Surgery – Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material – Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
Reexamination Certificate
1997-09-15
2003-08-12
Reichle, Karin (Department: 3761)
Surgery
Means and methods for collecting body fluids or waste material
Absorbent pad for external or internal application and...
C604S385030, C604S385140, C604S387000, C604S395000, C604S385010, C002S408000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06605071
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a garment for an incontinent person, such as a toddler or a child who has learned to walk but has not yet become toilet trained. The garment includes training pants or briefs usually worn as an undergarment about the lower abdomen and a disposable absorbent liner supported in the briefs for receiving and holding body urine and excrement.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
During the early years of a child's life, when the child is capable of walking, but has not yet become toilet trained, is mobile, social and somewhat communicative, the child is capable of various social functions so, therefore, travels with parents or other responsible adults. Typically, the child travels away from the home in an automobile to various locations, such as to other homes, but also to uncontrolled social environments, such as to a grocery store, to restaurants, to public events and to nursery schools. During these activities, it is not unusual for the toddler to have a bowel movement or urinate.
Typically, the child is dressed in an undergarment, with liquid impervious briefs worn about the outside of the garment, with other external clothing, such as overalls, pants or a dress worn outside the briefs. When the undergarments of a toddler must be changed, the typical situation is that the lower clothing must be completely removed from the lower abdomen of the child in order to gain access to the undergarments and replace them.
A typical diaper still in use today comprises a rectangular-shaped cotton reusable diaper which is usually folded into somewhat of a triangular shape, and is arranged to encircle the waist of the infant or toddler while extending through the crotch area. The newer, more popular diaper for infants or small children is the disposable diaper which has the typical “wing,” flat design and is form fitted so as to fasten about the waist of the child, forming leg openings, and providing absorbent material adjacent the lower abdomen of the child while providing a liquid impervious outer layer to block liquids from escaping from the diaper.
Products available in the market for the toilet training cycle of a toddler or a small child include regular cotton reusable garments, or disposable training garments. These products have not met the needs of the consumer during the “in-between” stages. Most parents use a combination of all of the above mentioned products, but all methods available in the market today are messy, or frustrating to the toddler and to the parent when a “diaper change” is made. Some of these products are extremely expensive.
The cotton reusable products offered in the market require the toddler or small child to wear a hot, uncomfortable vinyl pant to protect the other clothing from being soiled. If the toddler or small child has problems with irritation, and is sensitive to the vinyl pant, it can cause skin rashes. When this occurs, the parent is forced to use the cotton training pant alone; causing messy accidents, additional soiled clothing, and making it impossible to remove the undergarment without smearing body excrement everywhere. Adequate “cleanup” is almost impossible in a public facility. The child may become traumatized by the excrement removal procedure, causing him to regress in the training process. When this happens, it ruins the pleasure of taking the child outside the home for fun and recreation. In order to remove the reusable product from the toddler and change into a clean garment, all clothing must be removed from the toddler from the waist down.
Eliminating unnecessary stress to the toddler during the, changing and cleanup process of the toilet training phase is very important. When trauma is eliminated, the toddler or small child is more likely to relax, and the toilet training program is likely to be more rewarding for both parent and child.
The disposable products currently on the market for toddler or small children make “clean-up” easier, however, changing to a clean garment, as described above, is extremely bothersome and time consuming. Some products feature the rip-away side system to remove the garment. With these products, however, it is necessary to undress the child from the waist down to change to a new garment.
While the crotch area of a diaper or training pant typically receives all of the excrement and urine emitted from the toddler, there are other areas that are unused for the absorption and collection process, and are used primarily only to hold the diaper in place. For example, the area of the garment about the waist, the hips and the upper portion of the buttocks are often unsoiled during diaper use, and when it is removed and discarded, a substantial amount of unused material is discarded, and must be disposed of along with the other, used areas of the diaper or training pant. Further, the provision of such large diapers or training pants, a portion of each which is not used for absorption and collection purposes, requires the undergarment to be larger and more expensive to produce, and more expensive to dispose of than would be a product of the size and shape necessary only to collect and contain the excrement of the toddler.
While the foregoing undergarment changing procedure for a child generally has become accepted as necessary in today's society, there still is a need for a more expedient method of changing the absorbent garment of a small child, without unnecessary use and waste of materials and without the requirement of removing so many garments from the toddler or small child in the change-over process.
The new invention, the disposable or reusable garment with the disposable liner/diaper, is constructed in an effort to meet all of the objectives. This product is designed to open at the lower front abdomen section of the garment gaining access to an open crotch for two reasons. First, there is an optional disposable liner/diaper that can be used for added protection. It can be removed and replace without having to remove the garment. Second, a new garment can be changed, if necessary. Using the optional disposable liner/diaper in conjunction with the disposable or reusable garment will give the ability to minimize diaper or training pant waste, and will reduce the cost of expensive disposable garments.
The universal disposable liner/diaper is unique in that it will fit into the training pants described herein, and can also be worn in any regular toddler's or children's undergarment, infant diaper cover, or on the inside of a conventional cloth diaper. The wear and tear on conventional cloth diaper or cloth garments will be substantially decreased, and the cost of garment replacement will decrease.
It is the purpose of this invention to provide a more healthy, sanitary, user-friendly environment for both the parents and the child in one of the most demanding, but natural stages of the child's life. It is also our intention to give the consumer, at all income levels, the opportunity to afford a training system that can meet their needs, without sacrificing the features of the invention capabilities.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly described, the present invention comprises a disposable or reusable garment in the form of training pants or briefs with a disposable liner that is suitable for use by an incontinent person, such as a child in its early years during its toilet training phase. The invention includes a garment featuring a lower front separating system which receives an absorbent liner that functions as a diaper, and the garment can be opened without removal of the garment from about the waist of the toddler while removing the soiled liner and its contents, and placing a fresh liner in the garment.
The garment is absorbent and is applied to the lower abdomen of a person and includes a reusable undergarment and a replaceable absorbent disposable liner/diaper. The reusable undergarment includes a continuous waistband structure adapted to completely encircle a waist of the person, the waistband structure having an inside surface for facing the p
deMonye Pamela G.
Gray Vivian
Reichle Karin
Thomas Kayden Horstemeyer & Risley
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