Patent Publication Number: US-2003236045-A1

Title: Crimped bath scrubber

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] The present invention is related to a bath scrubber, and more particularly to a crimped bath scrubber the surface of which is waved and formed with multiple crimps. The bath scrubber has a solider shape and is able to contain more water and bubble therein.  
       [0002] Conventional bath scrubbers can be substantially divided into three types, that is, hairbrush type, woven article and integrally formed mesh article. The hairbrush type bath scrubber has hairs for contacting with human skin. A user often feels uncomfortable when using such bath scrubber. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,980,943 and 6,109,070 disclose bath scrubbers made of woven articles. Such bath scrubber is made of yarns by weaving. The surface of such bath scrubber is spongy to achieve comfortable feeling when contacting with human skin. Moreover, such bath scrubber can contain more water and bath cream bubble. The yarns of such bath scrubber are quite soft. After a period of use, the loops of the bath scrubber will be unable to keep erect. Under such circumstance, the scrubber will lose its softness and water-containing function. Also, the loops are too soft to effectively clean the skin.  
       [0003] U.S. Pat. No. 5,916,408 discloses a bath scrubber made of unwoven mesh tube. The mesh tube is heated and passed through two rollers and pressed into a waved configuration. Such bath scrubber is made of plastic material and has a proper softness. The pressed shape of the plastic-made bath scrubber can be maintained. However, the bent sections formed by means of the pressing rollers have angles greater than 120 degrees. Therefore, the mesh tube can be hardly in a spongy state. Moreover, the waved sections are regularly arranged. As a result, even multiple layers are overlapped, the bath scrubber can be hardly sufficiently spongy for containing enough water and bubble therein.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004] It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a crimped bath scrubber having suitable softness and able to contain sufficient water and bubble therein.  
       [0005] It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above crimped bath scrubber having irregular waved sections spaced from each other by predetermined distance.  
       [0006] It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above crimped bath scrubber in which the contained angle of the corner of each waved section is less than 90 degrees, whereby the bath scrubber is more spongy and elastic.  
       [0007] According to the above objects, the crimped bath scrubber of the present invention includes at least one blank material extending in a predetermined direction. The blank material is made of multiple first yarns and second yarns by a non-weaving measure. The blank material includes a substrate layer formed of the first yarns and a top layer overlaid on the substrate layer and formed of the second yarns. Corresponding portions of the first and second yarns are connected. The extending direction of the second yarns and the extending direction of the first yarns and the extending direction of the blank material respectively contain predetermined angles. The blank material is formed with multiple upward or downward bent crimped sections. The contained angle of each bent crimped section is less than 90 degrees, whereby the blank material is formed with multiple triangular solid spaces and the blank material is more spongy so as to contain more water and bubble therein. The angles of the crimped sections provide better cleaning effect.  
       [0008] The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein: 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0009]FIG. 1 is a side view of the mesh tube of a conventional bath scrubber;  
     [0010]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0011]FIG. 3 is a side view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0012]FIG. 4 is a side view showing that the preferred embodiment of the present invention is patterned;  
     [0013]FIG. 5 is a side view of another embodiment of the present invention; and  
     [0014]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0015] Please refer to FIGS. 2 and 3. The crimped bath scrubber of the present invention is made of a blank material  10  composed of multiple first yarns  12  and second yarns  13 . The length of the blank material  10  can be freely extended.  
     [0016] The first yarns  12  are arranged at intervals. The direction of the first yarns  12  and the lengthwise direction of the blank material  10  contain a certain angle. The first yarns  12  form a substrate layer  20  with a certain thickness.  
     [0017] The second yarns  13  are arranged at intervals. The direction of the second yarns  13  and the lengthwise direction of the blank material  10  and the extending direction of the first yarns  12  respectively contain certain angles. The second yarns  13  form a top layer  30  with a certain thickness. The top layer  30  is overlaid on the substrate layer  20 . The upper and lower corresponding portions of the first and second yarns  12 ,  13  are connected with each other, whereby the first and second yarns  12 ,  13  form the blank material  10  by a non-weaving measure.  
     [0018] Referring to FIG. 4, before manufacturing the bath scrubber with the blank material  10 , the blank material  10  is first intermittently passed through a patterning mold  40  from upper side to lower side. The patterning mold  40  includes a set of upper clamp  42  and a set of lower clamp  44 . When the lower clamp  44  clamps a lower portion of the blank material  10  and is fixed, the upper clamp  42  will clamp an upper portion of the blank material  10  and move downward by a short distance. At this time, a section of the blank material  10  between the upper and lower clamps  42 ,  44  is compressed. The upper and lower clamps  42 ,  44  are heated to a certain extent, whereby the section of the blank material  10  between the upper and lower clamps  42 ,  44  is thermally patterned in a compressed and bent state. Then the upper and lower clamps  42 ,  44  release the blank material  10  to achieve a crimped and waved blank material  10 . The downward moving direction of the upper clamp  42  is parallel to the lengthwise direction of the blank material  10 . Alternatively, the downward moving direction of the upper clamp  42  and the lengthwise direction of the blank material  10  can contain a certain angle which is preferably not greater than 45 degrees. Accordingly, the blank material  10  will have a waved appearance and the crimped section is deflected to achieve solider configuration.  
     [0019] When the blank material  10  is compressed, a part of the width thereof will be leftward bent, while another part will be rightward bent. Therefore, after patterned, the crimped sections of the blank material  10  will have an irregular shape with different bending direction and width. Moreover, the blank material  10  is compressed within a quite narrow space so that the contained angle of the corner of the bent section is quite small and less than 90 degrees. Furthermore, when the upper and lower clamps  42 ,  44  intermittently operate, the adjacent crimped sections are spaced from each other by a certain distance.  
     [0020] With the crimped sections having bending angles less than 90 degrees, the blank material  10  has multiple triangular conic solid spaces. Therefore, the blank material  10  is a spongy body with increased thickness and reduced density so as to contain more water and bubble therein.  
     [0021] The irregular crimped sections with acute angles rough the surface of the blank material  10  to enhance the cleaning effect. After at least two layers of blank material  10  are overlapped with each other (as shown in FIG. 5), the blank material  10  can still keep quite spongy without losing the elasticity and softness.  
     [0022] The blank material  10  can be previously made into a strip shape or cylindrical shape and then overlapped or compressed. Then the blank material  10  is bound or stitched into a sheet, a sphere or a glove (as shown in FIG. 6) as a cleaning means. Alternatively, the blank material can be fixed at an end of a handle for a user to clean his/her back. The blank material  10  is more spongy so that the cleaning means can be made of much less material. After expanded, the volume of the product is still considerably large.  
     [0023] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.