Abstract:
An integrated, self-contained hand sanitizer station is provided by this invention. The enclosure of the station may be located in a public venue, and conveniently dispenses wet wipe towelettes for people to clean their hands with a trash receptacle contained within the station for ready disposal of the towelettes by the patrons after their use. By making a good hand hygiene available to customers, a merchant or public authority can help to reduce germs, viruses, and bacteria that can otherwise cause the spread of infectious illnesses.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     This invention relates to the sanitation of hands to control the spread of germs in the general public, and more specifically to a station for use in publicly-accessible areas that allows a person to quickly and conveniently obtain a moist hand wipe for cleaning the hands and disposal of the wipe after use.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Cleanliness is a crucial aspect of personal health. While improved sanitation systems, immunization programs, and the development of antibiotic drugs during the 1900&#39;s in the United States and the rest of the developed world have overcome serious infectious diseases like diphtheria and pneumonia that previously killed large numbers of people, the presence of bacteria, viruses, and other germs still cause diseases in people that produce discomfort and lost productivity, and require medical treatment. For example, over 22 million school days and many more work days are lost in the U.S. each year due to people suffering from illness. Each year, approximately 52.2 million cases of the common cold virus, alone, affect Americans.  
         [0003]     The cold virus can be spread between people by hand-to-hand contact, or picked up from surfaces on which the virus exists. The Rota virus germ that causes gastrointestinal illness can be transferred from a dry smooth surface to a clean hand for as long as 20 minutes after the surface has been contaminated. Acute Respiratory Syndrome (“SARS”), hepatitis A, meningitis, and infectious diarrhea are other common prevalent health problems. Meanwhile, food-borne illnesses based upon  E. coli, Salmonella , and other bacteria can be spread to others by microorganisms that can live on surfaces like cafeteria tables and doorknobs for up to two hours. And, of course, influenza and pneumonia have not been completely eradicated by public health systems. These two diseases in combination are the seventh leading causes of death among Americans.  
         [0004]     Unfortunately, many people fail to wash their hands in public places, thereby exposing themselves to the germs that cause these illnesses by rubbing their noses or eyes after touching someone or something contaminated with the bacteria or virus. Moreover, such people can transfer this risk of infection to others since most such bacteria and viruses can be transferred by hand-to-hand contact. In one study, only 58% of female and 48% of male middle and high school students washed their hands after using the restroom, and of the individuals who did wash their hands, only 33% of the females and 8% of the males actually used soap. In another study of 341 children&#39;s daycare centers, infrequent hand washing of the children or providers after nose wiping, diaper changes, and before meals correlated to higher frequencies of illness. Conversely, another study involving Detroit school children in which scheduled hand washing at least four times each day showed a reduction in gastrointestinal illness and related absences by more than 50%.  
         [0005]     Despite the proven health benefits of good hand hygiene, many people simply do not bother to wash their hands or do so incorrectly. The bathrooms in restaurants can suffer from long lines, thereby discouraging people from taking the time to wash their hands before eating. Moreover, many food courts at malls have eliminated their restroom facilities in order to save the need to clean them. In such situations, people have nowhere to go to wash their hands. However, even in cases where people do stop to wash their hands before eating, there may be a failure to wet the hands, followed by thorough lathering of the hands with soap, so that the surfactants contained in the soap can attach themselves to the germs and dirt particles to suspend them within the hot or warm rinse water that is necessary to eliminate the harmful germs and dirt from the hands.  
         [0006]     This need for concerted and thorough hand washing extends beyond mealtimes. Other important occasions during a person&#39;s day in which infectious germs or viruses may be prevalent include after using the restroom, after changing diapers, before and after the preparation of foods, before and after treating wounds or cuts, before and after touching a sick or injured person, after blowing one&#39;s nose, after touching animals or animal waste, after handling garbage, and after handling money.  
         [0007]     Pre-moistened and disposable towelettes impregnated with a cleaning and/or disinfectant solution have become increasingly popular in the marketplace. Often called “wet wipes” or “wipes,” they provide a convenient method of applying disinfectant to a kitchen counter (Clorox&#39;s “Disinfecting Wipes”), cleaning agent to a toilet bowl (S.C. Johnson&#39;s “Scrubbing Bubbles Flushable Toilet Wipes”), cleaner and disinfectant to a baby&#39;s bottom (Pampers Wipes), or cleaner to a floor (Swiffer Wet Cleaning System). These companies emphasize not only the convenience provided by such products (i.e., no need to maintain household stocks of sponges and rags in addition to the branded cleaning agent—the wipe can be simply thrown in the garbage after its use), but also the fact that they kill germs instead of spreading them around. Hand sanitizers have also become popular with people who are very concerned about killing germs that their hands pick up. Such alcohol-based gels come in a bottle that can be carried in a purse or pocket. They include a germicide and evaporate quickly after application to the hands, thereby saving the need for a towel to dry the hands.  
