TOILET PAPER ROLL DISPENSER

DISTRIBUTEUR DE ROULEAUX DE PAPIER HYGIENIQUE

English Abstract

A dispenser for toilet paper rolls each having a hollow tube core section on which paper is rolled, comprises an upstanding elongated container defined by a peripheral wall and a base portion at a bottom end thereof. A removable cover portion is at an open top end of the elongated container. The peripheral wall has an aperture defined therein. The elongated container comprises a circular shaft extending axially therein adapted for receiving paper rolls stacked one on another such that the paper rolls can rotate thereabout. An abutment plate is disposed in the elongated container on a biasing spring and is free to translate longitudinally on the circular shaft in the elongated container. The abutment plate is adapted for receiving a bottommost paper roll of the stacked paper rolls thereon. The biasing spring is calibrated to support the stack of paper rolls through the abutment plate such as to align an uppermost paper roll opposite the aperture in the peripheral wall, wherein the uppermost paper roll is in a dispensing position. The biasing spring gradually moves the abutment plate upward as paper is dispensed from the uppermost paper roll and weight of the stacked paper rolls diminishes such that a subsequent paper roll gradually reaches the dispensing position.

French Abstract

Un distributeur pour rouleaux de papier toilette ayant chacun une section centrale de tube creux sur lequel le papier est enroulé, comprend un récipient droit allongé défini par une paroi périphérique et une portion de base à une extrémité inférieure de celui-ci. Une portion de couvercle amovible est à une extrémité supérieure ouverte du récipient allongé. La paroi périphérique présente une ouverture qui y est définie. Le récipient allongé comprend un arbre circulaire s'étendant axialement dans celui-ci et adapté pour recevoir des rouleaux de papier empilés les uns sur les autres de telle sorte que les rouleaux de papier peuvent tourner autour. Une plaque de butée est disposée dans le récipient allongé sur un ressort de sollicitation et est libre de se déplacer longitudinalement sur l'arbre circulaire dans le récipient allongé. La plaque de butée est adaptée pour recevoir un rouleau de papier le plus bas des rouleaux de papier empilés au-dessus. Le ressort de sollicitation est calibré pour soutenir la pile de rouleaux de papier à travers la plaque de butée de manière à aligner un rouleau de papier le plus haut en face de l'ouverture dans la paroi périphérique, dans laquelle le rouleau de papier le plus haut se trouve dans une position de distribution. Le ressort de sollicitation déplace progressivement la plaque de butée vers le haut alors que le papier est distribué à partir du rouleau de papier le plus haut et le poids des rouleaux de papier empilés

Claims

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CLAIMS:

1. A dispenser for toilet paper rolls, each toilet
paper roll having a hollow tube core section on which paper
is rolled, comprising:
an upstanding elongated container defined by a peripheral
wall and a base portion at a bottom end thereof, a removable
cover portion at an open top end of said elongated
container, said peripheral wall having an aperture defined
therein;
said elongated container comprising a generally circular
shaft extending axially therein and being adapted for
receiving at least two paper rolls stacked one on another
such that the paper rolls can rotate thereabout;
an abutment plate disposed in said elongated container on a
biasing member and free to translate longitudinally on said
circular shaft in said elongated container, said abutment
plate being adapted for receiving a bottommost paper roll of
the stacked paper rolls thereon;
said biasing member being calibrated to support the stack of
paper rolls through said abutment plate such as to align an
uppermost paper roll opposite said aperture in said
peripheral wall, wherein said uppermost paper roll is in a
dispensing position, said biasing member gradually moving
said abutment plate upward as paper is dispensed from the
uppermost paper roll and weight of the stacked paper rolls
diminishes such that a subsequent paper roll gradually
reaches said dispensing position.
2. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said
biasing member is a helical spring.
3. The dispenser according to claim 2, wherein said
helical spring is received in a housing when compressed,
said housing being an annular cup extending from said base
portion of said dispenser.


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4. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said
abutment plate comprises a guide for facilitating the
dispensing of the paper rolls.
5. The dispenser according to claim 4, wherein said
guide is defined by a flared member.
6. The dispenser according to claim 2, wherein said
circular shaft comprises a stopper portion for limiting the
longitudinal translation of said abutment plate.
7. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said
removable cover portion comprises an upwardly flared guide
on a bottom surface thereof for facilitating rotation of the
uppermost paper roll when same abuts said removable cover
portion.
8. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein height
of said aperture is configured such as to accommodate
gradual upward motion of the uppermost paper roll and a
subsequent paper roll reaching said dispensing position.
9. The dispenser according to claim 8, wherein width
of said aperture is configured such as to accommodate
fingers of an typical adult hand.
10. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said
base portion defines a downwardly flared shape for adding
stability to said dispenser.
11. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said
base portion comprises weights for adding stability to said
dispenser.
12. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said
container is adapted for receiving four paper rolls.

