Patent Publication Number: US-6219846-B1

Title: Bib assembly with attached towelette and twist tie member

Description:
This patent application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/088,692 filed on Jun. 9, 1998. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to bibs and, more particularly, is concerned with a bib assembly with an attached towelette and a twist tie member. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     A bib may be useful in any of a variety of situations where people commonly eat food. One such common situation is where persons are consuming drinks and snacks while driving or riding in a vehicle. Persons in this situation, particularly, face problems of spillage onto their clothes and surfaces of the vehicle. 
     One prior art construction of a bib is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,423,489 to Dunn. The Dunn bib includes a flexible front sheet of absorbent material and a flexible rear sheet of impermeable material attached to the front sheet of absorbent material for preventing liquid absorbed by the front sheet from contacting clothes of the user underneath the bib. The Dunn bib also includes a pair of flexible tie strings affixed at a top of the front and rear sheets for encircling the neck of a user and which are tied together for securing the bib to the user&#39;s neck. The Dunn bib further includes a pocket or cuff formed along a bottom of the bib for catching debris dropped down the front of the bib. 
     Representative examples of other prior art bibs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,941 to Long, U.S. Pat. No. 2,859,446 to Older, U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,288 to Mack, U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,665 to Morgado and U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,609 to Ayo. While these prior art bibs may be satisfactory in use for the specific purposes for which they were designed, none of them seem to provide a completely effective solution for protecting clothes during the consumption of food and beverages. One failure of the prior art is that pockets of prior art bibs may not stay sufficiently open to catch debris dropped on the bib due to the lack of any positive structure to ensure such open condition. Another failure of the prior art is that in some situations, such as in a vehicle, it may be difficult and cumbersome for the user to tie the strings of the bib around his or her neck. 
     Consequently, a need remains for a bib construction which provides a more effective solution to the aforementioned problems of the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a bib assembly with an attached towelette and a twist tie member which are designed to satisfy the aforementioned need. The attached towelette of the bib assembly positively holds a bottom cuff of the assembly open to catch debris dropped on the bib. Opposite end portions of the twist tie member of the bib assembly are easily twistable around one another for securing the bib to the neck of a user. 
     Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a bib assembly which comprises: (a) a first body comprised of a substantially flexible sheet-like material in a substantially unfolded condition; (b) first means for removably securing the first body to a user such that the first body covers a front portion of the user below a mouth of the user for preventing debris dropped from an area adjacent to and including the mouth of the user from contacting the front portion of the user; (c) a second body separate from the first body and including a substantially flexible sheet of material in a substantially folded condition and adapted to be unfolded for use in wiping debris from hands and the area adjacent to and including the mouth of the user; and (d) second means for removably securing the second body to the first body. 
     More particularly, in a preferred embodiment, the first body has an outer sheet for facing away from the front portion of the user and an inner sheet for facing toward the front portion of the user. The outer sheet is comprised of a substantially flexible absorbent material for absorbing liquid. The inner sheet is comprised of a substantially flexible impermeable material and is attached to the outer sheet for preventing liquid absorbed by the outer sheet from contacting the front portion of the user. In an alternative embodiment, the first body is comprised of a substantially flexible impermeable material. In another alternative embodiment, the first body is comprised of a substantially flexible absorbent material. 
     The first securing means includes a twist tie member comprised of a substantially twistable material and having a middle portion and opposite end portions. The middle portion is mounted to an upper edge portion of the first body. The middle portion and the opposite end portions are for encircling a neck of the user and the opposite end portions are twistable around one another for securing the twist tie member around the neck of the user and thereby for securing the first body to the user. 
     The second body further includes a package comprised of a substantially flexible impermeable material and having an interior chamber. The flexible sheet of material of the second body is pre-moistened, folded more than once onto itself, and disposed and sealed within the interior chamber of the package. 
     The second securing means is a lower edge portion of the first body folded onto itself and sealed to itself at opposite ends such that a cuff and/or a central pocket is formed that receives the second body. The second body can be releasably attached to a front side of the cuff to assist in holding the cuff open along and adjacent to the lower edge portion of the first body to catch debris dropped on the first body. 