         [0008]     Paper towels are typically available in dispensers located in public bathrooms near the sink. For those people who take the time and trouble to clean their hands with soap and water, the towels can be used to dry their hands with a trash receptacle close by for disposal of the used paper towel. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,688,242 issued to Lawrence et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,415,588 issued to Gui; U.S. Pat. No. 1,994,394 issued to Horwitt; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,681,840 issued to Carlson disclose typical paper towel and waste basket arrangements. U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,909 issued to Stewart improves upon this simple concept by providing a wall-mounted paper towel dispenser and wastebasket whereby the person needs to step on a pedal to advance the next paper towel, which also activates a tamper in the wastebasket that compacts the volume of used towels to reduce the incidence of overflowing wastebaskets. U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,792 issued to Rex shows a windshield washer station for use at a gas station that includes a paper towel dispenser and wastebasket in addition to the receptacle container, the windshield cleaning solution and squeegee.  
         [0009]     Most restrooms rely upon simple soap and water for hand washing with the accompanying need for the proper hand washing technique discussed above. Moreover, most people do not carry hand wipes or hand sanitizer products with them, and therefore have no ready means for cleaning their hands, even if they wanted to do so, unless a restroom is reasonably accessible. Therefore, efforts have been made within the industry to increase the portability or availability of such hygiene products. U.S. Pat. No. 3,072,245 issued to Faltin in 1963, for example, provided an early example of a hand carried litter container with a box on one side for dispensing paper tissues, and a box with a lid on the other side of disposal of the used paper tissues. U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,875 issued to Watts et al. discloses a more recent idea for a portable dispenser for paper wipes with a slot on the backside for disposal of the wipes after use.  
         [0010]     U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,689 issued to Arians addresses concerns over germs that might breed on the door knobs of public bathrooms. Therefore, it discloses an arrangement consisting of a paper towel dispenser located immediately above the door handle and a trash receptacle positioned immediately below the door handle. In this manner, the person who wishes to exit the bathroom can grab a paper towel and use it to grab the door handle to open the door, letting the towel drop in the trash receptacle when he releases the towel as he walks through the open door. Of course, such a towel dispenser does nothing for cleaning the hands or killing the germs on the door handle.  
         [0011]     Similar efforts have been made to provide dispensers for wet wipes that clean the hands. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,103 issued to Silvers illustrates a multiple-compartment bin that would be located on the floor of, for example, a home nursery or day care facility that contains new diapers, baby wipes, and a sealed receptacle for disposing of the used diapers. The wipes are stacked in a sealed compartment to keep them clean and slow down the evaporation of the cleaning solution contained in the wipes. A sanitation kit for placement on a table or counter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,246 issued to Peters consisting of a container for a stack of germicidal towelettes hermetically sealed in envelopes, and a disposal bin attached to the towelette container. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,147 issued to Ashford shows a “Bedside Butler” unit for a hotel or home night table that constitutes a box with two containers—one container with a sealed flap for dispensing antimicrobial wipes, and a second container for disposing of the used wipes. However, none of these dispenser units is portable. Likewise, in none of them is a wet wipe towelette visibly available in order to encourage a person to wash his hands.  
         [0012]     A door sanitation kit similar to Arians is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,383 issued to Lidahl et al. except that a wet towel is dispensed for covering the hand prior to grabbing the handle to open a public bathroom door. U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,897 features a pole stand for use in a public area to which is attached a wet wipe dispenser, an antimicrobial soap dispenser, and spray bottle, and a waste basket. The patent discloses that this apparatus can be used for dispensing free cleaning and sanitizing supplies to the public, and that an advertising display can be added to provide a benefit to the merchant who makes this sanitation station available to its customers. Nevertheless, such an arrangement looks relatively rickety and is subject to falling over or being accidentally tipped over. Moreover, the wet wipe dispenser, hand soap dispenser, spray bottle, and pole provide a number of surfaces that need to be kept clean so as not to detract from the sanitary appearance of such a “sanitizing stand.” In a similar vein, the open waste basket is subject to overflowing and will show any other messy garbage that is dumped in it by a customer.  
