ECO-FRIENDLY PET WASTE GLOVE

Abstract

A pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand has a collapsible, invertible, and substantially impermeable glove assembly with a thumb side and a little-finger side. A thumb-side handle portion and a little-finger-side handle portion is coupled to the cuff portion and is designed to be knotted to seal an interior portion of the glove assembly. An exterior portion of the glove assembly is designed to become the interior portion of the glove assembly when the glove assembly is inverted. The glove assembly is inverted by rolling the glove assembly off the hand distally from the cuff portion to the fingers portion. The waste product grasped by the user's hand when protected by the glove assembly is retained in the interior portion of the inverted glove assembly.

Description

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

[0001] This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional application with Ser. No. 63/054791, filed on Jul. 22, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The inventive concept relates generally to an eco-friendly pet waste glove.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Currently, there are many solutions for disposing of pet waste. One of these solutions attempts to use a plastic bag, but this solution fails to meet the needs of the market because plastic bags are not environmentally friendly. Another solution attempts to use a paper bag, but this solution is similarly unable to meet the needs of the market because it is hard to pick up waste with a paper bag. Still another solution seeks to use a pooper-scooper, but this solution also fails to meet market needs because pooper-scoopers are inconvenient to transport. Therefore, there currently exists a need in the market for an apparatus that allows dog owners to efficiently pick up and dispose pet waste.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] A pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand has a collapsible, invertible, and substantially impermeable glove assembly with a plurality of fingers portion, a palm portion and a cuff portion designed to cover a human hand. The glove assembly has at least a first thumb sleave to receive a thumb, and a second fingers sleeve to receive at least one finger, the cuff portion having an opening and a rim for receiving the human hand. A first handle portion is coupled to the rim side of the cuff portion and a second handle portion is coupled to the rim side of the cuff portion laterally away from the first handle portion, the first handle portion and the second handle portion designed to be pulled about the palm portion and knotted together to seal an interior or palm portion of the glove assembly. An exterior portion of the glove assembly opposite the palm portion is designed to become the interior portion of the glove assembly when the glove assembly is inverted upon pulling the first and second handle portions. The glove assembly is inverted by rolling the glove assembly off the hand distally from the cuff portion towards the fingers portion, wherein a user's hand is protected by the glove assembly after grasping and retaining mammal waste in the interior or palm portion of the inverted glove assembly. As an illustration, the user wears the glove to pick up pet waste and then rolls the glove off while still grasping the pet waste, the pet waste afterward is contained inside the inverted glove assembly once the glove assembly is removed from the user's hand.

[0005] Inverted follows the definition of being the opposite that might commonly be called inside-out.

[0006] In one embodiment of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand, the substantially impermeable glove assembly is made substantially from a biodegradable, eco-friendly plastic.

[0007] Biodegradable, eco-friendly plastics can be decomposed by the action of living organisms, usually microbes, into water, carbon dioxide, and biomass. Biodegradable plastics are commonly produced with renewable raw materials, micro-organisms, petrochemicals, or combinations of all three. These may include, Polyhydroxyalkanoates, Polylactic acid (PLA), Starch blends. Cellulose-based plastics, Lignin-based polymer composites, Petroleum-based plastics, Polyglycolic acid (PGA), Polybutylene succinate (PBS), Polycaprolactone (PCL), Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA, PVOH), or Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT).

[0008] In one embodiment of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand, a sealable container assembly is designed to contain the glove assembly until the glove assembly is retrieved from the sealable container assembly.

[0009] It would be advantageous to have a pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand that is disposable. Furthermore, it would be advantageous to have a pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand that is portable. Still further, it would be advantageous to have a pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand that is universal.

[0010] In another embodiment of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand that has a second fingers sleeve portion and the first thumb sleeve portion of the substantially impermeable glove assembly form a mitt configuration.

[0011] In one example embodiment, the waste bag is used with other waste products and is not limited to pet waste. Waste products include, and are not limited to, bio-waste, disposable products that should not be picked up directly by a human hand to protect against transmission of disease from the disposed item, medicines or drugs, chemicals that do not react with the glove material but shield's the user's hand. The glove can also be reconfigured to fit over tools such as medical tongs or telescoping or extended clamping devices or grabbers so that the item that is picked up can be pulled easily from the pick-up tool or device.

[0012] The inventive concept advantageously fills the aforementioned deficiencies by providing an eco-friendly pet waste glove, which provides an eco-friendly way to pick up and dispose of dog or other animal waste. The inventive concept may be a disposable glove for dog waste and may be unisex glove sizes.

