Patent Application
20100116862
The present invention relates to a device for unrolling and tearing off a rolled up foil or paper web, with a housing in which the winding body can be placed and which exhibits at least one foil outlet opening, and with at least one lid cover connected to the housing via a hinge and with at least one cutting element for separating a foil section.
Such a manual unrolling device is known from DE 203 15 295 U1. This device can indeed be used to tear off foil pieces creating a straight separation line. However, the separation is carried out such that the foil is drawn against a toothed bar, which requires a relatively great force. In addition, to withdraw the next section of the foil, the lid cover needs to be opened in order to grasp the foil again at its end and pull it out of the housing.
It is, therefore, the objective of the invention to optimize a manual unrolling device with regard to easier operation.
This objective is achieved by a manual unrolling device of the type described above and in accordance with the invention wherein:
The web, which may be a foil or thin paper, is initially unrolled slightly and guided to the outside of the housing such that the web runs beyond the pull-off bars. At the moment that the lid cover is closed, the web is pulled down by the outer redirecting bar such that it is guided downward adjacent to the housing and in this manner is tightened across the pull-off bars.
An alternative embodiment of the invention functions in the same manner. In this embodiment, however, the arrangement of the pull-off bars and of the cutting element in the housing and the lid are reversed, as compared to the first embodiment.
In this context, it is particularly advantageous to provide a symmetrical arrangement, wherein not only is a redirecting bar provided on the outside in front of the pull-off bars but also an additional inside redirecting bar is provided such that the web is pulled taut on both sides of the pull-off bars.
When closing the lid cover, the cutting element impacts the taut web such that it is separated at least across a significant portion of the width.
A discontinuation is provided preferably in the middle at the outer pull-off bar, which means, there is no bar at this location or the bar is significantly lower in height at this location such that the web cannot rest there. Thus, at this location it is in part not tightened as in the remaining areas, which results in it being not fully separated by the cutting element. Thus, a small bridge connection remains.
The user can grab the cut section and tear it off at the remaining bridge connection. To this end, he pulls at the same time additional portions of the foil web partially out of the manual unrolling device. The tip protruding in this manner from the manual unrolling device is used to easily grip the foil web upon the next use.
The hinges can be designed as film hinges such that the housing and lid cover can be made of one piece. To retain the foil or paper roll in the inside of the housing, an advantageous embodiment has a pivoting side flap attached on each side of the front side. This pivoting side flap has at least one holding mandrel for inserting it into a hollow cylindrical winding body of the web. The roll is supported by the holding mandrel and, because of this, will not drop out even when the lid cover is opened widely.
To this end, the housing can exhibit a slot-shaped recess on the front side and a holding mandrel designed as a flat bar can pivot into said recess. This allows even for the use of rolls that exhibit no or only a very tight hollow space. In this case, the side flaps simply remain on the outside in the up position.
The holding mandrel can engage in the slot-shaped recess by means of latching elements, for example in the form of partial elevations at the side areas.
Preferably, this side flap is connected to the housing or the lid cover via a film hinge. In particular, the film hinge is designed as a so-called butterfly hinge, such as is known, for example, from one-piece lid connections on packages for body care products. This design allows for defined closing and opening positions. Random unintentional opening of the side flaps is prevented because force must be used to overcome a dead center between these positions. According to one preferred embodiment, it is provided that when closing the lid cover at least one spring element, which is designed in particular as a leaf spring, is deflected. The spring element should preferably be arranged centrally in the area of the redirecting and pull-off edges. This has the following two effects:
Operation is made easier due to the slight counter-pressure because the lid cover is initially in the up position.
The spring, which not only pushes the lid cover up but in addition also pushes from underneath against the web located above, lifts it up from the pull-off bars. In this manner, the user can easily pull the web out to the desired length without having to hold the lid cover and having to keep the foil from the friction-reduced coated pull-off bars.
The other effect is that the user must overcome a certain counter force when closing the lid cover. As is also the case with precision mechanics pliers, where the pliers legs are spread apart of each other, this allows for sensitive force metering. In addition, the preset counter holding force when closing the lid cover also achieves a certain acceleration. In this manner, the cutting element exerts an impulse on the taut foil web underneath it. The sharpness of the cutting element combined with the sudden movement provides for easy separation of the web.
According to the invention, the separation is less caused by a strenuous indentation of a cutting element into the web but rather through a brief, fast, sudden closing movement of the lid cover.
In addition to or in place of the central spring element, spring elements can also be arranged in the housing on both sides in the front, in order to avoid canting even with an asymmetrical handling and to achieve the desired result.
For a full understanding of the present invention, reference should now be made to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to
A lid cover 10, which carries a cutting element 16 at its lower side, is connected to the housing 20 via two hinges 27.1, 27.2. At its front, the lid cover 10 concludes with a redirecting edge 14 that points downwards.
Two parallel pull-off edges 21, 22 exhibiting a silicon coating for slip resistance are provided at the front of the housing 20. A gap is present between them into which the cutting element 16 can move when the lid cover 10 is closed.
The front pull-off edge 22 has a discontinuation 23 in the center. In this area, the height is significantly reduced. The rear pull-off edge 21 has a recess in the center into which a leaf spring can dip when it is bent down.
At its narrow sides, the housing 20 has side areas with slot-shaped recesses 24. A side flap 25 that exhibits a holding mandrel 26 is connected at the side areas via a film hinge. Its shape corresponds precisely to the slot-shaped recess 24 such that when placing the side flaps 25 onto the housing 20, the holding mandrel 26 will be pushed through the recess 24 into the inner space 13 and there will be pushed into the hollow cylindrical winding body 30.
As shown in
The foil 31 wound onto the winding body 30 runs underneath the inner redirecting edge 15, then up across the parallel pull-off edges 21, 22 and finally under the outer redirecting edge 14 toward the outside. Through the redirecting edges 14, 15 that are arranged to the right and left of the pair of pull-off edges 21, 22 and that reach deep into the bottom area of the bars that form the pull-off edges 21, 22, the foil 31 has been pulled taut to the pull-off edges 21, 22 and tightened across them when the lid cover 10 was closed. In the area of the section plane of
The leaf spring 28 is bent down such that it causes the return forces onto the lid cover 10 and the foil web 31 guided across it. If the manual unrolling device 100 is no actively longer pushed closed by the user, the lid cover 10 moves abruptly upward and the foil 31 is lifted up as well such that it separates from the slip-resistant and maybe even slightly sticky pull-off edges 21, 22.
There has thus been shown and described a novel manual unrolling device which fulfills all the objects and advantages sought therefor. Many changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the subject invention will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering this specification and the accompanying drawings which disclose the preferred embodiments thereof. All such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention, which is to be limited only by the claims which follow.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 2008 015 031 | Nov 2008 | DE | national |
