Abstract:
A flushable mitt is provided for the sanitary pick up and disposal of dog waste. The flushable mitt includes a mitt body having a top layer and a bottom layer forming an interior space and a mitt opening. The bottom, or palm, side of the mitt is longer than the top side of the mitt and is tapered outward at the opening allowing the user to pull the mitt inside out while holding the waste between the fingertips and thumb. This permits the user to accomplish the task of picking up, containing and disposing of the dog waste without coming in contact with the waste at any time.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a flushable mitt and more specifically to a flushable, disposable, biodegradeable mitt for the sanitary pick up, containment and disposal of dog waste. For brevity, the term; flushable, disposable and biodegradeable will hereinafter be referred to as “FDB”.  
           [0002]    Many people walk their dogs and allow the dog to deposit their waste on the ground. Most people make it a habit of picking up any such waste by using a small plastic baggie or some type of toilet tissue and then placing the tissue and waste into a plastic bag. The problem arises when one wants to dispose of the plastic baggie and/or the tissue, plastic bag and waste. Any plastic material does not lend itself to being flushed down the toilet as it may easily cause clogs.  
           [0003]    Many major cities have ordinances prohibiting the disposal of dog waste in city trash bins. There may be bacteria and parasites contained in dog waste which can cause health problems and can be directly linked to the improper disposal of dog waste.  
           [0004]    The shape of the FDB mitt lends itself to the easy pick up, containment and disposal of the dog waste. The finger tip area is tapered to allow the top of the mitt to lie flat on the ground or other surface and make the task of picking up the waste very easy.  
           [0005]    Several inventions have been submitted to aid the pet owner in retrieving and disposing of pet waste. Among these inventions are glove-like devices as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,251 (Jacobs), U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,818 (Kolic), U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,708 (Jacovitz), U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,668 (Carpol) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,1111 (Dooley). Other devices that feature a glove and bag combination for waste collection are U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,565 (Bagg), U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,188 (Olson), U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,670 (Surplus) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,167 (Gilley). Yet another concept is the Child&#39;s Mitt Wipe, U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,336 (Finch) used to clean small children. Disposable gloves used for general cleaning are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,160 (Cano), U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,397 (Shizuno) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,099 (Grinberg) and gloves dispensed from a roll are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,697 (Hayes).  
           [0006]    None of the above inventions and patents incorporate all of the features of my invention which includes being flushable, disposable and biodegradeable making it totally unique.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    In one form of the present invention there is provided a disposable mitt for picking up, containing and disposing of dog waste; including a mitt body having a top layer with perimeter sides, a bottom end, and a top end, and a bottom layer with perimeter sides, a bottom end, and a top end, both of which have a separate section for the fingers and the thumb (such as the design of a mitten). The top layer and the bottom layer form an interior space and an opening at the bottom ends thereof. An access flap member at the bottom end of the bottom layer extends outwardly beyond the bottom end of the top layer. This access flap allows the user to remove the FDB mitt easily by turning it inside out and thereby capturing the waste in the mitt.  
           [0008]    The FDB mitt body further includes a periphery, with a portion of the periphery being bonded to define an interior space and an opening. The bonded portion of the periphery has a tear-strength equal to or greater than the tear-strength of the material.  
         BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0009]    The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of constructing them will become more apparent, and the invention itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, herein:  
           [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 illustrates a top plan view of one embodiment of a disposal mitt;  
           [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along line  2 - 2  and viewed in the direction of the arrows;  
           [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along line  3 - 3  and viewed in the direction of the arrows;  
           [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 illustrates an enlargement of the encircled area in FIG. 1.  
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]    Referring primarily to FIG. 1, there is illustrated one embodiment of the FDB mitt in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The mitt is flushable, disposable and biodegradeable. The term “flushable” means that after the mitt has been used for its intended purpose, it can be flushed down the toilet and/or is capable of decomposing in a septic tank. The term “disposable” means that the mitt is to be used once for its intended purpose and then discarded. The term “biodegradeable” means that after the mitt is discarded it is capable of decomposing by natural biological processes.  
         [0015]    The FDB mitt comprises a mitt body  5  which includes tapered upper portions  6 , a periphery  7 , an interior space  8  (FIG. 2) for accommodating ones hand, and a mitt opening  9  through which one can place his or her hand. Mitt body  5  further comprises a top layer  10  and a bottom layer  11 . The top layer  10  includes perimeter sides  7 , top end  6 , and bottom end  13 . Similarly, bottom layer  11  includes perimeter sides  7 , a top end  6 , and a bottom end  12 . As can be seen in FIG. 1, all perimeter sides  7  of top layer  10  and all perimeter sides  7  of bottom layer  11  have tapering upper portions corresponding to tapered upper portions  6  of mitt body  5 .  
         [0016]    An access flap member  14  is associated with bottom layer  11  and extends outwardly beyond (in a downward direction as viewed in FIG. 1) bottom end  13  of top layer  10 . Access flap member  14  is part of the bottom layer  11  in that access flap member  14  is an extension of bottom layer  11 .  
         [0017]    Continuing to refer to FIG. 1, a peripheral bond line  15  joins top layer  10  and bottom layer  11 . Peripheral bond line  15  does not bond the total periphery  7  of mitt body  5 , but only those edge portions of top layer  10  and bottom layer  11  that must be bonded in order to form interior space  8  and mitt opening  9 . In FIG. 1, peripheral bond line  15  extends along the perimeter sides of top layer  10  and bottom layer  11 .  
