Patent Publication Number: US-6341910-B1

Title: Retractable-tether lotion application cap

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     This invention relates to lotion application systems, specifically those systems that assist a person to apply lotion to difficult to reach places on the body. 
     The prior art retractable tether lotion application systems use internal cylinders and/or a spring reel systems. These reels must be built into the lotion&#39;s reservoir or bottle. This makes the cost of manufacturing the unit prohibitive and unnecessarily complex. Examples of these reel-type tether lotion application systems are typified by Almond&#39;s patent U.S. Pat. No. 1,990,000,493,781, Ulrich&#39;s patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,652, and Whitear&#39;s U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,744. 
     This present invention uses an elastic tether guided through a post extending from the bottom of the cap unit. This self-contained cap assembly can be adapted to any number of existing bottle sizes and shapes and does not require special manufacturing of the lotion bottle. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     This invention is a novel lotion application cap that allows a person to apply lotion to difficult-to-reach places on one&#39;s body, such as one&#39;s back. When the lotion application system cap is fixed onto a bottle containing lotion, a tether can be pulled through the cap bringing with it a portion of lotion that is carried by the tether as it passes through the lotion within the bottle. A person can draw the tether over his/her body, thus transferring the lotion from the tether to the skin. After use the tether is biased to retract into the lotion bottle. 
     This present invention obviates the problems of prior art application systems which fail to provide a system that is self-contained in a cap assembly, making it applicable to any existing container. Furthermore the present lotion application system has fewer parts and is more effective than the prior art. 
     Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and accompanying drawing. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In a preferred embodiment of this present invention, a lotion application system cap, is comprised of a cap assembly having a post  20  that extends downwardly therefrom. The post  20  has guides through which the tether  30  passes. There is an opening in the cap assembly  10  through which the tether can pass. The tether  30  is substantially string-like and elastic. The post  20  adds a span of length to tension the tether  30  and is arranged so that the tether  30  is slightly energized when not in use, thus biasing the tether  30  to retract into the lotion bottle. 
     One end of the tether  30  is fixed to the cap assembly  10  and may pass through one or more openings or guides on the post  20 , the other end of the tether  30  passes through an opening in the cap assembly  10 . The tether  30  can be threaded through the openings or guides on the post  20  multiple times to increase the overall length of the tether, thus providing adequate length for the tether  30  for use when it is extracted from the opening in the of the cap assembly  10 . If a substantially tall bottle is used, there would be no need for the openings or guides on the post  20  and the tether  30  could be simply secured to the post  20 . 
     A finger loop  40  may be attached to the end of the tether  30  after it is passed through the opening in the cap assembly  10 . The finger loop  40  provides a handle means and a sealing means, as well as preventing the tether  30  from being pulled back through the opening in the cap assembly  10 . 
     Advantageously the tether  30  is elastic and has a soft semi-absorbent outer surface. The elastic tether is pre-tensioned to bias the tether  30  to remain in the bottle or container to which the cap assembly  10  has been fastened. 
     The base of the finger loop  40  and the opening in the cap assembly  10  are to be constructed of appropriate tolerances by one skilled in the art, so that when they are brought together they provide a sealing means to effectively close the opening in the cap assembly  10 . There may be one or more additional openings in the cap assembly  10  to provide alternate methods of dispensing lotion without extracting the tether  30 , especially when applying lotion to the easier to reach places on the body.