With Valentine’s Day fever upon us, Sinapse team brings to you gifting ideas for the romantically inclined, among our readers. Buying the right gift can be a bit of a task, isn’t it? You want to be creative and original, and make each Valentine’s Day trump the last one. We sympathize with all our love struck readers, so here are a few patents which disclose romantic ideas/gifts.
To being with, we will start with a romantic and healthy gift: A KISSING SHIELD. Currently, Zika is a rapidly spreading health problem and experts expect it to snowball into epidemic proportions soon. Recent revelations show that Zika can be spread via kissing as the virus is present in saliva also (Read the story here).
The invention highlighted in this post enables users to kiss, while preventing the transfer of germs/viruses/microbes between the kissers. This patent has been granted in the US and talks about using a stretchable membrane mounted on a frame, which a user can stretch over his/her lips, while kissing. The membrane prevents the exchange of fluids between the users, hereby blocking the transfer of germs/viruses/microbes between the kissers.
The abstract of the patent reads as:
A kissing shield comprised of a thin, flexible membrane and a frame or holder. The membrane is closed on three sides, a fourth side remaining open so that the membrane can be stretched over the frame or holder. The frame or holder consists of a supporting member and an elongated handle. The supporting member adapts over the bottom part of the user’s face and has sufficient dimension to cover the lips and most of the cheeks and extends from under the nose to the bottom of the chin. The elongated handle extends laterally from the supporting member and is sized to be held in the hand of the user such that the hand is spaced apart from the supporting member and membrane. In use, the membrane is placed over the frame or holder. Using the handle portion of the frame or holder, the user places the kissing shield under his nose, so that it covers his lips, cheeks and chin. The user then positions the kissing shield between his lips and the lips or cheek of the individual he plans to kiss and kisses the intended recipient of his affection.
Claim 1 of the patent reads as:
An apparatus for preventing the exchange of microorganisms between two persons engaged in the act of kissing, the apparatus comprising:
- a frame so dimensioned as to outline the mouth of a person, wherein the frame is a loop formed into a heart shade such that each lobe of the heart shape outlines a corresponding cheek area of the two persons kissing, the noses of the two persons kissing are positioned between the lobes of the heart shape, and the point of the heart shape extends below the chins of the two persons kissing;
- a thin, flexible membrane carried by the frame, the membrane being impervious to microorganisms; and
- a handle extending from the frame and adapted for being gripped to support the frame and membrane between the mouth of the two persons;
- wherein the membrane prevents exchange of microorganisms between the two persons while the two persons are engaged in the act of kissing.
Interesting right? Stay tuned for our next post.
Authored by Nitin Nair (Partner, BananaIP Counsels).
Contributed with the support of the Patents Division of BananaIP Counsels. For any patents related queries please write to us on [email protected]. Our experts will revert to you at the earliest.
Image Source/Attribution here, governed by Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 3.0.
