Patent Publication Number: US-8536104-B1

Title: Hand soap bar with tether

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to personal hygiene products, and particularly to a hand soap bar with tether for handling and controlling a wet bar of hand soap. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Controlling a wet bar of hand soap is relatively difficult, even for persons having high degrees of dexterity. For children, elderly people, handicapped, people, etc., the task of preventing the slippery soap bar from falling to the floor of the shower or floating out of reach in the bath water is much more difficult. Bending or stooping to retrieve a dropped soap bar has been the cause of many falls that have produced some serious injuries, and even some fatalities. Many devices have been proposed to aid users in maintaining control of a slippery soap bar. Unfortunately, these devices have proven to be cumbersome and less than satisfactory in use. The art would certainly welcome a device that would facilitate handling a slippery soap bar to prevent a user, especially children and the infirm, from accidentally dropping the soap bar. Thus, a hand soap bar with tether solving the aforementioned problems is desired. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The hand soap bar with tether is drawn to a bar of hand soap having a built-in tether. The tether includes an elastic band that can be attached to a user&#39;s wrist. An anchor member is encased in the soap bar. One end of the tether is attached to the anchor member. An elastic loop defines the other end of the tether. 
     Accordingly, the invention presents a device that allows a user to handle and maintain control of a soap bar while bathing or showering. The device is designed for quick and easy attachment to the user&#39;s wrist. The invention provides for improved elements thereof in an arrangement for the purposes described that are inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing their intended purposes. 
     These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an environmental, perspective view of a hand soap bar with tether according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a hand soap bar with tether according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded, perspective view of a hand soap bar with tether according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1-3 , the hand soap bar with tether secures a soap bar S to the wrist W of a user. The tether comprises an anchor  12 , an elongate cord  14  and a loop  16 . One end  14   a  of the cord  14  is firmly attached to the anchor  12 . The other end  14   b  of the cord  14  is firmly attached to a loop member  16 . Any suitable means of attachment may be made to attach the anchor  12  and the loop  16  to the cord  14 . Although preferably fabricated from a plastic material, it should be noted that the anchor  12  may be fabricated from any suitable material (wood, metal, rubber, etc.). The cord  14  is fabricated from flexible material, such as nylon, rayon, cotton, or the like. The loop  16  is fabricated from a suitable elastic material so that it may expand to easily slip over the hand and contract to loosely fit around the wrist. 
     The tether device is incorporated into the soap bar S during the soap bar manufacturing process. The anchor  12  and the cord end  14   a  attached thereto is encapsulated in the soap bar S. The cord  14  extends exteriorly of the soap bar S and the elastic loop  16  is attached thereto. This construction permits a user to securely attach the soap bar S to his/her wrist W and prevents the bar from falling or floating away. 
     It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.