GB2399338A

GB2399338A - Dispenser for a pad of paper

Info

Publication number: GB2399338A
Application number: GB0229738A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jonathan Harrison; Mark Andrew Rowden
Original assignee: Sustainable Trading Ltd
Current assignee: Sustainable Trading Ltd
Priority date: 2002-12-23
Filing date: 2002-12-23
Publication date: 2004-09-15
Also published as: WO2004056661A3; AU2003296834A1; WO2004056661B1; GB0229738D0; WO2004056661A2; AU2003296834A8

Abstract

A dispenser for a pad (625) of paper or individual sheets of paper has a container for at least partially enclosing the pad and engaging the pad so as to form it into a curved profile to expose individual edges of the paper or individual sheets of paper. An access aperture (250) passes from a region external to the container to the pad within the container to enable a user to obtain access to individual sheets within the container. The dispenser may have a pivotable lid and a ridge (60) for tearing perforations on the pad. The dispenser may be used for reminder notes or cigarette papers.

Description

Dispenser for pads or Individual sheets of paper

Field of the invention

The present invention is concerned with dispensers for pads of paper or individual sheets of paper. Moreover, the present invention is especially, though not exclusively, directed to dispensers suitable for pads of paper packaged and contained for use in making self rolled cigarettes. Furthermore, the invention is also especially, though not exclusively, directed to pads of repositionable notelets, such as those, for example, sold by Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company, of St Paul, Minnesota, USA, under the trade mark "Post-It". Such notelet papers are normally cut from paper sheets having a weight in a range of from 40 to 175 g/m2. The present invention is also especially, though not A exclusively directed to any form of bound booklet or unbound, loose sheets of cigarette À . rolling papers. Such rolling papers are normally cut from paper sheets having a weight in : ... . the range of from 5 to 40 g/m2. :.. À À i. e.

À :. Background to the invention

The inventors have appreciated that sheets of paper in notelet pads can be difficult for ant.... À

users to handle, for example when separating individual sheets to use for writing notes À . . for attachment to various surfaces. Moreover, such pads can be susceptible to damage when transported in clothing, for example in pockets, and when moved generally around home and/or office environments.

Whereas a conventional approach to make pads of paper more robust is to employ thicker sheets of paper, the inventors have appreciated that this limits the number of sheets which can be practically included in such pads.

In order to address such problems, the inventors have devised a dispenser for pads of paper or individual sheets of paper.

Summary of the invention I

It is the object of the present invention to be a dispenser fabricated from one or more of metal, metal alloy and plastics material, metallically coated plastics materials and related materials. I According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dispenser for a pad of paper or individual sheets of paper, the dispenser including: (a) a container for at least partially enclosing the pad to provide mechanical protection thereto, the container arranged to engage the pad so as to form it into! a curved profile to expose individual edges of the paper or individual sheets of paper; and b) at least one access aperture from a region external to the container to the pad within the container to enable a user to obtain access to individual sheets within ! À .. the container. : . . . À

The invention is of advantage in that it synergistically provides protection for the pad of i paper whilst simultaneously providing enhanced user access to the sheets of paper of the I À pad. Àe.e

-

Preferably, the dispenser further includes a removable lid for further enclosing the pad within the container. Advantageously, the lid is pivotally attached to the container.

Alternatively, the lid is beneficially snap-fttable to the container.

Preferably, the container includes at least one elongate indent for mechanically strengthening the container.

Preferably, the container includes a planar region and an associated curved region adjacent thereto in the form of an "Aerofoil", the curved region operable to cause the pad of paper to assume a curved form for enhancing user access to individual sheets. More preferably, the at least one access aperture is formed into the curved region.

Preferably, the container further comprises one or more edge ridges for cooperating with I the pad of paper for mechanically retaining it within the container.

Conveniently, the container is fabricated from one or more of a plastics material, paper, a I metal, an metal alloy and wood. More preferably, an outer surface of the container is provided with textured finish.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pad of sheets of paper suitable for use with a dispenser according to the first aspect of the invention. ! More preferably, sheets of the pad are provided with a refixable adhesive along at least one edge thereof. À en À À

À According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of À À. installing the pad of paper according to the second aspect of the invention into a i: . .. À dispenser according to the first aspect of the invention. I Àe

i' . .

I

Description of the diagrams Àe.e

À Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following diagrams in which: Figure I is an illustration of a first embodiment of the invention comprising a unitary curved dispenser; Figure 2 is an illustration of a second embodiment of the invention comprising the curved dispenser of Figure 1 further provided with a closure lid; Figure 3 is a representation of a paper wrapper for at least partially covering a pad of sheets of paper; and Figure 4 is a illustration of a process of loading the dispensers of Figures 1 and 2 with a pad of paper sheets and then dispensing individual sheets from the dispenser.