         [0013]     Therefore, there is a need for a self-contained, integrated hand sanitizer station that can be located inside restaurants, cafeterias, diaper changing stations, ballparks, casinos, petting zoos, kitchens, restrooms, and any other public or work areas where good hand hygiene is important. The opportunity to grab a wet wipe to clean one&#39;s hands and quickly dispose of the wipe after use is convenient and may even remind the person to clean his or her hands. Good hand hygiene does not take much time or effort when it is convenient, and it offers great benefits in terms of preventing illness and the spread of infectious diseases.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]     An integrated, self-contained hand sanitizer station is provided by the invention. Such invention may take the form of a vertical enclosure that stands on the floor and contains an upper portion and a lower portion. A package unit containing a plurality of wet wipe towelettes is contained in the upper portion of the station, so that the wet wipes may be quickly and conveniently dispensed through an opening in the station wall panel. Preferably, such package of towelettes will be further positioned with the enclosure adjacent to a plunger device for applying force to the stack of wipes to push them towards the outlet opening. The package or enclosure unit may also contain a sealing mechanism adjacent to the dispensing opening for the next available wet wipe to minimize the flow of ambient air into the package or enclosure that might dry out the wet wipe towelettes. A trash receptacle is self-contained within the lower interior portion of the dispenser with an adjacent opening in a wall of the station for disposal of the wet wipe towelette after its use that is out of sight. The wet wipe towelette may be quickly grabbed and used to clean the hands, followed by disposal in the trash receptacle. By making good hand hygiene quick and convenient through the use of the hand sanitizer station, bacteria, viruses, and other germs that are prevalent in public areas may be eliminated from the hands that can otherwise cause illness to the person or be transferred to other persons. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]     In the accompanying drawings:  
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the hand sanitizer station of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view of one embodiment of the wet wipe towelettes used in the hand sanitizer station.  
         [0018]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of another embodiment of the wet wipe towelettes used in the hand sanitizer station.  
         [0019]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of still another embodiment of the wet wipe towelettes used in the hand sanitizer station.  
         [0020]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the top portion of the hand sanitizer station of  FIG. 1 , showing the installation of packages of wet wipe towelettes.  
         [0021]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the top portion of the hand sanitizer station of  FIG. 1 , showing the insertion of packages of wet wipe towelettes into loading trays that are installed into the hand sanitizer station.  
         [0022]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the lower portion of the hand sanitizer station of  FIG. 1 , showing the trash receptacle installed therein.  
         [0023]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the lower portion of the hand sanitizer station of  FIG. 1 , showing another embodiment for mounting a trash receptacle therein.  
         [0024]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view of another embodiment of the hand sanitizer station of the present invention.  
         [0025]      FIG. 10  is a perspective view of the hand sanitizer station of  FIG. 9 , showing the installation of the wet wipe towelettes therein.  
         [0026]      FIG. 11  is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of the hand sanitizer station of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0027]     An integrated, self-contained hand sanitizer station for a public area is provided by the invention containing a wet wipe dispenser and a trash receptacle within an enclosure. The wet wipe towelette may be quickly grabbed and used to clean the hands, followed by disposal in the trash receptacle. By making good hand hygiene quick and convenient through the use of the hand sanitizer station, bacteria, viruses, and other germs that are prevalent in public areas may be eliminated from the hands that can otherwise cause illness to the person or be transferred to other persons.  
         [0028]      FIG. 1  shows one embodiment of the hand sanitizer station  10  of the present invention. It contains a top wall  12 , front upper wall  14 , front lower wall  16 , side upper wall  18 , side lower wall  20 , and corresponding walls on the other side and back. In this manner, the side walls cooperate with the top wall to form upper interior zone  22  and lower interior zone  24 . Located on front upper panel  14  are two outlet openings  26  and  28  for dispensing wet wipe towelettes as will be discussed more fully below. Top wall  12  and front lower wall  16  are hinged by means of hinges  32  and  34 , respectively, so that they can be easily opened to gain access to the upper interior zone  22  and lower interior zone  24 .  
         [0029]     The wet wipe towelettes for use in the hand sanitizer station of the present invention can be any of a number of disinfectant wipe products that are known in the art. They may be made from paper, cloth, or other fiber products, and come in discrete sheets or tear-away panels. Each sheet or panel should be impregnated with a cleaning solution that may constitute a soap, disinfectant, or germicide. Lotions, moisturizers, perfumes, scents, or other agents may be added to the towelette as well for the convenience of the user. The towelette should be robust enough to not disintegrate upon use, but may be designed to biodegrade over time after its use.  
