Miscellaneous hardware (e.g. – bushing – carpet fastener – caster – Handle – handle component – or handle adjunct – Door handle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-27
2002-03-12
Mah, Chuck Y. (Department: 3626)
Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,
Handle, handle component, or handle adjunct
Door handle
C016S413000, C016S415000, C016S110100, C016S904000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06353971
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to sanitation in public restroom facilities, and specifically to improvements which enable users of such restroom facilities to avoid touching anything in the restroom after washing their hands.
BACKGROUND
Public restroom facilities are typically available to a wide variety of people who have been exposed to a correspondingly wide variety of environments, and wherein such people may have picked up toxins or pathogenic disease organisms, collectively referred to herein as “contaminants,” in such environments. When such people use public restroom facilities, and correspondingly come into physical contact with certain surfaces in the restroom, such as for example and without limitation water closets and their controls, sinks, water faucets, paper dispensers, soap dispensers, and the like, there is a risk that such contaminants may transfer from the respective user to such surfaces, thus contaminating the respective surfaces.
Such contaminants can remain viable for a substantial time after being so deposited such that a subsequent user may touch the respective surface and pick up the still viable contaminants, and may thereafter become afflicted with a disease or other harmful medical condition associated with such contaminants.
As used herein, “public restroom facilities” means any restroom facility that is available to a group of users who do not otherwise personally reside together as a family unit. Such groups and environments include, for example and without limitation, places of employment, tourist and recreation facilities, government offices, facilities occupied by religious or other charitable organizations, military facilities, restaurants, and stores.
In order to reduce the incidence of harmful medical conditions associated with public restroom facilities, it has become common practice to regularly clean and disinfect such restroom facilities thereby to limit and control the amount of such contaminants which may be present in such public restroom facilities at any given time, based on the theory that reduced quantities of contaminants in the restroom results in less contaminant pick-up by users, and corresponding lower incidence of harmful medical effect. But however good such cleaning may be, the next user may again deposit such unwanted contaminants, which can then be picked up by subsequent users.
Thus, in order to effectively maintain strict sanitation of a restroom facility by way of maintaining the restroom in a clean condition, namely regularly removing contaminants which have been deposited, the restroom facility can only be used by one user at a time; and the restroom facility must be cleaned after each use, to remove whatever contaminants, if any, may have been deposited by that user. In addition, if strict sanitation is to be maintained, the cleaning process, itself, must be completely sanitary, such that the person doing the cleaning does not introduce contaminants during the cleaning of the restroom.
In any event, except for highly specialized uses, such high level of maintenance effort is prohibitively costly. Thus, while significant improvement has been made in sanitation of public restroom facilities by implementation of cleaning procedures, there is a practical limit to the degree to which spread of contaminants can be controlled by cleaning procedures in public restrooms, as the fact that such facilities are repeatedly used by users introduces a repeated influx of unwanted contaminants into the respective restroom facilities.
Further improvement in controlling spread of such contaminants, beyond cleaning steps, has been made by providing apparatus and structure in such restroom facilities which discourages users from coming into direct contact with surfaces which may have been contacted, and therefore contaminated, by previous users. In addition, such apparatus and structure also reduces the amount of contaminants deposited. Thus, supplies and equipment have been introduced whereby a user can choose to touch a minimum number of surfaces which may have been contaminated by previous users. For example and without limitation, water closets may be fitted with proximity sensors which sense the user approaching, and subsequently leaving, proximity of the water closet thereby to automatically flush the water closet. Water faucets may be correspondingly fitted with proximity sensors. Paper towels and air dryers may be provided for drying a user's hands after washing.
While a variety of improvements have thus been made in preserving cleanliness of the restroom facility, and while a variety of supplies and machines have been provided for cleansing a user's hands after use of e.g. water closet appliances, and avoiding touching surfaces in the restroom after the user's hands have been cleansed, there remains one barrier between the newly-cleansed user and the outside world, namely the door to the restroom.
In most cases, a hinged door is used to close off visual access to the interior of the restroom. Such door typically swings into the restroom, and thus comprises a physical barrier to the user exiting the room. As each person leaves the restroom, he/she grasps a door handle or the like, and pulls the door open. In the process of so opening the door, he/she may deposit on the door handle any contaminants which may remain on his/her hands or any contaminants picked up in the restroom. In addition, he/she may pick up contaminants deposited on the door handle by a previous user. Thus, there remains the problem of contaminant transfer at the restroom door, typically through use of the door handle as the user exits the room.
As one solution to the problem of contamination at the door, such contamination and/or transfer of contaminants can be virtually eliminated by door construction. For example and without limitation, where enough space is available, the doorway can be designed and built so as to provide a turn in the entryway, so as to leave the doorway open but so oriented as to block visual access into the room from outside the room. In an alternate design, the door itself may be opened by an electric or other power device, automatically activated by a proximity or other sensor whereby the user need not touch the door in order for the door to open. However, as a practical matter, there remain a large number of doorways, existing and likely to be constructed in the future, which are in fact closed by a hinged door in the doorway, which door is opened by manual effort of the person exiting the restroom.
Thus, there is a need for efficient structure associated with manuallyoperated doors whereby a user can easily open the door without, in the process, risking the possibility of receiving contaminants from the door or risking depositing contaminants on the door.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide touchless door pull apparatus cooperatively configured such that a user can employ a hand tool, either a tool carried by the user or a sanitary hand tool acquired by the user in or proximate the restroom, to engage and manually pull open the door.
It is another object to provide on the door secondary door opening apparatus, optionally in addition to the regular door handle, whereby the user can manually open the door without touching the door.
It is yet another object to provide touchless door pull apparatus wherein a user engages a hand tool in a slot or other opening in the door, optionally in a pull base mounted on the door, thereby engaging an engagement element on the door with a cooperating engagement element on the hand tool, thus to pull open the door.
It is still another object to provide methods of manually pulling open a door by inserting a hand tool into an engagement opening in the door, engaging engagement structure on the hand tool with engagement structure associated with the opening, and pulling on the hand tool thereby to pull open the door.
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE
The invention generally contemplates touchless door pull apparatus comprising an engagement slot on a door, and a coo
Mah Chuck Y.
Sanikey, LLC
Wilhelm Thomas D.
Wilhelm Law Service
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