EP0126362B1

EP0126362B1 - Container-dispenser of sanitary towels

Info

Publication number: EP0126362B1
Application number: EP84105096A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Alma Mastrobuoni
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1983-05-19
Filing date: 1984-05-05
Publication date: 1987-07-29
Also published as: ES279352U; DE3465059D1; PT78620A; IT8321179A0; ES279352Y; ATE28612T1; EP0126362A1; IT1169729B; PT78620B

Abstract

The present invention concerns a container-dispenser of sanitary towels, particularly suitable to be used with towels of the type imbued with disinfectant deodorizing and/or detergent substances. The container-dispenser according to the invention is characterized by the fact of comprising a fence in correspondence to the wall near the first towel of the pile and means to push the pile against said wall, substantially acting on the part of the pile which is aligned with the fence and by the fact that each towel is folded with its edges offset to each other so that one edge is in correspondence to the fence and the other edge is held by the fence itself. Main advantages of the container-dispenser according to the invention are to allow easy and safe removal of the towels and to limit to the utmost evaporation of the volatile substances contained in the damp towels.

Description

The present invention concerns a container-dispenser of stacked sanitary towels, particularly suitable to be used with towels of the type imbued with disinfectant, deodorizing and/or detergent substances.
Container-dispensers of damp sanitary towels tied to one another and forming all together a roll or the like are well known (see f.i. DE-A-2.437.108). These container-dispensers are provided with a dispensing hole which can be airtightly closed and provided with rims so that the free end of the roll is held in correspondence to the hole itself to allow to clutch it. Said container-dispensers present the drawback of not offering an always easy delivery, in that the detachment of the towels from the roll does not always take place easily and moreover, frequently, the free end of the roll is not held by the rims of the dispensing hole; in the latter case it is necessary to open the container and repeat the initial operation of inserting the free end of the roll into the dispensing hole. Finally, the volume of said container-dispensers remains constant while the roll decreases, and the last towels tend to dry due to an excessive air volume in the containers which is, moreover, renewed any time the lid of dispensing hole is opened.
Containers of piles of damp towels, which can be hung on the walls and provided with airtight lid for towel removal are also known. Said containers present the drawback of not being equipped with any dispensing means for the towels, which, at the same time, are able to insulate the towels from the external environment.
In fact, any time it is necessary to lift the lid and take a towel, the whole pile of towels is totally exposed to the external environment and new air is introduced into the container with subsequent partial evaporation of the volatile substances contained in the towels.
GB-A-1 461 410 forming the preamble of claim 1 discloses a container-dispenser of piled articles comprising an opening to remove the articles placed in correspondence to the wall near the first article of the pile, and means suitable for pushing the pile of articles against the opening, substantially aligned with the opening itself.
The device, however, has an opening so placed to expose at least a part of all the stacked articles when the first one is taken away, so that it is not suitable for sanitary towels, in particular for imbued sanitary towels, which would be exposed to the environmental polluting conditions and/or would be exposed to drying air. Furthermore, the means for pushing the pile of articles are fixed means.
An object of the present invention is to provide a towel container-dispenser which allows easy and safe removal of the towels preventing at the same time that the removal of a towel involves the contact of the towel pile with the external ambient as well as the introduction of new air into the container. Another object of the invention is to provide a container-dispenser which allows to reduce to the utmost and to keep constant its inner air volume at the disposal of the towels, while the amount of towels present in the container decreases.
Another object of the invention is to provide a container extremely simple and cheap to be manufactured, and the cost of which represents only a small portion of the cost of the towels, so as to allow its sale as item to be thrown away once the towels are run out.
These objects are achieved by means of a container-dispenser of stacked sanitary towels of the type comprising a parallelepiped-shaped box having a bottom wall, a first pair of parallel vertical walls, a second pair of parallel vertical walls and an upper cover wall in which a slot is formed parallel to one of the vertical walls, the towels being folded and stacked independently from one another (known from GB-A-1461410), characterized in that each towel is folded with two horizontally superposed layers, the first layer extending from one wall to the other wall of the second pair and the second upper layer extending from said other wall of said second pair up to said slot, so that the edges of the towel are offset from each other with one edge located in the area of the slot and the other edge lying adjacent the said one wall of the second pair; and in that said bottom wall includes a movable portion hinged to the box adjacent said other wall of said second pair and the line of the hinge is parallel to said second pair of walls, the movable portion being connected at the edge thereof opposite the hinge to a bottom wall fixed portion by means of bellows, said movable portion extending beneath said slot and carrying a protuberance directed toward the towels within the box, and substantially aligned with said slot.
The container-dipsenser according to the present invention is particularly suitable to be used with sanitary towels of the type imbued with a disinfectant, deodorizing and/or detergent substance and, in this case, said slot has airtight closure means in the form of a snap lid hinged to the container-dispenser.
In order to limit to the utmost the presence of air inside the container-dispenser and to prevent the exchange of said air any time a towel is removed, the pile of towels is constantly pressed against the dispensing wall. For this purpose the container vertical walls are in the form of bellows and at least one spring pushes said bellows in a closed position. Other features of the container-dispenser according to the invention will be now better described with reference to the attached drawing wherein:

- figure 1 is a side cross view of a first embodiment of the container-dispenser;
- figure 2 is a side cross view of a second embodiment of the container-dispenser, particu- arly suitable for the use with damp towels;
-figure 3 is a front view of the container-dispenser of figure 2.

