DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a first aid kit. In particular, the present invention relates to a first aid kit comprising a gauze compress and a disinfectant. In more detail, the present invention relates to a first aid kit comprising a gauze compress and a disinfectant, and a container which contains them. BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

It is well known that all travellers tend to limit the variety and the quantity of the products they carry for a journey, so as to minimise the bulk and the weight of the luggage . When one travels in developed countries, where the shops are open for almost all the day, problems of this type seldom affect the traveller. It is different when one travels across remote and difficult to be reached areas, which are often lacking in products for hygiene or medical products. In these cases, in order to avoid surprises, it is necessary to give up the minimalism so as to avoid inconveniences which could have undesired consequences resulting in the need for a local hospital.

For example, if one is afraid of being subjected to abrasions, or in the case in which medical care is necessary, and also in the case in which it is deemed advisable to refresh oneself, it could be appropriate to have gauze compresses, swabs and a disinfectant or refreshing liquid. It is easy to understand that the products described above require a significant space availability, even if the dimensions of the packages of the disinfectant or refreshing liquids available on the market are minimum. Therefore, there are on the market kits comprising hermetically sealed cases, which contain sterile material, such as gauze rolls, swabs for medications, a disinfectant, which may be packaged in bottles of limited dimensions, plastic scissors with metallic blades and plastic dressing forceps. However, inadequately hygienic environments can compromise the preparation of gauze compresses or swabs, which must remain sterile during the wetting phase by means of the disinfectant or the refreshing substance. This latter case is not so particularly bad, as the sterile requirements of the gauze or of the swab are not so strictly. In any case, the impossibility of foreseeing the type of the actual conditions, under which one shall act, requires a more adequate approach, avoiding any risk of contamination before using the gauzes or the swabs. .In view of the above description, the problem of having available an equipment with minimum bulk, which allows to have available refreshing towels or sterile swabs or gauzes wetted just before the use with the certainty that this preparation is carried out in an easy and economic manner, but at the same time under completely sterile conditions, is currently unsolved, and represents an interesting challenge for the applicant for the purpose of allowing people travelling in uncomfortable areas to have available all the necessary to face confidently all the circumstances which may occur or, more simply, for the purpose of making the journey less unpleasant.

In view of the above description, it would be desirable to have available a kit, which, in addition to limit and possibly to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art described above, could define a new standard for this types of equipment, both medical and comfort equipment. SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention relates to a first aid kit. In particular, the present invention relates to a first aid kit comprising a gauze compress and a disinfectant.

In more detail, the present invention relates to a first aid kit comprising a gauze compress and a disinfectant, and a container which contains them. The object of the present invention is to provide a kit, which allows the disadvantages described above to be solved, and which is suitable to satisfy a plurality of requirements that to date have still not been addressed, and therefore suitable to represent a new and original source of economic interest and capable of modifying the current market of first aid kits.

According to the present invention, a first aid kit is provided, whose main characteristics will be described in at least one of the appended claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Further characteristics and advantages of the first aid kit according to the present invention will be more apparent from the description below, set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate at least one non-limiting example of embodiment, in which identical or corresponding parts of the device are identified by the same reference numbers. In particular:

- figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the first aid kit; - figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of a plurality of subsequent phases of a method of use of the kit of figure 1;

- figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the first aid kit; • - figure 4 is a schematic perspective view of a variant of a detail of figure 3;

