FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a towel, more specifically, but not exclusively, the invention relates to a body towel which promotes the maintenance of proper personal hygiene.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Towels and other personal hygiene cloths have traditionally been manufactured to remove dirt or moisture from the entire human body and are generally manufactured as continuous sheets made from only one type of fabric such as cotton, synthetic fibre or a fibre consisting of a combination thereof. The fabric is often dyed and may be supplied with embroidery. These features, however, generally serve only an aesthetic function.

A problem with existing towels is that the user is unable to determine which area of the towel has previously been used to dry various body parts such as the facial area, the genital or rectal areas, the feet, the hands and so forth. This increases the risk of being exposed to harmful and dangerous bacteria, fungi and viruses that are common in certain areas of the body that may have been deposited on the towel by prior use.

US 7,482,021 discloses a two-sided wipe for cleaning and drying skin surface in which the one side of the wipe is adapted for applying cleansing material and the other side of the wipe is adapted for applying drying material.

USD 506,099 discloses a towel with two differently marked ends to distinguish the end used for the lower body from the end used for the upper body. The user would therefore be able to distinguish the zone dedicated for the upper body from the zone dedicated to the lower body.

Both the above towels, however, only partially addresses the problem of reducing the risk of exposure to harmful bacteria, fungi and viruses resulting from the use of towels.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a towel which will at least partially alleviate some of the abovementioned problems with conventional towels.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with this invention there is provided a towel for promoting the maintenance of proper personal hygiene comprising a sheet of fabric defining major opposed surfaces, wherein at least one of the surfaces includes at least three demarcated zones, each zone being manufactured to demonstrate at least one unique physical characteristic.

Further features of the invention provide for the physical characteristic to include one or more of an absorptive or drying property, a material, a texture, a cleaning property, a moisturizing property, an anti-bacterial property and an anti-germicidal property; and for the towel to include a transition zone between each demarcated zone, each transition zone having at least one physical characteristic selected from low absorption properties, high antibacterial properties and anti-germicidal properties, so as to avoid the transition of germs and bacteria deposited on one zone to an adjacent zone. Still further features of the invention provide for each zone to have markings depicted thereon, the markings being indicative of the body area for which it is designated; for the markings to include any one or more of an image, a symbol and a written description; and for the towel to include markings on both surfaces, markings on one surface being indicative of body areas on the front of the human body and markings of the opposite surface being indicative of body areas on the back of the human body.

Yet further features of the invention provide for the material of each demarcated zone to be cotton, bamboo, synthetic fabric or a mixture thereof.

The invention also provides a towel for promoting the maintenance of proper personal hygiene comprising a sheet of fabric defining major opposed surfaces, each surface including three demarcated zones separated by transition zones, each demarcated zone being manufactured to demonstrate at least one unique physical characteristic and having markings depicted thereon to identify the part of the body for which it is intended.

Further features of the invention provide for a first zone on one of the major opposed surfaces of the towel to be intended for use on and include markings identifying one or more of a face, a neck and ears; for a second zone on the surface to be intended for use on and include markings indentifying one or more of the front of a torso, arms, hips and waist area, groin and genitals and legs; for a third zone on the surface to be intended for use on and include markings identifying feet; for a fourth zone on the opposite surface to be intended for use on and include markings identifying one or more of the back of the head and hair, neck and ears; for a fifth zone on the opposite surface to be intended for use on and include markings identifying one or more of the back, arms, hips and waist, buttocks and legs; and for a sixth zone on the opposite surface to be intended for use on and include markings identifying feet. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:-

Figure 1 is an illustration of the front of a towel in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a rear view of the towel shown in Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is an illustration of a towel in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 4 is a rear view of the towel of Figure 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

A towel (1 ) in accordance with the invention is shown in Figures 1 and 2 and comprises a generally rectangular sheet of fabric (3) having major opposed surfaces (5 and 7), a front (5) and rear (7) surface respectively. Both surfaces have three clearly demarcated generally rectangular zones (9, 11 and 13), top (9), middle (11 ) and bottom (13) zones respectively, as well as a transition zone (15) between each of the zones (9, 11 and 13). An additional, generally oval shaped zone (17) is positioned in the centre of the top zone (9)-

The various zones on the front (5) and rear (7) of the towel (1 ) are suitable for drying different human body parts after washing. To facilitate the identification of the zones suitable for drying the various body parts, both the front (5) and rear (7) of the towel depict markings or indicia representing the various body parts for which the zone is suitable. The front (5) of the towel (1 ) depicts markings representing a face (23) in the oval zone (17), a neck (19) and ears (21 ) in the first zone (9), front of a torso (25), arms (27), hips and waist area (29), groin and genitals (31 ) and legs (33) in the second zone (11 ), and feet (35) in the third zone (13). It should be appreciated that the third zone (13) may also be used for stepping on when the person gets out of a shower or bath.