         [0030]     The towelettes  38  will preferably consist of rectangular or square panels that folded in upon themselves in bipartite panels overlapping between individual towels in an “accordion” arrangement, as shown more clearly in  FIG. 2 . In this manner, pulling the leading edge of a towelette  40  to take possession of it will cause the next towelette  42  to be pulled forward to the standby position.  
         [0031]     Instead of individual towelettes, the towelette may also constitute one long ribbon  46  on a roll with a multitude of serrated cuts  48  to form individual panels  50 , as shown more clearly in  FIG. 3 . The towelette roll may be wound into a roll  52 , so that pulling the first panel will not only allow it to be separated from the roll along the serration line, but also pull the next panel into the standby position. In still another embodiment, the towelette ribbon  56  could be internally wound so that the leading edge  58  is on the inside of the roll, instead of the outside, as shown more clearly in  FIG. 4 . Such an arrangement, with internal winding  60  of the ribbon roll, provides more resistance to the towelettes as they are pulled and separated from the roll, and contains the disinfecting solution impregnated within the towelettes more completely in order to reduce evaporation.  
         [0032]      FIG. 5  shows the hand sanitizer station  10  of the present invention with the top panel  12  open. As previously discussed, upper interior zone  22  is formed by front wall  14 , side walls  18  and  19 , back wall  17 , bottom wall  21  and top panel  12 . The wet wipe towelettes  40  are prepackaged in sealed packages  70  and  72  which constitute rectangular prisms in the case of the accordion-fold arrangement of the towelettes of  FIG. 2 . The packages  70  and  72  may be quickly and easily fit into or removed from the upper interior zone  22  for easy refill of the towelettes in the hand sanitizer station. Just as importantly, packages  70  and  72  keep the towelettes clean prior to their dispensing from the hand sanitizer station, and prevent air from coming into contact with the towelettes that would otherwise cause evaporation of the disinfectant solution impregnated within the toilettes. The close proximity of one wet wipe towelette with another wet wipe towelette will further reduce the evaporation of the disinfectant solution. Outlet openings  74  and  76  in one end of the packages  70  and  72  allow the towelettes to be pulled out of the packages. By aligning openings  74  and  76  with outlet openings  26  and  28  in the upper front panel  14 , the towelettes may peek out of the upper zone  22  for convenient dispensing from the hand sanitizer station.  
         [0033]     While packages  70  and  72  for the wet wipe towelettes have been shown as rectangular prisms, they could adopt any other appropriate shape. For example, the package could be cylindrical in shape for the internally wound towelette roll of  FIG. 4 . The package for the towelettes will be made from an appropriate material like plastic, and can be rigid or flexible.  
         [0034]      FIG. 6  shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention in which the same numbers have been used for the same elements in  FIGS. 5 and 6  for the convenience of the reader. Instead of inserting towelette packages  70  and  72  into upper zone  22  of the hand sanitizer station, they are inserted into loading trays  80  and  82 , respectively, which in turn are inserted into the upper zone when the towelettes are to be refilled. Such loading trays  80  and  82  have the same shape and dimensions of packages  70  and  72 . They also contain openings  84  and  86  for insertion of the standby towelette. By aligning holes  84 ,  74  and  26 , for example, when loading tray  80  containing package  70  is inserted into upper interior zone  22 , the towelettes may be easily and conveniently dispensed from the hand sanitizer station  10 .  
         [0035]     Also positioned inside trays  80  and  82  are spring plungers  83  and  85 , respectively, which apply outward force on the other end of packages  70  and  72 , so that the available wet wipe towelettes are pushed toward openings  84  and  86 . This increases the likelihood that the leading edge of the standby towelette will stick through the openings for easy dispensing, and will not get caught inside the hand sanitizer unit and therefore be unavailable to a person who wants to grab a towelette to clean his or her hands.  
         [0036]      FIG. 7  shows the lower portion of the hand sanitizer station  10  of the present invention. As discussed above, front door panel  16 , side walls  20  and  27 , rear wall  25  and top wall  21  cooperate to form lower interior zone  24 . Used wet wipe towelettes are inserted through inlet opening  30  in door panel  16  for convenient disposal. Trash can  90  may be contained within lower zone  24  to collect these used towelettes for subsequent disposal. Door panel  16  is hinged on its one side with respect to wall  27  to enable trash can  90  to be taken in and out of the lower portion of the hand sanitizer station for unloading of the trash can. At the same time, the door, when closed, hides the trash can out of sight to provide a neater and more sanitary appearance of the hand sanitizer station. While the wet wipe towelettes should not contain visible dirt or other mess after they are used to clean hands, a plastic garbage liner may still be used in trash can  90  in case garbage is dumped by a customer into the hand sanitizer station opening  30 . The garbage liner may also make it easier to dispose of the collected used wet wipe towelettes from the trash can  90 .  
