The present invention relates to a hand utility interface which can grip the hand of a user and which, by eliminating the need for the user to "grip", serves to enable the hand naturally to conform to the contours of the surface being cared for and which protects the user's hand during utility tasks.

Background to the Invention

The interface may serve as a means to engage the hand with media, such as, for example, an abrasive cloth, sheet or pad, for sanding down a target surface or applying or working in a treatment fluid to a target surface or for any number of other uses. The hand utility interface may have uses including, for example, for sanding, polishing, waxing or otherwise finishing wooden furniture or other items or sanding or otherwise treating items of metalwork. The interface may also be used in domestic surface care, wet trade and food surface care, hospital surface care, janitorial care, automotive care and boat care amongst many other possible uses

The closest known prior art is represented by the applicant's earlier published International applications WO 2002/087406, WO 2004/098365, WO 2006/000762 and WO 2008/003979. Each of these disclosures concerns a hand utility interface which can grip the hand of a user and which protects the user's hand during utility tasks. In the latter of these the hand utility interface is fabricated from a block foam structure or from a self-supporting resilient membrane and has open-topped finger channels each sized and shaped to receive one finger of the user's hand. The user's hand is releasably gripped by the hand utility interface when the fingers of the hand are pressed into the finger channels.

These hand utility interfaces, and especially the latter ones, have excellent performance. They can be very flexible and resilient giving the user similar sensitivity and dexterity as if directly handling the task surface yet delivering protection for the hand, fingers and nails from abrasion, knocks and stubbing of the finger tips against the surface and can also provide a waterproof and chemical barrier between the users hand and the task. In freeing the hand from the need to grip the substrate, the fingers of the hand can remain fully out stretched, so covering a bigger surface area in each pass, and freeing the hand naturally to conform to the contours of the surface, a thing it cannot do if it has to grip the substrate. However when used for some tasks, and most notably those that require application of substantial pressure to the target surface, such as when sanding or seeking to abrade away ingrained grime, the existing form of the hand utility interface has limitations in adequately reaching some areas. Zones of the target surface that fall within enclosed areas/ comers between walls or other structures or formations of a target surface can be difficult to penetrate effectively with the hand utility interfaces. It is accordingly a general object of the present invention to address this limitation of the existing hand utility interfaces. Additionally, the existing hand utility interfaces do not co-operate ideally with the widely commercially available forms of abrasive media that are commonly rectangular. It is a further general object of the invention to facilitate effective use of the hand utility interface with such regular abrasive media without need for wasteful cutting down of the media that is otherwise needed to better suit the media to the interface.

A second problem area arises where the interface serves as a means to engage the hand with media, such as, for example, a foam pad or cloth, for applying treatment fluid to a target surface and where the interface has a treatment fluid reservoir which cooperates with the hand utility interface or which is incorporated with the hand utility interface itself. Such hand utility interfaces may be used, for example, for: baby care, beauty care, patient care, grooming of either people or animals, domestic surface care, wet trade and food surface care and the other possible uses mentioned above.

In one of the embodiments in WO 2004/098365 a cleaning cloth is mounted to the underside of the hand utility interface and serves as the utility media. This cloth has perforate and impermeable layers bonded at their perimeters and that enclose between them a cleaning fluid reservoir. In a number of the embodiments in WO 2008/003979 the hand utility interface incorporates a burstable gel sack or other treatment fluid reservoir between or beneath the finger channels. This may hold a limited quantity of a cleaning or polishing paste, gel or liquid and have a valve to control dispensing of it to the task surface or intervening media. These hand utility interfaces with integral reservoirs operate well for small tasks or for limited periods of time. For greater longevity a simple system for charging/ re-charging the hand utility interface or associated media with treatment fluid is needed. WO 2006/000762 introduces the design of a separate disposable reservoir for a cleaning gel. In one embodiment this comprises a vessel formed as a unitary hollow body by a blow moulding process. This has a compressible concertina-form circumferential wall bridged closed by top and bottom walls, the top wall being perforated with a plurality of apertures for dispensing the gel contents. The vessel contains a greater volume of gel or other cleaning agent than the hand utility interface alone may hold. However, we have found that this separate vessel, though simple in form, can be difficult to use and is too difficult to manufacture reliably. The concertina form in WO 2006/000762 demands too much stretching of the fabric of the vessel wall, and results in very significant variations of thickness of the wall, between the inward returns of the concertina and the outward ones, such that some parts become too rigid and others too thin to be of any useful service. Accordingly, there remains a need for a hand utility interface and reservoir system that is capacious enough for sustained usage and which is efficient and effective and reasonably simple and economic to manufacture.

A third problem area arises for the hand utility interface where the interface serves as a means to engage the hand with media, such as, for example, an abrasive cloth, sheet or pad, for sanding down a target surface or applying or working in a treatment fluid to a target surface or for any number of other uses where application pressure and reach is important. Such uses include, for example, for sanding, polishing, waxing or otherwise finishing wooden furniture or other items or sanding or otherwise treating items of metalwork or again in domestic surface care, wet trade and food surface care, hospital surface care, janitorial care, automotive care and boat care et cetera. Our existing interfaces when used for some of these tasks, and most notably those that require application of substantial pressure to the target surface, such as when sanding or seeking to abrade away ingrained grime, have limitations in adequately reaching some areas. Zones of the target surface that fall within enclosed areas/ corners between walls or other structures or formations of a target surface can be difficult to penetrate effectively with the hand utility interfaces. It is accordingly a further general object of the present invention to address this limitation of the existing hand utility interfaces. Furthermore, the existing hand utility interfaces are generally limited to use with abrasive media that is compact and/ or which needs to be cut to size.

