Patent Application
20120273514
The present disclosure generally relates to dispensers and, more particularly, relates to dispensers for sanitary tissue products.
Sanitary tissue products in the form of paper towels, shop towels, toilet tissue, facial tissue, wet or dry wipes, and table napkins, for example, find great utility among users who value affordability, ease of use, and disposability. Sanitary tissue products are used in virtually every household, including in kitchens, bathrooms, dining rooms, and garages, for example. Sanitary tissue products, such as rolls of paper towels or hand towels, for example, are often dispensed from sanitary tissue product holders, from which they may be unrolled one or more sheets at a time. These sanitary tissue product holders may have two projections, wherein each end of a core of a roll of a sanitary tissue product may engage a projection to rotatably retain the sanitary tissue product thereto. To tear off a sheet, a user would generally inhibit the roll from rotating with one hand and tear the sheet off of the roll at a perforation with the other hand (i.e., two hand dispensing). Such sanitary tissue product holders are generally not located in bathrooms for aesthetic or other reasons. Sanitary tissue products, such as paper towels or hand towels, however, have great utility in bathrooms for many purposes, such as hand drying, makeup removal, and/or cleaning, for example. In view of the utility that sanitary tissue products may provide in a bathroom setting or in other settings, dispensers should be provided that are more aesthetically pleasing and more functional than current sanitary tissue product holders. Furthermore, dispensers that may provide one hand dispensing are desirable.
In one embodiment, the present disclosure is directed, in part, to a dispenser for sanitary tissue products. The dispenser comprises a housing defining a cavity configured to receive sanitary tissue products therein and an opening defined in the housing. The sanitary tissue products positioned within the cavity are configured to be dispensed through the opening. The opening is defined by a first portion having a first width, a second portion having a second width, and a third portion having a third width. The third portion extends between the first portion and the second portion. The first width and the second width are both larger than the third width.
In another embodiment, the present disclosure is directed, in part, to a dispensing kit for sanitary tissue products. The dispensing kit comprises a dispenser defining a cavity therein. The cavity is configured to receive sanitary tissue products therein. The dispenser comprises an opening defined therein. The sanitary tissue products positioned within the cavity are configured to be dispensed through the opening. The opening is formed by a first portion having a first width, a second portion having a second width, and a third portion having a third width. The third portion extends between the first portion and the second portion. The first width and the second width are both larger than the third width. The dispensing kit further comprises a hanger configured to releasably attach to the dispenser. The hanger comprises a first end portion comprising a base configured to engage a surface, a second end portion comprising one or more hooks configured to engage a towel bar or a towel ring, and a body disposed intermediate the base and the one or more hooks.
In still another embodiment, the present disclosure is directed, in part, to a hanger for a sanitary tissue product dispenser having two or more apertures defined therein. The hanger comprises a first end portion comprising a generally flat base configured to engage a surface, a second end portion comprising one or more hooks configured to engage a towel bar or a towel ring, and a body disposed intermediate the base and the one or more hooks. The body comprises a first portion and a second portion. The first portion comprises a first engagement member and a second engagement member both extending therefrom. The first engagement member is configured to engage perimeter walls of a first aperture in the dispenser and the second engagement member is configured to engage a second aperture in the dispenser such that the hanger is removably attached to the dispenser.
The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of the present disclosure, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the disclosure itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of non-limiting embodiments of the disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Various non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described to provide an overall understanding of the principles of the structure, function, manufacture, and use of the dispensers for sanitary tissue products disclosed herein. One or more examples of these non-limiting embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the dispensers for sanitary tissue products specifically described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings are non-limiting example embodiments and that the scope of the various non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure are defined solely by the claims. The features illustrated or described in connection with one non-limiting embodiment may be combined with the features of other non-limiting embodiments. Such modifications and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure.
“Fiber” as used herein means an elongate physical structure having an apparent length greatly exceeding its apparent diameter, i.e., a length to diameter ratio of at least about 10. Fibers having a non-circular cross-section and/or tubular shape are common. The “diameter” in this case may be considered to be the diameter of a circle having a cross-sectional area equal to the cross-sectional area of the fiber. More specifically, as used herein, “fiber” refers to fibrous structure-making fibers. The present disclosure contemplates the use of a variety of fibrous structure-making fibers, such as, for example, natural fibers, synthetic fibers, other suitable fibers, or any combination thereof.
“Fibrous structure” as used herein means a structure that comprises one or more fibers. Nonlimiting examples of processes for making fibrous structures include known wet-laid papermaking processes and air-laid papermaking processes. Such processes typically include steps of preparing a fiber composition in the form of a suspension in a medium, either wet, more specifically aqueous medium, or dry, more specifically gaseous, i.e., with air as the medium. The aqueous medium used for wet-laid processes is oftentimes referred to as a fiber slurry. The fibrous suspension is then used to deposit a plurality of fibers onto a forming wire or belt such that an embryonic fibrous structure is formed, after which drying and/or bonding the fibers together results in a fibrous structure. Further processing the fibrous structure may be carried out such that a finished fibrous structure is formed. For example, in typical papermaking processes, the finished fibrous structure is the fibrous structure that is wound on the reel at the end of papermaking, and may subsequently be converted into a finished product, e.g., a sanitary tissue product.
