Abstract
We have developed a female condom and applicator apparatus that makes female condom easier to apply and more comfortable to use throughout the entire process. Several embodiments take advantage of traditional female tampon applicator structure and existing female condom design. This is easier for female users to adopt due to their already familiarity with similar device and their usage. One design has the applicator on the inside of the female condom which makes the applicator reusable. Another design has the entire female condom tucked inside the applicator, with the condom inner ring inside the applicator outer tube and condom outer ring inside applicator's inner ring. Another design has strings attached to the condom outside ring to keep it from moving or make noise. The device provides a low cost, easy to use, no side-effects, and ready-for-mass adoption solution for the market.
Claims
1. A delivery device comprising: a female condom with an outer ring; and a cylindrically shaped object having first and second open ends, the object comprising a balloon filled with a liquid or gas, the outer ring of the condom being inserted into the object via one of the open ends; wherein the device is configured to deliver the condom inside a vagina by inserting the first end of the object into the vagina and removing the object, leaving the condom in the vagina.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the condom further comprises an inner ring configured for placement inside the vagina.
3. The device of claim 1, wherein the entire condom is inserted inside the object.
4. The device of claim 1, wherein the condom further includes an inner ring; wherein the object comprises an inner tube and an outer tube; and wherein at least a portion of the inner ring is inserted into the outer tube and at least a portion of the outer ring is inserted into the inner tube.
5. A method for delivering a female condom, the method comprising: providing the female condom, the condom including an outer ring; inserting at least a portion of the outer ring into a cylindrically shaped object having first and second open ends, the object comprising a balloon filled with a liquid or gas; and delivering the condom inside a vagina by inserting the first end of the object into the vagina and removing the object, leaving the condom in the vagina.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the condom further includes an inner ring; wherein the object comprises an inner tube and an outer tube; and wherein at least a portion of the inner ring is inserted into the outer tube and at least a portion of the outer ring is inserted into the inner tube.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangement of parts, a preferred embodiment of which will be described in detail in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and wherein:
(2) FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of sliding tampon female condom comprised of a balloon sac filled with air or liquid, with the female condom bottom ring inserted into the middle of the balloon while the condom wall enwraps the balloon, in accordance with one or more implementations.
(3) FIG. 2 is a picture of the prototype liquid balloon enwrapped inside a female condom, in accordance with one or more implementations.
(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the balloon sac connected with a rubber air ball for pushing and drawing air through the plastic tube inside the balloon, in accordance with one or more implementations.
(5) FIG. 4 is the cross sectional view of a female condom wrapped into a column inserted completely inside a balloon sac, in accordance with one or more implementations.
(6) FIG. 5 is a picture of a prototype of a female condom with strings, in accordance with one or more implementations.
(7) FIG. 6 is a picture of an alternative design in placing the strings on the female condom, in accordance with one or more implementations.
(8) FIG. 7 is a perspective view of illustration of the female condom with strings or bikini-like condom and how it could be worn, in accordance with one or more implementations.
(9) FIG. 8 is a picture of a prototype of a female condom with strings with the condom shaped like a hat, in accordance with one or more implementations.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(10) The present invention is directed to a user friendly female condom that is low cost, easy to put on, comfortable to wear, convenient for the female user and her partner.