A fourth problem area concerns tasks that involve applying a toxic or messy treatment fluid such as wood-stain to surfaces. Here again the interface incorporates media, or serves as a means to engage the hand with media, such as, for example, a foam pad or cloth, for applying the treatment fluid to the target surface. Such hand utility interfaces may be for many purposes such as listed earlier. For the tasks involving use of treatment fluids such as dyes or stains, eg wood-stain, or caustic or allergenic treatment fluids such as aggressive disinfectants and cleaning fluids, the treatment fluid is generally held in a foam pad or other media on the underside of the hand utility interface body and to dispense and apply this fluid generally entails pressing down on the body compressing the foam pad or other media against the target work surface. This compression can, however, cause the fluid to rise up over the hand utility interface body and so use of additional thin gloves of rubber, or other flexible impermeable material, within the hand utility interface may still be preferred by some in order to substantially obviate risk of hand contact with those fluids. Use of such additional hand protection compromises some of the main benefits of use of the hand utility interface, including reducing target object handling sensitivity and dexterity and is undesirable.

It is a further general object of the present invention to enhance the barrier effectiveness of the hand utility interface against treatment fluids to be applied by the hand utility interface but to do so in a cost effective manner and which does not significantly compromise the flexure of the interface and undermine target object handling sensitivity and dexterity when using the interface.

Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a hand utility interface comprising a body having a plurality of finger members or channels each sized and shaped to receive one finger of the user's hand, wherein the user's hand is releasably gripped by the hand utility interface when the fingers of the hand are inserted into the members or channels, the interface having a finger tip-receiving recess formed therein in the upper surface thereof at a location that is proximate a front edge/ distal end of the hand utility interface substantially forward of at least one of the finger members or channels whereby the user may insert a finger tip into the recess to press the hand utility interface down firmly against a target surface at the front/ distal end of the hand utility interface.

Preferably the recess is located in a region that is to the right or to the left of the hand utility interface and suitably at or near a right or left front corner of the hand utility interface. In a particularly preferred embodiment the hand utility interface has at least two finger-tip receiving recesses, one to the left and one to the right of the hand utility interface. Preferably the recess has a front wall/ face and a rear wall/ face whereby when a fingertip is inserted into the recess the hand utility interface may be pressed and moved back and forth by the fingertip.

Advantageously the recess is substantially circular as viewed in plan whereby the recess may securely accommodate a fingertip to enable the hand utility interface to be readily pressed and moved back and forth by a fingertip inserted into the recess.

Preferably the hand utility interface has at least one, and suitably two, medial finger channels or members and two lateral finger channels or members and the at least one finger tip-receiving recess is located directly forward of the tip of one of the lateral finger channels or members. Preferably the outer sidewalls of the lateral finger channels are substantially absent to assist moving of the index finger from the channels to insert the index finger into the finger tip-receiving recess when required. The outer side walls being removed also means that this format can drive a narrower standard abrasive width (eg 115mm) and without risk of the interface's hook substrate coming in to contact with the target surface.

Suitably the hand utility interface body has a raised/ domed palm portion extending proximal Iy beyond the proximal end of the finger channels to underlie the user's palm which assists in keeping the interface properly located under the user's hand and facilitates pressing the palm down on the body to apply maximum pressure when moving the device back-and- forth to sand or otherwise treat a target surface.

In use the hand utility interface body has utility media such as, for example, an abrasive cloth, sheet or pad mounted to its underside and, by virtue of the provision of the front corner-located finger-tip receiving recess, the hand utility interface can be manipulated to press the abrasive cloth, sheet or pad hard down into a corner of a target work object where otherwise only indirect or relatively lighter pressure could be applied. The utility media substrate is suitably demountably mounted to the underside of the hand utility interface body and preferably by use of a mounting substrate layer that is provided on, and suitably bonded to, the underside of the hand utility interface body.

A preferred mounting substrate for mounting the utility media substrate to the hand utility interface body comprises a sheet that has a plurality of minute hooks and particularly preferably minute lugs with heads (approximately mushroom-shaped lugs) to co-operatively engage with the backing of common abrasive utility media substrates - which variously have a fibrous, woven or non-woven backing or open cell foam backing. Where the mounting substrate is of the latter type it is suitably formed as an extruded sheet with raised spikes that are then formed into minute mushroom forms.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a hand utility interface comprising a body having a plurality of finger members or channels each sized and shaped to receive one finger of the user's hand, wherein the user's hand is releasably gripped by the hand utility interface when the fingers of the hand are inserted into the members or channels, the interface further having a reservoir for a treatment fluid, the reservoir being separable from the hand utility interface and formed as a vessel with a compressible concertina-form perimeter wall, wherein the vessel is open-topped and capped by a demountable lid that has apertures to dispense the treatment fluid contents of the vessel.

Preferably the demountable lid is formed with first co-operative engagement means to securely engage with complementary second cooperative engagement means provided on the upper rim of the concertina wall of the vessel. Suitably the first and second co-operative engagement means comprise mating screw threads.

