Abstract:
An implement used for personal hygiene by an obese or impaired person includes an elongated handle having a curving blade covered with an absorbent wiping cover, stroked by the user gripping the handle with the covered blade pressed against the person&#39;s anal-genital body regions.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional Ser. No. 60/356,382, filed Feb. 13, 2002. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention concerns personal hygiene and in particular cleaning of the anal and genital regions of a person&#39;s body while seated on a toilet. Such cleaning is of course usually carried out with hand held wads of toilet paper. Obese or physically impaired persons often have difficulty reaching this region of the body. 
     Various implements have been proposed for the assisting such persons in accomplishing such personal hygiene. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,862,564; 6,272,716 B1 and 5,044,040 all describe implements which allow a person to more easily reach this body region with cleaning fabric or toilet paper and eliminate hand holding of such cleaning paper or fabric. 
     Such implements however are not configured to easily allow such cleaning to be carried out and/or are not effective in cleaning that region of the body but rather are difficult to use and/or do not properly contact the anal-genital regions to obtain effective cleaning pressure. 
     Rather the shapes of these prior devices require awkward motions of a person&#39;s arms; and do not conform to the body contours necessary to obtain good and complete rubbing pressure over the entire region for effective cleaning. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is the object of the present invention to provide an implement for allowing personal hygiene to be effectively maintained in an improved manner. 
     This object and other objects which will become apparent upon a reading of the following specification and claims are achieved by an implement shaped to enable easily executed cleaning strokes while maintaining good pressure contact with body regions to be cleaned. 
     The implement has a long handle with a wider curved blade portion at one end, the handle a flat blade of a length on the order of twelve inches or so. The curved blade portion has a flat spoon shape which gently curves up out of the plane of the handle to extend obliquely therefrom and terminating in a rounded point. The curved blade portion has a cover of absorbent sheet material installed thereon. 
     By grasping the handle the implements curved blade portion can easily be positioned over the anal-genital regions. The curved shape and oblique inclination causes the curved blade portion to be in complete contact with these regions to allow effective cleaning by stroking of the implement without injuring the user. The handle is positioned in a generally vertical position at this time so that stroking motions are easily executed by the user. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the implement according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of the implement according to the invention. 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the end portion of the implement according to the invention of the implement having a cover partially installed thereon. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following detailed description, certain specific terminology will be employed for the sake of clarity and a particular embodiment described in accordance with the requirements of 35 USC 112, but it is to be understood that the same is not intended to be limiting and should not be so construed inasmuch as the invention is capable of taking many forms and variations within the scope of the appended claims. 
     Referring to the drawings, an implement  10  according to the invention is shown, which may be constructed of a suitably strong and able to be sanitized plastic such as nylon or polypropylene, having all smoothed rounded edges so as to not injure the skin or a user when rubbed against the same. A smooth metal construction is also possible, such as stainless steel, but plastic is preferred due to its warm feel, easy washability, and low cost. 
     The implement  10  includes a relatively long elongated handle portion  12 , normally of a length on the order of approximately one foot, although substantially longer lengths can be provided, as for very large persons. 
     The width and thickness of the handle depend on the material used, but would be around ¾″ wide and ⅜″ thick when made of plastic material. 
     The handle  12  can be slightly bent or curved at one end as shown in FIG.  1 . 
     A widened curved blade portion  16  is integral with the opposite end of the handle  12 . The wider blade portion  16  is of a gently upwardly curving configuration to extend obliquely from the handle  12  and having a spoon-like but flattened shape, without a bowl. A blunted rounded tip  18  is at the very distal end. 
     The handle  12  is notched on respective sides. The notches  20 ,  22  may be used to secure a lacing  24  for a wiping cover  26  enclosing the curved blade portion  16 . An elastic band can also be used instead of a lacing to retain the wiping cover in place. 
     The wiping cover  26  is comprised of a pliant absorbent sheet material such as a multilayer soft tissue paper. 
     In use, the implement  10  is manipulated to bring the blade portion  16  in position in an orientation to curve up around in general conformity with the anal-genital regions. By exerting a lateral pushing force on the handle  12 , the blade portion  16  is held against these regions, and a front to rear wiping motion will be produced by up and down stroking of the implement. The smooth rounded contours prevent injury or discomfort. 
     Contact pressure can be effortlessly maintained during stroking to easily achieve an effective cleaning action. 
     The wiping cover  26  can simply be disposed of in the usual manner. 
     The implement  10  itself can easily be washed off and a new cover installed to be ready for the next use. 
     The implement  10  can also be provided with a hole  28  in the one end of the handle  12  for handing at a convenient location. 
     The implement  10  while intended for use by an impaired or obese person, can also be used by any person to avoid contamination with fecal matter. 
     In addition, it can be used in washing other hard to reach body areas, as when showering. 
     In this case, a fabric cover, such as terry cloth, can be used for the cover.