US2735740A - soans - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 21, 1956 c. A. SOANS 2,735,740

TOILET PAPER CABINET Filed Dec. l4, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 21, 1956 c. A. SOANS 2,735,740

TOILET PAPER CABINET Filed Dec. 14, 1953 l 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 21, 1956 c. A. SOANS 2,735,740

TOILET PAPER CABINET Filed Dec. 14. 1953 I5 Sheets-Sheet 5 j0zve7z 0 @7MZQ. dma

United States Patent The invention relates to. improvements inreceptacles for containing packages of toilet paper, and particularly where the receptacle is placed ina powder room or bathroom for'temporarily storing a roll of toilet paper which is to be used in an emergency when there is no other: toilet paper in the room.

It is quite commonpractice to place an extra or reserve roll of toilet paper in a medicinecabinet or other place where the reserve roll is concealed from normal view. However, after the reserve roll has been installed in the empty roll-holder there remains nothing to advertise;

the fact that the reserve roll. is being used up and. that another roll should be placed in the medicine cabinet. Consequently, it happens perhaps more frequently than will be suspected, that guestsare inconvenienced and em.- barrassed by finding that the toilet. paper in the powder room is completely exhausted vor in short supply.

The principal. objects of the invention are to avoid the inconveniencing and embarrassment. abovementioned, to eliminate. the need for providing in the room any other place or container for paper, and incidentally to avoid, the necessity of having any other dispensing holder for the package.

I attain these objects by the use of. a receptacle described in connection with the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. I is a perspective view of a toilet paper roll storage receptacle combined with a dispensing holder and embodying the principles of my invention, showing the receptacle closed;

Fig. 2 is also a perspective view of the receptacle after it has been opened;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the device in vertical section;

Fig. 4 is an enlargement of a portion of Fig. 3, showing the receptacle closed;

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 4, but showing the receptacle unlocked and ready to be opened;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged rear elevation of the lock, or latch;

Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation of the stationary portion of the empty receptacle, taken on the line 77 of Fig. 3;

Figs. 8 and 9 are views similar to Figs. 4 and 5 but show a simpler form of lock release;

Fig. 10 is a front elevation, in section, of an alternative form of receptacle, in which the door is at the bottom; and

Fig. 11 is a plan view 11-11 of Fig. 10.

In the drawings, the numeral 20 represents as a whole a rectangular receptacle or casing in which, in the Fig. 1 position, a package of toilet paper in the form of a roll 21 is normally contained and stored. The receptacle 20 may be secured to the wall of the room by screws 22, or other suitable fastening means. The receptacle 20 comprises a stationary part and a closure part which, in the case of the receptacle disclosed in Figs. 1 to 9 inclusive, takes the form of a front door 23 connected to of a section taken on the line storing a reserve. supply of toilet.

2,735,740 Patented Feb. 21, 1956 the rectangular stationary portion of the cabinet by spring hinges 24 which tend to ceptacle 20.

On the outer face of the front door 23 there is mounted open the front. door of the rea'bracket 25 for detachably supporting a conventional.

spindle 26 by means of which paper from the roll 21 may be dispensed as needed.

When the receptacle 20 is occupied by the roll 21, the closed by a manually-releasable lock or latch mechanism now to be described. Between and supported by the side walls of the receptacle 20 there extends a rod 28, see Fig. 7, around which is loosely wound a wire spring 29. One end 30 of this spring is in the form of an arm extending downwardly and resting position 32 shown in F1g. 3. The outer or front end of arm 32 is folded backvupon itself to form a latching abutment 33 which, when the latch arm 32 is in the full line position, is adapted to engage behind the flange 34 of a keeper 35 secured to the inside face of the front wall 23 of the cabinet by screws extending through spaced lugs 36 on the front edge of keeper 35. See Figs. 4 and 5.

When a roll 21 of toilet paper is pushed into the cabinet, its rear face engages an arm 37 which is formed as a part of spring 29, see Fig. 7, and rotates it from the dotted line position 37', see Fig. 3, into its full linev position. This causes the arm 37 to rotate the coiled spring 29 in anti-clockwise direction and thereby causes the latch arm latch. arm 32.

To enable the cabinet to be unlocked and the roll removed, the outer end of a manually-operable plunger 41 is pressed inwardly. .The inner end 42 of this plunger engages the lower end 43 of a sheet metal strip bent into the form of a bell crank positioned between the two lugs 36 of the keeper 35. The upper arm 44 of the bell crank extends between the upper face of the keeper 35 and the latch 33, so that when the plunger 41 is pushed inwardly the inner end of arm 44 will raise the latch, thereby unlocking the door and enabling the spare roll to be removed. The head of the fixed pin 45 prevents displacement of the bell crank 43-44.

