US3398908A - Holder for rolled material - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 27, 1968 G. D. THOMPSON 3,398,908

HOLDER FOR ROLLED MATERIAL Filed Dec. 9, 1966 l0 INVENTOR.

United States Patent O 3,398,908 HOLDER FOR ROLLED MATERIAL George D. Thompson, 3660 Beethoven St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90066 Filed Dec. 9, 1966, Ser. No. 600,508 1 Claim. (Cl. 24255.2)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A holder for rolled material having an arm and a knob portion. The roll of material is to have a cylindrical opening therethrough and capable of being rotatably supported upon the arm. The knob necessitates the forcing of the roll of material upon the arm, yet allows ease of removal of the material.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION The invention is particularly suitable for the holding of rolled material to facilitate dispensing. It is extremely common that material such as paper, plastic, tin foil and other flexible materials are wound upon a hollow cylindrical cartridge. Also, it is well known that to facilitate dispensing and use of the wound material, a holding means can be employed within the opening of the cartridge, allowing the resultant roll to be freely pivotal upon said holding means. Such holders usually are designed to facilitate the placing of the roll of material upon the holder and the removal of the cartridge once the role is expended. However, heretofore such holder design has been unnecessarily complicated which increases both cost of manufacture of the holder and its operation. A particularly applicable type of rolled material is a roll of toilet tissue. In the prior art a multitude of toilet tissue holders have been employed. The most common one is the use of a spring biased roller which is used in conjunction with a supporting bracket assembly. Usually the roller is adjustable in its longitudinal length. The spring means is associated with the roller in some manner to bias the roller to its maximum length. The roller can then be moved to its minimum length position against the action of the sprin bias and inserted into its associated bracket and caused to expand under the action of the spring bias and to effect solid engagement with the bracket. The spring bias is of suflicient strength to maintain the roller in the maximum length position, thereby maintaining the roller in engagement with the bracket. It is not necessary that the roller itself be spring biased. The bracket itself may be adjustable in some manner as to allow engagement and disengagement of a fixed length roller; however, an adjustable length roller of the kind herein described has been found to be the least inexpensive way to support a roll of toilet tissue.

The operation and movements required to replace an expended roll of toilet tissue with a new roll of toilet tissue is as follows. First, the roller of the prior art has to be moved to its minimal length position by means of some exterior instrument. Then the roller and the extended cartridge thereon are removed from its associated bracket. The extended cartridge is discarded, the new roll of toilet tissue is placed on the roller, and the roller is then reinserted into its bracket causing the roller again to move into the minimal longitudinal position and thereupon expand, once in that position to effect engagement with its bracket. It is obvious that several distinct steps are required to effect this simple replacement operation Patented Aug. 27, 1968 of a toilet tissue roll. Such types of toilet tissue holders are the most common type of toilet tissue holding means used. Besides the basic inconvenience of causing the roller to become engaged and disengaged with the bracket, such an operation is time consuming and cumbersome. In industry where one person may be required to reinstall several hundred rolls of toilet tissue per day, much of his time is spent in the separate steps to remove and reinstall the toilet tissue supporting roller.

The structure of applicants invention overcomes the several operations required in the mounting of the roller of the prior art. In this invention it is not necessary to remove any roller of any kind to effect the mounting of a toilet tissue roll upon the holder. Once the tissue is expended it is simply removed in the same manner in which the roll was installed. Also, the holder of this invention provides a sure means of holding the roll of toilet tissue without a possibility of accidential release from the holder. The holder is also designed so the toilet tissue roll is supported to roll freely yet roll with enough drag to prevent the roll of toilet tissue from continuous unwinding.