[0013] The pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand may have a clip-on carrying case.

[0014] The pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand may have wing handles.

[0015] The pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand fulfills the need for pet waste disposal.

[0016] Among other things, it is an advantage of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand to provide an eco-friendly pet waste glove that does not suffer from problems or deficiencies associated with prior solutions.

[0017] It is still further an advantage of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand to be environmentally friendly.

[0018] Still further, the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand may have unisex glove sizes.

[0019] The inventive concept now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are intended to be read in conjunction with both this summary, the detailed description and any preferred and/or particular embodiments specifically discussed or otherwise disclosed. This inventive concept may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of illustration only and so that this disclosure will be thorough, complete, and will fully convey the full scope of the inventive concept to those skilled in the art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates ae back side view of a pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand.

[0021] FIG. 2 illustrates the front side view of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand.

[0022] FIG. 3 illustrates the perspective view of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand.

[0023] FIG. 4 illustrates the left side view of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand.

[0024] FIG. 5 illustrates the right side view of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand.

[0025] FIG. 6 illustrates a bag container assembly perspective view.

[0026] FIG. 7 illustrates a method of inverting the glove assembly.

[0027] FIG. 8A and 8B illustrate a method of disposing pet waste in a bag while protecting a user's hand.

[0028] FIG. 9A through 9E illustrate chemical structures that may be incorporated into the glove assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0029] Following are more detailed descriptions of various related concepts related to, and embodiments of, methods and apparatus according to the present disclosure. It should be appreciated that various aspects of the subject matter introduced above and discussed in greater detail below may be implemented in any of numerous ways, as the subject matter is not limited to any particular manner of implementation. Examples of specific implementations and applications are provided primarily for illustrative purposes.

[0030] Referring to the Figures, FIGS. 1-5 illustrate one embodiment of a pet waste bag 10 for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand that has a collapsible, invertible, and substantially impermeable glove assembly 100 with a plurality of fingers portion 190, a palm portion and a cuff portion 110 designed to cover a human hand. The glove assembly 100 has at least a thumb side sleeve to receive a thumb 101 and a little-finger side sleeve to receive at least one finger 109, the cuff portion 110 having an opening and a rim for receiving the human hand. A thumb-side handle portion 121 is coupled to a thumb side rim of the cuff portion 111 and a little-finger-side handle portion 129 is coupled to a little-finger side of the cuff portion 119. The thumb-side handle portion 121 and the little-finger-side handle portion 129 are designed to be knotted to seal an interior portion of the glove assembly 730, as illustrated in FIG. 7. An exterior portion of the glove assembly 131 opposite the palm portion 110 is designed to become the interior portion of the glove assembly 730 when the glove assembly 100 is inverted upon pulling the first and second handle portions 121, 129. The glove assembly 100 is inverted by rolling the glove assembly 100 off the hand distally from the cuff portion 110 towards the fingers portion 190, wherein a user's hand is protected by the glove assembly 100 after grasping and retaining mammal waste, with reference to FIG. 7, in the interior or palm portion of the inverted glove assembly 730.

[0031] This embodiment of the pet waste bag 10 for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand includes, with reference to FIG. 6, a sealable container assembly 650 designed to contain the glove assembly 100 until the glove assembly 100 is retrieved from the sealable container assembly 650. In the example embodiment of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand, the sealable container assembly 650 has a side slot member 655 for drawing the glove assembly 100 therethrough. In the example embodiment of the pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand, the sealable container assembly 650 has disposed on that sealable container assembly 650 a clip assembly 656 adapted to attach to a garment member.

[0032] FIGS. 1-7 further illustrate in the example embodiment the plurality of fingers portion 190 have substantially full articulation relative to hand joint members.

[0033] FIGS. 1-7 further illustrate that in the example embodiment, the thumb-side handle portion 121 and the little-finger-side handle portion 129 substantially form a thumb-side closed loop with proximal end 122 attached to a cuff first side portion of the glove assembly 161 and distal end 124 coupled to a cuff second side portion of the glove assembly 169, and form a finger-side closed loop with proximal end 128 attached to the cuff first side portion of the glove assembly 161 and distal end 126 coupled to the cuff second side portion of the glove assembly 169.

