Patent ID: 9578982
Date: 2017-02-28
CPC Classifications: A41D,A47G,A47J,A61F

Claim:
1. A triple use finger protecting, environmentally and wildlife friendly food handling product made from disposable materials and having a feature to help prevent paper cut injury to the fingers, thumb, mouth, lips and tongue of the user comprising: a set of tongs including pair of finger(s)/thumb accommodating pockets with at least one exterior food contact surface on each pocket; each said pocket having a respective finger(s) or thumb accommodating interior, said pockets connected by at least one connecting tab, at least a portion of at least one tearable seal closing a mouth entrance of said at least one pocket of said pair of finger(s)/thumb accommodating pockets; said pocket having a perforation line adjacent to said tearable seal, said perforation line also closing said mouth entrance of said at least one pocket; wherein further an inserted finger(s) or thumb of the user pierces said perforation line to open at least a portion of said interior of said at least one pocket, wherein an area around said pierced perforation line at said mouth entrance of said pocket hugs and stabilizes the finger(s)/thumb in one of said pockets with at least one finger(s) accommodating area, wherein said pockets of said set of tongs are pierceable by the finger(s) or thumb at the opening mouth entrance of the pockets of the jaws to pierce at least a portion of the pocket, to reveal at least said portion of the opening of the pocket, whereby the partially open opening hugs around the finger(s) or thumb, or if fully open, fully reveals the pocket interior; further comprising a peripheral edge of each of said pockets and said connecting tab includes an unbonded free edge beyond a peripheral sealed edge, wherein respective soft, irregular, non-smooth sealed peripheral edges are provided around the edges of the set of tongs, with said soft, injury preventive edges having irregular free ends extending beyond a seal parallel to, and in the vicinity of a periphery of a finger(s)/thumb insertion pocket or strap of a set of tongs, and/or said connecting tab, to promote tearing at the seal to make said soft, irregular, non-smooth sealed peripheral edges, and thereby providing a an injury preventive soft, irregular non-smooth sealed finished peripheral edge to prevent paper cuts on the fingers, thumb or mouth of the user; wherein after use, said tearable peripheral edges enable the user to tear the used set of tongs before disposal, enabling the user to place the respective food contact surfaces of both tongs against each other, so that both tongs can be jointly torn into small pieces for environmentally friendly disposal while the user's fingers only contact the clean outer side of the tongs.