“Sanitary tissue product” as used herein means one or more finished fibrous structures, converted or not, that is useful as a wiping implement for post-urinary and post-bowel movement to cleaning (e.g., toilet tissue and wet or dry wipes), for otorhinolaryngological discharges (e.g., facial tissue and wet or dry wipes), and multi-functional absorbent and cleaning uses (e.g., paper towels, shop towels, and hand towels). The sanitary tissue products may be embossed or not embossed, creped or uncreped, and may be single-ply or multi-ply.
The various dispensers of the present disclosure may be configured to dispense sanitary tissue products, such as paper towels, shop towels, and/or hand towels, for example. The sanitary tissue products may have a multitude of functions, such as cleaning or wiping body surfaces, cleaning generally, medical usage, receiving bodily discharges, hand drying, face drying, and/or makeup removal, for example. Such sanitary tissue products may be provided within cavities of the dispensers and/or within refills that are configured to be positioned within the cavities. The sanitary tissue products may be provided in stacks (e.g., horizontal or vertical stacks), sheets, folded sheets, interleaved sheets, non-interleaved sheets, C-folded sheets, Z-folded sheets, semi-folded sheets, rolls, or in any other suitable configuration for a particular use. The dispensers may be configured to dispense one or more sanitary tissue products at a time. In one embodiment, the dispensers may be configured for one hand dispensing of one or more sanitary tissue products or may be configured for two hand dispensing of one or more sanitary tissue products.
In various embodiments, portions of the dispensers that abut, are positioned against, and/or rest on a surface, such as a countertop or the top of a toilet, for example, may comprise suction cups, hook and/or loop fasteners, hook and hook fasteners, magnets, other suitable fasteners, adhesives, and/or high coefficient of friction materials (e.g., rubber), for example.
Such features may at least inhibit the dispensers from moving or sliding during dispensing of one or more sanitary tissue products. In one embodiment, a complimentary fastener, such as an opposite pole magnet to a magnet on the dispenser may be attached to the surface on which the dispenser will be positioned, for example. In still other embodiments, the dispensers may be weighted or may have sufficient weight to prevent, or at least inhibit, movement or sliding during dispensing. The dispensers may be used with or without a hanger (see e.g.,
In one embodiment, referring to
In one embodiment, the dispenser 10 for sanitary tissue products 15 may be positioned on a countertop “CT” as illustrated in
In various embodiments, the housing may comprise a top wall 26, one or more side walls 28, and a bottom wall 30. The top wall 26 and at least portion of, or all of, the one or more side walls 28 may be formed by the first housing portion 16. A portion of the one or more side walls 28 may also be formed by the second housing portion 18. The bottom wall 30 may be formed by the second housing portion 18. An opening 24 may be defined in the top wall 26 and/or a portion of the one or more side walls 28 of the first housing portion 16. The opening 24 may have an I-like shape, as illustrated in various figures or other suitable shapes configured to provide the same benefits discussed herein.
In various embodiments, referring to
In one embodiment, the shape, positioning, and/or orientation of the opening 24 may provide a number of benefits. First, the first portion 32 of the opening 24 being generally wider or larger in area or perimeter than the third portion 36 of the opening 24 may allow a user to dispense a sanitary tissue product easily and without tearing when the cavity 14 is full of sanitary tissue products and the pressure between each sanitary tissue product is relatively high owing to compression of the sanitary tissue products 15 within the cavity 14. Second, the second portion 34 of the opening 24 being wider or larger in area or perimeter than the third portion 36 may allow a user to easily grasp and dispense sanitary tissue products, without tearing, when only a few sanitary tissue products remain in the rear of the cavity 14 and the pressure between each sanitary tissue product is relatively low. Third, the third portion 36 of the opening 24 being generally narrower or having a smaller area or perimeter than the first and second portions 32 and 34 may help hold the sanitary tissue products in a partially dispensed position and allow a user to have direct access to the top of the sanitary tissue products when the cavity is about half full of sanitary tissue products. Some other example openings 100-104 that can achieve the same, or similar, advantages as the opening 24 are illustrated in
In various embodiments, referring to
In various embodiments, referring to
In various embodiments, referring to
In one embodiment, referring to
In one embodiment, referring to
The dispenser 10 and the hanger 44 described herein may be sold together as a kit or sold separately.
