Supports: racks – Special article
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-29
2003-07-29
Gibson, Jr., Robert W. (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Special article
C211S085100, C211S088010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06598751
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to an apparatus for holding various necessary items for people and in particular to an apparatus for holding various necessary items for elderly or forgetful people including, for example, eyeglasses, dentures, hearing aids and the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A lot of people do not have a good memory and often forget and/or misplace items. This is especially true for elderly people who are often beset by poor memory and forgetfulness. This forgetfulness causes the elderly person to misplace items of importance to the elderly person since the elderly person may place an item in a particular location, but forget the location of the item later. This is especially a problem with various items that are necessary for the elderly person to conduct everyday activities. These necessary items may include eyeglasses (necessary to see), dentures (necessary for eating and talking) and hearing aids (necessary for hearing). If these items are misplaced or lost, the elderly person may have very significant difficulties completing everyday tasks. In addition, an elderly person often has a severely limited fixed income so that the cost of replacing these necessary items is prohibitive. In addition, the time to replace these items means that the elderly person must go without the item for some period of time.
The problem is particularly evident in nursing homes, elderly care facilities and the like. In particular, a nursing home may house hundreds of elderly people who often have cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, that severely diminishes the person's memory. Often, a nurse may help the elderly person get ready for bed including removing the elderly person's items, such as eyeglasses, dentures and hearing aids. The nurse may then place these items in some location for safekeeping until the morning. However, in the morning, a different nurse may help the elderly person wake up and get ready for the day and that nurse may not know where the nurse placed the elderly person's items. Even worse, the items are lost and end up in a lost and found box in the nursing home that may contain numerous eyeglasses, dentures and hearing aids.
It is desirable to provide an apparatus that permits these necessary items to be housed in one holder so that the items can be later found and it is to this end that the present invention is directed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The holder in accordance with the invention permits a person's necessary items to be stored in a single location so that it is easy to locate the necessary items. The holder also ensures that anyone handling the necessary items knows where to place the items for storage so that the items are not lost. The item holder in accordance with the invention may also include a person identification mechanism so that any person handling the necessary items can readily determine that the necessary items are being placed into the holder for the correct person or patient. The item holder in accordance with the invention may be used both at nursing homes where necessary items, such as eyeglasses, dentures or hearing aids, are often lost or misplaced because there is no obvious place to store the items while the patient is sleeping, as well as at home to help various people keep track of the above necessary items.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the item holder may be shaped like the face of a person. The item holder may be painted or otherwise decorated to look like a person's face. The person's face may be of a variety of different colors to represent different races. The item holder may include one or more storage trays/shelves positioned at various locations on the face in order to store the necessary items of the person using the item holder. For example, the item holder may include a shelf or tray adjacent the depiction of the eyes of the face to store eyeglasses, a shelf or tray adjacent each ear for storing the hearing aid for each ear and a shelf or tray adjacent to the mouth on the face for storing the dentures of the person. The item holder may also include a plate on which the person's name and room number (for a nursing home for example) may be displayed.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the item holder may be a container that may include separate compartments for storing eyeglasses, dentures, hearing aids and any other necessary items. In accordance with the invention, the compartments for each item may be shaped to indicate the appropriate items that should be placed in the compartment or the bottom of each container may contain a depiction of the item to be placed in the compartment or a symbol representing each item may be placed near each compartment.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the item holder for a nursing home may be a container that holds each of the items which is then placed onto or hung from a representation of a figure, such as a doctor or a nurse, wherein the figure may include an area where information about the particular patient using the item holder may be placed, such as the patient's name, the room number of the patient, the name of the aide normally responsible for the patient, the name of the person on the morning and evening shift responsible for the patient, the current date and any other relevant information. The patient information may permit lost or misplaced items to be more easily located since the responsible person may be identified and questioned when an item is misplaced.
Thus, in accordance with the invention, an item holder is provided. The item holder comprises a piece of material constructed in the shape of a face wherein a denture tray is attached near a mouth located on the piece of material wherein a denture may be placed in the tray to be stored. The item holder further comprises an eyeglass tray attached near the eyes located on the piece of material wherein a set of eyeglasses may be placed in the tray to be stored and a hearing aid tray attached near an ear located on the piece of material wherein a hearing aid may be placed on the tray to be stored.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, an item holder is provided. The item holder comprises a piece of material having a predetermined shape and a denture tray attached near a first location on the piece of material wherein a denture may be placed in the tray to be stored. The item holder further comprises an eyeglass tray attached near a second location on the piece of material wherein a set of eyeglasses may be placed in the tray to be stored, and a hearing aid tray attached near a third location on the piece of material wherein a hearing aid may be placed on the tray to be stored.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, an item holder comprises a first compartment for storing a set of dentures, a second compartment for storing a set of eyeglasses and a third compartment for storing one or more hearing aids. The first, second and third compartments each have a depiction of the item to be stored in the particular compartment to help people remember to store the item in the compartment and remember where the particular item is stored.
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McNelis John
McNelis Romaine
Gibson , Jr. Robert W.
Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP
McNelis M. Romaine
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