Abstract:
A portable cleaning system including a casing for storing a cleaning agent in one compartment and a towel in a second compartment. The compartments may be slidably connected to have an open position and a closed position.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Technical Field 
   The present invention pertains to a device for cleaning objects such as eyeglasses, sunglasses, lenses, golf balls, mirrors and other items. More specifically, but not exclusively, the invention relates to convenient portable casing for stowing a cleaning solution and a drying towel. 
   2. Background Art 
   It is frequently necessary to remove dirt, films, moisture and other soiling materials from objects in one&#39;s possession. Often, such soiling materials need to be removed while in transit or away from where conventional cleaning materials may be stored. Previous attempts have been made to provide integrated cleaning systems that are convenient for a user, and some that are portable. Examples of the previous attempts follow. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,104 to Wolska-Klis discloses an eyeglass cleaning station including a compartmented housing containing a dispensing bottle of liquid lens cleaning material and a dispensing box of disposable lens cleaning tissue. The eyeglass-cleaning compartment may be placed on a countertop. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,661 to Burwell discloses a lens or eyeglass cleaning device having an elongated storage container and a cleaning cloth attached to the container with a retaining cord in a manner that the cloth may be retracted into the container by pulling on an end of the retaining cord opposite the cloth. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,751 to Madkour discloses a portable kit for cleaning eyeglass lenses which includes a flat, flexible container having two separately openable compartments, one of the compartments contains a liquid eyeglass lens cleaner absorbed on an absorbent material and the second compartment contains a dry wiping material which may be removed to wipe lens cleaner from a lens. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,132 to Valadez and U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,134 to Tsai disclose respective pens for cleaning eyeglasses. The Valadez eyeglass cleaning pen includes felt tip for applying cleaning solution in a first container to a desired surface and a second container serving as a cap and dispenser for a wiping material. The Tsai eyeglass-cleaning pen consists of a similar felt tip pen having at least one spectacle screwdriver removably mounted on the pen body. 
   The foregoing attempts, and other conventional systems, each have certain drawbacks including; for example, certain of the above-described systems: (i) are not conveniently suitable for portable situations (e.g., the Wolska-Klis eyeglass station); (ii) do not include any cleaning solution whatsoever (e.g. the Burwell device for cleaning eyeglasses) and rely solely on a cleaning cloth for removal of soils (referred to as “dry systems”); and/or (iii) utilize small amounts of cleaning solution, such as the type applied by a felt tip (e.g., Valadez and Tsai pens)(referred to as “semi-dry systems”). 
   Dry systems and semi-dry systems may work in some cases where the soiling material present on the surface to be cleaned is minute and/or has not significantly hardened. However dry and semi-dry systems may damage plastic lenses or UV/polarized coated lenses and can often lead to smearing of the soiling material, as opposed to removal, when a cleaning cloth is applied to a surface dry/semi-dry surface. 
   Additionally, certain of the conventional systems are complicated, not convenient to use and are suitable only for cleaning eyeglass/sunglass lenses (e.g., the Madkour portable kit for cleaning eyeglass lenses.) 
   Pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/353,700, entitled “Portable Cleaning Device,” filed on Jan. 29, 2003 by Kushner et al., and incorporated herein by reference, address some of the foregoing issues by disclosing a liquid spray cleaning kit with a retractable drying cloth. 
   However, additional integrated cleaning systems are desired that are relatively simple, compact, portable, convenient to use, and effective at removing even stubborn soil and from all types of surfaces. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     Aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention in reference to the appended drawing in which like numerals denote like elements and in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a front view of a portable cleaning device in a stowed position according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a front view of a portable cleaning device in an open position according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIGS. 3 and 4  are respective a side views of the portable cleaning device of  FIG. 2 ; 
       FIG. 5  is an exploded view of the portable cleaning device of  FIGS. 2-4 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a front view of a portable cleaning device according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 7  is a front view of a portable cleaning device according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and 
       FIGS. 8 and 9  are views of portable cleaning devices according to various other embodiments of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1-2 , a portable cleaning device  100  according to one aspect of the invention generally includes a first housing member  110  adapted to store a cleaning solution  120  and a second housing member  130  adapted to store a towel  140 . 
   Generally, the first and second housing members  110 ,  130  are movable between a first position and a second position such that, in the first position, the cleaning solution  120  and the towel  140  are enclosed within the portable cleaning device  100  (e.g.,  FIG. 1 ), and in the second position the cleaning solution  120  and the towel  140  are accessible (e.g.,  FIG. 2 ). 
   In an exemplary embodiment, the first and second housing members  110 ,  130  are adjacent one another and are configured to slide between the first and second positions as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . Housing members  110 ,  130  may be made from any suitable material such as an injection molded ABS plastic and formed in any desired shape to accommodate cleaning solution  120  and towel  140 . 