Referring to figure 1, the container-dispenser is constituted by a rigid envelope 1, for example made in molded plastic material, inside which a pile of sanitary towels 2 is placed. The edges 3 of the upper wall 4 of the container are bent upwards and towards outside and are soldered to the edges 5 bent towards outside of the side walls 6. Moreover, the upper wall 4 presents a slot 7 for towel dispensing, parallel to one of the sides of the container. The towels 2 are folded so as to present two edges 8, 9 offset to each other and are piled in the container so that each towel has the shorter edge 8 above the longer edge 9. The slot 7 for towel removal is positioned on the upper wall 4 of the container so that the shorter edge 8 of the towel to be removed is free to protrude from the slot and the longer edge 9 is held by the rim of the slot itself. In order to facilitate the removal of the towels from the container, the bottom wall 10 presents a protuberance 11 aligned with the slot 7. The protuberance 11 acts on the towel pile so that the towel near the upper wall 4 of the container protrudes from the slot 7 and the shorter edge 8 of same can be easily clutched. To make the protuberance 11 act in the desired way also when the container only contains few towels, all or a portion of the bottom wall 10 of the container is movable. In the embodiment of figure 1, the bottom wall 10 houses a bellows small door hinged or fixed to the wall itself in correspondence to its side 14 parallel and farther away from the slot 7, the other sides being airtightly connected to the container by means of bellows 15. The container illustrated in figures 2 and 3 is particularly suitable to be used with sanitary towels of the type imbued with deodorizing, disinfectant and/or detergent substances and is different from the container of figure 1 in that it comprises a lid 16 to airtightly close the slot 7 and in that its side walls 6 are bellows-shaped.
Referring to figure 2, the lid 16 is formed by a shaped small lamina having an end 17 soldered to the container edge parallel and farther away from the slot 7 and the opposite end 18 suitable to be snapped with a corresponding edge of the container. A notch 19 forms a hinge suitable to allow rotation of the lid.
The bellows-shaped side walls of the containers illustrated in figure 2, besides allowing the protuberance 11 to act even when few towels remain in the container, also allow to maintain constant the air volume at the disposal of the towels as they are removed. For this purpose, elastic means (figure 3) can be foreseen, for instance consisting of one or more springs 20 positioned in correspondence to the side walls 6 of the container, and exerting a pushing action on the bottom wall 10 so that the first towel of the pile is kept constantly pressed against the upper wall. In this way the fence is kept closed by the pile of towels and at each removal no air is introduced into the container.

Claims

1. A container-dispenser of stacked sanitary towels of the type comprising a parallelepiped-shaped box (1) having a bottom wall (10), a first pair of parallel vertical walls, a second pair of parallel vertical walls (6) and an upper cover wall (4) in which a slot (7) is formed parallel to one of the vertical walls, the bottom carrying a protuberance (11) directed toward the towels within the box and substantially aligned with said slot, and the towels (2) being folded and stacked independently from one another, characterized in that each towel is folded with two horizontally superposed layers, the first layer extending from one wall to the other wall of the second pair (6) and the second upper layer extending from said other wall of said second pair (6) up to said slot, so that the edges of the towel are offset from each other with one edge (8) located in the area of the slot (7) and the other edge (9) lying adjacent the said one wall of the second pair (6); and in that said bottom wall (10) includes a movable portion (13) hinged (at 14) to the box adjacent said other wall of said second pair (6), the line of the hinge being parallel to said second pair of walls (6), the movable portion being connected at the edge thereof opposite the hinge to a bottom wall fixed portion by means of bellows (15), said movable portion extending beneath said slot and carrying a protuberance (11) directed toward the towels within the box and substantially aligned with said slot (7).

2. A container-dispenser according to claim 1 characterized in that said sanitary towels are imbued with a disinfectant, deodorizing and/or detergent substance, and in that said slot (7) has airtight closure means in the form of a snap lid (16) hinged to said container.

3. A container-dispenser according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said vertical walls thereof are in the form of bellows.

4. A container-dispenser according to claim 3, characterized in that at least one spring (20) pushes said bellows in a closed position.