Particularly preferably the upper face of the lid provides a docking receptacle into which the hand utility interface body may dock and be held against lateral displacement. This arrangement assists greatly in ensuring that the hand utility interface body remains securely positioned directly over the dispensing apertures as the body is pressed down on the vessel to compress the compressible concertina-form circumferential wall for dispensing the treatment fluid. Without this arrangement the body can slip from the top of the vessel, risking damage and spillage of the fluid contents. Furthermore, the docking receptacle provides a safe and convenient station for the hand utility interface's body to sit between bouts of use.

The docking receptacle suitably comprises a recess into the vessel top and or an upstanding perimeter wall or substantially opposing wall sections or flanges on the top that constrain the hand utility interface body against lateral displacement. Preferably the hand utility interface has media, eg a foam pad, on the underside to receive the treatment fluid and the docking receptacle comprises a recess into the lid and or an upstanding perimeter wall that surrounds and substantially encloses the media and suitably the thickness of the body's interface base layer to which it is bonded, when the hand utility interface is docked into it. This has the substantial benefit that evaporation of the fluid from the media and from the vessel between bouts of use is minimised.

Preferably the concertina-form perimeter wall of the vessel comprises less than four concertina elements and suitably two such elements (ie two groups of adjoining pairs of mutually collapsing sections of wall). Furthermore, preferably the angle between the pair of wall sections of each concertina element is greater than 20° when the concertina-form perimeter wall is in its rest (un-compressed) state. Indeed, the angle is suitably of the order of 30° or more. This arrangement greatly enhances manufacturability of the vessel.

In a variant of the second aspect of the present invention there is provided a hand utility interface comprising a body having a plurality of finger members or channels each sized and shaped to receive one finger of the user's hand, wherein the user's hand is releasably gripped by the hand utility interface when the fingers of the hand are inserted into the members or channels, the interface further having a reservoir for a treatment fluid, the reservoir being separable from the hand utility interface body and formed as a vessel with a compressible concertina-form perimeter wall, the vessel having a top with apertures to dispense the treatment fluid contents of the vessel, wherein the top is further provided with a docking receptacle into which the hand utility interface body may dock and be held against lateral displacement.

Preferably the top is a demountable lid to the vessel. As such, it is readily formable, for example in a thermo-setting plastics material, to define the docking receptacle.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a hand utility interface comprising a body having a plurality of finger members or channels each sized and shaped to receive one finger of the user's hand, wherein the user's hand is releasably gripped by the hand utility interface when the fingers of the hand are inserted into the members or channels, the interface body having a front that is angled tapering towards a forward-most point whereby the front of the body is wedge- shaped as viewed in plan, the interface body further having a utility media on the underside thereof in use, wherein the utility media extends beyond the front of the body whereby the media may ride up the walls of the tapering front. This enables the hand utility interface to more effectively access awkward corner zones of a target/ work object, with the front of the body butting up closely to sidewalls of the object and with the media, whether sander/ polisher or other, riding on the front cutting tightly into the corner.

The utility media substrate is preferably a circular disc and whereby it has frontal segments that extend beyond the body at the zones where the front of the body tapers.

Preferably the utility media substrate is a sanding or polishing sheet or pad and particularly preferably is a circular sanding or polishing disc, suitably of the type that is widely commercially available for use with powered rotary head tools such as rotary sanders/ disc sanders. Such discs are often formed as thin pads in standard forms and sizes such, as for example, with a 5 inch or 6 inch (12.7 cm or 15.2cm) diameter and may commonly be velour-backed or have open-cell foam backing. Preferably the front of the hand utility interface body tapers to a forward-most point that is substantially central transversely across the body. Suitably the hand utility interface body is axi-symmetric ( ie with mirror symmetry about a longitudinal, front-to-rear, axis), the forward-most point being substantially coincident with the axis of symmetry of the hand utility interface body and the wedge shaped front being axi-sym metrical also

Suitably the body is generally circular in foot-print, ie in shape as viewed in plan, corresponding to the circular shape of the utility media circular disc and is of substantially the same diameter. A rear extension of the body is suitably provided that preferably extends from the rear circumferential edge of the body to serve as a support surface for the heel of the user's hand in use. This rear extension preferably is substantially co-planar or plane parallel with a base or base-line of the body and suitably has an arcuate shape as viewed in plan. Suitably the extension conforms to the mirror symmetry of the hand utility interface body, being symmetric about the same axis of symmetry.

For this aspect of the invention the utility media substrate is suitably again demountably mounted to the underside of the hand utility interface body and preferably by use of a mounting substrate layer that is provided on, and suitably bonded to, the underside of the hand utility interface body.A preferred mounting substrate for mounting the utility media substrate to the hand utility interface body comprises a sheet that has a plurality of minute hooks to engage velour-backed/ loose woven-backed utility media substrate/ discs or minute lugs with heads (approximately mushroom- shaped lugs) to co-operatively engage with loose woven-backed or open cell foam-backed utility media substrate/ discs. Where the mounting substrate is of the latter type it is suitably formed as an extruded sheet with raised spikes that are then formed into minute mushroom forms.

According to a variant of the third aspect of the present invention there is provided a hand utility interface comprising a body having a plurality of finger members or channels each sized and shaped to receive one finger of the user's hand, wherein the user's hand is releasably gripped by the hand utility interface when the fingers of the hand are inserted into the members or channels, the interface body having or being adapted to have releasably mounted thereto a utility media on the underside thereof, wherein the utility media is a circular sanding or polishing disc of the type that is widely commercially available for use with powered rotary head tools such as rotary sanders/ disc sanders, the body suitably having an approximately circular shape as viewed in plan and having a diameter to substantially fit to a said disc.