     These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the following detailed description, reference will be made to the attached drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bib assembly of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the bib assembly taken along line  2 — 2  of FIG. 1 showing a preferred embodiment of a first body of the bib assembly having an outer sheet of a substantially flexible absorbent material and an inner sheet of a substantially flexible impermeable material. 
     FIG. 3 is another vertical sectional view of the bib assembly similar to that of FIG. 2 but showing an alternative embodiment of the first body comprised of a substantially flexible impermeable material. 
     FIG. 4 is still another vertical sectional view of the bib assembly similar to that of FIG. 2 but showing another alternative embodiment of the first body comprised of a substantially flexible absorbent material. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a bib assembly, generally designated  10 , of the present invention. Basically, the bib assembly  10  includes a first body  12 , a first securing means  14 , a second body  16  and a second securing means  18 . The first body  12  is comprised of a substantially flexible sheet-like material in a substantially unfolded condition. The first securing means  14  is connected to the first body  12  and adapted for removably securing the first body  12  to a neck of a user (not shown) such that the first body  12  covers a front portion of the user below the mouth of the user for preventing debris dropped from the user&#39;s mouth from contacting the front portion of the user. The second body  16  is separate from the first body  12  and includes a substantially flexible sheet of material  19  in a substantially folded condition. The sheet of material  19  of the second body  16  is adapted to be unfolded for use in wiping debris from hands and around the mouth of the user. The second securing means  18  is for removably securing the second body  16  to the first body  12 . 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1 to  4 , the first body  12  of the bib assembly  10  has a substantially flat sheet-like rectangular configuration, though need not be so limited. The first body  12  may have one of three constructions or any other suitable construction. In a preferred embodiment, the first body  12  has an outer sheet  20  and an inner sheet  22 , as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Each of the outer and inner sheets  20 ,  22  has a substantially flat and rectangular configuration, though need not be so limited. The outer and inner sheets  20 ,  22  can have substantially the same area and thickness. When the bib assembly  10  is worn on the user, the outer sheet  20  faces away from the front portion of the user whereas the inner sheet  22  faces toward the front portion of the user. The outer sheet  20  is comprised of a substantially flexible absorbent material for absorbing liquid whereas the inner sheet  22  is comprised of a substantially flexible impermeable material attached to the outer sheet  20  for preventing liquid absorbed by the outer sheet  20  from contacting the front portion of the user. The outer and inner sheets  20 ,  22  of the first body  12  may be comprised of material which is disposable or which can be cleaned and reused. As examples, the material of the outer sheet  20  may be a paper towel or the like while the material of the inner sheet  22  may be plastic or the like. The inner sheet  22  is attached to the outer sheet  20  such that the outer sheet  20  and the inner sheet  22  form a single composite sheet or body  12 . 
     In an alternative embodiment, the first body  12  is comprised of a substantially flexible impermeable material, as shown in FIG. 3, where the first body  12  has a substantially similar configuration and construction as the inner sheet  22  of the first body  12  in the preferred embodiment. The first body  12  in this first alternative embodiment does not absorb liquid and only prevents liquid from contacting the front portion of the user. In another alternative embodiment, the first body  12  is comprised of a substantially flexible absorbent material, as shown in FIG. 4, where the first body  12  has a substantially similar construction as the outer sheet  20  of the first body  12  in the preferred embodiment but has a thickness greater than the combined thicknesses of the outer and inner sheets  20 ,  22  of the first body  12  in the preferred embodiment. The first body  12  in this second alternative embodiment only absorbs liquid but is sufficiently thick such that the absorbed liquid usually does not penetrate enough to contact the front portion of the user. 
     More particularly, with respect to all embodiments, the first body  12  has an upper edge portion  12 A, a lower edge portion  12 B and a pair of opposite side edges  12 C. The upper edge portion  12 A of the first body  12  is provided with a central section  24  folded onto and attached or sealed by any suitable means to itself so as to define a passageway  26  extending along the upper edge portion  12 A of the first body  12  and having open opposite ends  26 A. The upper edge portion  12 A of the first body  12  adjacent the open opposite ends  26 A of the passageway  26  has opposite upper corners  28  folded over and attached or sealed to adjacent portions of the first body  12 . The outer and inner sheets  20 ,  22  of the first body  12  are substantially aligned along their respective sides and edges. The first body  12  on one or both of the outer and inner sheets  20 ,  22  may have a decoration, logo or the like formed thereon or attached thereto. 
