Self-opening towel

Details Self-opening towel Self-opening towel

1998-05-19

2001-01-09

Trettel, Michael F. (Department: 3628)

Beds

Ground mat

C005S653000, C005S420000, C005S657000, C297S229000, C297S219100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06170100

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to a towel having multiple configurations. More specifically, the present invention relates to a towel that self-opens into an extended configuration, and also can be in a collapsed position and a chair configuration.
Conventional beach towels are typically used to dry a person, to separate a person from, for example, beach sand, and/or to line a chair. Difficulty exists, however, in maintaining the shape of conventional beach towels when being used, for example, to separate a person from beach sand or to line a chair.
Several attempts have been tried to remedy these problems with towels. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,876, issued to Graves, discloses one attempt to maintain the desired shape of a towel. The towel in Graves has continuous flexible weights secured along at two opposed edges of the towel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,430, issued to Nicoll, discloses a beach blanket having a non-metallic tube filled with a liquid weight such as water located at the perimeter of the blanket.
These known towels, however, can be difficult to arrange when configured to have a large size. These towels can be cumbersome to arrange for separating a person from the beach sand, to line a chair, and to pack for removal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A self-opening towel comprises a frame member being formed from a flexible twistable material and being removably attached to a covering membrane. The self-opening towel has a first shape being substantially planar when in an extended configuration, and a second shape being substantially planar and having an area less than an area of the first shape when the towel is in a collapsed configuration.
In one embodiment, the covering membrane has an upper side, a lower side and an interior portion between the upper side and the lower side. The frame member can be removably inserted within the interior portion of the covering membrane. The self-opening towel can also include a fastener having a first portion and a second portion. The first portion of the fastener can be attached to the upper side of a covering membrane; the second portion of the fastener can be attached to the lower side of the covering membrane. The fastener, when in an open position, can have a width between an upper side and a lower side of the covering membrane sufficient for the frame member to be slidably inserted into and slidably removed from an interior portion of the covering membrane.


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