   Turning to the side views of  FIGS. 3-4 , in certain implementations, cleaning solution  120  may be stored in a dispenser  320  although the inventive embodiments are not limited in this respect. Dispenser  320  may include a solution reservoir  322  and a pumping unit  324 . Housing member  110  is preferably shaped to retain dispenser  320  inside. An actuator member  326  may be included, if desired, on an end of housing member  110  to enable a user to dispense cleaning solution from reservoir  322 , e.g., via pumping unit  324 , without removing dispenser  320  from housing member  110 . 
   In alternate embodiments, housing member  110  may include an integrated reservoir and/or pump, or cleaning solution  120  may be dispensed via a dropper or other applicator (not shown). In other embodiments, housing member  110  may be adapted to accommodate a commercially available lens cleaning solution dispensers such as Natural Eyes and Shinize brand cleaners available from Quality Accessories, Inc., SEE SPRAY® brand cleaner available from QUIXTAR, Ultra Clarity brand lens cleaner available from Nanofilm, and the like. 
   Housing member  130  preferably includes one or more cavities  432  dimensioned and/or shaped to accommodate towel  140  and/or, if desired a tool such as screwdriver  445 . Towel  140  may be any absorbent cloth or paper product suitable for removing applied cleaning solution  120  from a surface. In an exemplary embodiment, towel  140  is a microfiber cloth which may be used for cleaning eyeglass lenses although the embodiments are not limited in this respect. In other embodiments, towel  140  may be one or more disposable tissues or lens cleaning cloths and if desired, housing member  130  may be adapted to retain a disposable towel dispensing mechanism (not shown). 
   Turning to  FIG. 5 , a more detailed illustration shows an expanded view of an example portable cleaning device  100 . Device  100  in this embodiment may include one or more slide members  510 ,  530  which attach to the respective housing members  110 ,  130  and facilitate sliding between first and second positions. Slide members  510 ,  530  may include one or more tabs  511 ,  531  which facilitate attachment to corresponding recesses  512  of housing members  110 ,  130 . Slide members  510 ,  530  may further include one or more slots  516  and corresponding sliding tabs  517  to facilitate the sliding movement between housing members  110 ,  130 . It should be recognized that tabs  511 ,  531  and recesses  512  on respective housing members  110 ,  130  and slide members  510 ,  530  could be reversed and/or alternate sliding configurations could be used in place of sliding members  510 ,  530 . Accordingly, the inventive embodiments are not limited to any specific sliding arrangement. 
   Turning to  FIG. 6 , an alternate embodiment for a portable cleaning device  600  is shown. Device  600  includes two housing members  610 ,  630  which are similar to those described previously with respect to  FIGS. 1-5 . However, rather than sliding between open and closed positions, housing members  610 ,  630  pivot between open and dosed positions. To this end, device  600  may include one or more hinges  620  and if desired, one or more locking mechanisms such as clasp  624  and corresponding protrusion  622 . Housing member  610  is preferably adapted to enclose a spray dispenser and may include an actuator member  326  as previously described. 
   Referring to  FIG. 7 , yet another embodiment for a portable cleaning device  700  includes two housing members  710 ,  730  respectively adapted to retain a cleaning solution and towel as with previous embodiments. However, in this embodiment, housing members  710  and  730  may completely detach from one another as shown by the arrow in  FIG. 7 , although it is possible that both members  710 ,  730  could be loosely connected via a chain or string (not shown) if desired. Housing member  710  may be similar to those previously described and may include one or more protruding edges  722  for mating with corresponding recesses of housing member  730  in a manner that a certain amount of pressure must be exerted on the housing members to attach or separate them from on another. Various other configurations could also be used for removably attaching housing members  710 ,  730  to each other. Housing member  710  may also contain an actuator member  326  for dispensing cleaning solution if suitably desired. 
   As with any of the embodiments disclosed herein, portable cleaning device  700  may include an attachment member  770  disposed on an outer surface thereof. Attachment member  770  may be any component or combination of components capable of retaining device  700  to a desired surface. For example, attachment member  770  could be a wire clip, magnet, double-sided tape, chain, rope, hook or other related components. 
   Referring to  FIG. 8 , a lens cleaning kit  800  according to yet another embodiment includes first and second housing members  810 ,  830 , similar to those previously discussed, pivotally attached at respective ends. In this embodiment, members  810 ,  830  may be configured to pivot about a longitudinal axis of kit  800 . To this end, kit  800  may include a pivot member (not shown) seated in an open side of each member  810 ,  830 . 
   Similarly, referring to the lens cleaning kit  900  of  FIG. 9 , housing members  910 ,  930  may be pivotally connected in a middle area to rotate about a longitudinal axis. 
   The precise shape, materials, features and layout of any of the foregoing cleaning devices is discretionary and can be selected as suitably desired without departing from the scope of the invention. Further, the embodiments of the invention are not limited to the specific configurations described above. 
   Unless contrary to physical possibility, the inventor envisions the components of respective embodiments may be combined in any manner. Although there have been described preferred embodiments of this novel invention, many variations and modifications are possible and the embodiments described herein are not limited by the specific disclosure above, but rather should be limited only by the scope of the appended claims and their legal equivalents.