Description of embodiments of the invention I

Referring firstly to Figure 1, there is shown a schematic diagram of a dispenser according to one embodiment of the present invention. The dispenser is illustrated in plan view as indicated by 10, in side view as indicated by 20, and in end view as indicated by 30. I Moreover, the inventors have contoured the dispenser to acquire a profile known as a curved 'Aerofoil' shape.

The dispenser is preferably pressed formed from a sheet of metal, for example aluminium, stainless steel, brass, silver, gold or similar material or even wood. ! Alternatively, the dispenser is susceptible to being molded from a plastics material, for example a glass loaded plastic, Perspex, nylon, polypropylene, acrylic, delrin or similar material which can optionally be filled plastics materials. i À À À.e À

À. The dispenser can have a smooth surface finish. Alternatively, at least part of its surface can be textured to make it easier to handle, for example with sweaty or greasy fingers.

I..... Such texturing can be achieved by embossing, chemical etching, electroplating, painting, I' sputter painting and/or printing processes. Such texturing is also susceptible to I t enhancing the aesthetic appearance of the dispenser to its user. When the dispenser is À - .e fabricated from moldable materials, for example plastics materials, such texturing can be a molded feature. Alternatively, or additionally, the textured finish can be printed, sputter sprayed or printed.

Spatial features of the dispenser will now be described with reference to Figure 1.

The dispenser is of a generally elongate form with a substantially planar region 35 adjacent to a curved region 40 as illustrated. At the periphery of the dispenser, there is formed a ridge; the ridge is formed by bending metal edges of the dispenser when fabricated from metal, or by molding where the dispenser is molded from plastics materials. The dispenser further includes a finger access hole 50. The hole 50 is preferably offset towards one end of the dispenser and is situated within the curved region 40. Moreover, the hole 50 intentionally not provided with a ridge as is included around the periphery of the dispenser. Peripheral edge ridges 60, 70 of the dispenser are angled in such a manner as to render a pad of sheets of paper span-fit retainable within the dispenser. Preferably, walls of the ridges 60, 70 are arranged to have a relative angle (3 in a range of 5 to 60 , more preferably in a range of 20 to 45 , and most preferably substantially 27 .

The aforesaid pad of paper is preferably provided with a stiff card cover. Optionally, the cover includes a perforated tab that the user can pull away to expose sheets of paper of the pad when the pad has been installed in the dispenser.

Although the edge ridges 60, 70 are often quite sufficient to retain the pad with its associated optional card cover, the dispenser can be provided with a lid as illustrated in * À À Figure 2. The lid is denoted by and is preferably pivotally attached to the edge ridge 60, . for example so that the dispenser with associated lid is a unitary component.

À Alternatively, the lid 100 can be made detachable and snap-fittable to the dispenser. As : such, the lid 100 can be made an additional optional accessory for the dispenser.

À À . . Although the lid 100 is shown pivoting relative to the edge ridge 60, it can alternatively À. À. ] be made pivottable relative the edge ridge 70. As a yet further option, the lid 100 can be made slide fittable to the dispenser or pivotally mounted relative to end ridges 110 of the dispenser. Conveniently, the lid is a curved component to conform to the shape of the dispenser.

The hole 50 can be provided with a reinforcing indent to increase its strength. Similarly, one or more of the planar region 35 and the curved region 40 can be provided with indents to increase their mechanical strength. Such indents or perforations can be linear in form and extended either longitudinally along the dispenser or transversely between the edge ridges 60, 70.

The lid 100 can be fabricate from one or more of metal, alloy or plastics material.

Optionally, the lid 100 can be made at least partially transparent to enable the user to see how many of the sheets of the pad have already been removed from the dispenser. ! Alternatively, for example for aesthetic reasons and/or for ease of manufacture, the lid can be fabricated from a substantially opaque material.

Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown a paper wrapper for at least partially surrounding a pad of sheets of paper. The wrapper is indicated generally by 200 and is fabricated from card having a weight in a range of 40 to 300 g/m2, and more preferably in a range of 150 to 300 g/m2, and most preferably in a range of 175 to 275 g/m2. The i wrapper 200 can alternatively be fabricated from a plastics material, for example plastic laminated paper such as UV laminated, plastic laminated or similar, for example a proprietary product of DuPont sold under a trade name "Tyvek". Tyvek is a made from very fine, high-density polyethylene fibres. i. À

I À 1 À *'. The wrapper 200 comprises a first region 210 and a second region 220 with a folded edge 230 therebetween. The fold edge 230 is preferably a double fold so that the wrapper 200 : can more easily at least partially enclose a pad of paper sheets. The wrapper 200 further À À . includes a tab 240 and a corresponding hole recess 250 as illustrated. In manufacture, the wrapper can be arranged to enclose its pad of paper sheets such that the tab 240 and hole À recess 250 and linked by user-severable perforations, the folded edge 230 then conveniently being an edge where edge of the wrapper are joined so that the wrapper 200, including the perforations between the tab 240 and the hole recess 250, can be manufactured from a unitary sheet of card or paper.

Near the tab 240, the wrapper 200 preferably included a fold edge 260 to cooperate with the fold edge 230 to enable the wrapper 200 to more easily include the aforesaid pad of paper sheets.

As illustrated, the wrapper 200 is of a generally elongate form to conform with an inside volume of the dispenser illustrated in Figure 1 and 2.

The recess hole 250 is included to allow user access to the sheets of paper of the pad.

Moreover, the tab 240 provides an area for advertising or other graphic promotion. The same surface can be perforated in such a way that strips of paper or card can be removed I for filters, or 'roaches'. The same sheet can also be extended in size, wrapping in on itself to provide more filters, or bulk, to the packing.

Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a series of steps in a method of installing a pad of paper into the dispenser and then extracting sheets from the dispenser. The steps are indicated generally by 600 and comprise STEP 1, STEP 2 and STEP 3.

In STEP 1, a pad of sheets of paper is formed by applying refixable contact adhesive along one elongate edge 620 of the sheets 610 to form the pad denoted by 625. The À adhesive used should have similar adhesive properties to that used for 3M's proprietary .. <.

I "Post-It" pads. The pad 625 is then flexed to curve it around its longitudinal axis, namely in a direction substantially parallel to the elongate edge 620. .. À

In STEP 2, the curved pad 625 is then inserted into the dispenser so that elongate edges À .2 of the pad 625 and its associated wrapper 200 (not shown) engage onto the aforesaid edge À À ,. ridges 60, 70 of the dispenser; the dispenser here is denoted by 630.

In STEP 3, the user then turns the dispenser 630 over to render the sheets of the pad 625 exposed through the aforementioned hole recess 250. Forming the pad 625 into a curved profile is of considerable advantage in that edges of each sheet become more easily accessible through the hole recess 250, rendering the dispenser easier to employ in use in comparison to attempting to detach individual sheets from the pad 625 when in an uncurved state.

It will be appreciated that modifications can be made to embodiments of the invention described in the foregoing without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, the dispenser described above is particularly suitable for cigarette rolling papers and such like. À en ! À t Able : À aces Àe

1.,,.. e Àe e. À e À À

Claims

Claims 1. A dispenser for a pad of paper or individual sheets of paper,

the dispenser including: (a) a container for at least partially enclosing the pad to provide mechanical protection thereto, the container arranged to engage the pad so as to form it into a curved profile to expose individual edges of the paper or individual sheets of paper; and (b) at least one access aperture from a region external to the container to the pad within the container to enable a user to obtain access to individual sheets within the container.

.
2. A dispenser according to Claim 1, further including a removable lid for further enclosing the pad within the container. À À À..CLME: À À
3. A dispenser according to Claim 2, wherein the lid is pivotally attached to the À e.e À À container. À.. À

A
4. A dispenser according to Claim 2, wherein the lid is snap-fittable to the container. À
5. A dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container includes at least one elongate indent for mechanically strengthening the container.
6. A dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container includes a planar region and an associated curved region adjacent thereto in the form of an "Aerofoil", the curved region operable to cause the pad of paper to assume a curved form for enhancing user access to individual sheets.
7. A dispenser according to Claim 6, wherein the at least one access aperture is formed into the curved region.
8. A dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container further comprises one or more edge ridges for cooperating with the pad of paper for mechanically retaining it within the container.
9. A dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container is fabricated from one or more of a plastics material, paper, a metal, an metal alloy and
10. A dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein an outer surface of the container is provided with textured finish.

À À
11. A pad of sheets of paper suitable for use with a dispenser according to any one of the preceding claims. À À

À À
12. A pad according to Claim I 1, wherein sheets of the pad are provided with a refixable I....

À À adhesive along at least one edge thereof. À. À

as.
13. A method of installing a pad of paper according to any one of Claims 1 1 to 12 into a À dispenser according to any one of Claims 1 to 10.
14. A dispenser substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to one or more Figures 1 to 4.