US20070241121A1

US20070241121A1 - Single dry soap strips

Info

Publication number: US20070241121A1
Application number: US11/405,710
Authority: US
Inventors: June Botich; George Botich
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-04-18
Filing date: 2006-04-18
Publication date: 2007-10-18

Abstract

A soap substrate in the form of a sheet is dispensed, one by one, from a dispenser. The substrate has a soap emulsion contained therein that will readily be useful to wash one's hands when exposed to water. The substrate will readily disintegrate when exposed to water leaving the soap emulsion ready for use in cleansing the hands of a user. The soap substrate is normally in a dry state unless exposed to water. The individual sheets may be dispensed from various forms of dispensers to be placed on bathroom counters or on walls thereof.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The single and dry soap strips are used in the sanitary field of cleansing hands and other body parts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hand washing saves lives; no question about it. It has been urged to use diluted chlorine to wash hands. There are many better ways and products for hand washing than diluted chlorine. Such products are found in squeeze bottles containing liquid soap, so-called “Handy Wipes” which come in sealed packages and are wet at all times, and, of course, bars of soap. Daily activities include shaking hands, brushing cheeks with “air kisses” and light hugs which are all opportunities to spread infections. Human touch is so important for connecting but one has to be careful to hand wash before eating or touching one's face or mouth.
Frequent hand washing with soap for about twenty seconds is effective. If sinks are not available, then instant hand sanitizers work well and may be more convenient in many situations. The problem remains that many public rest rooms necessitate touching potentially dirty surfaces, including bacteria and viruses, as on faucet handles, paper towel dispensers and doors, after hands have been washed. Just being careful, without being obsessive, can avoid many of those problems. Modern state-of-the-art rest rooms have electric sensors and physical layouts that facilitate avoidance of post hand washing contact.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The inventive placing of soap into the hands of a user consists of a water soluble substrate in the form of a dry strip having a soap substance or emulsion embedded therein. The water soluble substrate will immediately disintegrate when contacted by water, such as in a hand washing procedure, leaving the soap substrate or emulsion in the hand of the user ready to do its proposed action and that is to wash the hands of a person.
Single application soaps will be a thin film made from any water soluble carrier. When rubbed with water or wet hands the film will turn to soap suds. Single applications assure no waste like the remaining soaps remaining in soap pump bottles that will not come out, even when it is empty. The inventive containers will be biodegradable, while a multiple of plastic soap bottles may not be recycled ending up in landfills.
It is important that the water soluble substrate be biodegradable and be user friendly at the same time in that it is non-irritant to the skin of the user. The soluble substrates, among others are: Carrageenan, Locust Bean Gum, Pullulan and Xanthan Gum which will be described in more detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a dispenser having individual sheets therein;
FIG. 2 shows an interior of the dispenser of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 illustrates a different form of dispensing in the form of a roll;
FIG. 4 shows a different way of dispensing by the way of interleaved sheets.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a dispenser container or casing 1 having an opening 1 a at a top surface thereof wherein the opening 1 a has guide sides 2 therein as an aid in pulling sheets 3 from out of the casing. It is merely up to the user to place a finger in the opening 1 a of the casing and on top of the uppermost sheet 3 and pull it forward manually or out of the casing to obtain a soap sheet for use.
FIG. 2 shows an interior of the casing 1. In the bottom of the casing there is a spring 21 which exerts a light pressure on the sheet support platform 20, whereby the uppermost sheet 3 will always be present at the top opening of the casing 1 at 1 a.
FIG. 3 shows another way of dispensing the soap sheets, one at a time, by way of a roll 32 which is contained in a housing 31. A multiple of soap sheets 34 are contained in housing 31 and dispensed just by pulling on the outermost sheet 33 and tearing it away from the rest of the sheets by way of a perforated line 34. The housing may be placed on a counter in a rest room or it may be mounted on a wall in a public or domestic rest-or bath room.
FIG. 4 is still another way of dispensing soap sheets, one by one, from a stack of soap sheets 40 which are separated from each other by way of an interleaved paper strip 42. The soap sheets are interleaved within a long paper strip 42 in alternating turns. This way, the soap sheets are protected from each other and the hands of a user in subsequent uses. Once a soap sheets is obtained, the outermost paper strip may be separated from the rest of the strips by way of tear line 43 and may be discarded. The stack 42 of the interleaved soap sheets may be contained in a housing like the one shown in FIG. 1 but having an opening in the top to be readily accessible by a user.
As mentioned above, the water soluble substrate should be user friendly to the skin and should be readily dissolvable.
Carrageenan:
The name “Carrageenan” is a collective term for polysaccarides prepared by alkaline extraction (a modification) from red seaweed (Rhodophycae), mostly a genus of Chondrus, Eucheuma or Giga Iridaea. Different seaweeds produce different carrageenans.
Locust Bean Gum:
Locust Bean Gum (also called Carob Bean Gum and Carubin) is extracted from the seed (kernels) of a carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua). It forms a food reserve for the seeds and helps to retain water under arid conditions.
Pullulen:
Pullulan is a neutral glucan (like Amylose, Dextran or Cellulose), with a chemical struture somewhat depending on a carbon source, producing microorganisms (different strains of Aureobasidium pullulans), under fermentation conditions.
Zanthan Gum:
Zantham gum is a microbial dessiccation-resistant polymer prepared commercially by a submerged fermentation from Xanthomonas campestries. It is naturally produced to stick to the beams of the cabbage-like plants.
Gelatin:
Gelatin is obtained by boiling the skin, tendons and ligaments of animals. The word Gelatin is derived from the Latin “gelatus”, meaning stiff or frozen. It has no smell or taste of its own but will adapt to whatever is added to it.

Claims

1. A soap substance in combination with a dispenser device, said: substance is contained in a water soluble substrate, said substrate and said substance being in a dry state until exposed to water, said substrate is in a sheet form, said sheet form may be dispensed from a dispenser device.

2. The soap substance combination of claim 1, wherein said soluble substrate is selected from the group of substrates consisting of Carrageenan, Locust Bean Gum, Pullulan, Xantham and Gelatin.

3. The soap substance combination of claim 1, wherein said dispenser is a container having a top opening therein and wherein individual sheet forms may be dispensed therefrom by manual contact.

4. The soap substance combination of claim 3 including a sheet platform placed within said container which will advance upwardly all of said sheets when an upper most sheet is dispensed from said container.

5. The soap substance combination of claim 4, wherein said platform is under a bias of a spring.

6. The soap substance combination of claim 1, wherein said sheets are arranged in a roll and are placed in a dispenser that will dispense a sheet one at a time.

7. The soap substance combination of claim 6 including separation perforations formed between individual sheets.

8. The soap substance combination of claim 1 including a dispenser having interleaving sheets therein and every interleaving sheet having a soap substance sheet placed there between.