US3003671A

US3003671A - Dispenser for spirally rolled paper

Info

Publication number: US3003671A
Authority: US
Inventors: William S Graham
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1957-11-01
Filing date: 1957-11-01
Publication date: 1961-10-10
Anticipated expiration: 1978-10-10

Description

Oct. 10, 1961 w. s. GRAHAM 3,003,671

DISPENSER FOR SPIRALLY ROLLED PAPER Filed Nov. 1, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.

Oct. 19.61 w. s. GRAHAM 3,003,671

DISPENSER FOR SPIRALLY ROLLED PAPER Filed Nov. 1, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent 3,003,671 DISPENSER FOR SPIRALLY ROLLED PAPER William S. Graham, 3032 College Ave., Berkeley 5, Calif. Filed Nov. 1, 1957, Ser. No. 694,011 3 Claims. (Cl. 22577) This invention relates to dispensers for spirally rolled paper and particularly relates to dispensers for such rolled paper which has very limited body substance, commonly referred to as toilet tissue, wherefore a roller is manually operated to advance a strip of paper for shearing in casual, selective, unmeasured lengths.

This invention relates to my copending application for patent, Serial No. 493,343, filed March 10, 1955, now Patent No. 2,834,557, dated May 13, 1958.

In a shop, garage, kitchen or for toilet purposes, and in numerous other environments it is frequently desirable to use a selectively large or small strip of paper to wipe the face or fingers, or to clean or dry utensils or the like. Among the objects of this invention are to provide a device having a roller for manually advancing such a strip of paper from a paper roll to a shearing edge; to provide means for supporting a paper roll and maintaining its circumferential face in rotative frictional contact with the dispenser; to provide means to vary the drag of such rotation; to provide a paper'dispensing apparatus which is adapted for use in either vertical or horizontal position; and to provide such a device which is compact and flat for boxing and shipment. In the absence of mechanical means for advancing the paper for shearing, the dispensing operation is manual, and is initially by finger pressure upon a free end portion of a strip of the paper which extends over a roller, and thus advancing the paper strip relative to a shearing edge where it may be firmly gripped for further extension and shearing.

Briefly described, the invention comprises a device for dispensing spirally rolled paper in selective lengths, and having a face plate upon which the roll of paper may be supported, the forward end portion of which has a space thereunder, with a transverse roller therein, the circumference of the roller extending through a slot in the plane of the face plate. Also at the forward end is a guide plate having an opening centrally thereof for finger access to the roller and being spaced above the face plate to provide a guide slot for receiving a strip of paper therethrough, the forward terminal edge of the guide plate having a shearing edge. At a rearward portion the face plate mounts a suitable means for rotatively holding a roll of spirally rolled paper in a manner to maintain the circumference of the roll in rotational frictional contact transversely of the face plate. The rotatively mounted roll of paper by its weight against the face plate provides an automatic brake by rotational frictional resistance or drag at its circumference, and means may be provided for varying the frictional drag and braking elfect in accordance with the size and weight of the paper roll.

In order to more clearly describe the invention, longitudinal is referred to as the direction from a forward shearing edge toward an opposite rearward end, and lateral or transverse is perpendicular thereto; the back supporting face of the base is the face upon which the base rests, and the face plate is opposite and generally parallel thereto, though not necessarily geometrically parallel since there may be slight relative incline from front to back which is more for appearance than function.

Preferred forms in which the invention may be exemplified are described herein and illustrated in the accom- 3,003,671 Patented Oct. 10, 1961 ice FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified.

form of a guide plate of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another modified form of the invention, incorporating a guide plate into a cover, a portion of the cover member being broken away.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section on line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

Referring to the drawings in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in the several views of the respective forms of the invention, and referring firstly to FIGS. 1 to 3, a supporting base member is generally indicated it the upper face of which is a smooth face plate 11 which is preferably substantially flat and planar, and whichrnay be inclined downwardly from the forward end to its rearward end, though substantially parallel with the plane of a supporting back face 12. The face plate 11, and more particularly its forward or shearing end portion 11a is spaced relative to the bottom or plane of the supporting back face 12 of the base member, as at 14, so that its forward shearing end is thereby spaced from the surface on which the device is supported, such spacing of the face plate at said forward end providing in the forward wall an elevation for a finger opening 13 and an inset space 16, the forward transverse portion 11a of the face plate overlying said finger opening 13 and space 16. Spaced rearwardly from its forward end the said forward portion 11a of the face plate has an elongated transverse roller slot 15 therethrough communicating with space 16, the transverse elongated edges of which are bevelled divergingly downwardly as at 15a.