In one embodiment, the cavities of the various dispensers may be configured to receive any number of unpackaged sanitary tissue products or one or more packages or refills of sanitary tissue products. In various embodiments, the sanitary tissue products may be stacked, folded, interleaved, rolled, or otherwise suitably manufactured and/or arranged such that they may be easily dispensed from the dispensers through the opening. In certain embodiments, the sanitary tissue products may be suitably manufactured and/or arranged such that one individual sanitary tissue product may be dispensed at a time. In the event that the sanitary tissue products are packaged or packaged into refills, they may be packaged using a film wrapper, a polymeric film wrapper, a paper wrapper, a wrapper comprising cellulosic and/or nonwoven fibers, a container, and/or any other suitable sanitary tissue product covering and/or containing material. Referring to
In one embodiment, refills of sanitary tissue products may be used with the dispensers of the present disclosure. The refills may comprise a plurality of sanitary tissue products configured to be dispensed using the dispenser. In various embodiments, the shape and size of the refills may be dependent on the shape and/or size of a particular cavity of a dispenser and/or the shape and/or size of a dispenser. In one embodiment, the refills may have a similar size and/or shape as the cavities into which they are to be positioned or a different size and/or shape (e.g., a smaller size).
In one embodiment, the dispensers of the present disclosure may be reusable or disposable. Disposable dispensers may be comprised of cellulosic fibers, such as paper, paper stock, cardboard, paperboard, other fibers, and/or other suitable or biodegradable materials. In general, disposable dispensers may be purchased with a plurality of sanitary tissue products positioned in a cavity thereof and such dispensers may or may not be refillable. Reusable dispensers may be comprised of paperboard, plastic, metal, wood, anti-microbial materials, anti-bacterial materials, anti-microbial materials, and/or any other suitable materials. In general, reusable dispensers may be purchased with or without sanitary tissue products positioned in a cavity thereof or with or without a refill of sanitary tissue products positioned therein. These reusable dispenses may be multi-use dispensers. When the supply of sanitary tissue products within a reusable dispenser is exhausted, a consumer may insert additional sanitary tissue products or a refill of additional sanitary tissue products into the cavity of the reusable dispenser. The refills may be purchased at the same store or location as the reusable dispenser was purchased. The refills may comprise films, polymeric films, and/or materials comprising cellulosic fibers, nonwoven fibers, or other materials, surrounding a plurality of sanitary tissue products. In one embodiment, a kit comprising a dispenser, one or more refills, and a hanger may be provided.
In one embodiment, the refills and/or the dispensers may comprise a perfume therein or thereon. In other embodiments, the sanitary tissue products within the refills may comprise the perfume. In still other embodiments, the film or other material forming the outer covering of the refills may comprise the perfume. Once inserted into a cavity of the dispenser, the perfume may diffuse through an aperture, a slot, or an opening in the dispenser into an environment surrounding the dispenser to provide a pleasant scent to the environment. In various embodiments, the dispensers of the present disclosure may have slots, apertures, or recesses therein configured to receive scent packets, such that a scent may be diffused into an environment surrounding the dispensers. In other embodiments, the scent packets may be attachable to the dispensers.
The various dispensers of the present disclosure may comprise transparent or see through “windows” that enable a consumer to view into the cavity of a dispenser and/or into a refill to determine how many sanitary tissue products remain or to determine the status of the sanitary tissue products. In one embodiment, at least a portion of a film surrounding a refill may be transparent or see through to allow a user to view the sanitary tissue products within the refill. The dispensers and/or the refills may comprise indicia, such as branding information, thereon or formed in outer surfaces thereof. In one embodiment, portions of the dispensers may comprise one or more light sources that may act as night lights, for example. In various embodiments, the one or more light sources, such as light emitting diodes or light bulbs, for example, may be operably linked to switches or motion detectors to activate the light sources. The lights sources may be powered by any suitable sources, such as a battery, for example. In one embodiment, the dispensers may comprise one or more sealing members configured to seal the cavities of the dispensers to at least inhibit air from entering and exiting the cavity. Such seals may be useful when sanitary tissue products, such as wet wipes, are positioned within the cavities to at least inhibit the wet wipes from drying out. In other embodiments, the seals may be useful in inhibiting contamination, such as dirt, from entering the cavities. In various embodiments, a flexible membrane may extend into the openings of the dispensers. The flexible membrane may have one or more openings therein for dispensing sanitary tissue products, such as wet wipes, therethrough. The flexible membrane may help maintain sanitary tissue products, such as wet wipes, within a cavity of a dispenser in a wet or sanitary condition.
The dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. Instead, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. For example, a dimension disclosed as “40 mm” is intended to mean “about 40 mm.”
Every document cited herein, including any cross referenced or related patent or application, is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety unless expressly excluded or otherwise limited. The citation of any document is not an admission that it is prior art with respect to any embodiment disclosed or claimed herein or that it alone, or in any combination with any other reference or references, teaches, suggests or discloses any such embodiment. Further, to the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the same term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to that term in this document shall govern.
While particular embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/517,963 filed on Apr. 28, 2011, the entire disclosure of which is fully incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61517963 | Apr 2011 | US |