According to a further variant of the third aspect of the present invention there is provided a hand utility interface comprising a body having a plurality of finger members or channels each sized and shaped to receive one finger of the user's hand, wherein the user's hand is releasably gripped by the hand utility interface when the fingers of the hand are inserted into the members or channels, the interface body having a utility media on the underside thereof, wherein the utility media is demountably mounted to the underside by a mounting substrate on the underside, the mounting substrate comprising a sheet that has a plurality of minute hooks to engage velour-backed/ loose woven-backed utility media substrate/ discs or minute lugs with heads (approximately mushroom-shaped lugs) to co-operatively engage with loose woven-backed or open cell foam-backed utility media substrate/ discs.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a hand utility interface comprising a body having a plurality of finger members or channels each sized and shaped to receive one finger of the user's hand, wherein the user's hand is releasably gripped by the hand utility interface when the fingers of the hand are inserted into the members or channels, the interface body having in use on the underside thereof a foam pad or other media for applying, or working in, a treatment fluid to a target object, wherein the interface body is provided with a skirt extending from a perimeter of the body to shield the hand of the user from treatment fluid carried by the foam pad or other media.

Preferably the skirt extends downwardly to a level that at least partially covers the sides of the foam pad or other media. Preferably the skirt is formed from the interface body by a perimeter flange that extends outwardly from the interface body beyond the perimeter of the foam pad or other media. This may simply extend substantially horizontally/ plane parallel or co-planar to the base/ base-line of the body, but if so extends a sufficient amount to effectively shield the user's hand. Suitably the perimeter flange extends outwardly and then turns upwardly or downwardly. The perimeter flange preferably turns downwardly and preferably in an arc or curve but less preferably in a straight line descending from the perimeter of the interface body at an angle downwardly. The angle of the turn is suitably substantially less than 90° and preferably at about 45° or at least nearer to 45° than to 90°, ie less than 70°, thereby defining a bevelled edge to the body.

Suitably the perimeter flange extends outwardly from the interface body beyond the perimeter of the foam pad or other media for a distance of at least about 2mm therebeyond and preferably of the order of 5mm therebeyond. Preferably the skirt extends downwardly for a distance of at least about 2mm and preferably of the order of 5mm. Suitably the skirt extends downwardly from the perimeter of the body to a level that is below the level of the whole of the rest of the body and preferably can substantially fully cover the sides of the foam pad or other media when the foam pad or other media is compressed hard against a target object in use.

The skirt might be any combination of angles from the point at which it begins to extend beyond the pad. For example, it might extend on the same plane as the palm element at the rear of the interface body but forwards of there it might be at an angle rising upward from the perimeter.

The arrangement of the skirt is such that the hand utility interface can, for example, be used to apply wood-stain without necessarily requiring use of any additional rubber glove or disposable glove to protect the hand of the user from staining by the wood-stain and is nonetheless economic to implement and such that the flexibility and sensitivity are not substantially compromised.

Brief Description of the Drawings

A preferred embodiment of each aspect of the present invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the following drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the first aspect of hand utility interface body (having a step-forward recess); and Figure 2 is a sectional view through that hand utility interface body taken along the line A-A in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side elevation view of the preferred embodiment of hand utility interface of the second aspect hand utility interface (which has a separable reservoir) in its assembled state, with the hand utility interface body docked to the lid of the reservoir vessel, ready to be charged with treatment fluid from the reservoir vessel;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the assembled hand utility interface of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a plan view of the hand utility interface body;

Figure 6 is a plan view of the lid from above (but at a larger scale than the preceding images);

Figure 7 is a side elevation view of the hand utility interface body;

Figure 8 is a sectional view through the lid;

Figure 9 is a side elevation view of the reservoir vessel; and

Figure 10 is a view corresponding to Figure 3, showing the components assembled together, the lid being shown in section and one side of the reservoir vessel being also shown in section.

Figure 11 is a top plan view of the hand utility interface body of the third (sanding disc) aspect of the invention, with a six inch circular rotary sander disc mounted to the under-side thereof shown by a hatched line;

Figure 12 is a part rear/ part left side view of the hand utility interface body

Figure 13 is a left side elevation view of the hand utility interface body in exploded assembly state, showing a mounting sheet and a rotary sanding disc just prior to their mounting to the underside of the hand utility interface body (the mounting sheet shown here is a thin layer Aplix™ sheet);

Figure 14 is a sectional view through the hand utility interface body taken along the line A-A in Figure 11 and showing the hand utility interface body in use, being advanced into a corner and with the overhanging part of the disc that extends beyond the body's tapered front edges/ sides riding up those front edges/ sides to better access the parts of the target object/ work surface within/ surrounded by the corner; and

Figures 15 to 18 are views corresponding to Figures 11 to 14 but of a variant of the hand utility interface. Figures 19 and 20 are a plan view from above of the hand utility interface fourth aspect of the invention (which has a skirt) and a side elevation view thereof; and

Figure 21 is a longitudinal section of this fourth hand utility interface, taken along the line B-B in Figure 19 and Figure 22 is a transverse section of the hand utility interface, taken along the line A-A in Figure 19.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

(A) Hand Utility Interface with Step-Forward Recesses (Figures 1 & 2)

In Figures 1 and 2, the illustrated hand utility interface comprises a hand utility interface body 10 that suitably has the form of any of the hand utility interface bodies described in the present applicant's afore-mentioned PCT applications.

