Vanishing compact |
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申请号 | US13199417 | 申请日 | 2011-08-29 | 公开(公告)号 | US09156234B1 | 公开(公告)日 | 2015-10-13 |
申请人 | D. Patrick Hutton; | 发明人 | D. Patrick Hutton; | ||||
摘要 | A hollow compact has a partition partitioning it into a first interior compartment sealed apart from a second interior compartment. The first compartment is charged with a first solvent, the second compartment with a second solvent. The solubility properties of the first and second solvent are chosen such that neither risks attacking and/or dissolving the compact. Conversely, the solubility properties of the first and second solvent are otherwise chosen such that the mixture of the two indeed possesses an independent set of solubility properties, whereby the mixture is indeed capable of attacking and dissolving the material of the compact. Wherein, breaching the partition allows the charges of the first and second solvents to mix and thereby form the mixture therebetween. That way, the compact might vanish by dissolving into the mixture solvent or else might more likely might dissolve into a nearly un-recognizable form of its former self. | ||||||
权利要求 | I claim: |
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说明书全文 | This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/402,356, filed Aug. 27, 2010. The foregoing patent disclosure is incorporated herein by this reference thereto. The invention relates a vanishing compact (ie., a small case) and, more particularly, to a plural chamber polymeric compact, each which carries a different solvent that, when mixed, dissolve away the compact into a solution. The invention comprises the following utility. Assume for example that the compact has the shape of a useful article for a user. The user may want to abandon the article in a hurry, and in the wake of the abandonment, have the article vanish without the user having to wait around and attend to this vanishing process him or herself. A number of additional features and objects will be apparent in connection with the following discussion of the preferred embodiments and examples with reference to the drawings. There are shown in the drawings certain exemplary embodiments of the invention as presently preferred. It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed as examples, and is capable of variation within the scope of the skills of a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the invention pertains. In the drawings, It is an aspect of the invention that the compact can represent any number of handheld useful articles for use by a user. It is a more particular aspect of the invention that the user can discard the compact in a toss and, after abandonment, the compact will vanish away under its own resources and leave little clue as to what its true manifestation ever was. These and other objects and aspects in accordance with the invention are provided by a plastic (polymeric) compact that carries two solvents isolated and separate apart from each other. The solvents are carefully chosen such that plastic compact can safely store either one alone and persist (ie., not be attacked or dissolved by one such solvent alone). However, when the two solvents mix, the mixture takes on an independent set of solubility properties and is indeed capable of dissolving the plastic compact completely away into solution. The knowledge of whether a given plastic will dissolve in a given solvent (and form a solution) can often be looked up in compiled data of such plastics and solvents, which data is compiled from results of trial-and-error experiments. In the absence of such compiled data, there are several models which allow the prediction of whether certain solvents will dissolve or not certain plastics based on physical properties of the plastic and the solvent. One such model was developed by Charles Hansen. It utilizes three (3) physical properties or ‘parameters’ for both the solvent and the plastic—eg., the Hansen Solubility Parameters—and a fourth (4th) property of the plastic, to predict solubility or not. That is, both solvents and plastics are given values for the three (3) Hansen solubility parameters described more particularly next. Preliminarily, the Hansen solubiltity parameters are represented in equations and relationship by the lower-case Greek letter ‘delta.’ Also, the most commonly-used SI units for these parameters are MPa1/2. Those SI units are 2.0455 times larger than the other commonly-used set of units, (cal/cc)1/2. Now, the three (3) parameters consist of the following. δd—Correlates to the energy of dispersion bonds between molecules. δp—Correlates to the energy of dipolar intermolecular force between molecules. δh—Correlates to the energy of hydrogen bonds between molecules. These three parameters can be treated as co-ordinates for a point in three dimensions. This is known as Hansen space. An example of Hansen space is shown by Solvents in Hansen space are represented by points (none are shown in Hence the three (3) Hansen parameters above for a polymer locate the center of its spherical envelope. The fourth (4th) property for a plastic (eg., a polymer) is a radius for the spherical envelope in the Hansen space. Ro Corresponds to the interaction radius for a material. Good solvents for a plastic generally have coordinates which place a point inside the spherical envelope within the Hansen space. Bad solvents for the plastic have