Article dispensing – With article treatment – With cooling or heating
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-07
2001-01-30
Bollinger, David H. (Department: 3651)
Article dispensing
With article treatment
With cooling or heating
C221S1500HC, C221S063000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179162
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to towel dispensing devices and more particularly to a towel dispensing device which warms the towel prior to removal of the towel from the dispensing device.
Towel dispensing devices have been widely used to dispense towels for a variety of uses. Towel dispensing devices have been commonly used to dispense disposable towels in public lavatories, doctors' offices, commercial and home kitchens, laboratories and many other locations where a stationary towel dispensing device easily serves the need to provide a disposable towel for washing or drying of the user's hands.
Portable towel dispensing devices have also been widely used in the form of face or hand tissue boxes. Disposable towels or towelettes which are of more durable construction than common tissue have also been packaged and dispensed from portable dispensing devices. The disposable towels or towelettes are pre-moistened and placed in a dispensing container which is substantially leak-resistant. The portable dispensing devices frequently have a cap, snap lid or some closing mechanism to minimize evaporation. Typically such dispensing devices are not reusable and easily crack or break with use. In addition, the solution often evaporates over time, rendering the entire dispensing device worthless because the solution has evaporated and the towels are no longer moist. Frequently, such dispensing devices have contained towels or towelettes which have been pre-moistened with an isopropyl alcohol-based solution. The alcohol-based solution when contacted to the skin typically produces a cold sensation to the user; and, when applied to the skin of an infant, the alcohol-based solution produces a predictable cold sensation which can be discomforting. Individual towels or towelettes are also available in individual wrapped packets, often made of metal foil or paper. However, these packets are not user friendly and are costly and often difficult to open. For each towel you wish to use, you must tear open a packet. Furthermore, these types of towels have little strength and fall apart easily.
Thus, there exists a need for a disposable pre-moistened towel dispenser which provides a pre-moistened towel which is warm to the touch and avoids the discomforting sensation of cold on the skin of the user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pre-moistened towel dispenser which provides a pre-moistened towel that is warm to the touch. It is a second object of the present invention to provide a pre-moistened towel dispenser which is warmed by electrically generated radiant heat. It is a third object of the invention to provide a pre-moistened towel dispenser which is warmed by hot vapor generated from within the towel dispenser. It is a fourth object of the invention to provide a non-disposable dispenser to which can be added non-moistened towels and various selected solutions to pre-moisten the towels. It is a fifth object of the invention to provide a non-disposable dispenser with multiple chambers and to place in each chamber non-moistened towels and various selected solutions to pre-moisten the towels contained in that chamber. These and other objectives are achieved by the present invention.
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Bollinger David H.
Sharma Rashmi
Stephanie Seidman Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP
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