Nail clippings catcher

Abstract

Nail clippings catchers are described and disclosed. A given nail clippings catcher may comprise a container with a digit-hole and a clipper-hole. The digit-hole is sized to removably receive a portion of a digit and the clipper-hole is sized to removably receive a cutting end of a nail clipper. The clipper-hole outlines a shape that comprises a pair of opposing major tabs, followed by a pair of opposing pockets, followed by a pair of opposing minor tabs, and then followed by another pair of opposing pockets. The pair of opposing minor tabs protrude into a gap between two squeeze ends of the nail clipper when the cutting end is removably inserted into the clipper-hole. The pair of opposing minor tabs act as a barrier to minimize at least some of cut nail clippings from escaping the container.

Description

PRIORITY NOTICE[0001]The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62 / 157,013 filed on May 5, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates in general to devices, apparatuses and, containers to capture clippings of cut nails and more specifically to nail clippings catchers.COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK NOTICE[0003]A portion of the disclosure of this patent application may contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.[0004]Certain marks referenced herein may be common law or registered trademarks of third parties affiliated or unaffiliated with the applicant or the assignee. U...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016]To minimize the limitations in the prior art, and to minimize other limitations that will be apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention describes various nail clippings catchers. For example, and without limiting the scope of the present invention, a given nail clippings catcher may comprise a container with two substantially opposing holes, a digit-hole and a clipper-hole. The digit-hole may be sized to removably receive a distal portion of a digit (e.g., either a finger with fingernail or a toe with toenail) and the clipper-hole may be sized to removably receive a cutting end of a nail clipper. The clipper-hole may be formed in a clipper-disk. The clipper-disk may be an annular disk. The clipper-disk may be part of the container. The clipper-hole may outline a shape that comprises a pair of opposing major tabs, followed by a pair of opposing pockets, followed by a pair of opposing minor tabs, and then followed by another pair of opposing pockets. The pair of opposing minor tabs may protrude into a gap between two squeeze ends of the nail clipper when the cutting end is removably inserted into the clipper-hole. The pair of opposing minor tabs may act as a barrier to minimize at least some of cut nail clippings from escaping the container.

Problems solved by technology

Unless some accessory device is used, typically when nails (e.g., fingernails and / or toenails) are clipped (e.g., cut or trimmed) by use of a nail clipper, the nail clippings launch and / or fall in a chaotic and generally unpredictable manner, that may result in unfound nail clippings remaining in an environment, and even after cleanup efforts.

Such nail clipping efforts also generate the added and extra step of having to search and clean up the cutting environment.

Such nail clipping efforts are also unsanitary, as nail clippings may often harbor undesirable bacteria and fungal organisms.

Such nail clipping efforts may also be dangerous, in that some nail clippings may be sharp and may pose a puncture risk to unprotected skin regions that accidently stumble upon loose nail clippings.

And due at least in part to the foregoing, many people find loose nail clippings unpleasant and would rather not have to encounter such loose nail clippings.

However, a problem with such art is that cut nail clippings do not always necessarily fall or launch towards such a reservoir region in the modified handle, i.e., such art may not capture nail clippings that fall or launch in other directions.

Additionally, cleaning, sanitizing, and / or sterilizing such devices may be difficult to impossible, due to materials of construction, excessively complex surface geometry, and / or hard to reach regions.

The two opposing openings to the enclosure's interior do not teach any unique structures / geometry that helps to removably mate / seal with the inserted article (e.g., a digit or a nail clipper) being inserted into the given hole, and this provides regions where cut nail clippings may escape the device.

This VELCRO within the enclosure poses two problems.

First, this creates a region that is likely to retain cut nail clippings, including nail dust, and thus poses a contamination risk.

Second, minimizing movement of the nail clipper within the enclosure is added undesirable complexity to the device and is unnecessary if the overall device enclosure and its openings are sized properly.

Additionally, there are no explicit teachings for any structures, geometries, or features that would facilitate cleaning, sanitation, and / or sterilization of the device.

Whether this flexible grommet structure is used to seal around an inserted digit or an inserted nail clipper, this flexible grommet is problematic as it provides excessive “nooks and crannies” (i.e., surface geometry in close proximity to other surface geometry that may be close enough to trap nail dust and cut nail clippings) that may be readily contaminated and colonized by bacteria and fungi common to nails.

This arrangement is undesirable as it adds unnecessary complexity because now, instead of inserting the nail clipper into one opening, the nail clipper must be inserted into two openings.

Some embodiments of Morelli are also undesirably bulky or cumbersome.

Some embodiments of Morelli accept more than one digit into the enclosure at a given time, which may unnecessarily expose too much skin to bacterial and / or fungal contamination.

Additionally, there is no explicit teachings for any structures, geometries, or features that would facilitate cleaning, sanitation, and / or sterilization of the enclosure devices.

Addition of this elongated rigid rod 56 is undesirable and its inclusion is unnecessary and simply adds complexity to the overall device.

Additionally, inclusion of this rod also makes cleaning, sanitizing, and / or sterilizing interior surfaces of the sphere more difficult and challenging.

Additionally, the two opposing openings to the sphere's interior do not teach any unique structures / geometry that help to removably mate with the inserted article (e.g., a digit or a nail clipper) being inserted into the given hole and this provides regions where cut nail clippings may escape the device.

This device suffers from several problems.

First, the device is designed to accept the entire hand into the bag, which then exposes the entire hand to contamination.

Second, the device is too flexible, i.e., excessively flexible with no supporting structure, and this makes using the device more difficult than it should be as extra steps are needed to arrive at correct positioning to cut nails and to see what one is doing.

However, these devices suffer from being too cumbersome and too bulky.

Additionally, there are cleaning, sanitizing, and / or sterilization problems.

Separating the nail clippers from such devices may entail extra steps and extra effort and may be difficult, which may be important as nail clippers are often constructed from different materials (e.g., metals) than the catching device, which may create problems for cleaning, sanitizing, and / or sterilization as different types of materials may utilize different methods of cleaning, sanitizing, and / or sterilization.

For example, microwaving the metallic nail clippers would be problematic, which necessitates removal of such nail clippers from the catching device when microwave sterilization may be employed.

This product also suffers from a number of problems.

First, the product only has one top located window, located in an otherwise top opaque surface and all other major surrounding surfaces of the container are also opaque, which results in a working space of inside the container being relatively dark, which has resulted in the product including a LED light source, which adds complexity, weight, and cost to the overall product.

Such presence of electronics complicates cleaning, sanitizing, and / or sterilizing options.

Additionally, end caps of the container, which house the digit opening and a nail clipper opening may be removed, and upon removal, this reveals complicated geometry, such as tabs with holes and a rail system to accept the top surface, wherein the tabs with holes and the rails provided complicated geometry for allowing nail clippings and nail dust to get stuck and / or accumulate and thus provide additional surfaces areas, that are difficult to clean, for buildup of undesirable microbial contamination.

Additionally, because of the closeness of such closely spaced membranes, cleaning, sanitizing, and / or sterilizing this region is unnecessarily difficult.

None of the above noted prior art teaches a nail clippings catcher device that comprises a clipper hole with a unique geometry that is both easy to use and still mitigates against escape of cut nail clippings from the given nail clippings catcher device.

Additionally, none of the above noted prior art were designed specifically to ease cleaning, sanitation, and / or sterilization of the given nail clippings catcher device.

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