         [0037]     An alternative embodiment of the lower portion of the hand sanitizer station of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 8 . A rack  92  slides with respect to side rails  96  and  98  mounted to the interior walls  20  and  27 . A trash can may be mounted in rack  92  or else a garbage bag liner may be secured at its upper end to the rack. In this manner, the can or bag that collects the used wet wipe towelettes may be slid out of the lower interior zone  24  by a sanitation worker for easier disposal of the used towelettes.  
         [0038]     Another embodiment  100  of the hand sanitizer station is illustrated in  FIG. 9 . Lower portion  130  is similar to the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1  except that a top panel  110  contains inlet opening  120  so that used wet wipe towelettes can be dropped into a trash can or garbage liner contained within the lower interior zone  130 . A back wall panel  108  extends above the lower portion. Extending above the lower portion of the hand sanitizer station is an upper portion  132  formed by front wall  104 , back wall  103 , side walls  18  and  102 , bottom wall  106  and top panel  12 . Openings  122  and  124  formed within bottom panel  106  allows wet wipe towelettes to be dispensed through the bottom of the upper portion  132 .  
         [0039]     As shown more clearly in  FIG. 10 , the wet wipe towelettes are prepackaged in sealed packages  130  having a dispensing hole  132 . If the packages are made from flexible material, or in order to facilitate proper alignment of dispensing hole  12  with dispensing holes  122  or  124  in the hand sanitizer station  100 , the towelette package  130  may be inserted into container  134  prior to its placement inside of the upper interior zone  132  of the hand sanitizer station. Opening  136  in the bottom of container  134  allows the standby towelette to stick out of the opening  122  or  124  in bottom panel  106  of the upper portion  132  of the hand sanitizer station for easy dispensing.  
         [0040]      FIG. 11  shows still another embodiment  140  of the hand sanitizer station of the present invention. Like the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , the insertion hole  142  for disposal of the used wet wipe towelette is in the front panel  144  of the lower portion of the station. However, unlike the  FIG. 1  embodiment, the outlet holes  146  and  148  for dispensing of wet wipe towelettes are located in the top panel  150  of the hand sanitizer station. Because the wet wipe towelettes are dispensed from the top, the prepackaged containers for the towelettes may include some extra cleaning disinfectant, or germicidal solution to maintain the moisture within the unused towelettes for a longer period of time.  
         [0041]     The hand sanitizer station of the present invention may be used in any public area where people have a need or desire to wash their hands. Thus, as a customer enters a restaurant, he could grab a wet wipe towelette to wash his hands and easily dispose of the towelette more quickly than going to the restroom to wash his hands at the sink. The hand sanitizer station could alternatively be positioned by the condiment station in the restaurant which is the last place most customers visit just before they sit down to eat their meal. The hand sanitizer station could likewise be positioned in school or corporate cafeterias, food courts, or sports stadiums. Other possibilities include without limitation gymnasiums and exercise facilities, nursing homes, daycare centers, diaper changing stations, schools, banks, casinos, airports, cruise ships, hospitals, pediatrician&#39;s waiting rooms, petting zoos, kennels, vetinary clinics, and other public places where germs may be present. The hand sanitizer station could also be located in restaurant kitchens to encourage kitchen staff to clean their hands more frequently. Likewise, the hand sanitizer station could be placed in restrooms or portable outdoor toilets, because customers are more likely to grab a wet wipe towelette to wash their hands if they can do so quickly without needing to touch a dirty sink, faucet, or towel dispenser.  
         [0042]     The above specifications and drawings provide a complete description of the structure and use of the hand sanitizer station of the present invention. It should be appreciated that many alternative embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, a hand sanitizer gel containing a germicide could be dispensed instead of wet wipes, which could also save the need for a towel to dry the hands. The opening for disposing of the wet wipe towelettes could be covered by a swing panel for further enclosure of the used towelettes contained therein. A sealing strip made from rubber plastic, or other appropriate material could also be secured around the perimeters of the dispensing openings of the hand sanitizer station adjacent to the standby wet wipe towelette in order to reduce inflow of air into the station to reduce evaporation of the cleaning, disinfectant, or germicidal solution contained in the towelettes. Likewise, advertisements or other printed indicia could be displayed on the front or sides of the hand sanitizer station to mention the name of the vendor providing the hand sanitizer station or some other advertising message of the vendor or a paid sponsor. Therefore, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.