Most preferably the body 10 is constructed in accordance with the teachings of WO 2008/003979. The illustrated hand utility interface comprises a medially symmetric body 10 formed of a self supporting membrane, the body 10 having finger channels 11a-d with sidewalls that deform elastically to grip the user's fingers when the fingers are pressed down into them, thereby attaching the body 10 to the hand for use.

An abrasive sheet such as a sanding pad 12 with a fibrous flock backing or open cell foam backing is provided on the under-side of the hand utility interface body 10 to serve as the utility media for treating the target work surface. For other purposes the sand pad 12 may be replaced by any other desired utility media, whether it be a scouring foam pad for cleaning or a cloth for waxing or polishing, for example. The sanding pad 12 is demountably mounted to the under-side of the hand utility interface body 10 by a mounting substrate 17 bonded to the underside of the body 10. The mounting substrate 17 suitably comprises an extruded sheet with a plurality of minute lugs with heads (approximately mushroom-shaped lugs) that co-operatively engage/ hook into the backing of the common abrasive utility media substrates/ sandpaper 12. Such form of hooks are greatly preferred because they are less likely to cause damage to a target surface if they accidentally come into contact with it.

The body 10 has a raised/ domed palm part/ portion 10a extending proximally beyond the proximal end of the finger channels 11 to underlie the user's palm. The palm portion 10a assists in keeping the interface properly located under the user's hand and facilitates pressing the palm down on the body 10 to apply maximum pressure when moving the device back-and-forth to sand a target surface.

The illustrated body 10 has four finger channels 11a-d, the two equal length medial channels 11b, 11c being the longest to accommodate the user's index and middle fingers, respectively and the two lateral channels 11a, 11c being shorter and of equal length to each other whereby the body 10 is medially symmetric to fit equally well to a user's right or left hand. The sidewalls 14 of the finger channels 11 taper, narrowing from their open proximal end toward their distal/ finger tip end up to and including the expected location of the user's distal interphalangeal joint in order for the sidewalls 14 to grip that joint. In the medial channels 11b, 11c the channel then widens beyond that location up to and including the tip 15 to avoid pinching of the fingers where the sidewalls converge to join. While the sidewalls 14 for the majority of each channel 11b, 11c are arranged to hug the sides of the fingers, the tip area 15 needs to be widened, because the sidewalls 14 are joined together ahead of the finger-tip and would otherwise pinch the finger tip.

Ease of flexure of the hand utility interface is aided by the provision of transverse grooves 13 in the bases of the channels 11 a-d and extending part-way up the channels' sidewalls. These grooves 13 are located fore and aft of the expected location of the user's proximal and distal interphalangeal joints and not only aid flexure but also provide lateral strengthening of the sidewalls.

Just forward of each lateral finger channel 11a, 11d close to the front edge 10a of the hand utility interface body 10 is a respective circular recess 16a, 16b, each of which is adapted to be able to securely receive the fingertip of the user's index finger. One of the finger-tip receiving recesses 16a is positioned in the front left corner of the body 10 while the other finger-tip receiving recess 16b is positioned in the front right corner of the body 10. In these extreme frontal left and right positions the finger-tip receiving recesses 16a, 16b are optimally placed to enable the index finger of the left or right hand to work the body 10 in those positions into otherwise hard to reach corner locations of the target objects.

Each fingertip receiving recess 16a, 16b is of a similar depth to the depth of the finger channels 11 , but being circular in plan has a circumferential perimeter wall that provides constraint to the finger tip in all planar directions. A front portion of the recess perimeter wall and a rear portion of the recess perimeter wall respectively constrain the finger-tip so that the finger-tip when engaged in the recess may be used not only to press the body 10 downwardly hard against the target surface but also to move the body 10 backwardly and forwardly across the target surface. The circumferential perimeter wall of the recess 16a, 16b serves also to constrain the finger-tip in lateral directions so that the body 10 may be moved from side-to-side by the finger-tip.

In general use for open fiat target surfaces the left or right hand is applied to the interface so that the hand is substantially flat against the body 10 and able to press the attached abrasive 12 to the target surface and apply the desired sanding action. However, when approaching a confined corner of the target surface, the index finger can be lifted out of its lateral finger channel 11a or 11d and "step forward" into the circular fingertip receiving recess 16a, 16b immediately forward of that channel. All other finger-tips can stay in their respective finger-tip locations in the finger channels 11 and also assist to drive the body 10.

Ease of moving the fingers of the users hand from the finger channels 11 to insert a finger such as the index finger into one or other of the respective circular recesses 16a, 16b is aided by omission of much, if not all, of the outer sidewalls of the lateral finger channels 11a, 11d. The outer side walls being removed also means that this format can drive a narrower standard abrasive width (eg 115mm) and without risk of the hooks of the interface's mounting substrate 17 coming in to contact with the target surface (which is very important in fine automotive finishing work.

(B) Hand Utility interface with Reservoir (Figures 3 to 10)

Referring to Figures 3 to 10, the illustrated hand utility interface here comprises a hand utility interface body 10 in combination with a reservoir vessel 20 and a lid 30 for the reservoir vessel 20. The lid 30 provides on its upper face a docking receptacle for the body 10.

