Sanitary Container With Endless Cassette Liner System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sanitary disposal containers for women's products pose challenges in handling and contamination, require frequent replacement, and have inefficient servicing processes, leading to potential health hazards and increased maintenance efforts.
Innovation Solution
A sanitary container design featuring a hollow housing with a movable lid, an endless cassette for shirred plastics tubing, and a sealer unit that allows for automatic or manual operation, enabling easy access, containment, and removal of waste without direct handling, along with a method for replacing and sealing the tubing to minimize contact with soiled surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the container is accessed by opening a flap or lid to allow waste placement, then waste can be disposed of, but handling the container contaminates it and accumulates waste material around the access area
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the waste containment function from the main container body by introducing a separate removable liner or bag system. The waste is contained within this removable liner rather than directly in the container, allowing the container itself to remain clean and uncontaminated during waste disposal operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary liner or bag between the user's hands and the container interior. This intermediary layer prevents direct contact and contamination of the container surfaces during waste placement, as the liner can be handled and disposed of separately.
2Ease of operation
If the entire container is taken away and replaced for servicing, then waste removal is simple, but frequent trips or trolleys are required and mounting structures wear and may break
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the container system into a permanent container body and a removable waste-containing liner. Only the liner needs to be removed and replaced during servicing, while the container body remains installed. This eliminates the need to remove and replace the entire container, reducing servicing time and preventing wear on mounting structures.
3Ease of operation
If the lid is opened to place waste, then waste can be inserted, but sight into the unit and its waste content is not minimized
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a nested structure where a removable liner is placed inside the container. The liner can be inserted and removed through a relatively small opening, allowing waste disposal while minimizing the visual exposure of the container's interior and waste content. The liner acts as an inner container that can be serviced without fully exposing the outer container structure.
4Ease of operation
If handling is required to open the lid, then waste can be placed in the container, but soiled surfaces are shown and potential health hazards increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the soiled surfaces from the main container by using a separate removable liner. The liner becomes the only surface that contacts waste, allowing users to handle only the liner edges or handles rather than the container itself. This minimizes exposure to soiled surfaces and reduces health hazards.
Solution Approach 2:
The removable liner serves as an intermediary between the user and the container interior. Users interact with the liner rather than the container walls or lid interior, preventing contamination of the container surfaces and reducing health risks from contact with soiled areas.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention is for a sanitary container to receive and at least temporarily store waste. The container has a hollow housing with an upper aperture, and a portion of the housing can open and reveal the hollow interior. There is an upper part, located substantially above the housing to act as a lid, and this can move to open and close the upper aperture. There is an endless cassette non-rotationally mounted at or near the upper aperture, which holds a length of shirred plastics tubing which exits the cassette at or near its top and which can flow down through a central aperture of the endless cassette toward a bottom of the housing to form a containment. The containment can then receive waste from the upper aperture when open by the lid. The containment can be accessed by the portion when open, and the containment can be drawn downwardly to form a new containment replenished from the cassette and sealed closed by the sealer unit, and allows removal of the containment.