         [0018]    Referring to FIG. 1, tapered upper portion  6  of mitt body  5  provides an angle to mitt body  5  that better fits the outline of a person&#39;s hand when the fingers are curled to pick up an object. Proper fitting of the mitt  5  is a significant factor in allowing the person to perform the action of picking up an object. Tapered upper portion  6  is formed such that the angle with the horizontal, i.e., a left-to-right direction as viewed in FIG. 1, is between 15 degrees and 20 degrees. Accordingly, the mitt can be provided in different sizes, both in length and width, in order to accommodate a range of hand sizes. Two mitt sizes are proposed. A regular size for women and children as shown in FIG. 1 and a large size for men. The large size will be between 10% and 20% larger than the regular size.  
         [0019]    The material of which the mitt body  5  is made is important in the waste cleanup and disposal process. The material should be strong enough to resist tearing during normal use, yet still maintain the capability to decompose after use. The desired material is hydroentangled disintegratable fabric consisting of cellulosic fibers.  
         [0020]    In accordance with the present invention, the mitt body will consist of a nonwoven fibrous web, having sufficient strength in an environment maintainable over a relatively long period of shelf life, including subsequent use of the mitt, and which is further capable of disintegrating and decomposing when flushed through a toilet or septic system.  
         [0021]    This environment for the mitt can be selected from various conventionally known formulations that control pH and bacteria growth.  
         [0022]    The pulp component of the present invention can be selected from any class of pulp and blends thereof.  
         [0023]    The web can be formed by any common web manufacturing process. It can be produced by a conventional wet laying and wet creping process, or by wet laying and through air drying, or by air laying the web, or by other techniques utilized in the paper and nonwovens industries such as those used to produce toweling and tissue paper.  
         [0024]    Preferably, the nonwoven fibrous web is produced by a classical, wet-laid papermaking method using any one of various, commonly practiced dispersant techniques to disperse a uniform distribution of rayon and wood pulp fibers onto a foraminous screen of a conventional paper making machine.  
         [0025]    Once good formation is achieved, the web is ready for hydroentanglement. The process for hydroentanglement and suitable apparatus is readily available in the industry. After the fibers have been entangled together, the nonwoven web of the present invention is dried without the addition of a bonding agent.  
         [0026]    The objective of hydroentanglement is to ensure that the web will have sufficient wet strength for use and yet be capable of disintegrating under mild agitation in water. Preferably, the web is minimally entangled with as few manifold passes as possible at relatively low pressure. The hydroentanglement treatment entangles together the fibers forming the web such that only friction and any naturally occurring hydrogen bonding (characteristic of hydroxylic compounds, e.g. water-laid cellulose fibers) provide the necessary wet strength without addition of wet strength additives or bonding agents.  
         [0027]    One advantage of using synthetic fibers in mitt body  5  is that the synthetic fibers permit the material of mitt body  5  to be ultrasonically bonded, as opposed to being adhesively bonded. By ultrasonically bonding materials together, the problem of potential chemical interaction can be eliminated. Other advantages of ultrasonically bonding the material are the material&#39;s shelf life being extended, and the use of higher manufacturing speeds, compared, for example, to the application of hot melt adhesive.  
         [0028]    As viewed in FIG. 4, a preferred ultrasonic bond is a chevron pattern that provides better resistance to tearing than straight-line bonding. The pattern should include a minimum of 8 bonds per linear inch.  
         [0029]    Ultrasonic bonding is a type of fusion bonding in which the adhering or cohering mechanism is provided by the materials involved in the process. For example, with the composite material described above, it is the synthetic fibers that provide the bonding between the layers of material. Other examples of fusion bonding include thermal bonding or heat bonding.  
         [0030]    Another type of bonding suitable for the present invention is mechanical bonding such as for example, hydroentangling, crimping, embossing, and needle punching. These methods are particularly suitable for bonding materials made of all natural fibers.  
         [0031]    These methods of bonding do not require a third agent, such as an adhesive that can negatively affect the material of which mitt body  5  is made, in order to join the layers together.  
         [0032]    With reference to the bonding used in constructing the FDB mitt, it is desired that the tear strength of the bonding, for example, peripheral bond line  15 , be greater than or equal to the tear strength of the material of which mitt body  5  is made.  
         [0033]    It was earlier described that the mitt (FIG. 1) can be manufactured in various sizes. A desired mitt has a length, as measured between bottom end  12  and top end  6 , of about 8.5 inches, and a total width between sides of 7.5 inches. The length of access flap member  14 , measured between bottom ends  12  and  13 , is desired to be about 1 inch. Another dimension of the mitt is the inside width of interior space  8  (FIG. 2) between the parallel portions of peripheral bond line  15 . In FIG. 1, this measurement is between the innermost portions of bond line  15 , as indicated by numeral  16 . This minimum desired width of interior space  8  is about 6.5 inches.  
         [0034]    While this invention has been described as having a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that it is capable of further modifications. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, equivalents, or adaptations of the invention following the general principles of, and including such departures from the present disclosure as come or may come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and fall within the limits of the appended claims.