Towel

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to towels and, more particularly, to a hand or bath towel that is selectively attachable to and removable from a traditional towel bar.

Many people have trouble keeping a hand towel on a traditional towel bar such that, when needed, it has often fallen to the floor or has been carried to some other unknown location. Traditional hand towels do not provide any means for being held securely on a traditional towel bar.

Various proposals have been made in the prior art for attaching towels to a support, such as with hooks or the like. Although assumably effective for their intended purposes, the existing device do not provide for selective attachment and removal of a towel to a traditional towel bar.

Therefore, it would be desirable to have a towel that is easy to attach to and remove from a traditional towel bar. Further, it would be desirable to have a towel that will not easily fall from a towel bar.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, a towel according to the present invention includes a construction specifically suitable for direct, removable attachment to a traditional towel bar. The towel includes a first material defining at least one hold and having a slit that connects the hole either with an area beyond the perimeter of the towel or with an adjacent hole. With at least one slit connecting the at least one hole with a peripheral edge, the towel may be removably attached to the bar by forcing the towel bar through the slit to the hole. As the towel may define several holes and respective slits therebetween, the towel may be even more securely attached to the towel bar and the towel may be evenly hung therefrom.

Therefore, a general object of this invention is to provide a towel for direct, removable attachment to a traditional towel bar.

Another object of this invention is to provide a towel, as aforesaid, defining at least one hole and a slit connecting the hole with a peripheral edge of the towel for quick attachment and removal.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a towel, as aforesaid, that may be used with a bathroom or kitchen towel bars or kitchen appliance bars.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a towel, as aforesaid, that may include multiple holes with respective interconnecting slits for secure, removable attachment to a traditional towel bar.

A further object of this invention is to provide a towel, as aforesaid, in which the holes may include various configurations.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a towel, as aforesaid, that is constructed of a material that will withstand machine washing and drying.

Another object of this invention is to provide a towel, as aforesaid, that is inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of this invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is perspective view of a towel according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention selectively and removably attached to a towel bar;

FIG. 2a is a front view of the towel as in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2b is a sectional view taken along line 2b-2b of FIG. 2a ; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view as in FIG. 1 taken from another angle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A towel 100 according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3 of the accompanying drawings. More particularly, a towel 100 for direct, removable attachment to a rod 2 according to the current invention includes a first material 110 defining at least one hole 112 and at least one slit 114.

The first material 110 has a perimeter 111, and one slit 114 connects one hole 112 to an area void of material so that the rod 2 may pass through the slit 114 to be located in the hole 112. The perimeter 111 may also be referred to herein as a peripheral edge. The area void of material may be outside the perimeter 111, or the area void of material may be another hole 112 defined by the first material 110.

As shown in FIG. 2, a first slit 114a may connect first and second holes 112a, 112b, a second slit 114b may connect a third hole 112c to an area outside the perimeter 111, and a third slit 114c may connect a fourth hole 112d to an area outside the perimeter 111. The rod 2 may pass through the first, second, and third slits 114a, 114b, 114c to be located in the first, second, third, and fourth holes 112a, 112b, 112c, 112d to support the towel 100 (FIG. 1 and FIG. 3). The first and second holes 112a, 112b may be located between the third and fourth holes 112c, 112d, and the second and third slits 114b, 114c may connect the third and fourth holes to opposed sides 111a, 111b of the perimeter 111, respectively.

The first, second, third, and fourth holes 112a, 112b, 112c, 112d may present first, second, third, and fourth contact points 113a, 113b, 113c, 113d, respectively, which are located along an imaginary straight line. This positioning ensures that the rod 2 contacts the first, second, third, and fourth holes 112a, 112b, 112c, 112d, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3. The first, second, third, and fourth contact points may be spaced generally equidistantly along the imaginary straight line, as shown in FIG. 2, to evenly distribute the weight of the first material 110 about the first, second, third, and fourth holes 112a, 112b, 112c, 112d. The holes 112 may be generally round, as shown throughout the drawings, to be complementary to a rounded rod 2; or one side of the holes 112 (i.e., a top side) may be generally straight to be complementary to a squared rod 2. Further, while the holes 112 are preferably adjacent a top side 110a of the first material 110, they may be located elsewhere. Also, it should be understood that various numbers of holes 112 may be defined and utilized.

A second material 120 may border the first material 110 adjacent the one or more holes 112, as long as the one or more slits 114 continue to connect the hole(s) 112 to area(s) void of material, as discussed above. The second material 120 is preferably a resilient material, such as a high temperature plastic, though other materials may alternately or additionally be used. The second material 120 may add stability to the towel 100 when attached to the rod 2, and the second material 120 may keep the first material 110 from tearing.

In use, the first material 110 and the second material 120 may be separated about the one or more slits 114 to allow the rod 2 to be located in the hole(s) 112 as discussed above. The second material 120 may then resume its initial position as shown throughout the drawings due to its resilient nature, which removably attaches the towel 100 to the rod 2. When the first material 110 becomes dirty or a user wishes to remove the towel 100 from the rod 2 for other reasons, the first and second material 110, 120 may again be separated about the one or more slits 114 to allow the rod 2 to be removed from the hole(s) 112. Depending on the composition of the first and second material 110, 120, the towel 100 may then be washed or discarded.

It is understood that while certain forms of this invention have been illustrated and described, it is not limited thereto except insofar as such limitations are included in the following claims and allowable functional equivalents thereof.