SANITARY GLOVES

Sanitary aid for inserting and/or placing, removing and treating domestic articles used in personal care, called Sanitary Gloves.

The present invention relates to a sanitary aid for placing, removing and treating domestic articles used in personal care, which aid is in the form of a glove comprising a cuff and a few fingers made of a very thin, flexible material, which fingers extend through a slightly cup-shaped element, so that they are surrounded by a dish which is furthermore provided with an edge.

Hygiene is a very important element in personal care, especially the sanitary care surrounding the monthly period with which members of the female sex are confronted. Many domestic articles have been devised to make it easier to deal with the consequences thereof, such as tampons, sanitary napkins, soft cups, panty shields and the like. For the removal thereof, the French patent document FR 2 626 444 describes an aid with three or more short finger-shaped elements, which is provided with a collar. The problem with this aid is that whilst removing the article, also sometimes some residue may be released, that is _. not sufficiently collected by the collar. The aid according to the invention tries to solve that problem and is therefore characterized in that, the dish is cup-shaped and is provided with an upright edge of a few millimetres in height and is provided with a moisture- absorbing layer at the hollow side. It is also preferred that the finger-shaped elements are centred around the middle of the dish and the number of finger-shaped elements is at least 2 (two) to retain an adequate grip on the article.

Furthermore, it is preferred that at least 2/3 of any finger of the female user's hand fits in one of the concerned finger-shaped elements, while the finger-shaped elements are provided with a slightly roughened surface and the cuff of the glove is provided with a closure mechanism along its lower edge.

The aid according to the invention will be described by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying drawing . In which:

Fig. 1 shows the aid;

Fig. 2 shows the aid in a situation of use.

The sanitary aid as shown in figure 1 is a glove 1 comprising a few finger-shaped elements 2 and a dish 3 formed with an edge 4, which finger-shaped elements 2 are centred around the middle of the dish 3 and the glove 1 is dimensioned to accommodate hands of any size.

In a preferred embodiment, in order to ensure that the fingers will have sufficient grip in the finger-shaped elements 2 and to facilitate the operations to be carried out to and with the present domestic article, the glove 1 is configured to have three (3) finger-shaped elements 2, whilst the length of said finger-shaped elements 2 is such that the thumb, the index finger and the middle finger can be inserted into said finger-shaped elements 2 of the glove 1 along at least 2/3 of their length.

The finger-shaped elements 2 of the glove 1 are provided with a slightly roughened surface so as to enable the fingers in the finger-shaped elements 2 to retain an adequate grip on the domestic article 7.

The dish 3 is made of a material that exhibits a certain degree of strength, such that when the glove 1 is removed from the package and put on, with the thumb, the index

finger and the middle finger being inserted into the respective finger-shaped elements 2 of the glove 1, a cup- shaped dish 3 provided with an edge 4 at the upper side is formed. This upright edge 4 at the upper side of the dish 3 has a height of a few millimetres; in the preferred embodiment, the edge 4 of the dish 1 has a height of 5 millimetres .

In order to collect any possible moisture and residue 10, a moisture-absorbing layer 6 is provided at the inner side 5 of the dish 3 with the edge 4.

The cuff 8 of the glove 1 encloses the lower arm at least to just beyond the wrist.

By holding the to be removed domestic article 7 with her fingers in the respective finger-shaped elements 2 of the glove 1, the user 11 can pull the lower side 9 of the cuff 8 over the dish 3, the fingershaped elements 2 and the to be removed domestic article 7 with her other hand, after which the glove 1 can be closed by means of a closure element 12, such as a clamping edge, string or cord fitted in the cuff 8, so that the to be removed domestic article 7 is fully enclosed by the outer side of the glove 1, as is shown in figure 2.

The dish 3 has a diameter which more or less corresponds to that of a normal saucer associated with a coffee cup. The product is made of a very thin material, such as, for example, polyethylene exhibiting a high degree of flexibility, whilst the material is non-transparent and does not transmit any liquid or odour.

Finally it has to be emphasized, that the above description constitutes a preferred embodiment of the invention, but that obviously further variations and modifications are still possible without departing the scope of this patent description.