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  Reusable placematUSPTO Application #: 20070051864Title: Reusable placemat Abstract: A cost effective, durable, safe, and washable placemat that remains in place during use, contain spills that arise during meal time, and collects food and other debris before it falls on the floor is disclosed. In one disclosed embodiment, the reusable placemat has a substantially planar eating surface that is encircled by a spill retention rim with a food retention gutter detachably secured thereto. A resilient strip of material preferably encircles the lower side of the placemat thereby defining a non-slip foot. The planar eating surface may be substantially transparent, thereby allowing one or more activity cards to be displayed therethrough. (end of abstract)
Agent: Ipsolon LLP - Portland, OR, US Inventors: Lindy Lee Bartell, Christopher Bartell USPTO Applicaton #: 20070051864 - Class: 248346010 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Supports, Supporting Base The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070051864. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/715,053 filed on Sep. 7, 2005. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a reusable placemat for use primarily by infants, toddlers, and the like. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Children, particularly infants and toddlers, are messy eaters. They tend to eat with their hands, and they frequently do not effectively use bowls or plates. As a result, they tend to spill food on themselves and around their surrounding areas during meal times. [0003] In addition to this mess, childrens' eating styles tend to allow their food and beverages to frequently contact potentially unclean surfaces. For example, children often let food fall to the floor, and they are sometimes prone to retrieving these dropped items and eating them before a parent can intervene. Moreover, the general cleanliness of a tabletop in a restaurant is often undeterminable. [0004] Efforts to address these issues have focused on providing protective barriers around the child and/or table. For example, infants frequently wear washable bibs. Similarly, the meal table and even the floor around the child are often covered with a protective covering such as a tablecloth or the like. [0005] While these protective cover solutions reduce the clean-up time and protect furniture and the like, they have several drawbacks. For example, these protective cover devices do little to help contain spills or prevent food from falling to the floor during mealtime. Moreover, reusable bibs and tablecloths must be washed between use. In practice, frequently washing large tablecloths grows burdensome. [0006] Placemats have been used in an attempt to protect children from unclean surfaces and reduce clean-up time. Such placemats are usually substantially planar mats formed of either disposable paper or reusable plastic. While these types of devices reduce the workload associated with cleaning them between meals, they do little to help contain spills or prevent food from falling to the floor during meal time. Moreover, the small and flexible nature of these mats permits them to frequently become a toy for the child. Some children will even pull up such mats while their food and beverages are resting thereon, thereby causing an even bigger mess than would have been created by not using the placemat at all. [0007] Efforts to improve the basic design of a placemat have had limited success. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,746,735 to Snedeker discloses adding a scoop to one side of a conventional substantially planar, foldable, placemat to collect food and the like that would otherwise spill on the floor during use. While the scoop helps collect some debris, these types of designs do little to contain spills arising on the mat itself, entertain the child during meal-time, or prevent the child from pulling up the mat during use. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] Accordingly, despite the improvements of the known placemat designs, there remains a need for a cost effective, durable, safe, and washable placemat that remains in place during use, contain spills that arise during meal time, and collects food and other debris before it falls on the floor. In addition to other benefits that will become apparent in the following disclosure, the present invention fulfills these needs. [0009] In one disclosed embodiment, the reusable placemat has a substantially planar eating surface that is encircled by a spill retention rim with a food retention gutter detachably secured thereto. A slip-resistant foot encircles the lower side of the placemat thereby holding it in place on a table during use. [0010] If desired, the planar eating surface may be substantially transparent, thereby allowing one or more activity cards to be display therethrough to entertain the child during meal time. Packaging material for storing and marketing the placemat can also define at least one activity card. A plurality of activity cards, each having different surface indicia to define a different activity can also be sold separately as a set. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0011] FIG. 1 is a left front isometric view of a reusable placemat in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. [0012] FIG. 1A is a left front isometric view of the placemat of FIG. 1 showing a possible detachment of a removable food collecting gutter. [0013] FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the placemat of FIG. 1. [0014] FIG. 3 is a front plan view of the placemat of FIG. 1. [0015] FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the placemat of FIG. 1. [0016] FIG. 5 is a partial, section view of the placemat of FIG. 1 taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3. [0017] FIG. 6 is a left side view of the placemat of FIG. 1 showing a possible orientation on a table shown in broken lines. [0018] FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the placemat of FIG. 1. [0019] FIG. 8 is a right, front isometric view of the placemat of FIG. 1 showing a possible packaging container in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Continue reading... Full patent description for Reusable placemat Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Reusable placemat 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. 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