     The first securing means  14  of the bib assembly  10  preferably takes the form of a twist tie member  30 . The twist tie member  30  is comprised of a substantially twistable material such as a covered wire or the like which is deformable and will retain its deformed shape. The covering of the twist tie member  30  may be paper, plastic or any other suitable material. The twist tie member  30  has a middle portion  30 A mounted to the first body  12  and a pair of opposite end portions  30 B extending from opposite ends of the middle portion  30 A. The opposite end portions  30 B and the middle portion  30 A together are adapted for encircling the user&#39;s neck. The opposite end portions  30 B are twistable around one another for removably securing the twist tie member  30  around the neck of the user and thereby for securing the first body  12  to the user. The middle portion  30 A of the twist tie member  30  is received through and captured within the passageway  26  such that the opposite end portions  30 B of the twist tie member  30  extend from the open opposite ends  26 A of the passageway  26 . The lengths of the opposite end portions  30 B are greater than the length of the middle portion  30 A. The passageway  26  of the first body  12  has a length which is substantially the same as the length of the middle portion  30 A. The first securing means  14  may, alternatively, include an adhesive or clip or any other suitable element or means for securing the first body  12  to the user. 
     The flexible sheet of material  19  of the second body  16  can be a towelette which per se is conventional. The sheet  19  has a substantially flat rectangular configuration, though need not be so limited. The sheet  19  is comprised of any suitable material and may be pre-moistened. The sheet  19  is much smaller in size than the first body  12  when the sheet  19  is folded. However, when unfolded the size of the sheet  19  of the second body  16  can approach that of the first body  12 . The sheet  19  when in the folded condition is folded more than once and, preferably, several times onto itself. 
     The second body  16  of the bib assembly  10  further includes a package  32 . The package  32  is comprised of a substantially flexible impermeable material and defines an interior chamber  32 A. The folded sheet of material  19  of the second body  16  is disposed and sealed within the interior chamber  32 A of the package  32 . The package  32  can be sealed by any suitable means. The sealed package  32  can easily be torn for removal of the folded sheet  19  when desired. 
     The second securing means  18  of the bib assembly  10  includes the lower edge portion  12 B of the first body  12  being folded onto itself and sealed to itself at opposite ends  12 D thereof such that a cuff  34  is formed along the lower edge portion  12 B of the first body  12  having a top opening  34 A facing upwardly therefrom. The second body  16  of the bib assembly  10  is substantially disposed within the cuff  34  through the top opening  34 A thereof. The second body  16  can be releasably attached, such as by a rubber adhesive or the like, to a front side of the cuff  34  such that the second body  16  assists in keeping the cuff  34  open along the extent of the top opening  34 A so as to enable the cuff  34  to catch debris dropped downward on the first body  12 . 
     Alternatively, the lower edge portion  12 B of the first body  12  can be sealed to itself at a pair of spaced apart locations  36  on the cuff  34  spaced inwardly from the opposite ends  12 D such that a pocket  38  is formed within the cuff  34 , as represented by dashed lines  36  in FIG.  1 . The pocket  38  is preferably centrally formed on the cuff  34 ; however, it may be formed at any other suitable location along the lower edge portion  12 B of the first body  12 . The second body  16  is removably disposed within the pocket  38  of the cuff  34  on the first body  12 . The pocket  38  has a length substantially less than the length of the cuff  34  but greater than the length or width of the package  32 . The height of the pocket  38  is the same as the height of the cuff  34 . Alternatively, the pocket  38  could be provided anywhere on the first body  12 . 
     It should be understood that the second sheet can take the form of a layer of material applied to the first sheet, or vice versa, by any suitable conventional method, such as by spraying. 
     It is thought that the present invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely preferred or exemplary embodiment thereof.