A transverse rotatably mounted elongated roller preferably of a single roller unit 17 is disposed in the roller slot 15, being mounted in space 16 and spaced rearwardly from the finger opening 13 of the forward wall, the roller being rotatable on pins 13 which are mounted in support blocks 19 within the space 16 underlying the said forward portion of the face plate, the circumference of the roller having close rotative clearance with the elongated edges of roller slot 15, and more particularly the forward elongated edge of said slot, a portion of said circumference extending slightly above the upper face of the face plate into a guide slot 21, the said portion of the circumference of the roller being closely spaced below the plane of an opposed face of an overlying guide plate 20, to provide a lateral transverse space between said portion of the circumference of the roller and the guide plate suflicient for a strip of paper to slide freely therethrough in a nonangular substantially aligned path paralielly along and in superficial slidable contact with the planar face plate. Diverging elongated edges 15a of roller slot 15 provide for a close rotative clearance between said slot edges and the circumference of the roller. 7

The guide plate 20 is mounted laterally transversely and parallelly overlying the upper face of the forward end portion 11a of the face plate, in sufficiently vertically spaced relation to provide a transverse planar guide slot opening 21 between the guide plate and the underlying face plate portion and the circumference of the roller, for slidably receiving therethrough a strip of the paper 22a which has been drawn from a spirally wound roll 22, rotatively mounted on a bracket to be described. The guide slot 21 is of a width laterally transversely of the face plate to generally directionally align the ends of the guide .slot

with the transverse width of that portion of the face plate which is contacted by the circumference of the paper roll, allowing for ample free slidable clearance so that a strip of paper drawn from the roll may be generally aligned with and slide through said guide slot.

The forward edge of the guide plate is substantially coterminous with, but preferably inset rearwardly a very short space (about 7 inch) from the forward edge of the underlying face plate. At said forward edge the guide plate is provided with a toothed or serrated shearing edge 24 to facilitate shearing the strip of paper thereagainst, the small rearward inset of the shearing edge from the substantially coterminous forward edge of the face plate thus serving as a guard against possible injury to the hand of the operator against the shearing edge. The terminal rear edge portion of the guide plate 20 may be flanged upwardly in a lip to facilitate initially guiding the paper strip 22a to sliding position under the guide plate whenever necessary, such as when a new roll of paper is installed.

Since a previously sheared strip of paper will have terminated at the shearing edge 24 and not be available at the shearing edge for finger grip, the guide plate 20 is provided with a guide opening 26 through its planar portion centrally of the transverse dimension of the guide plate, the lateral transverse side edges of the opening being spaced from the corresponding edges of the guide plate, the central position of the opening tending to confine the stress of pull to the center line of the paper strip. The guide opening 26 overlies the roller slot 15 and roller 17, said slot and the full diameter of the fingerpress-area of the circumference of the roller extending laterally transversely substantially the full transverse width of the guide-plate opening 26. Because the roller is hidden by the overlying strip of paper and because of the thinness of the paper and its lack of resistant body, it is desirable that the paper he supported by the roller across the entire width of opening 26, since such paper will, under stress of manual finger pressure, crimp and deform into any substantial space where it is unsupported by the circumference of the roller, wherefore this relationship of width of the guide plate opening relative to the length of the full circumferential portion of the roller is quite important, especially in dispensing relatively thin paper, such as toilet tissue paper. A roller 17 is spaced rearwardly from the shearing edge, said shearing edge providing a guide strip 26a having a guide edge 26b which is rearwardly spaced from the shearing edge and forwardly of the roller 17 providing a free area of the face plate portion 11a which underlies the opening 26 between the roller slot and said guide edge, whereby an operator may exert finger pressure through the opening 26 simultaneously upon the strip 22a of the paper which overlies the roller within the guide slot 21 and upon the exposed circumference of roller 17, and by slight manual frictional pressure and forward movement of the finger in the direction of the shearing edge may manually draw the paper forward across the free area of the face plate and under said guide edge 26b and through the portion of the guide slot adjacent to the shearing edge, whereby an extended terminal free edge portion of the paper strip is extended beyond the shearing edge 24, whereupon said extended portion may be gripped between hte fingers of the operator for further Withdrawal of the desired length, and, by manual upward agd sidewise pull, it may be severed against the shearing e go.

