Sweat Scraper

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to configurations and structures for skin scraping devices.

BACKGROUND

Many people find using a sauna to be an enjoyable and relaxing experience. The heat from the sauna can help to relax muscles and relieve tension, which can help to reduce stress levels. Sweating in a sauna has also been associated with numerous health benefits. One of the most significant benefits is that it helps to flush out toxins and impurities from the body. Additionally, sweating in a sauna can help to improve skin health by opening up pores and removing dead skin cells. Sweating is the body's natural way of eliminating toxins, and saunas promote sweating, which can help to remove harmful substances from the body. Additionally, sweating in a sauna can help to improve lung function by opening up airways and reducing inflammation. Finally, sweating in a sauna can help to boost the immune system. Heat from the sauna can helps to increase the production of white blood cells, which are responsible for fighting off infections and diseases.

While the health benefits of sweating in a sauna are well-documented, dealing with the sweat can sometimes be annoying. Conventionally, there are several ways that people use to try to make the experience more comfortable. For example, sauna users may bring a towel to wipe away sweat and prevent it from getting into the eyes. Some people wear loose-fitting clothing that allows the skin to breathe and helps to wick away sweat. Others may use the edge of credit cards to scrape away sweat from their skin.

All of these conventional techniques of dealing with sweat during a sauna have certain drawbacks. For example, towels are bulky, require constant laundering, may leave lint sticking to the wet skin surface. Further, towels do little to remove toxins and waste from the pores of the skin. Similarly, wearing of loose-fitting clothing also requires constant laundering and does nothing to mechanically remove toxins and waste from the pores of the skin. The edge of credit cards, although they provide ease of cleaning and help with mechanical removal of toxins and waste from skin pores as the card edge is scraped across the skin surface while whisking away the sweat, they suffer from the problem that they are not only designed with a different purpose in mind (so they may be unsanitary unless washed well before use), but the hardness or the card edge tends to irritate the skin surface in many cases.

Saunas are just one environment that sweat removal is desired. Almost any athlete, at some time desires to remove sweat from the skin. It is even desirable to remove sweat in hot environments such as, but not limited to sitting in the sun on a warm or hot day. Whether walking, hiking, swimming, at a concert in the daylight and sun, in humid weather or taking a shower there is a need for a device that alleviates the reliance of a towel and creates a new standard in allowing the skin to dry off and to no longer resort to having to use a towel in most cases. In such a case, a towel may be as a secondary means/method rather than the primary. This impacts the environment in a positive way as the user is now no longer washing towels daily after a fitness session and or any kind of activity where sweat is likely. Further, there is a need for a device to recycle any type of shaving cream, e.g., if too much is applied and can use this device to reuse the product and layer it more evenly if too much is applied in any one area of the body initially.

Accordingly, there is a need for a portable, sanitary, sweat removal tool that aids in removing toxins and waste from skin pores while not causing skin irritation.

SUMMARY

In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a sweat removal device, including: a substantially rigid inner body structure; a flexible body layer covering the rigid inner body structure, the flexible body layer including: a body portion; a contoured grip portion; a tapered edge portion, the tapered edge portion tapering from the body portion to a scraping edge; and an antimicrobial coating covering at least some of the flexible body layer.

In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a sweat removal device, including: a handle portion formed of at least a first material; a blade portion, coupled to the handle portion, the blade portion including: a substantially rigid inner blade structure; a flexible blade layer covering the rigid inner blade structure, the flexible blade layer having a blade edge and a blade surface; and antimicrobial agents associated with the blade surface.

In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a sweat removal device, including: a nylon inner core; a silicone outer layer surrounding the nylon inner core, the silicone outer layer forming a contoured grip portion, a connector portion, a tapered portion, and a curved scraping edge; and an antimicrobial treatment of at least a portion of the silicone outer layer.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments are illustrated in referenced figures of the drawings. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sweat removal tool in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an alternative illustrative embodiment of a sweat removal tool.

FIG. 3 is a front view of another alternative illustrative embodiment of a sweat removal tool.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the illustrative embodiment of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 depicts illustrative embodiments of iterative designs of a sweat removal tool.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an illustrative embodiment of a sweat removal device 100 is depicted. Sweat removal device 100 includes a substantially rigid inner body structure providing shape and form to the sweat removal device. A flexible body layer 110 covers the rigid inner body structure. The flexible body layer 110 includes a body portion 115 and a contoured grip portion 120 integrally formed in the flexible body layer 110. The contoured grip portion may be formed in any variety of geometries, shapes and sizes, but generally configured to fit with the thumb on one side and the index finger on the other side. Body layer 110 also forms a tapered edge portion 150 which tapers from the body portion 115 to a scraping edge 160. In accordance with various illustrative embodiments, an antimicrobial coating covers at least some of the flexible body layer 110.

