US3540060A - Baby's bib with disposable front - Google Patents

Description

NOV. 17, 1970 5, w, BROWN BABY'S BIB WITH DISPOSABLE FRONT Filed Feb. 18. 1969 United States Patent O "ice 3,540,060 BABYS BIB WITH DISPOSABLE FRONT Grace Wallace Brown, 60 Mendota Ave., Rye, NY. 10580 Filed Feb. 18, 1969, Ser. No. 800,117 Int. Cl. A41d 13/04 US. Cl. 249 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A babys bib comprising a moisture impervious back and a disposable front. The back has spaced shoulder straps forming a neck recess at the upper end with snap fastener elements near the ends of the shoulder straps and on the body of the back sheet so that they can be folded over its front surface with the disposable front held by the snap fasteners. At the bottom the back sheet has a foldable flap with snap fasteners adjacent to the ends and the sides thereof and in the body so that the flap can form a pocket by fastening the snap fasteners. The disposable front can also be folded at the bottom and held in the pocket by the snap fasteners. The back sheet may be made of any suitable moisture impervious material and the front sheet of any suitable absorbable material, preferably a nonwoven material, and especially paper towels and nonwoven fabrics.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a babys bib adapted to be fastened around its neck and lie on its chest which comprises a moisture impervious back sheet that can be used for a prolonged period and a removable, disposable moisture absorbing front sheet that can be removably held on the back sheet and which is disposed of after a single use. While any suitable material may be used for the front sheet it is preferred to use nonwoven toweling stock of the type available commercially on rolls.

The feeding of infants during the first few years of their lives, whether it is done by someone for the child or by the child itself, normally results in considerable spillage of the food. It has been common to provide the child at feeding time with a bib designed to catch the falling food and absorb the moisture in it. One widely used type is a cloth bib made of some absorbant fabric such as terry cloth, flannel, and the like. Such bibs have to be laundered which throws an additional burden upon the busy young mother. In many cases a cloth bib of the type mentioned 'is not adequate to prevent soiling of the childs garments because liquid frequently is spilled that will go right through the bib and soil the garments. Proposals have been made to eliminate this disadvantage by providing a moisture impervious backing for the fabric bib, either as an integral part of the bib or as a separable part which can be removed when the bib is to be laundered and which can be wiped clean with a damp cloth.

It has also been proposed to make bibs out of disposable material such as paper, and various devices have been suggested to enable paper to be used in this way. One suggestion was to provide a collar having opposed depending flaps with mating snap fastening elements so that the towel can be held between the opposed flaps when the snap fasteners are pressed together with the paper towel between them. Another suggestion was to provide a pad absorbant paper sheets held to an impervious back by lacing the pad of paper to the impervious back along the sides and top or by providing snap fasteners in the same locations. Another suggestion was to provide a backing sheet of impervious material with a pocket at the bottom and having an absorbant sheet sewn to the top of the backing sheet through the center part of a tape that provided the means for fastening the bib to neck of the child. The absorbant 3,540,060 Patented Nov. 17, 1970 sheet at the bottom was located in the permanent pocket formed by stitching the backing sheet along the sides. A similar suggestion involved forming the absorbant sheet with a tab that could be folded over the shoulder straps and fastened to the back of the bib by snap fasteners.

All of these prior suggestions have had disadvantages in cost, requirement for laundering, inconvenience in use, unsatisfactory performance for the intended object, or a combination of these. The present invention ovefcomes all of these disadvantages of the proposals and suggestions of the prior art and provides a very inexpensive, efficient and satisfactory babys bib, as will appear in greater detail from the description of the invention taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the back sheet of a babys bib in open position;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the front sheet in open position;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the babys bib with the front sheet removably held against the front surface of the back sheet;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the shoulder strap and disposable sheet on the line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the pocket thereof with the absorbent sheet in position therein along the line 55 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the assembly bib adjacent to the neck recess along the line 6-6 of FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 1, a back sheet 10 is provided of moisture impervious material such as plastic, e.g., cellophane, polyvinyl, polyethylene, oil cloth, oiled silk, and the like. The shape of sheet 10 is preferably generally rectangular so as to underlie a rectangular moisture= absorbable sheet of rectangular shape, but other shapes are within the scope of the invention, e.g., the sheet may be broadened adjacent to the upper end, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 3 for aesthetic purposes. The thickness of the sheet may be varied to give any desired physical characteristics such as flexibility, shape retention, feel, etc. At the upper end of the back sheet 10 are a left shoulder strap 12 and a right shoulder strap 14 at each side of a neck opening or recess 16. At the bottom end of the back sheet 10 is a pocket forming flap 18.