The provision of the front-wall opening 13 and the inset space 16 permits other fingers of the operators hand to-be conveniently inserted therein whereby, as the end edge portion of the paper is pulled forward free of the guide slot, it is automatically positioned between the operators fingers which are respectively above and below the extended portion of the paper strip, as shown in broken lines in FIG. 3.

Means are provided at the opposite or rearwardly portion of the face plate for rotatively supporting the roll of paper 22. Preferably such means maintains the circumference of the roll in rotative frictional contact with the face plate. Such means may comprise a bracket generally indicated 27 pivotally mounted transversely of said opposite or rearward portion of the face plate by means of a crossbar 28 freely pivotally engaged at said rearward portion under one or more pivot straps 29 which are preferably closed at the rearward end thereof as at 30 so that the crossbar 28 may be held thereunder. Each of the opposite ends of the crossbar may he stayed against transverse movement by stop members 31. Extending perpendicularly from the opposite ends of the crossbar are resiliently springable bracket arms 32 which extend forwardly toward the shearing end and which have their free terminal ends turned opposingly inwardly to provide bearing pins 33 which swing in the arc of their radius arms 32. The pins 33 are manifestly for rotatively supporting the roll of spirally wound paper 22 which may be mounted thereon by means of an elongated spindle 34, the opposite ends of which rotatively receive said inturned pins 33. Such rolls of spirally wound paper are customarily provided with an axial opening and tubular core 35 centrally thereof for receiving the spindle. Since it is preferred that the paper roll may be maintained against wobbling on its axis, the spindle preferably has a conveniently close slid-able fit in such a core.

Because of the smoothness and planar alignment of the face plate, there is an absence of angles around which the dispensed strip of paper must be pulled, and the strip of paper may slide in a plane along the planar face of the face plate in substantial co-planar contact therewith. And because of the narrow line of contact of the roll against the face plate and the positive movement of the dispensed strip by manual pressure on the portion of the circumference of roller 17 which extends through roller slot 15, there is a minimum of contact resistance or drag of the paper against the face plate in the rotational dispensing thereof, although the maintaining of the relatively narrow transverse strip of the circumference of the roll against the face plate as at 36 provides a braking force against rotational over-ride.

However, if desired, there may also be provided a differential braking means against rotation of the paper roll in accordance with the size and weight of the paper roll, providing decreased rotational drag when the roll is relatively large and heavy and increased drag when the roll becomes smaller from use, either of these respective braking controls may be employed singly or. collectively, their relative importance and effectiveness depending appreciably on the weight and surface character of the paper roll and whether the device is used at vertical or horizontal position. In this connection it will be noted that the axes of free terminal ends 33 of the bracket arms 32 swing the paper roll towards the face plate in the arc of said free terminal ends, so that the circumferential contact 36 of the roll moves forwardly on the face plate as the roll becomes smaller, as best illustrated in FIG. 2.

