Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
Reexamination Certificate
2003-04-17
2004-12-21
Mruk, Brian P. (Department: 1751)
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
C510S193000, C510S441000, C510S475000, C424S451000, C424S464000, C424S475000, C424S076210, C424S076600, C424S076700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06833340
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a tablet and/or capsule, which is deposited into a toilet bowl. More specifically, it is a system of additives, colors and/or aromas for eliminating the odor, primarily, and the bacteria, secondarily, from the toilet. Additionally, the present invention has an encapsulation design used to preserve the integrity of the chemicals therein and protect the user from any tactile contact with possibly hazardous elements. The design also allows for complete transportability without the fear of contamination to the outside environment.
2. Background of the Invention
Utilizing toilets outside and inside the home are a common necessity of everyday life, despite the fact that most individuals find public toilets (i.e. restaurants, work place, dormitories, hotels) and other toilets outside the home to be foul smelling as well as dirty and discolored. In addition, when visiting family and friends, it is rather disturbing to create pungent odors in others' toilet bowls. Of course, any discoloration of a toilet bowl is also undesirable.
There are many products available on the market that a consumer may use to attempt to relieve a bad smelling toilet. Furthermore, such current solutions for deodorizing a toilet are labor intensive, bulky and not very transportable. They are generally restricted to use in a toilet that one owns. They are not feasible solutions for public toilets and/or toilets that are not under a user's direct control. While cleaners offer some deodorizing capability, such solutions might well clean a toilet, but they are incapable of preventing, masking, and/or eliminating a bad odor in the toilet and surrounding water closet as soon as the odor presents itself. Making a toilet appear clean does not necessarily result in relieving ensuing odors and/or odors that are already present.
There are tablets which will color the water in the toilet bowl, or which contain bleach or other disinfecting agents. These tablets also contain agents that are harmful to the skin, and the user must take care when handling them. Further, such tablets are typically placed in the toilet tank, as opposed to the toilet bowl. It would not be socially acceptable or practical to insert a tablet into a toilet tank not under a user's control, such as a public toilet or a toilet of family or friends. These solutions are not adaptable to the casual toilet with which the user might come into contact; and such solutions are not capable of preventing recurring odors and/or odors that are already present.
There is no invention that releases deodorants in the toilet bowl, at the water surface, and into the room at large. In addition, compared to the available products such as aerosols, stick-ups, plug in oil burners, electronic ozone deodorizers, potpourri, candles, etc., there is no invention that is easily transportable, safe, and effective. Specifically, the vast majority of deodorizers are sold in aerosol spray cans, and this limits their portability to a small segment of the population that is willing/able to go everywhere with a large purse, briefcase, knapsack, etc. and is willing to carry a bathroom spray around with them at all times. Additionally, the aerosol is typically sprayed in the room itself, and not directly in the area where the smell originates the toilet bowl. With the present invention, the odor-blocking substance is delivered in the toilet bowl at the water level the exact interface between any deposited source of objectionable odors and the air.
There is a current popular backlash concerning potential health pitfalls of atomizing sprays containing potentially toxic, polluting or noxious substances. There is a continuing backlash against the use of aerosols as being a major contributing source of environmental pollution and ozone depletion, as well as the containers being a source of trash. Many current products use quats, phenolics, naphthalene, bleach, petrochemicals such as para-dichlorobenzyne, propellants, etc., all of which are being looked at by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' National Toxicology Program study as a source of carcinogens, ozone depleters, asthma initiators, and allergy triggers or catalysts. In short, a fully effective and safe product for toilet deodorizing is not currently available.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,525 issued to O'Brien on May 3, 1994, describes a bathroom odor eliminator dispenser that injects film forming hydrocarbon fluid into a toilet bowl. Unlike the present invention, O'Brien's device has an inlet block for receiving fluid, an outlet block for outputting fluid into the toilet bowl, and other means for moving and activating the dispenser. O'Brien's device has no means for allowing the user to carry a deodorizing agent for instantaneous discharge into a toilet bowl. O'Brien's patent is a dispenser product as opposed to the low cost, transportable, personalized delivery device of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,341 issued to Nelson on Mar. 31, 1985, shows a disinfecting tablet for a toilet bowl. Nelson's tablet has an alkali metal salt of dichloroisocyanuric acid and a chloride salt selected from calcium chloride and barium chloride, where the molar ratio of alkali metal salt of dichloroisocyanuric acid to chloride salt is no greater than 4:1. Further, Nelson's tablet is essentially free of sodium carbonate/bicarbonate buffer mixtures, and it is capable of prolonged release of chlorine through metered dispensers when immersed in water. Unlike the present invention, Nelson's tablet is not designed to be carried by a user, to be held in the hand of a user, and/or to be quickly used to deodorize a toilet. Rather, Nelson's patent teaches, “the use of alkali metal salts of dichloroisocyanuric acid in tabletted toilet bowl disinfects has a major drawback in that their solubility in water is large enough so that the tablets do not have sufficient lifetime.” Thus, Nelson's patent goes on to read that his tablets, “reduce the solubility of the alkali metal salt of dichloroisocyanuric acid by providing barium and calcium ions that can react with the dichloroisocyanuric acid to form either barium di(dichloroisocyanuric acid) or calcium di(dichloroisocyanuric acid). These divalent metal salts are less soluble than the alkali metal salts, and the tablet exhibits this lower solubility.” Nelson's patent works with low solubility salts unlike the present invention, and deals with long time release of chemical agents into the tank as opposed to quick time deodorization in the bowl as in the present invention. Lastly, the present invention does not use alkali metal salts as a dissolution inhibitor as in Nelson's patent, but rather uses alkali metal as a catalyst for reaction.
PCT publication WO 02056728 filed by Desenna et al. and published on Jul. 25, 2002, describes a toilet bowl cleaner effervescent tablet. In short, the Desenna et al. product is a toilet bowl cleaner comprising a surfactant; and an effervescent system including an acid, wherein the effervescent system produces a significant level of foam in a toilet bowl; and wherein the cleaner has a pH from approximately 1.6 to approximately 2.2. Unlike the present invention, the Desenna et al. product is not designed to deodorize, and does not have an encapsulation designed to preserve the integrity of chemicals.
PCT publication WO 00149818 filed by Kaziska et al. and published on Jul. 12, 2001, shows an effervescent sanitizing and cleaning tablet. The ingredients include an alkaline solid of a fine powder particle size and a granular acid solid that, in the presence of water, react to generate carbon dioxide gas; a quaternary ammonium compound; and an inert filler to provide a tablet that sinks and dissolves quickly in water. Unlike the present invention, Kaziska et al.'s tablet is not designed to be carried by a user, to be held in the hand of a user, to float at the surface of the water, and/or to be quickly u
Berman Jared
Berman Steven
Katz Murray
Lefenfeld Michael
LB Developments, LLC
Mruk Brian P.
Nixon & Peabody LLP
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