Snap fasteners are used for holding the shoulder straps and the pocket forming flap against the front surface of the back sheet when they are folded over as described hereinafter. Snap fasteners ordinarily comprise what may be termed a male element and a female element, the male element is provided with a projection which is adapted to fit in the recess of the female element and to be held in assembled position by some kind of spring means. The particular structure of the snap fasteners used in the present invention is not of great importance except in the embodiment in which the snap fasteners are used to perforate the sheet of absorbant material and in this case the structure of the male and female elements should be such as to accomplish this perforation.

A first element 20 of a snap fastener is secured to the left shoulder strap 12 adjacent to its free end. A similar first element 22 of a snap fastener is secured to shoulder strap 14. A second element 24 of a snap fastener is secured to the sheet 10 in the vicinity of a transverse line at about the bottom of the neck opening or recess 16 and at the babys left side when the bib is in place ot cooperate with element 20 to hold the shoulder strap in folded condition. A similar second element 26 is secured to the back sheet 10 at the other side of the bib. A first element 28 of a snap fastener is also secured to the pocket-forming flap adjacent to one corner thereof and a first element 30 of another snap fastener is secured to the flap adjacent to the other corner. A second element 32 of a snap fastener is secured to the body 10 adjacent to the same side of the back sheet as element 28 in position to mate with it when the flap is folded over the front surface of the sheet. A similar second element 34 of a snap fastener is secured to the back sheet on the opposite side to mate with element 30 on the flap. It will be apparent from the foregoing that when shoulder strap 12 is folded over and mated with element 24 that there will be a fold line 36 mid-way between the snap fasteners. Similarly when shoulder strap 14 is folded over so that the snap fasteners are mated the strap will be folded along a line 38 midway between these elements. Similarly when the pocketforming flap is secured in pocket-forming position by the mating of snap fastener elements 28 and 30 with elements 32 and 34 respectively there will be a fold line 40 intermediate between these respective elements.

In order to hold the back sheet in position on the chest of the child some suitable means is provided to bridge the space between the shoulder straps. There are many different types of fastening means that might be employed for this purpose. The one illustrated in the drawings comprises a neck strap 42, a snap fastener 44 at one end thereof and a snap fastener 46 at the other end thereof. These snap fasteners may also be the typical two element type with one element secured to the back sheet 10' adjacent to the fold lines 36, 38, and the other element adjacent to the ends of the strap. It has been found convenient to have these elements on the back sheet 10 so arranged that the strap is fastened to the back side of the sheet. This enables the strap to be fastened and unfastened readily without having to work in the space between the back sheet and the part of the shoulder strap which is folded over it.

A front sheet 50 of moisture absorbant material is provided which has a width approximating the width of the back sheet 10 and a length preferably somewhat longer than the distance between the bottom of the neck opening or recess and the bottom end of the sheet when the flap is open. FIG. 2 shows such a sheet of moisture absorbant material with perforations 25, 27, 29, 31, 33 and 35 so located that when the front sheet is laid over the open back sheet these perforations will lie, respectively, over the snap fastening elements 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34.

To secure the sheet 50 to the back sheet 10, the shoulder flaps are folded along lines 36 and 38, respectively, and the snap fasteners are then engaged through perforations 25 and 27. The bottom ends of the sheet 50 and 10 are then folded along the line 40' so that the snap fasteners can be mated through the overlying projections 29 and 33 for snap fasteners 28 and 32 and perforations 31 and 35 for snap fastener 30, 34. FIG. 4 shows the relation of the parts when thus assembled through shoulder strap 14. FIG. shows the relation of parts through the pocket flap at the right side of the bib as worn by a child with the snap fasteners in position to be engaged by pressing them together.

It is preferred, but not essential, to locate the sheet 50 on the sheet so that the upper end of sheet 50 extends into the neck recess where it can be folded over as shown in FIG. 6 so that the babys neck comes into contact only with the absorbent material and not into contact with the sheet 10 of impervious material which may have a feel that is not as pleasant and comfortable to the baby as the sheet of absorbent material.

The sheet may be made of any suitable moisture absorbant material including woven fabrics such as flannel, terry cloth, and the like but such materials are not preferred because they are relatively expensive and require laundering unless one is willing to bear the expense of disposing of a material as costly as flannel or terry cloth each time the bib is used. A preferred absorbant material, therefore, is a nonwoven material such as paper made predominantly of wood fibers or nonwoven fabric made predominantly of rayon and/ or cotton fibers.