(11) Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for purposes of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention only and not for purposes of limiting the same, FIG. 1(A) shows a sliding tampon female condom. The device comprises a balloon sac, a, filled with liquid or air. The balloon sac enwraps a tube, b, which could be made of somewhat flexible material such as silicon or plastic. The tube can be made into solid material or hollow shape. The advantage of the hollow shape is that it allows air to be pumped into or drawn out of the condom through the tube. FIG. 1(A) depicts a liquid balloon made from a liquid rectangle shape folded into a cylinder and sewed to stay as a cylinder by ligated silk, c. FIG. 1(B) illustrates the process of delivering the female condom into a woman's vagina. First of all, the bottom portion of the balloon a needs to be put into the female condom through the outer ring d while the inside ring e of the female condom is squeezed into an elongated oval shape and tucked into the bottom center of the balloon sac. The inside ring pushes the tube b inside the balloon up toward the top portion of the balloon while the balloon slides down to encapsulate the inside ring. Then, the female user can hold the top portion of the balloon including the tube; slowly and smoothly insert the entire unit into her vagina. The balloon is longer than the woman's vagina so that after the entire unit is inserted into the vagina, the outer ring and the top of the balloon where the finger is holding are still comfortably outside the vagina. In FIG. 1(C), the user slowly and gently pushes the tube which could be accomplished alternatively or complimentarily by pumping air via the hollow tube into the condom. This will push the tucked inside ring e out of the balloon a and pop it into the bottom chamber of the vagina, securing the female condom into the vagina. Then the balloon can be pulled out together with the tube, leaving the female condom behind. Because the balloon is filled with air or liquid, it does not cause discomfort when inserting the entire unit into the vagina. The user uses the balloon aided with the tube to deliver the inside ring into the bottom chamber of the vagina, so she doesn't have to push her finger(s) into her vagina. This is very similar to the usage of a tampon and thus is more acceptable to culturally conservative countries.
(12) FIG. 2 is a prototype of the sliding tampon female condom. The balloon was made from a regular balloon filled with water. The tube is a plastic hollow tube. There are many low cost ways to make a liquid balloon sac. This prototype was made with regular Banner balloons. Flip the bottom of a long banner balloon inside out so that the bottom of the balloon sticks out of the balloon's top from the inside and the balloon has double walls. Fill water between the two walls. Cut the bottom of the balloon that sticks out of the balloon top. Then seal the two walls together with super-glue or other method in the top so they are water-tight. A 16 cm long plastic tube is inserted into the middle of the double walled balloon. The water in the balloon is fluidic and smooth; therefore is comfortable and causes no pain.
(13) FIG. 3 demonstrates how to use an air pump through the tube to aid the condom insertion process. In FIG. 3(a), balloon sac a is filled with air and enwraps a small plastic tube b, while a silk thread tie, c, at the top of the air balloon prevents air from leaking. In addition, a soft plastic tube connects the small plastic tube with a rubber air ball pump, e, controlled by a switch, f. When the switch f is turned on, e pumps air through soft tube d via plastic tube b into the bottom portion of the air balloon sac. As shown in FIG. 3(b), a female condom A is put onto the air balloon sac one unit of B. Not shown in the figure is that the bottom inside ring of the condom is squeezed into oval shape and tucked into the bottom inside of the air balloon sac. Then unit B is delivered into the woman's vagina. After reaching the bottom of the vagina, the switch f is tuned on and the pump e will send high pressure air into the bottom of the air balloon sac, pushing the inside ring out of the balloon sac and depositing the inside ring at the bottom chamber of the vagina. In this embodiment, the balloon sac never touches the vagina and therefore can be used multiple times if the user chooses to do so, therefore decreasing the overall cost even further.
(14) FIG. 4(a) explains another embodiment of delivering a condom easily into the vagina. A long cylindrically shaped balloon sac enwraps a plastic tube which has a length equal to or slightly longer than that of the balloon. The balloon sac could be filled with liquid or air. Alternatively the long cylinder could be the outer tube of a tampon applicator. A female condom is folded into a small elongated column shape and inserted from the bottom portion of a balloon sac into the center portion of the balloon sac or from back of a tampon applicator outer tube and pushed toward the front of the tube. The folded condom pushes a portion of the plastic tube out of the balloon. Alternatively, the outer ring of the condom is folded/bend into an elongated column and pushed through the inner tube of the tampon applicator (not shown in the figure). The folded condom is folded and oriented such that its inside ring sits at the bottom portion of the balloon bottom. The whole unit can then be inserted into a user's vagina by holding the balloon top portion. After reaching the bottom of the vagina, the tube is slowly and smoothly pushed toward the balloon bottom, pushing the inside ring out of the bottom of the balloon, which will pop into the bottom chamber of the vagina, the tube can then be slowly pulled out of the vagina, with the inside ring holding the entire condom in the vagina. Since the condom is much longer than the vagina, the outer ring will be left outside the vagina. Thus, the whole process is smoothly, comfortable, without inserting the finger into one's vagina. This usage is very similar to tampon usage. After each use, the balloon needs to be thrown away and can't be reused.
