to Thompson there is disclosed a disposable sheet comprising at least one layer of synthetic polymeric microfibers bonded to at least one other layer of cellulosic fibers. This sheet presents a clinging side as well as an absorbent side to use where the sheet can be draped over the top of the seat. In U.S. Pat. No 4,056,281 to Byrnes disclosed a disposable back seat sheet comprising a single layer of material designed to be impervious to use of hook and loop fasteners. Primarily, the sheet is made of olefin type materials or felt-like materials of moderate tensile strength. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,673 to Kifferstein there is disclosed a more complex sheet of material. The material is pocketed so that the disposable material comprises pillow unites and acts as both the head protector as well as having a cushioning effect. Once again the material is draped over the top of the seat which holds the device in place.

The disposable sheets have to this point been designed for installation by the transportation vehicle owner. The owner can replace the head sheet between each passenger sitting in the seat with a fresh sheet. One problem, of course, is it is never clear to the passenger if the sheet is actually a new sheet or if the sheet has been used repeatedly. This is, of course, in part because the sheets are designed to be replaced frequently by the owner, not the traveler. It is the case that the attachment means have, to this point, been designed for the convenience of the owner. Typically, the current method is to attaché a Velcro hook strip permanently to the upper portion of the seat, for example, by sewing, and the corresponding loop strip on the sheet or in some cases the material itself bonds to the Velcro hook strip. Another approach for attachment has been to make the sheet long enough that it can drape over the top of the seat far enough that it says in place due to gravity and the weight distribution of the sheet on both the front and back of the seat back. This method, while effective, necessitates a much larger size sheet than necessary and where there are things like tray tables pockets or the like on the seat back, such a draping attachment means would interfere with the back mounted pockets and tables.

In U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,632 to Struble there is described a head rest cover for use with public transportation type vehicles. It describes the prior art as having fastening elements on the back of the seat and also describes button and eye fasteners as well as snap fasteners. The invention describes the use of Velcro type connections on the front of the seat where one portion is permanently attached to the seat and the other portion attached to the cloth. This particular invention uses a non woven material that is described and disposable after each use. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,458 there is also described a disposable headrest cover (cloth) for aircraft and train seats comprising permanent Velcro attachment. In this embodiment one side of the Velcro is “permanently attached to the rearward side of the headrest”. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,945 there is disclosed a head sheet that is disposable, attached by Velcro means with a means for attaching to the top of the seat. Another approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,701 wherein a disposable sheet is attached to the top edge of the seat and including a use detector for indicating if the headrest sheet has been used by a passenger.

It is clear that the present state of the art is directed to the convenience of the transportation vehicle owner and not the passenger. It is also clear that the present methods of attaching and using disposable head sheets involves permanent attachments to the seat itself. It would be useful therefore if there were a disposable head sheet that could be obtained and used by the passenger, affixed without permanent attachments and relatively easy to use without interfering with the use of the transportation seat especially the back.

It has been discovered that a disposable sheet with a laterally positioned attachment means would solve the problems associated with the current state of the art. Such a disposable sheet could be purchased at the airport or bus terminal by a passenger and attached to virtually any seat without the need for a permanent attachment to the seat and disposed after use.

Accordingly, an aspect of the invention relates to a removable and disposable headrest sheet for attaching to the top front of a transportation seat back comprising: a. a sheet of soft pliable disposable material; b. a seat attachment means attached to a top portion of the sheet and laterally disposed from a left and right side of the sheet such that it is attachable to a transportation seat and completely removable from the seat to which it has been applied.

The present invention accomplishes solving the problems and disadvantages of the above disclosed headrest sheets by its novel and unobvious attachment means as well as the positioning of the attachment means of the invention.

The objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the are in view of the following description, examples of the invention and the like when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings where like numbers refer to like or equivalent parts.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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