The hand utility interface body 10 suitably has the form of any of the hand utility interface bodies described in the present applicant's aforementioned PCT applications but it is very compact. Most preferably the body 10 is constructed in accordance with the teachings of WO 2008/003979. The illustrated hand utility interface comprises a medially symmetric body 10 formed of a self supporting membrane, the body 10 having finger channels 11a-c with sidewalls that deform elastically to grip the user's fingers when the fingers are pressed down into them, thereby attaching the body 10 to the hand for use. A sponge-action foam pad 12 is provided on the under-side of the hand utility interface body 10 to serve as the utility media for applying and working in the treatment fluid into the target surface, whether the fluid be a cosmetic to be applied to the skin of the user or a polish or wax to be applied to an object.

Detailed features of the body 10 that are apparent from Figures 3 to 5 include that the sidewalls of the finger channels 11a-c taper, narrowing from their open proximal end toward their distal/ finger tip end up to and including the expected location of the user's distal interphalangeal joint in order for the sidewalls to grip that joint. In the medial channel 11 b the channel then widens beyond that location up to and including the tip in order to avoid pinching the fingers. While the walls for the majority of each channel 11a-c are arranged to hug the sides of the fingers, the tip area cannot, because the walls are joined together there ahead of the finger-tip and hence the need to specially widen this region.

Flexure is also aided by the provision of transverse grooves 13 in the bases of the channels 11a-c and extending part-way up the channels' sidewalls. These grooves 13 are located fore and aft of the expected location of the user's proximal and distal interphalangeal joints and not only aid flexure but also provide lateral strengthening of the sidewalls.

Unusually the body 10 has only three finger channels 11a-c, the single medial channel 11b being the longest to accommodate the user's middle finger and the two lateral channels 11a, 11c being of equal length whereby the body 10 is medially symmetric to fit equally well to a user's right or left hand. Even more unusually, the body 10 has no significant palm part/ portion extending proximally beyond the proximal end of the finger channels to overlie the user's palm. The body 10 generally begins beyond the user's palm at a point just before the user's proximal interphalangeal joint. In consequence the body is very compact and this compactness assists in docking of the body 10 into the docking receptacle 31 of the vessel lid 30.

The body 10 has a compact tapered footprint as viewed in plan (see Figure 5), the perimeter of the body 10 having opposing sidewalls 14 the outer faces of which are substantially straight/ planar and which converge towards each other and towards the medial axis of the body in the direction of the proximal end of the body 10. This tapering of the straight sides of the body 10 facilitates docking of the body 10 with the docking receptacle 31 of the vessel lid 30 since the latter has a pair of corresponding opposing upstanding walls or flanges 32 the inner faces of which are substantially straight/ planar and converge towards each other These upstanding walls or flanges 32 serve to constrain the body 10 against lateral or rotational movement relative to the vessel 20 when the body 10 is docked in use.

The lid 30 is a substantially rigid injection moulding of polypropylene, or other suitable plastics, and it has a very distinctive shape and configuration. The lid 30 has a plate 33 to cap closed the open-topped reservoir vessel 20. This plate 33 is perforated with a plurality of fluid dispensing apertures 34. A peel-off adhesive-secured sealing foil 35 is provided on the lid 30, suitably on the underside of the plate 33, to seal off the apertures 34 in the lid 30 for transit and storage until the reservoir 20 is ready for use.

The lid 30 further has a pair of concentric walls 36, 37 on its underside. The inner circular cylindrical wall 37 is provided on its circumferential inner face with screw threads 38 here shown as four short screw thread lengths whereby the lid 30 serves as a four point locking screw top to the reservoir vessel 2O.The outer circular cylindrical wall 36 is linked to the inner wall 37 by a bridging wall 39 and the outer wall 36 presents a prominent ribbed outer circumferential surface for ease of grip when screwing and unscrewing the lid 30.

The lid 30 is, furthermore, provided on its upper face with features forming the docking receptacle 31 for the hand utility interface body 10. As noted above, the upper face has a pair of opposing upstanding walls or flanges 32, one extending upwardly from each side thereof. The bridging wall 39 is stepped to rise up above the level of the apertured top plate 33 and in doing so forms an upstanding circular perimeter wall 39a which bounds a void/ recess 40 in which the foam pad 12 of the hand utility interface body 10 may sit. The diameter of the recess 40 suitably closely matches the diameter of the foam pad 12 and the upstanding circular perimeter wall 39a augments the lateral constraint provided by the pair of opposing upstanding walls or flanges 32. The latter walls or flanges 32 extend upwardly from the upstanding circular perimeter wall 39a.

The receptacle 31 presents a convenient and reliable place to station the hand utility interface body 10 between bouts of use. A notable benefit of the seating of the foam pad 12 into the void/ recess 40 of the lid's receptacle 31 surrounded by the upstanding circular perimeter wall 39a is that the fluid dispensed from the reservoir vessel 20 into the foam pad 12 will be substantially kept from drying out while the hand utility interface body 10 remains docked and the fluid contents of the reservoir vessel 20 will also be less liable to suffer evaporation. In a further embodiment the base/ base line thickness of the fabric of the body 10, adjacent to the bond between the body 10 and the foam pad 12, is accommodated within the receptacle 31 , so as to form a good seal against evaporation from the pad 12 or the reservoir 20.