The rear (7) of the towel (1 ) depicts markings representing the back of the head and hair (37), neck (19) and ears (21) in the first zone (9), the back (39), arms (27), hips and waist (29), buttocks (41 ), legs (33) and feet (35).

In addition to the markings referred to above, each of the zones (9, 11 , 13 and 17) is manufactured so as to demonstrate at least one unique characteristic. The characteristics may include absorptive or drying properties, different materials, textures, cleaning properties, moisturizing properties, anti-bacterial properties and anti-germicidal properties, to name but a few. It should be appreciated that these properties may be chosen to make each region better suited for the area for which it is intended.

In this embodiment, the facial zone (17) has a finer texture, as well as anti- germicidal properties; the first zone (9) may have high absorption properties to facilitate the drying of the hair as well as a coarser texture to facilitate the drying and cleaning of the ears and neck regions; the second zone (11 ) has a moderately coarse texture, moderate absorption properties as well as certain anti-bacterial and anti-germicidal properties as it will be used to clean the genital- as well as rectal areas; the third zone (13) again has a coarse texture for drying and cleaning the bottoms of the feet as well as between the toes.

The transition zones (15) may, for example, have very low absorption properties but may have very high anti-bacterial and anti-germicidal properties so as to avoid the transition of germs and bacteria deposited on one zone to an adjacent zone.

It should be appreciated, however, that the characteristics may be varied as required and that the invention is not limited to the specific characteristics described.

It should furthermore be appreciated that the characteristics may be achieved by manufacturing the various zones from different materials, in which case the characteristics may be inherent to the materials used. For example, manufacturing a region with cotton fibre will give it inherently better absorption properties than manufacturing it with, for example, polyester fibres. In the same way, the texture of a zone may be an inherent property of the material used in its manufacture, or it may be achieved by using material with a finer or coarser weave, as required.

A number of fabrics may be used in the manufacture of the towels, including both natural as well as synthetic fabrics including, but not limited to wool, cotton, silk, linen, hemp, ramie, jute, acetate, acrylic, nylon, polyester, rayon, bamboo and spandex to name but a few. It is also known that certain materials have inherent anti-bacterial and other properties that make them very suitable for specific zones of the towel. For example, bamboo fabric is known to have certain anti-bacterial properties as well as very high absorption properties, making it very suitable for use in the towel. Acrylic, on the other hand is known to be non-allergenic.

Other characteristics may be applied to the material by treatment. For example, it is known that the treatment of cotton fabric with silver nanoparticle-doped silica gives the fabric anti-bacterial properties. It is also known that various other techniques exist for treating fabrics so as to give them anti-bacterial properties. It is foreseeable that various techniques, for example printing and embroidering, may be used to depict the markings to the towels. Furthermore, the markings shown in Figures 1 and 2 are by way of example only and any number of alternative markings may be used to identify the various sections of the towel for use on the different body parts. For example, the towel (1) shown in Figures 3 and 4 does not include pictures but rather include words to identify the zones that should be used on the various body parts. For example, the second zone (11 ) on the rear (7) of the towel (1 ) includes the words "NECK", "BACK" and "BUTTOCKS", representing the body areas on which that section should be used.

It should also be appreciated that different markings may be used to indicate whether the towel is intended for use by a male or female person. In addition, different markings may also be used on towels intended for use by children and adults.

The above examples are by way of example only and do not limit the scope of the invention. Various features of the invention may be changed without departing from the scope thereof. In particular, the layout of the zones, their characteristics as well as the marking(s) used to identify the zones may be changed without departing from the scope of the invention. The towel may also contain additional markings such as, for example, a ruler along the length of the towel which could assist parents in measuring the height of their children, this could also add to the enjoyment of using the towel. The towel may also include additional features such as, for example, finger holes on either side of the head and dedicated scrubbing zones to name but a few.

The invention provides a towel which has well-defined, designated and demarcated zones having zone-specific physical characteristics adapted to be suitable for use on specific sections of the skin such as the feet, the hands, the genital and rectal areas, the upper body and neck, the facial area and the scalp that does not suffer from the abovementioned limitations of the prior art.

It is in particular also foreseeable that certain zones may be dedicated for the application of a moisturizer or drying powder to specific areas of the body, alternatively, chemically treated to improve its anti-bacterial or anti-germicidal characteristics.