Publicly-accessible moist hand cleaning wipe station

Abstract

An integrated, self-contained hand sanitizer station is provided by this invention. The enclosure of the station may be located in a public venue, and conveniently dispenses wet wipe towelettes for people to clean their hands with a trash receptacle contained within the station for ready disposal of the towelettes by the patrons after their use. By making a good hand hygiene available to customers, a merchant or public authority can help to reduce germs, viruses, and bacteria that can otherwise cause the spread of infectious illnesses.

1 . An integrated, self-contained station for cleaning the hands, comprising: 
 (a) an enclosure having two side walls, a front wall, a back wall, and a top wall with a partition disposed therein for defining a first interior zone and a second interior zone;    (b) an outlet opening formed in one of the enclosure walls for communicating with the first interior zone;    (c) an inlet opening formed in one of the enclosure walls for communicating with the second interior zone;    (d) a plurality of moist towelettes impregnated with a cleaning solution, wherein a leading edge of the first towelette partially extends through the outlet opening, and is interconnected to the second towelette with each towelette being interconnected to the following towelette, so that the first towelette may be pulled through the outlet opening to separate it from the next towelette, which draws the leading edge of the second towelette through the outlet opening, the separated first towelette being used to clean the hands; and    (e) a trash receptacle located inside the second interior zone of the enclosure, so that upon insertion of the used towelette through the inlet opening, it falls into the trash receptacle.    
   
   
       2 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the cleaning solution impregnating the moist towelette quickly evaporates after application to the hands.  
   
   
       3 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the cleaning solution includes soap.  
   
   
       4 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the cleaning solution includes a disinfectant.  
   
   
       5 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the cleaning solution includes a germicide.  
   
   
       6 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of towelettes comprise bipartite individual panels that are folded onto each other so that one panel drawings forth the next panel by surface contact.  
   
   
       7 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of towelettes comprise a roll having a plurality of panels formed by serrated lines across the roll transverse to the direction in which the leading edge of the roll is pulled.  
   
   
       8 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 2  further comprising means adjacent to the outlet opening for reducing the inflow of air into the first interior zone to reduce evaporation of the cleaning solution from the towelettes.  
   
   
       9 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the first interior zone is positioned above the second interior zone.  
   
   
       10 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the first interior zone is positioned beside the second interior zone.  
   
   
       11 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the outlet opening is located on the top wall of the enclosure.  
   
   
       12 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the outlet opening is located on the front wall of the enclosure.  
   
   
       13 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1 , wherein the outlet opening is located on the bottom wall of the enclosure.  
   
   
       14 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1  further including a written indicia displayed on the surface of at least one wall of the enclosure.  
   
   
       15 . The hand cleaning station of  claim 1  further including means for opening at least one wall of the enclosure for replacement of the moist towelettes or maintenance of the trash receptacle.