EP0591450B1

EP0591450B1 - A plastic bag for lining an upwardly open container, in particular a bed pan

Info

Publication number: EP0591450B1
Application number: EP92915344A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Sonja Marianne Juel Hansen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-06-27
Filing date: 1992-06-26
Publication date: 1996-01-24
Anticipated expiration: 2012-06-26
Also published as: DK171049B1; ATE133329T1; EP0591450A1; ES2085630T3; AU2311292A; DE69207907T2; DK126291D0; DK126291A; DE69207907D1; WO1993000061A1; DK0591450T3

Abstract

A plastic bag (2) or the like is temporarily fastened in an upwardly open container (1), such as a bed pan, by means of an adhesive coating (3) applied between the container (1) and the plastic bag (2). The coating (3) adheres strongly to the plastic bag (2) and faintly to the container (1). The device may be formed as a double-adhering foil with at least one grasping tab.

Description

The invention relates to a plastic lining bag for lining a relatively flat upwardly open container, in particular a bedpan, and including adhesive means for temporarily fastening the back to the container.
Bedpans are generally used in hospitals or other larger institutions in which comparatively heavy and expensive equipments are available with the view of cleaning and sterilizing bedpans after use.
During recent years there has been an increasing need for using bedpans in a mobile connection with a view to improve the municipal home nursing, where cleaning and sterilizing cannot be effected in an appropriate manner as stated above. In this respect, use has been made of disposable bedpans made from plastic which are relatively expensive or use has been made of usual stainless steel bedpans which after use were washed with strong cleaning materials under primive conditions in patient's lavatory. The latter method suffers from working inconveniences as well as from environmental inconveniences in general.
As an alternative, it has been attempted to make use of a common stainless steel bedpan, placing therein a plastic bag which is removed with the unclean side facing inwards after the bedpan has been emptied. The plastic bag may in this connection completely encapsulate the stainless steel bedpan or simply be inserted into the interior of the bedpan and over the rim. This alternative, however, suffers from the drawback that the plastic bag has a tendency to adhere to the patient so that the plastic bag is drawn out of the bedpan when the body wastes do not have a sufficiently high weight. The contents will then be spilled over the bed.
To remedy this problem various solutions have been suggested in the prior art for providing a lining bag or pouch for a bedpan with adhesive means for temporarily fastening the bag to an upper rim portion of the bedpan.
In US-patent No. 3 936 890 a bag type liners suggested having an initial flat form matching the bottom face of the bedpan and being provided with radial fold lines and a number of adhevise taps extending radially inwards from the perifery of the liner. In use this bag is folded upwardly over the rim portion of the bedpan and the tabs are fixed to the external side thereof. Removal of such a bag will require individual attachment of each of the tabs destributed around the circumference of the bedpan and the above mentioned drawback following from the tendency of a plastic bag to adhere to the patient will not be completely remeded.
This also applies to a liner pouch disclosed in US-patent No. 4 011 606, which is provided with adhesive tabs at opposite ends to be attached in use to the outer side of the bedpan only at the forward and rear parts thereof, as well as to a disposable bedpan liner bag disclosed in published international patent application WO86/01098, which is provided with a pressure sensitive adhesive coating in an area covering in use a rim portion only of the bedpan.
It is the object of the invention to solve the problem outlined above in a simple and inexpensive manner. According to the invention this is obtained by applying the adhesive means to the bag so as to extend in use substantially entirely across a bottom face of the container and so as to adhere strongly to the bag and faintly to said bottom face to allow easy detachability of the bag after use.
By arranging the adhesive coating on the side of the plastic lining bag so that in use this will adhere directly to the bottom of a container, such as a bed-pan, entirely accross the bottom face, and designing it to adhere strongly to the plastic bag and faintly to the container the plastic bag will be safely retained in the container in use and after use the uncleaned plastic bag may be readily removed.
In connection with the removal the bag may be folded or rolled with the unclean side turned inwardly and the position of the adhesive means across the wall part of the bag which has been in contact with the bottom of the container provides an efficient sealing of the bag.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment the adhesive coating is formed as a double-adhering foil. The different adhesion may advantageously be obtained by applying different adhesive coatings to the two adhesive sides of the foil. It is thus obtained that the adhesive coating and the plastic bag may be purchased separately and different plastic bags may be used according to desire, and the strong and faint adhesion, respectively, may be obtained by means of different adhesive coatings.
The different adhesion on the two sides may alternatively be obtained in that the same adhesive is used on the two sides of the foil but that the adhesive on the faintly adhering side is applied as a grid pattern. The designing of the double-adhering foil as a sheet and with substatially the same shape as the bottom of the container provides for obtaining a simplified handling of the foil.
In order to facilitate the removal of the bag without tearing it, in particular in connection with thin plastic bags, the adhesive foil sheet may be provided with at least one non-adhering tearing-off tab which in the position of use extends upwards along the internal side of the container towards the upper rim thereof.
The invention will now be explained by means of examples of embodiment with reference to the drawings, in which