The reservoir vessel 20 is an open-topped, closed-bottomed vessel with a compressible concertina-form perimeter wall 21. It is suitably injection stretch blow-moulded in PET. The concertina-form perimeter wall 21 is, in the illustrated embodiment, circular in plan and extends upwardly from circular bottom wall 22 in two concertina elements (ie two groups of adjoining pairs of mutually collapsing sections of wall) 23, 24. The lower concertina element 24 begins at a point lower than the bottom wall 22 and is joined to the bottom wall by a bridging wall 25. The bottom 22 of the vessel 20 is thus raised from the table-top or other surface on which the reservoir vessel 20 is stood and which assists to ensure that substantially all of the reservoir vessel's contents may be expelled. The lower concertina element 24 stands on the table top or other surface with its narrower/ lesser diameter part lowermost and tapering radially outwardly in the upward direction. The open-topped upper end of the reservoir vessel 20 has a tall neck portion 26 that is thicker than the concertina-form perimeter wall 21 and bears mating screw thread sections 27 to cooperatively engage with the screw thread sections 38 of the lid 30.

The overall shape and configuration of the reservoir vessel 20 as described facilitates its manufacture, not least because the fewer concertina elements and the much reduced angle at which those elements travel, goes a long way towards elimination of the thickness differentials described earlier in relation to WO 2006/000762. The present vessel is much better basis for reliable mass production.

In use, the reservoir vessel 20 contains a treatment fluid that may, for example, be a cleaning and/or disinfecting liquid or gel or a lubricant, polish or wax, a cosmetic or cleansing fluid or any other treatment fluid to be applied to the surface of a target object or person. To initiate use the sealing foil 35 on the underside of the lid is first removed. The hand-utility interface body 10 is taken and the foam pad 12 (or other underside media surface of the interface) is moistened under a tap with warm water.

The hand utility interface body 10 is then moved down into docking engagement with the docking receptacle of the reservoir vessel's lid 30 in the position as shown in Figures 3, 4 and 10. Here it is then safely pressed down firmly on the lid 30. This pressing down action causes the concertina body of the reservoir vessel 20 to compress without risk of the body 10 slipping sideways off the reservoir vessel 20. The treatment fluid content of the reservoir vessel 20 is forced upwards through the apertures and onto the pad on the underside of the hand-utility interface body 10. The greater the downward pressure, the greater the volume of gel applied to the interface. With the interface suitably loaded with fluid the cleaning, cleansing, polishing or other work can commence.

If used for cleaning, the interface is periodically returned under warm running water, compressed by clenching the hand to expel excess water, and again docked and pressed onto the lid 30 of the reservoir vessel 20 to pick up more cleaning agent or gel. This process may be repeated again and again, taking full advantage of the high capacity of the reservoir vessel 20 and the ability to securely station the hand utility interface body 10 on the lid 30 of the vessel 20 between bouts of use.

(C) Hand Utility Interface with Sanding Disc (Figures 11 to 18)

Referring to Figures 11 to 18, the illustrated hand utility interface comprises a hand utility interface body 10 that suitably has the form of any of the hand utility interface bodies described in the present applicant's afore-mentioned PCT applications.

Most preferably the body 10 is constructed in accordance with the teachings of WO 2008/003979. The illustrated hand utility interface comprises a medially symmetric body 10 formed of a self supporting membrane, the body 10 having finger channels 11a-d with sidewalls that deform elastically to grip the user's fingers when the fingers are pressed down into them, thereby attaching the body 10 to the hand for use. An abrasive sanding disc 12 is provided on the under-side of the hand utility interface body 10 to serve as the utility media for treating the target work surface. For other purposes the sand paper 12 may be replaced by any other desired utility media, whether it be a scouring foam pad for cleaning or a polishing/ buffing rotary disc.

The body 10 has a raised/ domed palm part/ portion 10a extending proximally (rearwardly) beyond the proximal end of the finger channels 11 to underlie the user's palm. The palm portion 10a assists in maintaining the interface correctly located under the user's hand and pressing the palm down on the body 10 to apply maximum pressure when moving the device back-and-forth to sand a target surface.

The illustrated body 10 has four finger channels 11a-d, the two equal length medial channels 11b, 11c being the longest to accommodate the user's index and middle fingers, respectively and the two lateral channels 11a, 11c being shorter and of equal length to each other whereby the body 10 is medially symmetric to fit equally well to a user's right or left hand. The sidewalls 14 of the finger channels 11 taper, narrowing from their open proximal end toward their distal/ finger tip end up to and including the expected location of the user's distal interphalangeal joint in order for the sidewalls 14 to grip that joint. The side walls 14 also grip the proximal interphalangeal joints. In the medial channels 11b, 11c the channel then widens beyond that location up to and including the tip 15. While the sidewalls 14 for the majority of each channel 11b, 11c are arranged to hug the sides of the fingers, the tip area 15 cannot, because the sidewalls 14 are joined together ahead of the finger-tip.

Ease of flexure of the hand utility interface is aided by the provision of transverse grooves 13 in the bases of the channels 11a-d and extending part-way up the channels' sidewalls. These grooves 13 are located fore and aft of the expected location of the user's proximal and distal interphalangeal joints and not only aid flexure but also provide lateral strengthening of the sidewalls.