- figure 5 is a view of a further embodiment of the present invention; and

- figure 6 illustrates a variant of a detail extracted from f igure 5 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In figure 1, number 1 indicates, in its entirety, a first aid kit, validly usable to make available gauzes wetted with refreshing or medical substances, or swabs to be used for dressing treatments. This kit 1 comprises a container 10 presenting a hollow body 20 of substantially prismatic type, shaped so as to present a first chamber 22 and a second chamber 24, separated from each other by means of a first insulating film 50, which maintains them fluid - tight insulated. The container 10 can be produced indifferently in an opaque or transparent material. In any case, the first chamber 22 houses a hydrophilic body 30 and the second chamber 24 contains a fluid refreshing and/or disinfectant substance 40, generally, but without limitation, liquid at room temperature. The hydrophilic body 30 can be a compress in a textile material or the like, such as for example rolled gauze, pressed as described in the patent application no. RA2008A000018 by the same applicant, or a gauze swab or a wad in compressed raw cotton, such as wadding, or a towel of small dimensions. These products can be sterile or not, without however limiting the protective scope of the present invention. For the sake of practicality, the description below is set forth with particular reference to a hydrophilic body 30, produced as a compress described in the above mentioned patent application no. RA2008A000018 , without however limiting the protective scope of the present invention. Therefore, it seems obvious to indicate also the compress in question with the same reference number used to indicate the hydrophilic body.

The first film 50 is of the type which can be selectively perforated so as to put into direct communication the first and second chambers 22 and 24, and subsequently to allow the substance 40 to be diffused inside the first chamber 22 in such a way so as to contact the compress 30.

According to the requirements, the first film 50 can be of the pressure - collapsible type, i.e. it can collapse under application of a pressure P, or of the pressure - puncturable type by means of a concentrating member for concentrating the pressure P. In this second case, in order to minimise the pressure necessary to cause the crisis of the first film 50, it would be appropriate to interpose a member provided with a concentrating element, which is not illustrated, for concentrating the pressure P. For example, it is possible to use a cone with an obtuse opening angle, provided with a base of large dimension, with its vertex facing the first film 50 between the compress 30 and the first film 50.

Again with reference to figure 1, the first chamber 22 is closed at opposite side from the first film 50 by means of a second film 60. This second film 60 is elastically deformable under pressure, in order to allow pressing the hollow body 20 against the first film 50 until this latter collapses. Furthermore, the first chamber 22 is peripherally delimited by a wall 222, which presents a longitudinal recess 224. This recess is shaped in such a manner as to allow engaging laterally the wall 222 by means of a finger or by means of a thrust member provided with a head of similar dimension, so as to exert a longitudinal thrust on the compress 30 sufficient to put it in matching contact with the first film 50; to move subsequently the compress 30 against the first film 50 in order to deform it, and lastly, to cause the collapse thereof and to put in aerial communication the first and second chambers 22 and 24.

The second film 60 presents an edge 62, which closes the recess 224. This latter presents longitudinal extension sufficient to allow accessing inside the hollow body 20 so as to collect the compress 30 manually or using surgical forceps . The hollow body 20 can be sterile or not, based upon the requirements of use, and in any case it can be obtained starting by a single prismatic element 20 closed at the opposite side to the recess 224 by means of a cap 230. For the sake of practicality, the container 10 can be cylindrical, but this does not limit the protective scope of the present invention, which is actuated even if the container is of prismatic or parallelepipedal shape. In particular, containers can be used with square or hexagonal cross section, or with a cross section of any other shape which can be deemed interesting for aesthetic or productive requirements .

Figure 2 shows a sequence, which illustrates the methods of use of the first aid kit, wherein the compress 30 is constituted by the compress described in the above mentioned patent application no. RA2008A000018 of the applicant. The pressure P exerted on the compress 30 through the first elastic film 50 (figure 2a) cause the collapse of the second film 60 (figure 2b), avoiding the contact of the finger with the compress 30 and/or with parts inside the container 10; figure 2c) illustrates a phase wherein the compress 30 moves from the first chamber 22 to the chamber 24; figure 2d) illustrates the end situation, wherein the compress 30 has absorbed the substance 40 and has elongated. At this point, the wetted swab produced starting from the pressed sterile compress can be pick up with the fingers or using a surgical forceps, once the first chamber 22 has been made accessible through removal of the second film 60.

Lastly, it is apparent that modifications and variants can be made to the first aid kit described and illustrated herein, without however departing from the protective scope of the present invention.