[0034] FIGS. 8A-8B illustrate a method of disposing pet waste in a bag while protecting a user's hand, the method including 800 inserting the user's hand into the collapsible, invertible, and substantially impermeable glove assembly 100, the glove assembly having the plurality of fingers portion 190, and a palm portion of the cuff portion 110 designed to cover the hand, the glove assembly having the first thumb or thumb side sleeve portion 101 and a second or little fingers sleeve portion 109. The method further involves 805 grasping pet waste that has been excreted by a pet on a surface. With the pet waste grasped, the method further involves 810 inverting the glove assembly by rolling the glove assembly off the user's hand distally from the cuff portion 110 toward the fingers portion 190 and retaining in the palm or interior portion of the inverted glove assembly the exterior portion of the glove assembly 131 adapted to become the interior portion of the glove assembly 730 when the glove assembly is inverted. The method further involves 815 knotting to seal the interior portion of the glove assembly 730 containing the pet waste by tying the first or thumb side handle portion 121 lateral from the first handle portion 121 and the second or little-finger-side handle portion 129 together.

[0035] FIGS. 8A-8B further illustrate that the method may include the step of 820 drawing a glove assembly from the sealable container assembly 650.

[0036] FIGS. 8A-8B further illustrate that the method may include the step of 825 drawing the pet waste bag from the side slot member 655 of the container assembly 650.

[0037] FIGS. 8A-8B further illustrate that the method may involve 830 clipping the sealable container assembly 650 to a garment member.

[0038] FIGS. 8A-8B further illustrate that the method may include the step of 835 decomposing the pet waste bag and waste therein by the actions of microbes substantially into water, carbon dioxide, and biomass.

[0039] FIGS. 9A-9E illustrate that the substantially impermeable glove assembly 100 can be made substantially from at least one or more biodegradable plastics from a group of: Polyhydroxyalkanoates 901, Polylactic acid (PLA) 902, Cellulose-based plastics 903 Lignin-based polymer composites 904 Petroleum-based plastics 905, Polyglycolic acid (PGA) 906, Polybutylene succinate (PBS) 907, Polycaprolactone (PCL) 908, Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA, PVOH) 909. Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) 910, and Starch blends 911. The illustrating figures are representative and may have other related structures or variations in the elements and bonding of those elements to the structures illustrated. Further, an antimicrobial agent may be added to enhance user protection.

[0040] The following patents are incorporated by reference in their entireties: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,112,138, 6,050,726, 20080019618A1, and 20080226201A1.

[0041] While the inventive concept has been described above in terms of specific embodiments, it is to be understood that the inventive concept is not limited to these disclosed embodiments. Upon reading the teachings of this disclosure, many modifications and other embodiments of the inventive concept will come to mind of those skilled in the art to which this inventive concept pertains, and which are intended to be and are covered by both this disclosure and the appended claims. It is indeed intended that the scope of the inventive concept should be determined by proper interpretation and construction of the appended claims and their legal equivalents, as understood by those of skill in the art relying upon the disclosure in this specification and the attached drawings.

Claims

1. A waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand comprising: a collapsible, invertible, and substantially impermeable glove assembly with a plurality of fingers portion, a palm portion and a cuff portion adapted to cover a human hand, the glove assembly having a least a first thumb sleeve to receive a thumb and a second fingers sleeve to receive at least one finger, the cuff portion having an opening and a rim for receiving the human hand; a first handle portion coupled to the rim of the cuff portion and a second handle portion coupled to the rim side of the cuff portion laterally away from the first handle portion, the first handle portion and the second handle portion adapted to be pulled about the palm portion and knotted together to seal an interior or palm portion of the glove assembly; and an exterior portion of the glove assembly opposite the palm portion adapted to become the interior portion of the glove assembly when the glove assembly is inverted upon pulling the first and second handle portions, the glove assembly invertible by rolling the glove assembly off the hand distally from the cuff portion towards the fingers portion, wherein a user's hand is protected by the glove assembly after grasping and retaining a waste item or product in the interior or palm portion of the inverted glove assembly.

2. The waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 1 wherein the substantially impermeable glove assembly is made substantially from at least one or more biodegradable plastics.

3. The waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 2 wherein the substantially impermeable glove assembly is made substantially from at least one or more biodegradable plastics from a group of: Polyhydroxyalkanoates, Polylactic acid (PLA), Starch blends., Cellulose-based plastics, Lignin-based polymer composites, Petroleum-based plastics, Polyglycolic acid (PGA) Polybutylene succinate (PBS), Polycaprolactone (PCL), Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA, PVOH), and Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT).

