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Method and device to have a wipe cloth with ice-cream

Method and device to have a wipe cloth with ice-cream description/claims

This invention is in the field of accessories to the ice-cream industry and in particular a method to have a dry napkin or moist wipe cloth accessible to the consumer of an ice-cream or ices using the ices stick to contain the napkin or cloth, or having the cloth in a separate plastic sleeve that is attached to the ice-cream stick.

Ice-creams and ices are often eaten by children who frequently need to have their hands and face wiped during and after consuming the ice-cream. This is a more acute problem with children because they take longer than adults to finish the ice-cream, which begins to melt after a short time out of the freezer. The phenomenon is more noticeable on a hot day than a cool one and it is on hot days that there is more of a desire to eat ice-creams and they melt faster. The ice-cream is often eaten in a car, on a bus or walking along. Usually, in these circumstances there is a lack of facilities to clean ones hands and/or mouth adequately after eating.

Prior art, registered in WIPO number WO/1999/046999 issued to Brown, reveals an ice-cream stick that also serves as a container for a napkin. However, the method of access to napkin in the said container is by opening a sliding door in the container. This makes the stick bulky and increases the expense of the item by a relatively large amount.

This invention comes to alleviate this problem by attaching a dry or a moist wipe to ice-cream and ices' sticks or by making the stick a hollow plastic tube with the wipe inside. The nature of the said plastic in the latter embodiment is firm enough to hold the weight of the ice-cream and brittle enough to be broken at its base to gain access to the napkin or moist wipe cloth inside.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description present embodiments of the invention, and are intended to provide an overview, or framework, for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention and, together with the description serve to explain the principles and operations of the invention.

Moist wipe clothes are well known and widely used to-day for hygienic and other uses. They usually are contained in a semi-airtight package to preserve the moisture as long as possible. The presence of moisture assists with the cleaning process.

The purpose of this invention is for the container of the wipe cloth to also act as the stick for the ice-cream. Alternatively, the wipe cloth container could be a thin nylon sealed bag attached to the stick of an ice-cream or the stick of ices in such a way that it is conveniently detachable from the stick when required for use.

The basic principle can be applied in various ways, some of which are described herein.

Another way of opening the wipe container is by snapping off its base end. This method of opening would be the likely situation where the stick for the ice-cream is also the container for the wipe, whether moist or not. The stick would need to be made of a firm substance like, plastic. Plastic has the advantage of being easy to mass produce, not costly, capable of being made hollow, capable of being made air-tight where required, can be made to be firm enough to hold the ice-cream and brittle enough to snap open at the lower end to extract the wipe cloth stored in the hollow.

In another embodiment the moist wipe cloth is sealed in an airtight plastic bag in order to preserve the moisture therein. The dampness on the wipe cloth could be water or a light soap solution or other cleansing substances suitable for use on the hands and face of adults and children. In the case of a dry wipe cloth the said seal would not need to be airtight.

This bag could be made as close as possible to the size of the cloth to save space and could be made with a semi-perforation or other method to ease opening the bag by for example simply pulling a tab with one hand. This opening procedure is achievable by children so that they can open and use the wipe by themselves.

The said bag containing the moist wipe could be attached to the ice-cream stick by various means, for example, by wrapping the bag around the stick, or by attaching the bag to one side of the stick or at one end of the stick. Another alternative could be to combine the bag and its moist wipe with a cone shaped hand protector. This could be attached to the lower end of the ice-cream stick and opened when the ice-cream is consumed. This embodiment of this invention could be primarily for children's use. The moist wipe bag could be opened independently from the hand protecting cone.

In the embodiment where the said plastic bag or sleeve containing the wipe is made of a firmer plastic whereby that sleeve, probably tubular shaped, would double as the stick for the ice-cream, the cone shaped hand protector could be attached to the tubular ice-cream stick. The wipe cloth would be inside the said tube.

The shape “cone” is not essential and any other suitable shape could be used.

In the embodiment where the stick is tubular with the wipe cloth inside the tube, the “tubular” shape is not essential and any other suitable shape could be used.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain, by way of example only, the principles of the invention:

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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