It will be observed that when the spare roll 21 is removed and installed on the holder 25, the door can not be re-latchcd in closed position until another spare roll is placed in the cabinet. Hence, until the cabinet is refilled, the door will hang down and serve as a danger signal until such time as the cabinet is recharged with another spare. This danger signal may be made more insistent by applying an objectionable color on the inside of the door, in addition to which the roll being then dispensed will occupy an awkward position for convenient use, thus emphasizing the need for refilling the cabinet.

In Figs. 8 and 9 there is shown a simpler form of latch release. In this modified form the outer end of the latch arm 32 is lengthened to form a trigger projection through a small slot 46 in the front wall enabling one to raise the latch arm and disengage the latch from the flat keeper 47 secured to the rear face of the door.

In Figs. 10 and 11 I have shown a bottom door modification in which the weight of the roll may be employed instead of a spring, for latching the door in closed position. In this gravity arrangement the latch arm 48 takes the form of a thin strip of resilient metal depending from and secured to the top of the rear of the cabinet by an integral lug 49 and screws 50 threaded into the top wall 51. The inherent elasticity of spring strip 48 is such as to urge it to the right of Fig. 10, excessive movement being prevented by a headed pin 52 extending through a small hole in spring 48. The end of the flat spring 48 is folded to form a latch 53 and is long enough to form a trigger extending through an opening in the bottom wall 54 which, in this case, forms the closure part or door which can be opened.

The door 54 may be arranged to swing by gravity in an anti-clockwise direction when it is opened, its righthand edge being equipped with hinges 55 which connect the door to the right-hand side wall 56. On the inside face of the bottom door near the inner rear corner thereof I mount a small bracket 57 secured to the door by screws 58. This bracket has a pair -of spaced upstanding ears 57a which form a support for a small rod 59 which itself forms a pivot for a movable latch member or keeper 60. The latching part or keeper 60 is made in the form of a fiat lug which is integral with, and depends from a fiat metal strip 61 having a pair of spaced, downwardly-bent ears 62 through which the pivot rod 59 extends. The keeper 60, which swings with the door, is thus also enabled to rock on its own horizontal axis.

The fiat body portion of the keeper 61 is extended obliquely to a point beyond the center of the cabinet so as to underlie and support the spare roll of toilet paper 63 which is placed in the receptacle with its axis vertical. Excessive downward movement of the keeper 61 is prevented by a supporting ledge 64 secured to the upper face of the door 54.

In order to render the latching mechanism inoperative when the cabinet is empty, a small coil tension spring 65 is connected between the extended lower end of one of the lugs 62 on keeper 61 and a pin 66 on the inside face of the door. The weight of the spare roll 63 is sufiicient to overcome the tension of spring 65 and thus will cause spring 65 to assume its operative latching position, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, but the spring 65 is strong enough to rock the keeper into dotted line inoperative position when the roll is absent. In said dotted line position the arm cannot engage the latch member 53, and so it is impossible to latch up the door in closed position.

Preferably, in this modification shown in Figs. and 11, it is desirable to mount the roll-dispensing support 67 on the bottom face of the door, as shown in Fig. 10. This supplies additional weight for keeping the door open when the cabinet is empty, and in that unfilled condition the dispensing of the paper from the roll is inconvenient and directs immediate attention to the need for refilling the cabinet.

I claim:

1. A normally closed storage container for enclosing a single reserve package of toilet paper and adapted to be installed in an exposed-to-view location in a toilet room, said container including a relatively stationary part and a relatively movable closure part pivoted to said stationary part and adapted to swing downwardly and away from the stationary part to open position, a latch adapted to hold said cabinet closed only when said package is in the container, manually-controlled means operable at will when the container contains a package for disengaging said latch whereby said container may be opened and the package removed, and a dispensing support carried on the outside of said closure part and arranged to hold a similar package in convenient usable position when the container is closed but in a relatively inconvenient position when the container is open, the weight of said support tending to swing said closure part into open position.

2. A toilet paper package storage container which includes a stationary part and a closure part manually movable from an open position into position to close the container and which is arranged to return automatically to its open position when the container is empty so as to permit insertion of a spare package, and a lock at all times manually releasable at will for holding the closure part in closed position, which lock is effective to latch said closure part in closed position when a package is in the container but is ineffective to hold said closure part in closed position when the package is not in the container, said lock including a pair of inter-engaging members carried respectively by the container parts, one of said members being held in effective operative engagement with the other member by the spare package when said package is in the container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 598,053 Lewis Jan. 25, 1898 1,354,500 McNaughton Oct. 5, 1920 1,686,911 Fredlund Oct. 9, 1928 2,639,957 Geller May 26, 1953

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