Sweat removal device 100 may be used to wipe away sweat from a user's skin during any type of activity where sweat may be present. For example, sweat removal tool 100 may be used during or after athletic activities, during or after a sauna, while relaxing in hot or sunny environment, or virtually any time when sweat may be present. Conventionally people have sometimes used credit cards for the same purpose, where the user scrapes the edge of the card across the skin surface to remove sweat as well as toxins and waste from the skin's pores. The use of a credit card for this purpose however is unsanitary and may cause skin irritation or discomfort while using it. Sweat removal device 100 is formed of flexible materials, such as but not limited to silicone over a more rigid inner core. Scraping edge 160 may also be contoured or curved so that it may conform better to the contours of the body. In accordance with various embodiments, sweat removal tool 100 may also include any of a variety of antimicrobial treatments such as antimicrobial agents or compounds deposited on the surface of flexible body layer 110 or embedded into the material of flexible body layer 110, especially on scraping edge 160 and on tapered edge portion 150 which are more likely to contact the skin surface when being used. The use of an antimicrobial treatment enables sanitary use of sweat removal device 100. Such antimicrobial treatments may include, but are not limited to, polysiloxane compounds, silver, silver compounds, zinc, and zinc compounds, etc.

According to various illustrative embodiments, sweat removal device 100 may include a carrying connector 140 which may be used for attaching to a carbiner clip, a lanyard, or the like. In the embodiment depicted, carrying connector 140 is embodied as an aperture however other forms, such as hooks or loops, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an alternative embodiment of a sweat removal tool 200 is depicted. Sweat removal tool 200 includes a flexible silicone body portion 210, a grip portion 220 which may be a slot that may include a name or logo 230 as well as a carrying connector 240, shown as an aperture or through-hole. Sweat removal tool 200 includes a tapered portion 250 terminating at a scraping edge 260.

Similar to FIG. 2, FIGS. 3 and 4 are another illustrative embodiment of a sweat removal tool 300. Sweat removal tool 300 includes a flexible silicone body portion 310, a grip portion 320 which may be a slot that may include a name or logo 330 as well as a carrying connector 340, shown as an aperture or through-hole. Sweat removal tool 300 includes a tapered portion 350 terminating at a scraping edge 360. FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative side view of sweat removal tool 300. As depicted, a substantially rigid core 370 is covered by flexible silicone body portion 310. Rigid core 370 may be made of any of a variety of materials including but not limited to plastic or nylon, etc. In the illustrative embodiment shown, antimicrobial agents 380 may be deposited on or embedded in the surface of tapered portion 350 and scraping edge 360. In various embodiments, antimicrobial agents may be deposited on or embedded in more than tapered portion 380 as depicted without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 5, various possible designs for a sweat removal device are depicted. The tools may be designed with different contours, aspect ratios, scraper edge curvatures, etc. without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Also, various side views are depicted including design A in which the rigid portion is entirely encased versus the design B. in which the scraper blade portion is assembled into the handle portion. In some embodiments, the blade portion may be swappable in the handle portion such that different blades may be used for example with different scraper blade edge curvatures, or different scraper blade flexibilities. The different blades may be swapped for different uses beyond use as a sweat removal device, for example, without limitation, there may be blades for scraping flat surfaces, scraping curved surfaces, scraping rough surfaces, scraping smooth surfaces, etc. Also, the interchangeability of the blade portions allows for exchanging a worn blade portion with a new blade portion.

The mechanical construction shown and described may be varied without departing from the scope of the invention as clearly defined by the claims.

In some instances, one or more components may be referred to herein as “configured to,” “configured by,” “configurable to,” “operable/operative to,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,” “conformable/conformed to,” etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that such terms (e.g., “configured to”) generally encompass active-state components and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-state components, unless context requires otherwise.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described herein have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from the subject matter described herein and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to claims containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that typically a disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms unless context dictates otherwise. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be typically understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

With respect to the appended claims, those skilled in the art will appreciate that recited operations therein may generally be performed in any order. Also, although various operational flows are presented in a sequence(s), it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated or may be performed concurrently. Examples of such alternate orderings may include overlapping, interleaved, interrupted, reordered, incremental, preparatory, supplemental, simultaneous, reverse, or other variant orderings, unless context dictates otherwise. Furthermore, terms like “responsive to,” “related to,” or other past-tense adjectives are generally not intended to exclude such variants, unless context dictates otherwise.

While the disclosed subject matter has been described in terms of illustrative embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the claimed subject matter as set forth in the claims.