The exemplified means to minimize the rotational drag of the paper roll against the face plate when the roll is large and heavy comprises longitudinal tracks or rails 37 upraised from the face plate and relatively transversely spaced, the tracks or rails being of less collective width than that portion of the face plate which the paper roll would otherwise contact, said rails being of sufi'icient length and position to support the paper roll when it is of maximum circumference and weight and the bracket arms are more nearly at the zenith of their arc. These rails may terminate at their rearward end in the pivot straps 29. r

The upraised rail strips 37 are preferably inclined upwardly from front to rear and fade at their forward ends into the general plane of an intermediate portion38 of the face plate which underlies the axis of the spindle of paper may slide in a plane from the circumference of the paper roll across said portion of the circumference of the roller and through the guide slot to the shearing edge, the said guide-plate-opening being centrally of the guide plate and spaced from the opposite lateral transverse edges of the guide plate, whereby finger pressure on a strip of paper and the roller may be confined to the transversely central portion of the paper strip in the guide slot.

2. A paper dispenser device as set forth in claim 1, said base having at its forward end an opening communicating with the space underlying the forward end portion of the face plate, the roller being spaced rearwardly from said forward end opening of the base, whereby access is provided under said forward end portion of the face plate for inserting fingers of an operator thereunder.

3. A .paper dispenser device as set forth in claim 1 and in which the roller has relatively spaced circumferential in the guide plate, and the edge portion of the face plate forwardly'of the roller at said slot has tongues extending into said grooves.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 489,787 Bowen Jan. 10, 1893 909,599 Hotchkiss Jan. 12, 1909 1,423,336 Korittke July 18, 1922 2,125,754 Steiner Aug. 2, 1938 2,224,100 Gautier Dec. 3, 1940 2,834,557 Graham May 13, 1958 v FOREIGN PATENTS Sweden Aug. 12, 1952 as the are of the bracket arms moves the spindle forwardly and downwardly progressively as the paper roll becomes smaller in circumference and lighter in weight, whereby'the roll of paper rests upon the intermediate portion 'of the face plate the entire width of the roll, and thus has greater proportional frictional drag to rotation. As the rollcontinues to become smaller, the arc of the bracket arms moves the axis of rotation of the roll farther forwardly until finally, when the paper of the roll approaches its minimum of circumference and rotates relatively more easily and rapidly for a given length of the dispensed strip, it has the least weight and circumference contact with the face plate; wherefore, the face plate may have a transverse integral roughened strip 39 to create a greater frictional drag of the paper roll against the face plate.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 there is shown a modified form of roller and adjacent edge of the slot in which the roller rotates. In use'of very thin light-weight paper such as commonly called toilet tissue there may be a tendency when the paper is drawn over the roller for the paper to crimp into the very narrow space indicated x between the roller and the adjacent forward edge of the slot in the face plate, due to the simultaneous downard and forward finger pressure on the paper and roller thereunder. This is particularly true if the paper has transverse perforations as is common in such thin toilet tissue. To remedy such a condition the modified roller 17a is provided with axially spaced circumferential grooves 17b and the adjacent forward edge of the face plate and modified roller slot 15b are provided with relatively small tongues or tabs 11b which extend into the grooves 1712 with clearance to permit rotation of the roller. It will be noted that in the modified roller a circumferential portion of the roller is provided at each opposite end so that there is a circumferential portion of the roller accessible to finger pressure for the entire width of opening 26 of the guide plate. As the paper passes over the roller responsive to finger pressure the grooved roller and tongues 11b guide the paper over the edge x and thus avoids crimping of the paper strip into the said slot. It is not believed necessary to provide the tongues in the edge of the face-plate-slot rearwardly of the roller because the movement of the roller is rotatively upwardly at that edge. In other respects the device of FIGS. 4 and 5 is similar to that shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

In FIG. 6 a modified form of guide plate is shown, providing for a removable guide plate in order that it may be cleaned or replaced, the opposite ends of the guide plate 20a being flanged as at 2012 to space the guide plate from the face plate, said ends of the guide plate slidably fitting into tracks 23a at opposite edges of the forward end portion of the face plate. In other respects the modification shown in FIG. 6 is similar to FIGS. 1 to 3. 7