Briefly, this invention relates to a fixed arm upon which the toilet tissue roll is to be supported. The arm is fixed to a bracket or other structure which is to effect mounting of the invention at any desired location. The bracket per se forms no part of this invention, but is strictly necessary to cause the mounting of the structure of this invention. The arm is formed from a cylindrical shaped member, but has a flat area on one side and a beveled area located diametrically across from the flat area. Located on the extremity of the arm is a knob. The shape of the knob is substantially planar with the outer surfaces of the knob being rounded. The knob is so designed so its largest dimension is slightly larger than the diameter of the opening located in the cartridge of the roll of toilet tissue. The roll of tissue is then inserted over the knob onto the arm. Because of the dimensions of the knob it is necessary that the roll be forceably inserted upon the arm. Once the roll is inserted upon the arm, the roll is prevented from withdrawal due to the knob. The flat portion of the arm creates a slight drag upon the roll, thereby preventing free unwinding of the roll of tissue. When it is necessary to remove the cartridge of the roll, the tissue having been expended, the person need only grab the cartridge and to squeeze its outer extremity to distort it sufficiently to cause removal of the cartridge over the knob. The lower beveled portion of the arm allows the deflection or distorting of the cartridge.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof may be best understood by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention showing its association with rolls of toilet tissue;

FIGURE 2 is another embodiment of the invention shown in conjunction with a typical toilet tissue holder located in the home; and

FIGURE 3 is a front view of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 2.

Referring specifically to the drawing in FIGURE 1 there is shown one type of toilet tissue holder embodying the instant invention. A bracket 10 is shown having I 3 an upstanding portion 12 to which is attached an arm 14. Bracket and portion 12 are merely for the affixing of the arm of applicants invention to a desired location and form no part of the invention per se. Arm 14 can be made as one piece with the portion 12 as shown in the drawing or any conventional fastening means such as screws can be employed. Bracket 10, portion 12 and arm 14 could be made out of any type of material, common materials being wood, plastic or metal.

In FIGURE 1 the arm 14 is shown extending an equal distance on either side of the upstanding portion 12. With this length of arm it is capable of supporting a roll of toilet tissue on either side of the upstanding portion 12 as depicted in the drawing. The arm 14 is basically constructed of round stock having diametrically opposite flattened areas 16 and 18. Areas 16 and 18 are merely for the purpose of creating a slight drag on the roll of toilet tissue, thereby preventing the roll of toilet tissue from freely unwinding. Located on the extremities of the arm 14 are knobs 20 and 22. Each of the knobs 20 and 22 has a width substantially greater than its: depth. Each of the knobs 20 and 22 forms a fiat abutment surface at the point of connection with the arm 14. Each of the knobs 20 and 22 are rounded at their extremities forming a smoothly contoured surface. It may be said that the cross-sectional configuration of each of the knobs 20 and 22 is substantially ellipsoidal. Located between each of the knobs 20 and 22 between the flattened area 18 are beveled sections 24 and 26. The function of each of the bevels will be described later in this specification.

The operation of the device of FIGURE 1 is as follows. The bracket 10 is affixed to either a vertical or a horizontal type of structure, such as a wall of a room or a horizontal shelf. It is only necessary that once the bracket is aflixed that the arm 14 depend substantially in a horizontal direction. Each of the knobs 20 and 22 are designed to be slightly larger than the center cylindrical opening 28 of the roll of toilet tissue 30. To position the roll of toilet tissue 30 on the arm 14, the knob 20 is forceably moved through the aperture 28 of the roll 30. The arm 14 is of sufficient length that the roll 30 can be exerted sufliciently to be placed out of contact with the knob 20 and be solely supported on the arm 14. In a like manner a roll of toilet tissue may be placed over knob 22 thereby coming to rest on the opposite end of arm 14. Once the roll of toilet tissue 30 has been expended, it is necessary to remove the cartridge 32 which forms the opening 28 of the roll 30. To facilitate the removal, the bevels 24 and 26 are provided. Because such cartridges 32 are readily flexible, usually made out of cardboard or like material, it is only necesary that the cartridge be slightly deflected at the end near the knob 20 or 22, resulting in the cartridge 32 being deformed in an oblong shape. Thereupon, the cartridge 32 will easily pass over the knob 20 or 22 as the case may be. The bevels 24 and 26 allow the deflection of the cartridge 32. As is obvious from the foregoing, the insertion of a roll of toliet tissue upon applicants holder and its subsequent removal upon being expended are relatively easy and simple, requiring little time and effort.

