Sanitary cover for telephone and method of making same

Details Sanitary cover for telephone and method of making same Sanitary cover for telephone and method of making same

1996-05-03

2001-04-10

Chiang, Jack (Department: 2742)

Telephonic communications

Terminal accessory or auxiliary equipment

Protective structure

C379S439000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06215871

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sanitary cover for a telephone mouthpiece or earpiece and a method of making a sanitary cover, and more particularly, to a telephone cover that is securely mountable on a standard telephone earpiece or mouthpiece and will retain a desired shape during use.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Sanitary covers for telephone mouthpieces and earpieces have existed since not long after the invention of the telephone. Given the increasing risk of infection from various highly contagious diseases and viruses existing today, the need for an effective sanitary telephone mouthpiece cover to prevent the spread of these diseases and viruses is even greater. Although many telephone mouthpiece covers have been produced in the past, these covers do not retain a desired shape and do not remain in position on the telephone mouthpiece or earpiece to enable a telephone user to use the telephone without worrying about whether the sanitary cover will fall off of the telephone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,063 teaches a sanitary telephone cover comprising disposable sheets for covering the sound transmitting members of a telephone. The telephone cover is formed of a plurality of layers of material which are mechanically bonded together, for example, by using an adhesive. The inventors of this cover realized that sanitary telephone covers frequently do not remain in position on the telephone during use. Accordingly, the '063 device is provided with adhesive on two tabs 22, 29 which are folded to surround the sound transmitting members of the telephone. The adhesive applied to the tabs 22, 29 holds the sanitary cover on the sound transmitting portions of the telephone. However, the use of adhesive increases the steps and cost of manufacturing the sanitary telephone cover. The use of adhesive on the tabs also prevents the sanitary covers from being stacked one upon another because the adhesive would cause all of the covers to adhere together and prevent removal of one of the covers from the stack.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,163 also discloses a telephone mouthpiece cover which is formed from a single piece of paper board. The cover has a skirt 12 and a top 14 for covering the telephone mouthpiece. The cover is formed with ribs 44 which add structural integrity to the skirt 12 and also facilitate attachment of the cover on the mouthpiece by providing a gripping action. However, as seen in FIG. 3, none of the ribs 44 actually grip the telephone mouthpiece to securely hold the cover on the telephone. Thus, the ribs do not provide an adequate holding mechanism for affixing the cover on the telephone mouthpiece. In fact, the ribs force the surface of the skirt portion away from the surface of the telephone mouthpiece such that the only points of contact between the skirt and the telephone mouthpiece are the ribs 44. Thus, the ribs 44 decrease the contact area between the skirt and the telephone mouthpiece thereby decreasing the retaining ability of the skirt on the mouthpiece.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,493,557 discloses a sanitary telephone cover formed of paper or fabric having a central portion 8 and an outer skirt portion 8
a
which forms a resilient holding means for holding the cover on the telephone mouthpiece. The holding portion 8
a
is creased along a plurality of pairs of lines indicated by numeral 9 wherein each of the pairs of lines 9
b
, 9
c
etc. intersect corresponding corners 8
b
, 8
c,
respectively, of the central portion 8. The skirt 8
a
has resilient overlapping portions formed therein which form the holding means for holding the shield on the mouthpiece. However, the holding means for this cover is merely created by folds in the skirt portion which often do not provide adequate holding pressure. Also, the skirt portion may lose its resiliency and shape which would cause the skirt to be unable to hold the cover on the telephone mouthpiece.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,400,334 teaches a telephone mouthpiece cover which includes two sections 7 and 8. The first section 7 is conical and fits inside of the telephone mouthpiece. The second portion 8 is a flat outer covering which includes an edge portion 11 folded inwardly and crimped to engage the edges of the telephone mouthpiece. However, the outer edges 11 are merely folded about the edge of the telephone mouthpiece and can easily be dislodged because there is nothing to hold the outer edges 11 onto the telephone mouthpiece. Also, the cover requires that the first conical section 7 be positioned inside of the telephone mouthpiece to prevent the telephone mouthpiece cover from being dislodged from the telephone mouthpiece.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is evident from the above discussion of the prior art telephone mouthpiece and sound transmitting covers that there exists a need for an improved telephone mouthpiece cover which is easily and securely mounted on a telephone mouthpiece or earpiece without the use of adhesive. Also, there is a need for an improved method of making a sanitary mouthpiece cover.
At least one embodiment of the present invention provides a sanitary cover for use with a telephone mouthpiece and/or earpiece which overcomes the problems of the prior art discussed above. The present invention has several advantageous features which allow the sanitary telephone mouthpiece cover to be securely mounted on a telephone mouthpiece cover and be engaged with a recess formed in a telephone handset.
According to another embodiment of the invention, an improved method of making a sanitary cover for a telephone mouthpiece or earpiece is described in which the resulting cover will retain its shape throughout packaging and use. According to another feature of the invention, a preferred method of forming a telephone mouthpiece cover involves the use of an uneven tension in forming the layers of the mouthpiece cover.
According to at least one embodiment of the present invention, a sanitary cover for a telephone mouthpiece or earpiece includes a central portion, a skirt portion extending from the central portion, and at least one projection formed on the skirt portion and adapted to engage in a groove formed in a telephone handset.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method of forming a sanitary cover for a telephone mouthpiece or earpiece, the method comprising the steps of forming a first layer to have first physical dimensions, forming a second layer to have second physical dimensions different from the first physical dimensions, mounting the first layer on a mold having the shape of one of a telephone mouthpiece and a telephone earpiece, applying an adhesive solution to the first layer, placing the second layer on the first layer held on the mold and applying an adhesive solution to the second layer and the first layer.
A sanitary cover according to one embodiment of the present invention is formed by a layer or layers of a resilient material having a natural friction, such as tissue or other suitable material. Preferably, the material used to form the layers is recyclable. The layers of resilient material are molded to the shape of a standard public telephone mouthpiece and/or earpiece. The telephone mouthpiece cover includes retaining means which fit into a groove formed in the standard public telephone handset for retaining the telephone mouthpiece cover in position during use. This retaining means is easily removed from the groove formed in the telephone handset so that the cover can be discarded after use.
The telephone mouthpiece cover is formed so as to retain its shape despite being folded, stacked and packaged for convenient transport of the covers. This desired result is achieved by using the concept of uneven tension which is explained in detail in the following paragraphs.
In a preferred embodiment, at least two layers of a flexible material having a natural friction, for example tissue, are bonded together and dried while being form-fittingly held on a mold having a shape corresponding to a shape of a standard public telephone mouthpiece or earpiece. The tw

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