Caddy for wipes and care items

Abstract

In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, a portable caddy for care items is disclosed. The caddy has a container lined with a removable flexible liner. The flexible liner contains a compartment that is sufficiently sturdy to hold and center for balance a wet wipes box in place, allowing a caregiver to open it easily. The liner also can have other compartments of various sizes and can have a plurality of pockets along the sides of the liner to keep organized a variety of care items. The liner can be removed from the container and either washed or wiped clean.

Description

CLAIM OF PRIORITY[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 794,434 by Melissa Bramlage, entitled Caddy for Wipes and Care Items, filed Apr. 24, 2006.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to a caddy for organizing and carrying care items.BACKGROUND[0003]Parents and caregivers of babies constantly look after the needs of babies, including changing their diapers frequently, maintaining their good hygiene, and tending to their comfort. A baby's nursery or other designated room in the house often will be the room best stocked with the products chosen by the parents or caregiver to look after the baby's needs. However, diapering or other care often takes place in rooms of the home other than the baby nursery. As a consequence, parents and caregivers can become inconvenienced and frustrated in providing the necessary care to the baby when diaper changing supplies and other items, such as lotion, toys, pacifiers, swabs, towle...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The caddy comprises a portable container with an interior that is lined with a flexible liner that is washable or cleanable, and can be removable in at least one embodiment. The simple design and use of a flexible liner resting in a container (in certain embodiments of the invention, a wooden, tight-weave basket) can be made to be aesthetically more appealing to the targeted consumer than are existing caddies that merely are boxes with slots and rigid compartments. Its appearance also can be made to blend in with home decor, to avoid adding to clutter associated with the additional paraphernalia of infant care.

[0012]The liner can be adapted to contain a wet wipes box, or other cleansing product, in at least one compartment. The wet wipes compartment in the liner is sufficiently flexible so that it can, if necessary, accommodate most major commercial brands of wet wipes boxes or other cleansing products. The wet wipes box container in the liner further causes the wet wipes box to remain stationary when a caregiver needs access to the contents as during a diaper change. Holding the wet wipes box stationary allows a caregiver to continue, for example, to manage the baby while reaching for supplies. The wet wipes compartment in the liner can be re-stocked as needed. Other compartments may be sized spaciously or adapted specifically to contain a variety of diaper changing products and supplies used, for example, when diapering a baby.

[0013]In an embodiment of the present invention, the wet wipes box / cleansing product compartment is centered in the liner so that it also is centered in the container. Centering one of the bulkiest items enables a user to arrange other items (or no other items) in the container so that the container is balanced and is less vulnerable to tipping over and spilling the contents, causing damage, breakage, waste, and / or resulting in the need for otherwise unnecessary cleanup.

[0014]Any number of pockets that the liner can accommodate can be used for storing toiletries and hygienic supplies, as well as smaller items. The smaller items in the pockets may be easier for the caregiver to locate in pockets that are made shallower than other pockets and the various compartments.

Problems solved by technology

As a consequence, parents and caregivers can become inconvenienced and frustrated in providing the necessary care to the baby when diaper changing supplies and other items, such as lotion, toys, pacifiers, swabs, towlettes / wipes, powder, diapers, etc. are not within easy reach when needed—for example, during diaper changes or when the baby is fussy.

It is often inconvenient and indeed undesirable either to leave a baby alone or to fetch items, or to carry a messy and uncomfortable baby from room to room to retrieve items.

Other care also can be inconvenient for the caregiver when the necessary supplies are located in different rooms.

However, when called upon to render care, the caregiver may not be located in that particular room, but elsewhere in the home, or outside.

Again, it is often undesirable to have only the options of either leaving unattended the person requiring care, or bringing the person along, to search for and fetch any necessary items.

One way of resolving the need to have diaper changing and other care items nearby is to have them in a container; however, current containers for care items present problems that need to be resolved.

For instance, some containers have lids on them, over all of the items, which may be awkward and require the caregiver's full attention, and / or two hands, to open while also trying to manage an infant, or calm or soothe a patient.

Other containers lack organization, so that items are tossed into the container, left disorderly and difficult to locate quickly.

In particular, a disorderly container means that the wet wipes box, or other box of cleaning materials—a key element of diaper changes—may be hard to locate in the container.

Moreover, the wet wipes box is loose, and has nothing to brace or hold it so that the caregiver can open it easily, without dropping everything to focus on the wet wipes box.

Other containers are arranged so that they do not offer a balanced layout.

Such containers may lack, for example, a central storage space, which allows for placement of the heaviest or most awkward item.

As a result, the loaded container is imbalanced, and may tip over, spilling the contents of the container.

The imbalanced container also may be awkward to handle and, for example, may be more prone to being dropped.

Dropping not only is inconvenient, since it requires retrieving items and replacing them in the container; dropping may also result in damage or breakage to certain items.

Other items may become dirty and necessitate doing an extra load of laundry, doing otherwise unnecessary cleaning or sterilization, or discarding and wasting certain items.

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