Hand Held Personal Cleaning Device

Abstract

A hand-held personal cleaning device is provided for allowing users with limited upper body mobility to clean hard to reach areas after using the restroom. The device comprises a handle having a grip, a working end having a grasping means, and a rigid curved tube secured therebetween. A first button disposed on the inside of the handle grip allows a user to open and close the grasping means located at the working end. The grasping means is used to retain and release a tissue loofah. A second button is located on the underside of the handle and may be used to disburse liquid from a reservoir within the handle onto the tissue loofah. A user may then maneuver the device and use the loofah to wipe his or her hard to reach areas. The loofah may then be disposed of by depressing the trigger button again, releasing the loofah for disposal down a drain or in a waste basket.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 441,334 filed on Feb. 10, 2011, entitled “AWip'r.”BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to a personal hygiene assistance device, and more specifically to a disposable loofah-grabbing device for assisting individuals with limited mobility in cleaning hard to reach areas.[0004]Persons suffering from limited upper body mobility often have trouble completing routine tasks. The elderly, the very obese, those with injuries and body builders may find it difficult to complete tasks that require bending over, reaching upwards or downwards, or stretching. Tasks such as tying shoelaces, taking clothes out of a lower drawer, putting on a belt, or cleaning oneself after using the restroom are problematic for those who do not have a full range of motion in their upper bodies. Many devices have been created to assist those wi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of handheld personal cleaning devices now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new sanitizing liquid disbursement means and disposable loofah wherein the same can be utilized for providing convenience for the user when cleaning themselves in a shower or after using a restroom. The device comprises a body, a retention assembly, an injection assembly, and a disposable loofah. The body has a handle, a curved rigid tube, and a working end. The handle and working end are affixed to opposing ends of the curved rigid tube. A grip is disposed on one side of the handle to allow a user to hold and manipulate the device. Disposed at the opposing end of the curved rigid tube is the working end, which comprises a loofah grasping means and a means to communicate liquid directly into the loofah while in use. The grasping means also provides a splashguard that reduces the chance of undesired liquid spray when sanitizing liquid is disbursed onto a loofah. It comprises a pair of short panels joined at and extending away from the opening of the rigid curved tube

[0015]The retention assembly facilitates user grasping and release of a loofah. The assembly comprises a trigger button operatively attached to a spring means that opens and closes a grasping means extending from the end of the rigid curved tube at the device working end. The trigger button is disposed within the inside cavity of the handle's grip so that a user holding the device may easily retain a new loofah or release a used loofah from the working end without physically touching either. A user depressing the trigger button causes a wire and spring means to compress and pull the grasping means apart. Release of the trigger button results in the grasping means returning to a closed state. In this manner, a loofah may easily be held or released by a user of the device without direct contact thereof.

Problems solved by technology

These devices have familiar design and structural elements for the purposes of cleaning hard to reach areas, however they are not adapted for the tasks of removably retaining a disposable loofah or conveniently disbursing sanitary liquid onto the same.

Rose, however, does not disclose a grasping and releasing means for removably retaining the cleaning material, or a sanitary liquid dispensing means.

Coley does not disclose a trigger means for allowing a user to control retention and release of the cloth material through the handle.

Though the device of Xenos contemplates the use of sanitary liquids on the loofah, it does not describe a disbursement means for those liquids within the device itself.

Bynum does not disclose a means for disbursing liquid to the cleaning material, nor does it disclose a trigger means allowing a user to retain or release said scrubbing material via an elongated handle.

Further, Chen does not disclose means for disbursing liquid onto the loofah.

The devices disclosed by the prior art do not address the need for removable retention of a disposable loofah or distribution of sanitizing liquid onto the same.

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