| Cleaning wipe comprising integral, shaped tab portions -> Monitor Keywords |
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Cleaning wipe comprising integral, shaped tab portionsRelated Patent Categories: Brushing, Scrubbing, And General Cleaning, Implements, Fabric, Wiper, Dauber, Or Polisher, Sheet HoldersCleaning wipe comprising integral, shaped tab portions description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070151064, Cleaning wipe comprising integral, shaped tab portions. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND [0001] Cleaning tools, such as mops, are commonly used in order to clean surfaces and other objects found in industry and residential settings. Mops typically include an elongated handle with a mop head attached to the handle. Various types of disposable cleaning wipes are well known in the art as stand-alone products or for attachment to any manner of cleaning tool, such as a mop, hand-held scrubbing device, and so forth. A disposable wipe or pad component may be attached to the mop head, with the wipe configured to pick up dirt, lint, fluid, and other material from a surface when the mop head is moved over the surface. The disposable wipe may be designed to pick up these materials in a dry or wet state. Once the disposable wipe reaches the end of its design life, the user may remove the wipe from the mop head and subsequently dispose of the wipe. At such time, a new disposable wipe may be applied to the mop head in order to resume or start cleaning. [0002] The bottom surface of a conventional mop head, or other type of cleaning tool, is generally flat and the attached disposable wipe is pressed flat against the surface to be cleaned, which typically is also a substantially uniform flat surface. Various configurations have been used in the art to removably attach the disposable wipes to the mop head or other cleaning implement. For example, one conventional method utilizes fastening devices provided on the top side of the mop head, such as slits, clips, or other mechanical devices formed into, or attached to, the mop head. Such wipes have lateral, linear edges that are pulled by the user so as to extend over and onto the top side of the mop head to be tucked into retaining slits or otherwise engaged by clips or other devices on the top side of the mop head. That portion of the disposable wipe contiguous with the lateral edges attached to the top side of the mop is generally not available for the wipe's intended cleaning purpose. I.e., only that portion of the wipe adjacent to the bottom side of the mop used to wipe or otherwise clean surfaces is actually used for this purpose. Accordingly, conventional, rectangular wipes result in waste when used with such mops. [0003] What is needed is a cleaning wipe that may be used with conventional mops or other such devices, including hand-held scrubbing devices, but which allow for convenient attachment to any top-side fastening elements while minimizing waste associated with some portion of the wipe being unavailable to contact surfaces that are being cleaned or wiped. SUMMARY [0004] We have determined that a wipe comprising shaped, integral tab portions may be adapted to engage the top-side fastening devices of a mop or other hand-held scrubbing device, while simultaneously reducing or minimizing the amount of wipe material required to fold up and around the mop head or scrubbing device for attachment purposes. Such novel configurations reduce waste and provide for an increased percentage of the total wipe surface area being made available for its intended purpose: cleaning and wiping surfaces. Furthermore, we have surprisingly found that such integral, shaped tab portions may engage certain fastening devices on a mop head or hand-held scrubbing device more tenaciously, thereby allowing for more vigorous cleaning and wiping without accidental release of the wipe from one or more fastening devices. [0005] A variety of shapes may be used. For example, a wipe can be die cut, stamped, or otherwise formed such that the wipe has a shape analogous to the letter "H". I.e., the horizontal line or bar of the letter "H" corresponds to a substantially rectangular shape and size adapted to be disposed next to a rectangular bottom side of a mop head or other scrubbing device (if such mop or scrubbing device had a rectangular bottom side). This part of the wipe may be thought of as the primary cleaning surface or substrate of the wipe, as this is the part or surface that will be used for cleaning and/or wiping purposes. Each of the vertical lines of the letter "H" correspond to rectangular tabs extending outward from, and integrally connected to, said primary cleaning substrate. These tabs have a width, extend outward for a length, and are located such that the tabs can engage the fastening devices on the top-side of the mop head or scrubbing device. So, for example, if the top side of a rectangular mop head had fastening devices, one in each corner of the mop head, each of the four tabs of the wipe would extend up and around the mop head so that each tab would engage each of the four corresponding fastening devices. The number, location, and shape of the tabs may be varied, so long as the corresponding wipe is adapted to be affixed or attached to a mop head or other cleaning devices, such as a hand-held scrubbing device, while simultaneously reducing waste by increasing the percentage of wipe surface area available for cleaning (compared to the wipe surface area available for cleaning in a conventional rectangular wipe). Furthermore, as will be discussed in more detail below, the primary cleaning surface or substrate may have different shapes to correspond to the shape of the mop head or other support on a cleaning device. For example, if the mop head did not have a rectangular shape, but instead had a shape similar to a triangle with two curvilinear edges and one linear edge (akin to the shape found on the ironing surface on many hand-held irons), then the primary cleaning substrate or surface of the wipe could be shaped similarly, with tabs extending outward from, and integrally connected to, the primary cleaning substrate to engage the top-side fastening devices of the mop head. [0006] In another version of the invention, the wipe has an hourglass-like shape. I.e., two of the opposing edges are linear--those edges that would lie along the ends of a rectangular mop head. And two of the