A claim for the benefit of priority to the May 6, 2021 filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/185,270, titled BATHROOM PRODUCT DELIVERY SYSTEM (“the '270 Provisional Application”) is hereby made pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(e). The entire disclosure of the '270 Provisional Application is hereby incorporated herein.
This disclosure relates generally to devices used to deliver products in bathrooms, including toilet paper holders. More specifically, this disclosure relates to systems that hold toilet paper and other products that are used in the bathroom, including flushable wipes, fragrances, hand sanitizer, and the like.
Toilet paper is a tissue paper product used primarily after an individual uses the toilet. The purpose of toilet paper is to enable the individual to clean themselves while keeping their hands clean and to be disposed of by flushing the toilet. The use of toilet paper apparently originated in China, and its use spread as flushable toilets became more common. Toilet paper was first provided in rolls in about 1871 (see U.S. Pat. No. 117,355), which were popularized in the United States in around 1890. The increased popularity of toilet paper rolls was surely accompanied by an increase in the use of toilet paper dispensers in bathrooms.
Moist toilet paper, or flushable wipes, have been available since the 1990s. The popularity of flushable wipes has increased steadily since about 2005. Flushable wipes are typically packaged in the same way other wet wipes have been packaged—in stacks or rolls that are placed within resealable containers that enable them to remain moist over time. While these types of packages have proven to be reliable over time, they are typically not readily accessible to an individual as they use the toilet.
In an effort to make flushable wipes more accessible, toilet paper dispensers have been made to include boxes that hold flushable wipe containers. The boxes of such containers even include lids to “hide” the flushable wipe containers. In addition to being odd in appearance, the use of such dispensers is undesirably complicated. In particular, to access a flushable wipe, an individual must first open the lid on the box of the dispenser, then open the lid of the flushable wipe container, then remove a flushable wipe from the flushable wipe container, make sure the next flushable wipe remains in the flushable wipe container, then close the lid of the flushable wipe container, and, finally, close the lid of the box of the dispenser.
More recently, flushable wipes have been provided in rolls in donut (i.e., torus) shaped packages that can be placed on conventional toilet paper holders. While the placement of such donut shaped packages on conventional toilet paper holders can make the flushable wipes therein readily accessible to an individual as they use they toilet, they displace conventional dry toilet paper, eliminating that option for those individuals who may prefer it.
A bathroom product delivery system according to this disclosure, which may also be referred to herein more simply as a “delivery system,” includes a toilet paper holder and a holder for at least one other product. In some embodiments, the at least one other product may be a packaged roll of flushable wipes, a fragrance, a hand sanitizer, or the like.
In various embodiments, a delivery system of this disclosure may include a toilet paper roll holder (or, more simply, a “roll holder”), a housing that defines a flushable wipe holder, and a support. Optionally, such a delivery system may additionally include one or more recesses in a top of the housing. Each recess may define a receptacle for items that may need safekeeping as an individual uses the toilet, such as a phone, keys, a watch, jewelry, a pen, or the like. A delivery system may also a receptacle for one or more items, such as a fragrance, a toilet deodorizer, hand sanitizer, or the like. Other optional features of the delivery system include wireless chargers, lights, and the like.
The roll holder of the delivery system may be supported by the housing. In some embodiments, the roll holder may be located beneath the housing (i.e., below the bottom of the housing). Of course, other positions of the roll holder relative to the housing are also within the scope of this disclosure. The roll holder may have any suitable configuration. Without limitation, the roll holder may comprise a horizontal axle with a free end that enables a roll of toilet paper to be readily slid thereon and removed therefrom. Of course, delivery systems with captive roll holders (i.e., those including an axle between two arms that prevent side-to-side movement of a toilet paper roll) are also within the scope of this disclosure.
The flushable wipe holder may include a receptacle for a flushable wipe container, an opening to the receptacle, a cover that closes over the opening to hold the flushable wipe container in the receptacle, and an access port (e.g., in the cover, the housing, etc.) that enables flushable wipes to removed from the flushable wipe container and from the flushable wipe holder. In some embodiments, the receptacle of the flushable wipe holder may be cylindrical in shape, which enables the receptacle to receive a cylindrical flushable wipe container that holds a roll of flushable wipes. The cover of such a flushable wipe holder may close over the opening to the receptacle and over a top, or a lid, of the flushable wipe container. The cover may include an access port that aligns with a dispensing nozzle in the top of the flushable wipe container and, thus, enables flushable wipes to be pulled from the container with the cover closed over the top of the flushable wipe container.
The support of the delivery system may facilitate mounting of the housing of the delivery system to horizontally oriented surface in a bathroom, such as a wall, cabinet, partition, or door. Such a support may simply comprise screws and associated hardware that will securely and stably mount the housing to the vertically oriented surface. Alternatively, such a support may include a bracket that mounts to the vertically oriented surface and then couples with (e.g., releasably engages, etc.) complementary mounting features on the housing of the delivery system (e.g., mounting features that have been integrated into a back side of the housing, another mounting bracket that has secured to the back side of the housing, etc.). In other embodiments, the support of the delivery system may comprise a stand or pedestal with a base that rests upon the floor or another surface in a bathroom, a post that extends upwardly from the base to a height where the delivery system is to be located, and a top that couples to the housing (e.g., to the back side thereof, to a side thereof, to a bottom thereof, etc.).