Description

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TOILET PAPER ROLL DISPENSER
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a dispenser and,
more particularly, to a toilet paper roll dispenser which
facilitates the dispensing of two and more rolls.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Toilet paper dispensers are usually found in the
bathrooms of the typical home or in public restrooms. The
known dispensers vary in size and model, but generally
provide a configuration which allows for a paper roll to
rotate about itself as paper is being dispensed therefrom.
More elaborate models of dispensers have provided methods to
store paper rolls. For instance, large families or
frequently attended bathrooms may require such dispensers.
These avoid the inconvenience of running out of toilet paper
during use, and help reduce the manpower required to refill
the dispensers.
U.S. Patent No. 1,917,641, issued on July 11, 1933
to Fairchild discloses a rack of cylindrical shape resting
on a lateral surface thereof and enclosing toilet paper
rolls. The toilet paper rolls are disposed around a shaft
axially disposed in the rack, such as to rotate thereabout .
A portion of the lateral surface of the cylindrical rack
provides an opening for paper of an end paper roll to be
dispensed therethrough, whereas one or more other toilet
paper rolls are encaged therein. A cap is hinged to an edge
of the lateral surface such as to cover an end of the
cylindrical rack and to provide access to the interior of
the rack. Once the end paper roll is used up, the hollow
tube core section thereof may be removed by opening the cap,
in which case the adjacent stored paper roll is pushed into
a dispensing position by a spring-biased plate disposed
inside the rack and connected to an opposed end thereof.
Although the above described patent provides the
possibility to store rolls of toilet paper in a dispenser,


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manual intervention is still required in order to remove the
core sections such that the stored toilet paper roll may
reach a dispensing position. Although this is not an issue
if the dispenser is used domestically,, it does represent a
disadvantage in the instances where the hinged cap is locked
to the rack, as may be the case with dispensers used in
public restrooms, wherein the cap i.s locked to prevent
toilet paper theft. Furthermore, the above described
dispenser is generally restricted to permanent wall
mounting.
U.S. Patent No. 3,245,626 issued on April 12, 1966
to Casteel, discloses a toilet tissue dispenser having an
upstanding paper roll container of rectangular cross-section
having a dispensing head portion at a top end thereof. The
toilet paper rolls are disposed one on another on their
lateral surfaces and the bottommost roll lies on a moveable
plate. The moveable plate is secured to a lifting mechanism
having a lever portion which is disposed such as to be
handled by an operator. The dispensing portion comprises
moveable pivot portions which may be engaged on either sides
of a hollow tube core section of a roll having reached the
dispensing portion. Once the paper roll is used up, the
pivot portions may be released such that the hollow tube
core is ejected from the dispensing portion. Thereafter,
the operator may pull up the lever to move the stack of
paper rolls upwards, whereby a second paper roll is loaded
in the dispensing portion.
Although the above described patent discloses a
method for storing a great quantity of toilet paper rolls,
manual intervention is still required :in order to load paper
rolls in the dispensing portion. For hygiene purposes, some
people may be reluctant in handling the lever to load a
toilet paper roll if the dispenser is part of a public
restroom. Furthermore, some users of public restrooms may
not be familiar with the loading method of such an
apparatus, in which case periodic manual attendance is still
required.


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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a feature of the present invention to
provide a toilet paper dispenser which substantially
overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is a further feature of the present invention
to provide a toilet paper dispenser which is simple in use
and inexpensive to produce.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention
will now be described in detail having reference to the
accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective exploded view, partly
fragmented, of a paper roll dispenser in accordance with the
present invention;
Fig. 2 is an elevation view, partly fragmented, of
the paper roll dispenser loaded with toilet paper; and
Fig. 3 is an elevation view, partly fragmented, of
the paper roll dispenser of Fig. 2 having a used up roll of
toilet paper.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
According to the drawings and, more particularly,
to Fig. 1, a paper roll dispenser in accordance with the
present invention is generally shown at 10. The paper roll
dispenser 10 comprises a generally cylindrical container
portion 11 having a lateral wall 12. The container portion
11 is secured to a downwardly flared base 13. The flared
base 13 may enclose weights (not shown) in order to provide
the paper roll dispenser 10 with stability when disposed on
a floor (Fig. 2) . An aperture 30 is formed in the lateral
wall 12 of the container portion 11 and is generally
adjacent a top end of the container portion 11.
A removable cap 14 is placed on a top end of the
container portion 11. The removable cap 14 comprises a knob
15, concentrically secured to a top surface thereof, and an