One of the outstanding features of the present invention is that commercial paper towels of the type which is widely available in grocery and paper products stores can be used. These towels come either in interfolded single sheets, such as are usually dispensed from dispensing cabinets in washrooms or as a roll of paper with perforations thatcan readily be torn apart to provide individual sheets. These paper towels are highly absorbant and inexpensive and by utilizing snap fasteners which are able to perforate the sheet it is unnecessary to modify the conventional commercial form of paper towel. All that a mother would have to do to prepare the bib for use is to lay it out flat as shown in FIG. 1, tear off a suitable length of the paper towel stock, locate it over the back sheet, fold the back sheet along the fold lines and press the snap fasteners together. The bib is then ready to be placed around the neck of the child and fastened thereby the type of means described hereinabove. With one embodiment of the bib of the invention and one brand of paper towels the length of stock used was two towels long, i.e., there was a line of perforations across the middle of the length used, but this is not a material part of the invention since perforated or imperforated towel stock could be cut to length with shears, or be torn against a straight edge, etc., without regard to lines of perforations or their absence. Many nonwoven fabrics can be used in just the same way as described for paper towel stock but if a heavier material than such paper towel stock is desired which could not be readily perforated by the snap fasteners, preformed perforations as shown in FIG. 2 can be provided at very little cost in excess of the cost of unperforated material and the perforated sheets can be provided in stacks, interleaved or not, or in rolls in any convenient or conventional way.

After the child has been fed, the mother can remove the bib by loosening up the neck strap, laying it out flat on a table, Opening the snap fasteners, pulling oif the absorbant sheet which can be used then for wiping the mouth and chin of the child, whereupon it can be disposed of in a garbage can, flushed down a water closet, or the like. Of course, if flannel, terry cloth or the like is used the same procedure can be followed except that it would be placed in the laundry bag for laundering after it is removed from the back sheet. The back sheet can then be wiped clean with a damp cloth which prepares it then for repeating the aforesaid procedure in time for the next use of the bib.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated in conjunction with certain preferred embodiments and features, modifications and variations are contemplated which would be obvious to an ordinary worker skilled in this particular art.

Having thus described and illustrated the invention what is claimed is:

1. A babys bib comprising a generally rectangular moisture impervious sheet having two integral spaced shoulder straps forming a neck recess at the upper end, a first element of a snap fastener secured to each strap adjacent to its free end, a second element of each snap fastener secured to said sheet in a position to mate with its first element when the strap is folded back over a surface of said sheet that will be the front of the bib, the line of fold of said straps at said neck recess being far enough from the bottom of the recess to provide an adequate recess to fully receive the neck of the wearer, an upwardly opening pocket at the bottom end of said sheet on said front surface, said straps and said fasteners and pocket being adapted to hold both ends of a sheet of absorbant material against the front surface of said bib, and a neck strap secured to said sheet adjacent to the line of fold of said strap extending transversely across the open end of said neck recess to secure the upper end of the bib around a babys neck, at least one end of said neck strap being removably secured to said sheet.

2. A babys bib as set forth in claim 1 in which said pocket comprises the bottom end of said moisture impervious sheet folded back over the front surface thereof, a first element of a snap fastener secured at each side of the bib facing the front surface and a second element of each snap fastener secured at each side of the folded back end facing the back surface thereof to mate with its first element to hold the bottom end in pocket forming position, said snap fasteners being adapted to pass through an absorbant sheet.

3. A babys bib as set forth in claim 1 in which the moisture impervious sheet is a plastic sheet.

4. A babys bib as set forth in claim 1 in which the means to secure the upper end of the bib around a babys neck comprises a strap removably fastened to the shoulder straps by snap fasteners.

5. A babys bib comprising a moisture impervious back sheet having a front surface and a disposable moistureabsorbable front sheet removably held against said front surface, said back sheet having an upper end provided with spaced shoulder straps forming a neck recess and a lower end provided with a pocket formed by a reverse bend of the end of said sheet as a front flap, a first element of a snap fastener secured to each shoulder strap adjacent to its free end and to said front flap adjacent to its free end and each side of the bib, a second element of each snap fastener secured to said back sheet in a position to mate with its first element when the straps and flap are folded back over said front surface, said moisture --absorbable front sheet having perforations registering with said snap fasteners and being held against said front surface under said straps and flap by said snap fasteners passing through said perforations, and means to hold the upper end of the bib around a babys neck.

6. A babys bib as set forth in claim 5 in which the moisture-absorbable sheet is nonwoven material.

7. A babys bib as set forth in claim 6 in which the nonwoven material is paper.

8. A babys bib as set forth in claim 6 in which the non-woven material is a nonwoven fabric.

9. A babys bib as set forth in claim 5 in which snap fasteners are adapted to perforate a non-woven sheet material and the moisture-absorbable sheet is toweling stock.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,483,338 2/ 1924 Dilling 252 2,244,656 6/ 1941 Asch 249 2,250,887 7/1941 Brown 249 2,424,680 7/1947 Doyle 249 X 2,423,002 6/1947 Bray 252 2,440,666 4/1948 Miller 249 2,571,888 10/1951 Jesse 249 2,763,867 9/1956 Chagnon 249 FOREIGN PATENTS 921,940 3/1963 Great Britain. 1,193,862 5/1959 France.

ALFRED R. GUEST, Primary Examiner

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