Methods for delivering bathroom products are also within the scope of this disclosure. Such a method may include making a roll of toilet paper and a roll of flushable wipes (e.g., a conventionally packaged roll of flushable wipes, etc.) simultaneously available to an individual as they use the toilet. The roll of toilet paper and the roll of flushable wipes may be presented at adjacent locations of a bathroom product delivery device. When an individual decides to use a flushable wipe, they merely need to pull an end of the flushable wipe exposed through the access port in the cover of the flushable wipe holder until the entire flushable wipe has emerged from the flushable wipe holder and been torn away from or otherwise dissociated from the next flushable wipe within the flushable wipe container, whose end will then be exposed and ready for access through the access port. Stated another way, obtaining the flushable wipe may consist of grabbing an exposed end of the flushable wipe, pulling on the flushable wipe until it has been removed from the flushable wipe dispenser and the flushable wipe holder, and dissociating the flushable wipe from the next flushable wipe. By simply pulling on the flushable wipe, it may be dissociated from the next flushable wipe as soon as the next flushable wipe begins to emerge from the dispensing nozzle in the top of the flushable wipe container (e.g., the resistance the dispensing nozzle exerts on the next flushable wipe and, thus, the force required to pull the flushable wipe through the dispensing nozzle may exceed and, thus, be sufficient to overcome the force needed to dissociate the flushable wipe from the next flushable wipe).
Other aspects of the disclosed subject matter, as well as features and advantages of various aspects of the disclosed subject matter, should become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art through consideration of the ensuing description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
In the drawings:
With reference to
With added reference to
With returned reference to
As best seen in
The opening 36 and the receptacle 30 may be configured to receive a specific size and shape of flushable wipe container 50 (
The flushable wipe holder 20 also includes a cover 40, as shown in
An access port 48 may extend through the cover 40. A location of the access port 48 through the cover 40 may enable it to align with the dispensing nozzle 56 (
In some embodiments, a cap 49 may be provided to cover the access port 48 until access to a flushable wipe 52 (
The roll holder 60 of the delivery system 10 may be supported by the housing 22. In the embodiment illustrated by
Turning now to
The bracket 72 may couple with (e.g., releasably engage, etc.) a complementary bracket coupler 78 on or in a rear 28 of the housing 22. In the illustrated embodiment, the bracket coupler 78 may slide onto the bracket 72. Gravity may then hold the delivery system 10 in place on the horizontal surface to which the bracket 72 has been secured. In some embodiments, complementary locking features of the bracket 72 and the bracket coupler 78 may lock (e.g., releasably, etc.) the delivery system 10 into place on the bracket 72 and, thus, on the horizontally oriented surface.
Specifically referring now to
Receptacle 85 may comprise a depression in the top 23 of the housing 22. The receptacle may receive one or more small articles (e.g., keys, a watch, rings, jewelry, a pen, etc.) for safekeeping (e.g., from interfering with use of the toilet, from falling out of pockets, or holding items the individual has carried into the bathroom, etc.) as an individual uses a toilet with which the delivery system 10 is associated. The receptacle 85 receives the small article(s) and holds it (them) in a manner that prevents them from following to the floor and in a visible location where the individual will see them and from which the individual can readily retrieve them as they finish using the toilet.
Referring now to
For example,
In addition,
As another example of an optional feature,
In the embodiment depicted by
The concealment panel 108′ may be removed from the side 25′ of the housing 22′ by disengaging the locking tab 106′ from the corresponding locking feature 109′ (e.g., by depressing the locking tab 106′ through an aperture of the lock receptacle of the corresponding locking feature 109′, etc.) and then reversing the assembly processes (e.g., by sliding the concealment panel 108′ forward, etc.).
The concealment panel 108′ may have an outer surface that matches an outer surface of the housing 22′ of the delivery system 10′.
The hand product dispenser 120′ may include a hand product receptacle 122′, which may have a configuration that enables it to receive a hand product or even a bottle of hand product. As depicted, the hand product receptacle 122′ of the hand product dispenser 120′ comprises a reservoir for a hand product. Such a hand product dispenser 120′ may also include a dispensing button 124′ and a nozzle and internal components (e.g., a tube, a valve, etc.) that function in a known manner to dispense hand product from the reservoir of the hand product receptacle 122′. In other embodiments, the hand product receptacle 122′ may receive a bottle of hand product in an inverted orientation; thus, a hand product nozzle (e.g., a push button spray nozzle, a pump nozzle, etc.) may extend through an opening through a bottom of the hand product bottle receptacle 122′ and a bottom 114′ of the accessory housing 112′ to enable an individual to access hand product from the hand product dispenser 120′.
The fragrance dispenser 130′ may include a fragrance receptacle 132′, which may have a configuration that enables it to receive a fragrance or even a cartridge or a bottle of fragrance. In some embodiments, the fragrance receptacle 132′ may include a dispensing button 134′ and an atomizer nozzle and internal components (e.g., a tube, a valve, etc.) that function in a known manner to deliver fragrance into the environment (e.g., a bathroom, etc.) in which the delivery system 10′ and accessory 110′ are located.
The accessory 110′ may be coupled to the side 25′ of the housing 22′ of the delivery system 10′ in the same manner as the concealment panel 108′, as described in reference to
Methods of assembling and using embodiments of a delivery system 10, 10′, etc., according to this disclosure should be apparent from the foregoing.
Although the preceding disclosure provides many specifics, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of any of the claims that follow, but merely as providing illustrations of some embodiments of elements and features of the disclosed subject matter. Other embodiments of the disclosed subject matter and of their elements and features may be devised which do not depart from the spirit or scope of any of the claims. Features from different embodiments may be employed in combination. Accordingly, the scope of each claim is limited only by its plain language and the legal equivalents thereto.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63185270 | May 2021 | US |