coordinates which place a point outside the sphere. In Hansen space, there is another measure of interest, and that is the space between points. Ra Distance in Hansen space between points. So both a plastic and a solvent have their own three Hansen parameters which can be treated as co-ordinates for a point in the Hansen space. Generally speaking, the closer the two points are in Hansen space, the more likely the solvent and plastic are to dissolve into each other. To determine if the two respective points of the solvent and plastic are close enough to each other such that the solvent dissolves the plastic, it depends if the point of the solvent is proximate the point of the plastic within range of values called the interaction radius (Ro). This value (the interaction radius Ro) determines the radius of the sphere in Hansen space and its center is the three Hansen coordinates for the plastic. To calculate the distance (Ra) between the Hansen parameters in Hansen space the following formula is used: Ra2=4(δd2−δd1)2+(δp2−δp1)2+(δh2−δh1)2 (1) The value “4” in equation (1) is an experimental correction. To determine if the solvent is a good solvent or not for the plastic depends if the distance (Ra) between the two points in Hansen space is less than the interaction radius (Ro) for the plastic. This is sometimes described by the ratio of equation (2) next, the ratio being called the Relative Energy Difference (RED). Ra/Ro=RED (2) The interaction radius (Ro) is defined such that the following three relationships are true. If RED<1 then the molecules are alike and will dissolve. (3) If RED=1 then the system will only partially dissolve. (4) If RED>1 then system will not dissolve. (5) Another feature about the Hansen model is that solvents can be designed. That is, two solvents can be mixed (provided they blend) and the resultant mixture will have the average properties of the mixed solvents. That is, the resultant mixture properties for a 50:50 mix of solvent sub-script “1” and solvent sub-script “2” will be the following mixture properties sub-script 1+2. δd(1+2)=(δd1+δd2)/2 (6) δp(1+2)=(δp1+δp2)/2 (7) δh(1+2)=(δh1+δh2)/2 (8) The following is published data of Gaylord Chemical Co, LLC, of Slidell, La. Gaylord Chemical represents itself as the worlds leading provider of Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO). See, “Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) Solubility Data,” Bulletin #102B (20 sheets, published by the Gaylord Chemical Co., dated October of 2007). http://www.gaylordchemical.com/bulletins/bulletin102b/Bulletin102B.pdf) (NOTE: the bulletin uses the units (cal/cc)1/2, but the data is converted here). From the foregoing, PVC is persistent in contact with either DMSO alone, or else TETRALIN® (tetrahydronaphthalene) alone:—and all mixtures therebetween except for 50:50 mixtures and probably a close by range around 50:50 but apparently not as far as to 60:40 or 40:60. This can be shown graphically by the Hansen parameters for these substances. Table 2 gives the Hansen solubility parameters for these substances. It is not necessary to graphically illustrate the coordinates above given by Table 2 on a 3-D surface chart as To turn to Hence the spherical envelope for PVC is reduced to a circle in Referring to the polar-bond parameter δp and hydrogen-bond parameter δh values for the substances given in TABLE 2, the following is charted on The center of the PVC interaction circle is located at the coordinates (7.5, 8.0). The circle has an interaction radius (Ro) of the length “3.5.” The coordinates for 100% TETRALIN® (tetrahydronaphthalene) locate a point at coordinates (2.0, 2.9). The coordinates for 100% DMSO locate a point at the coordinates (16.4, 10.2). Both points lie outside the circle. Hence neither solvent will dissolve PVC. A line drawn between the point for 100% TETRALIN® (tetrahydronaphthalene) and 100% DMSO represents the locus in Hansen space for the various strength of mixtures between TETRALIN® (tetrahydronaphthalene) and DMSO. The point representative of a 50:50 mixture by volume percentage would be about the mid-point for the line, and so on. The foregoing information can be put the following useful use. In accordance with the present example, the compact is preferably produced from PVC. The one compartment is preferably filled with 100% TETRALIN® (tetrahydronaphthalene). The other compartment is preferably filled with an equal measure of 100% DMSO. The compartments are preferably sealed with PVC film barriers. The PVC film barriers present a pair of pull tabs sticking out one end of the PVC compact. However, Whereas the objects of the invention have been given in view of the foregoing particular example, it is a completely different aspect of the invention to the Hansen solubility parameters to identify and experiment with other plastics and solvents respectively. As stated above, it is an aspect of the invention that the compact can represent any number of handheld useful articles for use by a user. The invention having been disclosed in connection with the foregoing variations and examples, additional variations will now be apparent to persons skilled in the art. The invention is not intended to be limited to the variations specifically mentioned, and accordingly reference should be made to the appended claims rather than the foregoing discussion of preferred examples, to assess the scope of the invention in which exclusive rights are claimed. |