Unlike prior hand utility interfaces, the hand utility interface body 10 has a generally circular foot-print (shape as viewed in plan). The foot-print of the hand utility interface body 10 has this circular shape and is of a diameter to match to a standard off-the-shelf 6 inch (15.24cm) diameter sanding disc for a rotary sander. The foot-print of the hand utility interface body 10 is not, however, entirely circular. The front end 10b of the hand utility interface body 10 has a shape in plan that tapers towards a forward-most point whereby the front of the body 10 is wedge-shaped as viewed in plan. Additionally, the palm part/ portion 10a is augmented by a rear extension panel 10c extending rearwardly in an arc co-planar with the base/ baseline of the body 10 to serve as a support surface for the heel of the user's hand in use.

The tapering/ convergence of the front 10b of the body 10 gives rise to the effect that the underlying utility media substrate/ sanding disc 12 has two forward segments 12a, 12b that extend beyond the body 10. These segments 12a, 12b are not supported by the body 10 and are thus free to fold and ride up the converging front faces of the body 10 and thus cut neatly into a corner of any target object as illustrated in Figure 14.

As can be seen in Figure 12, the underlying utility media substrate/ sanding disc 12 is demountably mounted to the underside of the body 10 by releasable fastening to a mounting substrate 16. The mounting substrate 16 is a sheet that is bonded to the underside of the body 10. For most commercially available sanding or polishing discs 12 the disk 12 may have an open cell foam backing pad or loose woven flock backing which lends itself well to being releasably attached by use of a mounting substrate 16 comprising an extruded sheet that has a plurality of minute lugs with heads (approximately mushroom-shaped lugs) to co-operatively engage with the loose woven or open cell foam of the pad.

Figures 15 to 18 show plan, side and sectional views of an alternative embodiment that differs from the first embodiment in having the addition of a thick sponge/foam pad 16' between the interface body 10 and the mounting substrate 16, which provides support for any vertically rising part 12a of the abrasive substrate 12 so that it can be driven more efficiently against the vertically rising facet of the target surface.

D) Hand Utility Interface with Skirt (Figures 19 to 22)

Referring to Figures 19 to 22, the hand utility interface here comprises a body 10 that has four finger channels 11a-d. The hand utility interface body 10 may be fabricated from a block foam structure but is here shown as fabricated from a self-supporting resilient membrane. The finger channels 11a-d are open-topped finger channels and each is sized and shaped to receive one finger of the user's hand. The user's hand is releasably gripped by the walls of the finger channels 11a-d when the fingers of the hand are pressed into the finger channels 11a-d.

The two medial ones 11b, 11c of the finger channels are the longest channels and of equal length so that either may accommodate the user's middle or index fingers and the two flanking lateral finger channels 11a, 11c are shorter and of equal length whereby the body 10 is medially symmetric to fit equally well to a user's right or left hand

The sidewalls of at least the medial finger channels 11b, 11c taper from near their open proximal end toward their distal/ finger tip end from before the expected location of the user's proximal interphalangeal joint up to and including the expected location of the user's distal interphalangeal joint in order for the sidewalls to grip that joint. In the two medial channels 11 b, 11c the channel then widens beyond that location up to and including the tip in order to prevent pinching of the finger tip where the sidewalls join.

Flexure is also aided by the provision of transverse grooves 13 in the bases of the channels 11a-d and extending part-way up the channels' sidewalls. These grooves 13 are located fore and aft of the expected location of the user's proximal and distal interphalangeal joints and not only aid flexure but also provide lateral strengthening of the sidewalls. As can best be seen in Figures 21 and 22, the hand utility interface body 10 has a foam applicator pad or other suitable treatment fluid application media 14 fastened to its underside. The foam pad 14 is suitably about 6mm to 20mm thick and of compressible plastics foam construction suitable for holding and applying the wood-stain or other treatment fluid. The illustrated pad is approximately the same shape as the hand utility interface body 10 but is of smaller footprint area than the area of the body 10. The body 10 has a substantially flat/ planar flange extension 15 around its perimeter extending outwardly from the zone occupied by the finger channels 11a-d to be substantially plane parallel to any planar target surface or work top on which the body 10 may be rested. The foam pad 14 extends to underlie this flange extension 15 so that the underside of the body 10 and top face 14a of the foam pad 14 have close face-to face contact for a substantial area around the perimeter of the body 10. The pad 14 may be securely adhered or otherwise fastened to the body 10 over this area. Optionally the pad 14 may be releasably fastened by VELCRO™ tabs or other releasable fasteners to allow replacement.

At the outer perimeter of the flange extension 15 it turns downwardly in an arc and subtends an angle that is approximately 45° to the plane of the flange extension 15, whereby the edge of the body 10 has a bevelled form and the downward extension forms a skirt 16 that surrounds the foam pad 14 at the upper edges of its sides 14b. The skirt 16 does not extend fully to the base 14c of the foam pad 14 but suitably extends sufficiently far down to come close to but not abut the plane of the target work surface when the hand utility interface is in use and it functions to substantially prevent the fluid, eg wood stain, held in the foam pad 14 from rising to the upper face of the body 10 as it is squeezed from the foam pad 14.In alternative embodiments the flange extension 15 may extend even further out from the central part of the body 10 with its finger channels. Increasing the spread of the flange extension 15 allows for larger area foam pads 14 to be used. In further refinements the apparatus of this aspect may be used in conjunction with a reservoir for treatment fluid such as for example the concertina-walled reservoir of the second aspect of the invention. Treatment fluid from such a reservoir is transferred to and absorbed into the foam pad.