Any suitable hinged cover member may be provided for enclosing the paper roll, one form being exemplified in FIGS. 7 and 8 in which there is shown a cover for the bracket and paper roll which integrally combines therewith the guide plate, the shearing edge, and the fingerpress opening in the guide plate. More particularly, the cover generally indicated 41 in FIG. 7 comprises a planar forward end portion which overlies the forward end portion 11a of the face plate and constitutes a guide plate portion 20c, being vertically spaced parallel to the underlying face plate portion by means of hinged ears 42 mounted on hinged pins 43 at the forward end of each of the side walls of the base, thus providing the guide slot 21a for receiving a strip of dispensed paper therethrough. The guide plate portion 200 has a serrated shearing edge 24a at its forward terminal edge and an opening 26c for finger pressure as previously described, the guide edge of said opening being indicated 26d.

The opposite ends of the guide slot 21a are closed by perpendicularly fianging over the longitudinal edges 230 of the guide plate portion into releasable close fit against the side walls of the base. Instead of having a terminal upturned rearward edge to the guide plate (as indicated 25 in FIGS. 1 to 3), the rearward portion of the guide plate of FIGS. 7 and 8 flares concavely integrally upwardly, as at 44, and continues in a convex arcuate cover portion 45 of sufficient arc to house therein a roll of paper mounted on the bracket 27, obviously allowing sufiicient clearance for rotation of the paper roll. The opposite or rear end of the cover member. may have any suitable means for releasable connection to the rear end portion of the base, such as by Well-known slots and wing nuts generally indicated 46.

The positioning of the hinge pins 43 and the pivot position of the hinge cars 42 are such that when the cover is swung on the hinge, the are or orbit of movement of the shearing edge 24a will be sufficient so that the shearing edge will not be injured by striking the forward wall of the base. If the cover is hingedly mounted as shown in FIG. 7, it is preferred that the hinge be at the forward end of the base because, if the cover hinge be at the rearward end and the device be permanently mounted vertically to a wall, the arcuate portion of the cover could not move sufficiently rearwardly to provide con venient access to the bracket for mounting a roll of paper.

Having described the invention, I claim:

1. A dispensing device for spirally rolled paper, comprising a base member having a flat planar face plate, the forward portion of the face plate being spaced from the plane of a supporting back face of the base, said base having a space under said forward portion of the face plate, said forward portion of the face plate having an elongated lateral transverse roller slot therethrough in overlying communication with said space, a guide plate laterally transversely overlying said forward portion of the face plate and parallelly spaced from said forward portion of the face plate sufliciently to provide a guide slot therebetween for slidably receiving a strip of paper therethrough, an elongated single roller unit rotatably mounted laterally transversely of the base in said space and underlying said roller slot, a portion of the circumference of the roller extending through said roller slot and through the plane of the upper face of the face plate and spaced sufliciently below the plane of the opposed face of the guide plate to provide a lateral transverse space through the guide slot and over the roller for slidably receiving a strip of paper therethrough in an aligned path parallel with the planar face plate, the circumference of the roller having close rotative slidable clearance with the forward edge of said roller slot, a terminal shearing edge at the forward edge of the guide plate, the said guide plate extending from the shearing edge rearwardly beyond said roller slot and roller and having a guide-plate-opening therethrough overlying the said roller slot and roller, the roller having a circumferential portion extending substantially the entire transverse width of the guide-pl-ate-opening, said guide-plateopening being freely open for finger pressure therethrough upon the roller and having a guide edge portion spaced rearwardly from the shearing edge and forwardly from said roller sulficiently to provide an underlying planar portion of the face plate between the roller slot and said guide edge exposed to finger pressure through the guide-plate-opening, whereby finger pressure may be exerted through the entire width of said guide-plate-opening upon a circumferential part of said roller and a strip of paper thereover for manual advancement of the paper strip through the guide slot toward the shearing edge, and pivotally mounted bracket means mounted at the opposite rearward planar portion of the face plate adapted for rotatably mounting a roll of spirally Wound paper and maintaining the circumference of the paper roll in rotative frictional contact with an underlying surface of the planar face plate adjacent thereto whereby a strip