The present invention relates to a clip.

Nowadays, if two or more persons, children, youths and adults, stay in a hotel, motel, bed & breakfast, holiday resort or other tourist/hospitality facility, and use the same bathroom/toilets, they encounter a difficulty: how to keep their own set of towels and/or bathrobes and/or facecloths separate from those belonging to others.

Such separation is highly advisable and therefore necessary, in order to prevent an exchange of bathroom linen, even if inadvertent.

Keeping bathroom linen separate prevents the possible spread of infectious diseases and skin diseases, and therefore the transmission of any virus.

The topic of personal hygiene has in fact taken on dramatic importance in the current worldwide pandemic.

Today such separation can be obtained for example by giving every person a determined set of products that all have a specific color: this however is at odds with the need to have an extremely large number of separate sets, which would be very expensive and may require separate washes in order to maintain the original colors, as well as going against the wishes of the guests.

The prospect of personalizing each set for example with the initials of every single person is not economically feasible.

The principal aim of the present application is therefore to resolve the above mentioned technical problems, eliminating the drawbacks in the cited known art and hence providing an invention that makes it possible for a hospitality facility to rapidly, easily and economically personalize the bathroom linen to be supplied to each individual user.

Within the above aim, an object of the invention is to make it possible to achieve such personalization also for the elderly or persons who in any case are impeded in their movements or have difficulty in handling small objects.

Another object is to provide an invention that ensures an appropriate use that is aimed at ensuring hygiene between the persons who use such bathroom linen, while at the same time making it possible to wash such linen rapidly, easily and economically.

Another object is to provide an invention that is structurally simple and low-cost and can be made with the usual conventional plants.

This aim and these and other objects which will become more apparent hereinafter are achieved by a clip, characterized in that it is constituted by a rigid flat base that has, centrally, an opening and, at one end, an elastic tab, directed and protruding in an upper region for part of said opening, said tab being provided with at least one projection which is directed toward said opening, between said tab and said flat base there being a hinge that can be permanently deformed beyond a determined degree of splaying.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the detailed description of a particular but not exclusive embodiment thereof, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view from the front of the clip according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view from the rear of the clip;

Figure 3 is a perspective view from below of the clip;

Figure 4 is a view from above of the clip;

Figure 5 is a view from below of the clip;

Figure 6 is a side view of the clip;

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VII- VII in Figure 4 with an item of bathroom linen applied;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the clip with an item of bathroom linen applied. In the exemplary embodiments that follow, individual characteristics, given in relation to specific examples, may actually be interchanged with other, different characteristics that exist in other exemplary embodiments.

With reference to the figures, the reference numeral 1 generally designates a clip, made of plastic material, constituted by a rigid flat base 2 that has, in plan view, a substantially rectangular shape and has, centrally, an opening 3.

A perimetric ridge 4 is defined which surrounds the opening 3 and has rounded external and internal outlines.

A deformable hinge 6 is present at a transverse end 5 of the perimetric ridge 4 of the flat base 2, and it connects the perimetric ridge 4 to an elastic tab or wing 7 which protrudes in an upper region for part of the length of the opening 3 so as to define a curved terminal end 8 on the side opposite to the perimetric ridge 4.

The tab 7 is thus shorter than the flat base 2, thus defining, between the curved terminal end 8 and the underlying perimetric ridge 4 of the flat base 2, an open section 9 adapted to allow the user to take hold of the curved terminal end 8 proper.

The tab 7 is provided with one or more protrusions or teeth 10a, 10b directed toward the opening 3 and having advantageously a conical shape of length such that they are arranged with the vertex, in the condition of nonuse, in the direction of the hinge 6 and approximately at the plane of arrangement of the perimetric ridge 4.

Owing to the presence of the opening 3, use of the clip allows the pushing movement of the tab 7 performed with the middle finger; the clip is held in one's hand using the thumb and the index finger.

The clip is simply pushed against the edge 11 of an item of bathroom linen 12 by resting the curved terminal end 8 on the linen; then the tab 7 is pulled slightly away from the flat base 2.

This operation can be carried out by first inserting the middle finger into the open section 9 defined between the opening 3 and the flat base 2, applying an upward pressure on the tab 7.

At the same time, the clip is pushed until the edge 11 of the item of bathroom linen 12 enters it completely, along the entire length of the clip 1 proper.

Alternatively the clip 1 is applied, once the curved terminal end 8 is lifted, on the item of bathroom linen 12, which is thus interposed between the tab 7 and the flat base 2.

The tab 7 is then released so that it rests against the underlying item of bathroom linen 12, with the protrusions or teeth 10a, 10b sinking into the item of bathroom linen 12 and impeding its extraction.

The clip is advantageously of the single-use type, in order to allow a single application on the item of bathroom linen.

In order to prevent it from being reused, the hinge 6, which connects the perimetric rim 4 to the tab 7, has been designed with a thickness that is slender, and therefore weakened, which is deformed during the step of removing the clip from the item of bathroom linen 12.

In order to proceed with the removal, the tab 7 needs to be lifted by an extent that deforms the points where it is joined with the flat base 2.

Such lifting is made necessary by the presence of the two protrusions or teeth 10 a, 10b.

Once this operation has been performed, the clip remains with the tab 7 splayed with respect to the flat base 2 and therefore no longer usable because it cannot be stably re-associated with other items of bathroom linen.

In order to facilitate the forced breakage of the flat base 2, a notch 13 is provided thereon, proximate to the hinge 6, which is shaped substantially like a V with the vertex directed away from the tab 7.

The clip can be offered in multiple colors, to be applied to all items of bathroom linen: facecloths, towels, but also bathrobes; it can moreover be supplied in sealed polypropylene packets containing three or more clips of the same color, which are used by an individual person, for example one on the bath towel, one to be applied to the hand/face towel, and one to be applied to the bidet towel.

There can be other colors for other items/articles of bathroom linen, making the clip an aid to hygiene, intended for youths and adults.

Each clip can furthermore be personalized with the logo of the tourist/hospitality facility or of an advertising sponsor.

Thus it has been found that the invention fully achieves the intended aim and objects, a clip having been obtained that makes it possible for a hospitality facility to rapidly, easily and economically personalize the bathroom linen to be supplied to each individual user, also for the elderly or persons who in any case are impeded in their movements or have difficulty in handling small objects.

The clip ensures an appropriate use that is aimed at ensuring hygiene between the persons who use bathroom linen, while at the same time making it possible to wash such linen rapidly, easily and economically.

Naturally the materials used as well as the dimensions of the individual components of the device according to the invention may vary according to to specific requirements.

The characteristics indicated above as advantageous, convenient or the like, may also be missing or be substituted by equivalent characteristics.

The disclosures in Italian Utility Model Application No. 202021000005264 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.