In FIGURES 2 and 3 there is shown an arm 34 having a knob 35 of applicants invention as would be installed in a typical type of toilet tissue holder which would be submerged within a wall structure 36. Such tissue holders are common in homes. The tissue holder is shown as having a casing 38 and a frontal plate portion 40 which is to be mounted flush or substantially flush to the wall structure 36. The arm 34 including knob 35 is identical to the type of arm and knob as was described in FIGURE 1 except that the arm is not shown and described in duplicate. It is used to support one roll of toilet tissue only. However, it is to be noted that the arm 34 and knob 35 are rotated in place 90 from the position of FIGURE 1. The arm 34 is fixedly secured to the casing 38 and extends approximately one-half the Width of the casing 38.

The end 42 of the casing 38 which is nearest the knob 35 is shaped similar in design to the nose of a bullet. The rear portion of the casing 38 decreases in depth until it becomes flush with the frontal plate portion 40. This casing 38 is so constructed as to allow easy installation and removal of the roll with respect to the arm 34. The arm 34 is rotated from the arm 14 of FIGURE 1 so the knob 35 will be positioned as to not interfere with the removal of the roll cartridge 32. Beveled portion 44 is provided to facilitate such removal as was previously described. Also, flattened areas 46 and 48 are provided for the same purpose as areas 16 and 18 of FIGURE 1.

In summary, the apparatus of applicants invention is meant to securely support a roll of toilet tissue preventing accidental dislodgement therefrom. Also, the roll of toilet tissue is held against being freely unwound, which is an undesirable problem in most conventional types of toilet tissue holders. The roll of toilet tissue can be easily inserted with one quick movement upon the holder of applicants invention, yet the extended cartridge can be readily removed with one quick operating movement once the roll of toilet tissue has been expended.

The types of apparatus which are shown and described which support the holder of applicants invention are only shown and described for the purpose of showing the particular type of installation. The adjoining apparatus as has been described in relation to the structure of applicants invention has been merely described for the purpose of clearly showing the application of the structure of applicants invention to typical types of toilet tissue holders as are commonly used. The novelty of applicants invention lies in the construction of the arm and its adjoining knob portion, there also being novelty in the combination of such with a common or readily available type of toilet tissue supporting structure. It is to be noted that the arm and knob of applicants invention can be readily employed upon any type of toilet tissue holder without departing from the scope of his invention.

It is felt that various other features and advantages not specifically enumerated will undoubtedly occur to those versed in the art as likewise will many variations and modifications of the embodiment of the invention illustrated, all of which may be achieved without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claim.

I claim:

1. A holder for a roll of sheet material, said sheet material being wound upon a deflatable deformable cartridge, said cartridge having .a longitudinal cylindrical aperture therein, said holder comprising:

an elongated arm being capable of rotatingly supporting said roll of sheet material, said arm being basic- :ally cylindrical in construction, said arm having a longitudinal planar surface thereon which deviates from the basic cylindrical construction of said arm, said arm including an indented portion; and

a single unit knob aflixed to one end of said arm, said knob having its maximum width substantially greater than its depth, said maximum width being greater than the diameter of said arm, said knob being affixed to said arm so that an equal amount of said maximum Width extends on each side of said arm, the width of said knob being greatest nearest said arm portion 'but with a depth less than the diameter of said arm and substantially flush with the outer surface of said indented portion of said arm, the width of said knob decreases as its length from said arm increases, said maximum width of said knob being slightly larger than the diameter of said cylindrical aperture of said cartridge, whereby said arm can be made to be within said aperture of said cartridge upon which said sheet material is wound by having said knob forcibly passed through said aperture whereby said indented portion permits the man ual deformation of said cartridge facilitating passage 5 6 of said cartridge over said knob upon expenditure of the 2,513,699 7/ 1950 Williams 242-552 sheet material. 2,523,951 9/1950 Graumlich 24255.2 References Cited 2,858,995 11/1958 Sarro 211123 X UNITED PATENTS 5 ROY D. F RAZIER, Primary Examiner. 1,687,819 10/1928 WOrthIngtOn 24255.2 2,171,648 9/1939 Ennis et a1. 242 55.2 FRANK DOMOTOR, Assistant mine 2,392,996 1/1946 Poitier 24255.2

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