Fig. 1 is a cross-section showing a bedpan with adhesive coating and a plastic bag according to the invention,
Fig. 2 is an enlarged section of Fig. 1,
Fig. 3 is a sheet-shaped double-adhering foil with grasp tabs according to the invention, and
Fig. 4 is an enlarged section along IV-IV in Fig. 3.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs 1 and 2 the device consists of an adhesive coating 3 positioned between the container 1 which in the illustrated example is a bedpan, and the plastic bag 2. In this example the adhesive is of such a type that the adhesion to the plastic bag is strong and the adhesion to the bedpan is vague.
Figs 3 and 4 show an example of a sheet-shaped double-adhering foil 6 with grasping tabs 5. As best seen in Fig. 4 the sheet-shaped double-adhering foil consists of a carrier foil 12 forming also the grasping tabs 5, an adhesive coating 9 for adhesion against the plastic bag and having a cover sheet 7 with a tearing-off tab 11 and an adhesive coating 10 applied as a grid pattern and having a cover sheet 8 with a tearing-off tab 13.
By using said sheet-shaped double-adhering foil the cover sheet 8 which may advantageously have another colour than the cover sheet 7 is at first teared off by means of the tearing-off tab 13 and the foil is placed inside the basin of the bedpan 1, the grasp tabs 5 being oriented upwardly along the internal side of the bedpan. Cover sheet 7 is then teared off by means of the tearing-off tab 11 and the plastic bag is fixedly adhered to the bottom of the bedpan and everted over the sides. (See Fig. 1). After use the plastic bag and the adhesive foil are removed from the bedpan and disposed of while using the grasping tabs 5, following which the bedpan is ready for receiving a new foil and plastic bag.
The device according to the invention may be used for other purposes requiring a plastic bag to be temporarily fastened in an upwards open container, e.g. a disposal bag in a bin as generally used on railway stations, in parks, at bus stops and the like, or a plastic bag in a closet pail or in a chemical closet.
The device is supposed to be manufatured in many varying versions, such as a plastic bag provided with an adhesive coating and with a cover sheet or double-adhering foil or sheet foils delivered separately along with plastic bags or applied to plastic bags.

Claims

A plastic lining bag for lining a relatively flat upwardly open container, in particular a bedpan, and including adhesive means for temporarily fastening the back to the container, characterized in that the adhesive means is applied to the bag so as to extend in use substantially entirely across a bottom face of the container and so as to adhere strongly to the bag and faintly to said bottom face to allow easy detachability.
A plastic lining bag according to claim 1 characterized in that the adhesive means is supplied as a coating to a part of the bag to be placed in use against said bottom face.
A plastic lining bag according to claim 1, characterized in that the adhesive means is formed as a double-adhering foil (6).
A plastic lining bag according to claim 3, characterized in that the double-adhering foil has different adhesive layers on the two sides.
A plastic lining bag according to claim 3, characterized in that the same adhesive (9, 10) is used on the two sides of the foil but that the adhesive (10) on the faintly adhering side is applied as a grid pattern.
A plastic lining bag according to claims 3, 4 or 5, characterized in that the double-adhering foil is sheet-shaped and has substantially the same form as the container bottom.
A plastic lining bag according to claim 6, characterized in that the double-adhering foil (6) is provided with at least one non-adhering tearing-off tab (5) which in the position of use extends upwards along the internal side of the container towards the upper rim thereof.