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upwardly flared guide 16, projecting from a center of a
bottom surface thereof.
An upstanding shaft 20 of circular cross-section
extends from the flared base 13 to the top end of the
cylindrical container portion 11, and is axially positioned
with respect to the cylindrical container portion 11. As
best seen in Fig. 2, a top end of the upstanding shaft 20
terminates opposite a bottom end of the flared guide 16 of
the removable cap 14, when the removable cap 14 is mounted
on the container portion 11. The removable cap 14 is shaped
to snuggly fit on the container portion 11. It is pointed
out that there are various methods for connecting the
removable cap 14 to the container portion 11 (e. g. mating
threading and tapping, snap-fit devices, etc.). It is
observed that a locking mechanism may be provided although
not shown, such as to grant access to the container portion
11 to maintenance staff, in the case of use in a public
restroom.
Returning to Fig. 1, it can be seen that an
annular disk 21 surrounds the shaft 20 such as to translate
axially thereon as shown by arrow R. The annular disk 21
may have a downwardly flared guide 22 concentrically
disposed on a top surface thereof for easing the dispensing
of paper from a paper roll when disposed thereon. A biasing
member, in this case a helical spring 23, extends between
the flared base 13 and a bottom surface of the disk 21 to
upwardly bias the disk 21. For instance, the helical spring
may be supported on a top surface of the flared base 13. It
has also been thought to provide an annular cup 23a
projecting upwardly from the top surface of the flared base
13, and concentric with the shaft 20, for serving as a
housing for the helical spring 23. Such a housing will
extend the life of the helical spring 23. A stopper 20a may
be secured to the shaft 20 to limit the stroke of the
annular disk 21.
Referring now to Fig. 2, the paper roll dispenser
10 is shown enclosing paper rolls A, F3, C and D. The paper


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rolls may be typical toilet paper rolls each having a hollow
tube core section of cylindrical shape upon which toilet
paper is rolled. The toilet paper rolls are inserted in the
container portion 11 from the top end of thereof with the
cap 14 removed and are disposed around the shaft 20 through
their core sections. The toilet paper rolls may thus rotate
about the shaft 20, and translate thereon. It is observed
that the dispenser 10 is simply disposed on a floor F,
although it could be permanently secured thereto in public
restroom uses. This allows for the dispensers 10 used in
households to be moved around.
The container portion 11 may be sized to
accommodate various amounts of paper rolls. As illustrated
in Fig. 2, the dispenser 10 encloses four paper rolls. When
the rolls are received in the container portion 11, the
bottom roll D will sit on either the annular disk 21 or on
the flared guide 22 if same is provided on the annular disk
21, whereby in the latter case friction is reduced when
paper is dispensed. The weight of the toilet paper rolls
will compress the helical spring 23 such that the toilet
paper roll A faces the aperture 30 in the lateral wall 12 of
the container portion 11. The aperture 30 is sized (e. g.
width of 2", height of 8") to accommodate the fingers (e. g.
of a typical adult) therein in order to grab the free end
sheet of paper from the toilet paper roll for the dispensing
thereof.
As paper is being dispensed from the paper roll,
the weight resting on the disk 21 wil:1 diminish, whereby it
will move upward as it is biased by t=he helical spring 23.
Therefore, as the paper is being dispensed from the top roll
A, the disk 21, and the toilet paper rolls sitting thereon,
will gradually move in an upward direction. The length of
the aperture 30 is defined to accommodate this movement of
the top roll A. As shown in Fig. 3, the core section of
toilet paper roll A will eventually abut the upwardly flared
guide 16, whereby rotation of the stack of toilet paper
rolls is facilitated and at which point toilet paper roll B


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will be aligned with the aperture 30 such as to be dispensed
therethrough. Although this is not the case in Fig. 3, it
is noted that the aperture may be sized and positioned for
the third roll C to be dispensed when the first roll A is
abutting the flared portion 16 of the cap 14. On the other
hand, the core section of the used up paper roll A may be
discarded by removing the cap 14 from the container portion
11. It is also observed that the inside of the container
portion 11 is partially visible from the aperture 30 such as
l0 to determine whether it needs to be refilled. It is pointed
out that the dispenser 10 may be of rectangular cross-
section such as to be embedded in a wall, such that the
aperture 30 is the only visible portion of the dispenser 10.
The dispenser 10 may be of various materials and colors, so
as to suit the decoration of any household.
It is within the ambit of the present invention to
cover any obvious modifications of the embodiments described
herein, provided such modifications fall within the scope of
the appended claims.

Representative Drawing