opposing edges would define a serpentine shape (again, for purposes of the discussion here, each serpentine edge, taken together, define an hourglass shape). As a result, the distance between these two serpentine-shaped edges varies, with a minimum distance at the central portion of the hourglass shape, and a maximum distance at each of the ends of the hourglass shape. Generally the location of the maximum distance between these two opposing edges will correspond to the ends of the wipe, at a location proximate to the location of the top-side fastening elements of the corresponding mop head or other cleaning device (again, this version assumes that the fastening devices on the top side of the mop head or other cleaning device will be proximate to the four corners of a rectangularly-shaped mop head or cleaning device--but, as is discussed above, the wipe and any corresponding tab elements may be shaped to correspond to other geometries). In effect, the wider ends of the hour-glass-shaped wipe define shaped tabs that may be wrapped up and around the mop head to engage the corresponding fastening elements. Many other shapes comprising curvilinear edges are possible. One such shape comprises opposing, sine-wave-shaped edges. [0007] Another version of the invention encompasses processes directed to producing the various shaped wipes of the present invention (i.e., wipes comprising integral, shaped tab portions). In one embodiment, the design of the integral, shaped tab portions (i.e., the design of the perimeter traced out by the overall wipe) is selected to meet two criteria: (1) a shape that is adapted to engage and be used with a mop head or other cleaning device, such as a hand-held scrubbing device, while reducing waste and increasing effectiveness of the wipe (i.e., making more of the total surface area of the wipe available for its intended purpose); and (2) a shape that reduces or eliminates waste during production of said shape (e.g., by selecting a shape such that the resulting cleaning wipes are nested during production; so, for example, if a wipe has opposing, sine-wave-shaped edges, then the sine-wave-shaped edges of this first wipe will be adjacent to the sine-wave-shaped edges of the first wipe's immediate neighbors, except for those wipes located adjacent to the linear edge of a fibrous web from which the wipes are being cut). [0008] Other versions of the invention encompass the packaging and/or marketing of the shaped wipes of the present invention, including the associating of a cleaning wipe of the present invention with brand names or logos of cleaning wipes or cleaning formulations or agents. [0009] Still other versions of the invention encompass kits comprising the shaped wipes of the present invention. [0010] Other versions of the invention encompass wipes in which at least about 45% of the total surface area of a side of the wipe is used for its intended purpose of cleaning or wiping; suitably at least about 50% of the total surface area of a side of the wipe is used for its intended purpose of cleaning or wiping; suitably at least about 55% of the total surface area of a side of the wipe is used for its intended purpose of cleaning or wiping; and suitably at least about 60% of the total surface area of a side of the wipe is used for its intended purpose. [0011] Various features and advantages of the invention, as well as other versions and embodiments, will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention. DRAWINGS [0012] FIG. 1A representatively illustrates a top view of a laid-flat, shaped wipe of the present invention, in this case a wipe having sine-wave-shaped edges. [0013] FIG. 1B representatively illustrates a top view of a mop head (pivotally attached to a mop handle, a part of which is displayed in the figure) placed over the shaped wipe depicted in FIG. 1A. [0014] FIG. 1C representatively illustrates a top view of the mop head and shaped wipe depicted in FIG. 1B, with the difference being that the tab portions of the wipe (defined by the sine-waved-shaped edges) have been flipped up and over the top side of the mop head. These tab portions are in a position to engage any fastening device adapted to engage a wipe (e.g., slits in the top side of the mop head, into which the tab portions of the wipe may be depressed). [0015] FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C representatively illustrate top-side views of other versions of a laid-flat, shaped wipe of the present invention. [0016] FIGS. 3A and 3B representatively illustrate top-side views of other versions of a laid-flat, shaped wipe of the present invention. [0017] FIGS. 4A and 4B depict the shape of samples prepared for testing the tenacity with which a cleaning wipe of the present invention and a conventional cleaning wipe engaged the fastening device of a cleaning tool. [0018] FIG. 5 depicts the tensile tester used to test the tenacity with which a cleaning wipe of the present invention and a conventional cleaning wipe engaged the fastening device of a cleaning tool. [0019] FIG. 6 depicts a close-up view of the tester and sample depicted in FIG. 5. [0020] FIG. 7 depicts the top side of a mop head of a cleaning tool, including four fastening devices located on said top side, as well as the locations at which various samples were positioned prior to being inserted in to a fastening device for testing purposes. [0021] FIGS. 8A and 8B depict the position of a sample relative to three pre-determined testing locations marked on the top of a mop head of a cleaning tool. Continue reading about Cleaning wipe comprising integral, shaped tab portions... Full patent description for Cleaning wipe comprising integral, shaped tab portions Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Cleaning wipe comprising integral, shaped tab portions patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Cleaning wipe comprising integral, shaped tab portions or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Cleaning utensil Next Patent Application: Wet spill-dust pan Industry Class: Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Cleaning wipe comprising integral, shaped tab portions patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.15702 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Canon USA , Celera Genomics , Cephalon, Inc. , Cingular Wireless , Clorox , Colgate-Palmolive , Corning , Cymer , 174 |
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