Integrated tote and pillow apparatus and method

Abstract

A method comprising providing a hot surface, a piled fabric, and the template. The piled fabric may be placed between the template and the hot plate. A force may be applied to create pressure on the piled fabric between the hot plate and the template. Heat may be transferred from the hot surface into the template to put a permanent set in the pile of the fabric. The underside of the template may be insulated to resist sinking of heat received by the template in a direction away from the hot plate.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 973,825, filed on Sep. 20, 2007.BACKGROUND[0002]1. The Field of the Invention[0003]This invention relates to tote bags and, more particularly, to novel systems and methods for increasing convenience and functionality thereof.[0004]2. The Background Art[0005]Toddlers and infants often are particularly fond of an become attached to particular toys, blankets, and other articles of comfort. Likewise, when parents gather up children at a daycare institution, or gather them up at home to go shopping or to go elsewhere in a vehicle, remembering and collecting all the articles associated with the child is problematic. For example, often a child will misplace a favorite toy such as a teddy bear or small blanket or other particularly favorite item. Likewise, many of these items may not fit or locate conveniently within a diaper bag, purse, or other handbag carried by the...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]In order to provide both stowage and a practical utility of a pillow, a tote in accordance with the invention may have a pocket configured to receive a coat, jacket, hoodie, sweater, pajamas, blanket, or the like. A suitably soft cover material, outside of a pocket shaped and sized to receive an article of clothing, blanket, or the like, may together combine to make a pillow out of the tote. Accordingly, accoutrements of a child my be easily stowed, and served double duty as padding for a pillow.

[0019]A conventional hot iron such as is used for pressing clothing may be placed against a back side of the fabric, sandwiching the fabric in a compressed mode between the bottom, hot surface of the iron, and the flat, imaged, face of the embossing template. By applying pressure to the iron, only those portions of the fabric captured between the face of the iron and the face of the embossing emblem are tightly compressed. Elsewhere, the fabric is free to expand, maintaining a high volume of air, and thus a very low thermal conductivity.

[0020]Due to the increased thermal conductivity, and due to the heat of the iron the synthetic fabric of the article to be embossed may be melted or otherwise permanently compressed and consolidated to eliminate or reduce any pile or other light, thick, free nap of fibers or threads. Thus, the heat set of the material captured between the iron and the embossing emblem will make a positive image corresponding to the negative image of the embossing template.

[0021]In certain embodiments, the embossing template may be formed of a metal image formed as ridges with flat top faces for capturing fabric under an iron. In certain embodiments, insulating material, having a very poor thermal conductivity, may form a base for the emblem. In this way, heat from the iron that is transferred through the fabric and into the template is not transferred beyond the initial thickness of the emblem. Thus, the emblem will heat up faster, maintaining the desired temperature between the iron and the template in the fabric to be embossed.

Problems solved by technology

Likewise, when parents gather up children at a daycare institution, or gather them up at home to go shopping or to go elsewhere in a vehicle, remembering and collecting all the articles associated with the child is problematic.

Likewise, many of these items may not fit or locate conveniently within a diaper bag, purse, or other handbag carried by the responsible adult.

These articles of clothing may often be forgotten as weather changes.

Meanwhile, items such as blankets and pillows may be bulky, but may be an important part of a child's resting routine, and may provide some associated comfort by their mere presence.

Gathering, collecting, storing, carrying, remembering, and otherwise servicing the variety of articles associated with the child may result in frequently misplaced or forgotten articles.

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