For example, it may be appropriate to specify that the fluid 40 can be contained freely in the second chamber 24, but it can also be contained in an operculum 90 of any shape, which in figure 5 is cylindrical merely for the sake of convenience, collapsible under pressure and housed in the second chamber 24 in such a manner so as to avoid the need to use the film 50 for physically dividing the first chamber 22 from the second chamber 24, in order to simplify the production cycle of the kit 1.

It should be noted that the application of pressure through the use of a finger or of a member of reduced dimensions, which can be actuated by exerting pressure against the cap 230, and therefore axially, could mark and also compromise the integrity of the second film 60, with the result of putting the hydrophilic compress 30 into contact with the external environment, and therefore, in given cases, of jeopardising the use thereof in the cases in which the sterility of the kit 1 shall be guaranteed for the use in the medical sector. In this regard, with reference to figure 3, the hollow body 20 can be modified so as to comprise a first concave element 21 delimiting the first chamber 22 and a second concave element 23 delimiting the second chamber 24. The first and second elements 21 and 23 can be screw coupled to each other, so as to be suitable to move the compress 30 longitudinally against the film 50, in such a way as to apply longitudinally to the hydrophilic compress 30, which is contained inside the first chamber 22, the pressure P necessary to cause the collapse of the first film 50 without the need for manual application of the load, in view of the above description. The second element 23 is hermetically sealed by the first film 50 from the side of the first element 21; the first element 21 is closed by a first cap 210 at the opposite side from the second element 23, and the second element 23 is closed by a second cap 230 at the opposite side from the first element 21. In view of the above description, it is easily to understand that each embodiment of the first aid kit described above allows the technical problems illustrated above to be solve.

In particular, it should be specified that only after the collapse of the film 50 the refreshing or disinfectant substance 40 goes into contact with the hydrophilic compress 30 and therefore with the material with which it is produced, so that each single component of the product maintains its characteristics unchanged over the time. Lastly, it should be specified that a kit as the one described above is particularly useful every time it is necessary to have available a wetted and sterile swab or towel with a given liquid and, in particular, when it is necessary to wet this swab or this towel immediately before use. What described above is particularly useful when it is necessary to have available limited quantities of liquids for technical uses in remote areas such as, for example but without limitation, in the case of the liquid for cleaning glass lens or cameras, liquid for make-up removal from face and eyes, after - bite liquid. Furthermore, the use of a container 10 provided with a hollow body, produced in two parts screw coupled to each other, allows minimising the effort for collecting the swab, and allows performing this operation, if necessary, through the use of a surgical forceps or more simply by tilting the container, which contains it, so as to cause its removal.

It is also possible to modify the kit as shown in figure 4, providing for the possibility of replenishing the second chamber 24 with a liquid which can be chosen at will. In order to ensure the sterility of the replenishing operation, and therefore the sterility of the kit 1, the container 10 may present a supply path produced by means of a valve 70 associated with the cap 230, to be used in association with a filling member, such as for example a syringe 80. Obviously, the valve shall be chosen adequately, in order to allow discharging the air from the chamber 24.

Furthermore, notwithstanding the fact that the container 10 is produced as an individual piece or in two parts, it is also possible to modify the kit 1 providing for the use of a pressing member 58 arranged inside the first chamber 22 at the opposite side from the second chamber 24 and into contact with the hydrophilic body 30, as it is shown in figure 5, if necessary with the interposition of the first film 50, so as to be suitable to thrust longitudinally the hydrophilic body 30 and to cause the collapse of the film 50 or of the operculum 90. Obviously, it is also possible to use this pressing member 58 in order to minimise the pressure to be exerted on the operculum 90 in order to collapse it. In this case this member 58 shall conveniently present a pointed face 92, shaped for example as a cone with a respective vertex from the side of the operculum 90 similarly to a burin (figure 6) , and the position of the hydrophilic body 30 and of the member 58 shall be inverted.