(15) FIG. 4(b) depicts the case when the balloon sac is replaced with the out tube of a tampon applicator where the plastic tube is replaced with the inner tube of the tampon applicator.
(16) Some people are uncomfortable with the large and hard out ring of the female condom. In addition, its dangling outside the vagina makes the woman feel unattractive. Therefore, we have designed a bikini-like condom or condom with strings to improve on this aspect.
(17) FIG. 5 is a prototype of the female condom with strings. A female condom without the outer ring may have a much softer outside edge, which could be in ring shape, star fish shape, square, flower pedal shape, heart shape, etc. The prototype here is a female condom with a simple soft outside ring. To prevent the condom getting pushing into the vagina during intercourse and avoid the outside ring dangling unattractively outside the vagina, a few transparent thin and comfortable to the skin strings are attached to the outside ring. In the upper left is a string for right thigh, labeled as R. thin string, with a button at the end. Of course, this button can be replaced with other ways to connect or secure the strings. In the upper right is a thin string for the left thigh, labeled as L. thin string, with a button at the end. At the bottom is a thin string loop.
(18) FIG. 6 is another design regarding where to place the strings. This embodiment simply had a right thin loop, a left thin loop, and a hanging button. One simply needs to put left thin loop through the left thigh and right thin loop through the right thigh. The left thin loop can be secured by looping through the hanging button in the back.
(19) Another embodiment is a bikini-like condom to make the condom comfortable to wear and pleasant to look at by everyone. The condom can be worn anytime constantly. When the female needs to urinate, she only needs to open a small covering, which could be artistically designed, without removing the bikini-like condom.
(20) FIG. 7 illustrates a bikini-like female condom and how it works. FIG. 7(a) is the back view. As can be seen, dotted lines are the thin strings attached to the condom. In this case, there is a left thigh thin string and a right thigh thin string. In addition, there could be a waist line thin string to further secure the condom into place. FIG. 7(b) is the front view of the bikini-like condom. As shown by the dotted lines to represent the thin strings, there is a left thigh thin string, a right thigh thin string, and a waist thin string. FIG. 7(c) is a bottom view of the bikini-like condom worn by a user. In this case, the female condom has been put into the vagina while the thin left thigh and right thigh strings keep the outside soft edge of the female condom closely attached to the body so it is not flapping around unattractively. If the condom is made into skin color and conforms well to the body, with the thin string essentially invisible, it serves as an effective camouflage. In addition, in FIG. 7(c), the outside ring of the condom is shaped into a rectangle. However, this can be made into any other shapes, for either functional purposes or esthetical effects to please the eyes. For example, the outside edge can be a circle, an upside down heart, a star, a triangle, a flower, a pedal, a smiling face, etc. In one of the embodiments, the edge of the outside ring is made with elastic material so that it stretches smoothly into a relatively flat surface pulled by the strings. With such stretching material as the edge of the outside portion, a smiling face becomes a bigger smile, a circle might become an oval, a flower might become a disproportionate shape, etc., which could be fun and please to the user and her partner.
(21) When the female user needs to go urinate, she can simply adjust the thin strings so that the soft outside ring is pulled forward toward the belly button more to expose the urethra to urinate without removing the bikini-like condom.
(22) FIG. 8 is another embodiment of the invention where the female condom is made into a triangle shape such that the cross section is a triangle rather than the typical circle. This makes the condom conform better to the shape of the genital triangle and much easier to attach to the body. The picture show the prototype of the transparent condom made into such triangle shape. There are one string loop on each side of the condom with a total three attached points to the condom. Each string loop attaches to the side on one end and jointly attach to the mid-point of the bottom edge of the outside ring. The way, the two strings on the front will fall into the groin area, passing through the iliac crest, then fall on gluteal sulcus, which enables good results of concealment.
(23) While the present invention has been described above in terms of specific embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to mind of those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains, and which are intended to be and are covered by both this disclosure and the appended claims. It is indeed intended that the scope of the invention should be determined by proper interpretation and construction of the appended claims and their legal equivalents, as understood by those of skill in the art relying upon the disclosure in this specification and the attached drawings.