4. The waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 1 wherein a sealable container assembly is adapted to contain the glove assembly until the glove assembly is retrieved from the sealable container assembly.

5. The waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 4 wherein the sealable container assembly has a side slot member for drawing the glove assembly therethrough.

6. The waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 4 wherein the sealable container assembly has disposed on that sealable container assembly a clip assembly adapted to attach to a garment member.

7. The waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 1 wherein the second fingers sleeve portion and the first thumb sleeve portion of the substantially impermeable glove assembly form a mitt configuration.

8. A method of disposing pet waste in a bag while protecting a user's hand, the method comprising the steps of: inserting a user's hand into a collapsible, invertible, and substantially impermeable glove assembly, the glove assembly having a plurality of fingers portion, a palm portion and a cuff portion adapted to cover the hand, the glove assembly having a first thumb sleeve portion and a second fingers sleeve portion; grasping pet waste that has been excreted by a pet on a surface; with the pet waste grasped, inverting the glove assembly by rolling the glove assembly off the user's hand distally from the cuff portion towards the fingers portion and retaining in the palm or interior portion of the inverted glove assembly an exterior portion of the glove assembly adapted to become the interior portion of the glove assembly when the glove assembly is inverted; and knotting to seal the interior portion of the glove assembly containing the pet waste by tying a first handle portion coupled to a rim of the cuff portion and a second handle portion lateral from the first handle portion and coupled to the rim of the cuff portion together.

9. The method of disposing pet waste in a bag while protecting a user's hand of claim 8, the method the step of first drawing a glove assembly from a sealable container assembly.

10. The method of disposing pet waste in a bag while protecting a user's hand of claim 9, the method further comprising the step of drawing the pet waste bag from a side slot member of the container assembly.

11. The method of disposing pet waste in a bag while protecting a user's hand of claim 9, the method further comprising the step of clipping the sealable container assembly to a garment member.

12. The method of disposing pet waste in a bag while protecting a user's hand of claim 8, the method further comprising the step of decomposing the pet waste bag and waste therein by the actions of microbes substantially into w teicarboy dioxide, and biomass.

13. A pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand comprising: a collapsible, invertible, and substantially impermeable glove assembly with a fingers portion, a palm portion, and a cuff portion adapted to cover a human hand, the glove assembly having a thumb side sleeve and a little-finger side sleeve, wherein the fingers portion have substantially full articulation relative to hand joint members; a thumb-side handle portion coupled to a thumb side of the cuff portion and a little-finger-side handle portion coupled to a little-finger side of the cuff portion, the thumb-side handle portion and the little-finger-side handle portion substantially forming closed loops with proximal ends attached to a rim of a cuff first side portion of the glove assembly and distal ends coupled to a cuff second side portion of the glove assembly, the handle portions adapted to be knotted together to seal an interior portion of the glove assembly; and an exterior portion of the glove assembly adapted to become the interior portion of the glove assembly when the glove assembly is inverted, the glove assembly invertible by rolling the glove assembly off the hand distally from the cuff portion towards the fingers portion, wherein the user's hand is protected by the glove assembly after waste graspable by the user's hand is retained in the interior portion of the inverted glove assembly.

14. The pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 13 wherein the substantially impermeable glove assembly is made substantially from at least one or more biodegradable plastic.

15. The pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 14 wherein the substantially impermeable glove assembly is made substantially from at least one or more biodegradable plastics from a group of: Polyhydroxyalkanoates, Polylactic acid (PLA), Starch blends, Cellulose-based plastics, Lignin-based polymer composites, Petroleum-based plastics, Polyglycolic acid (PGA) Polybutylene succinate (PBS), Polycaprolactone (PCL), Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA, PVOH), and Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT).

16. The pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 13 wherein a sealable container assembly is adapted to contain the glove assembly until the glove assembly is retrieved from the sealable container assembly.

17. The pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 16 wherein the sealable container assembly has a side slot member for drawing the glove assembly therethrough.

18. The pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 16 wherein the sealable container assembly has disposed on that sealable container assembly a clip assembly adapted to attach to a garment member.

19. The pet waste bag for disposing of waste while protecting a user's hand in claim 13 wherein the substantially impermeable glove assembly is made universally of one size.

20. The pet waste bag of claim 13 wherein an opposite surface of the fingers sleeve and palm portions include an antimicrobial agent to enhance user protection.