A Simplified Tissue Roll Stacking and Deployment Apparatus

Abstract

An apparatus for storing numerous stackable roll-shaped objects R1, R2, . . . , RN with N>=2, such as tissue rolls, is proposed. A subset of objects R1, R2, . . . , RM, with M<N, are easily deployable for use. The apparatus includes a pole for piercing through and holding the objects R1, R2, . . . , RN and two surface-mountable brackets with a common base for engaging the loaded pole ends while allowing a later removal of the pole there from. For separating objects RM from RM+1, the apparatus has a perpendicularly projecting user-positionable handle located on either the surface-mountable brackets or a fixed surface nearby. A clearance zone is provided between RM and RM+1 for finger access to remove shipping wrap from a roll and to tear off supporting core of an empty roll.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is the continuation-in-part of thus claims the benefit of the following US patent application, hereafter referred to as Chou application Ser. No. 11/124,993:

Title: A Tissue Roll Stacking and Deployment Apparatus. Inventors: Joseph C. Chou, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/124,993, Filing date: May 9, 2005.

Additionally, this application also incorporates by reference the above US patent application for all purposes. Hence, inter alia, any references made to a figure that is within the range of from FIG. 1A to FIG. 6B should be understood to refer to a figure that is part of the Chou application Ser. No. 11/124,993.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of home accessories. More particularity, the present invention is directed to a tissue roll stacking and deployment apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

Numerous tissue roll stacking and deployment apparatus have existed for many years. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,991,951 entitled “Toilet Paper Container and Dispenser” of Carroll, dated Jul. 11, 1961, Carroll described a holder and dispenser for rolls of toilet paper wherein a vertical spindle is permanently and vertically wall mounted inside a casing for holding a stack of reserve rolls plus one active roll at the bottom. The casing has a top lid for loading new rolls onto the spindle and a pivotally and swingably mounted latch-like U-shaped bail to releasably suspend a lowest reserve roll and to deploy it for replacing a used roll below. The vertical spindle also has a portion of reduced cross section near the top of the active roll for finger access to tear & remove its core at empty.

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,475 entitled “Holder and Dispenser for Multiple Rolls of Tissue” of Kaysserian, dated Aug. 23, 1988, Kaysserian described a container for storing and dispensing vertically stacked reserve tissue rolls plus one active roll at the bottom. The top surface of the container has an oval-shaped opening for insertion of accordingly shape-distorted tissue rolls while preventing their removal after insertion. The container has an internal vertical rod for holding the tissue rolls. The center rod has a number of plug means for further facilitating insertion and separation of an active roll from the reserve rolls. Likewise, the plug means also have an oval-shaped cross section to allow an accordingly shape-distorted core of a tissue roll to pass through while preventing its removal after insertion.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,818 entitled “Device and Method for Storing Multiple Rolls of Tissue and Dispensing Tissue Therefrom” of Kelley, dated Mar. 30, 1999, Kelley described a storage frame to stack multiple rolls on a generally vertical shaft with one active roll at the top. Along the storage frame is a step-lifting mechanical assembly with stop notches along a side wall and a matching lifting arm to advance the reserve rolls upwards for use one at a time.

For further advancement of the art, what is still desirable are tissue roll stacking and deployment apparatus that are simple and low cost, affording a flexible installation environment and easiness of use while cosmetically pleasing if so desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A simple apparatus for storing and deploying a plurality of stackable roll-shaped objects R₁, R₂, . . . , R_N with N>=2, such as tissue rolls, is proposed for installation and use near a fixed surface of various orientations. A subset of objects R₁, R₂, . . . , R_M, with M<N, can be deployed for use. The apparatus is an open structure including:

A pole having two ends for piercing through and holding the objects R₁, R₂, . . . , R_N. Two surface-mountable brackets for respectively engaging the two ends of the loaded pole in a way allowing a later removal of the pole there from.

A user-positionable partitioning mechanical member located on one of the surface-mountable brackets and near a demarcation between objects R_M and R_M+1. The partitioning mechanical member can be positioned by the user between a loading position and a deployed position. In its loading position, the partitioning mechanical member is positioned out of the path for loading the objects R₁, R₂, . . . , R_N onto the pole. However, in its deployed position, the partitioning mechanical member is now positioned to separate the set of deployed objects R₁, R₂, . . . R_M from the rest of plurality of stackable objects R₁, R₂, . . . , R_N. The demarcation between objects R_M and R_M+1 has a longitudinal clearance zone sufficient for finger access both to reach and remove the shipping wrap from a tissue roll during its deployment and to tear off the supporting core of an empty tissue roll from the pole.

As an alternative embodiment to the above, the user-positionable partitioning mechanical member can instead be located on the fixed surface while still stays near a demarcation between objects R_M and R_M+1 thus performing the same function.

To further simplify an alignment work during their mounting onto the fixed surface, the two surface-mountable brackets can be formed into one body.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, this invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that changes may be made in the specific construction illustrated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will become fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B together are a combination of perspective and partial sectional views of the present invention apparatus for storing and deploying numerous vertically stacked tissue rolls.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will become obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, materials and components have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessary obscuring aspects of the present invention. The detailed description is presented largely in terms of simplified perspective and sectional views. These descriptions and representations are the means used by those experienced or skilled in the art to concisely and most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art.

Reference herein to “one embodiment” or an “embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristics described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Further, the order of process flow representing one or more embodiments of the invention do not inherently indicate any particular order nor imply any limitations of the invention.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B together are a combination of perspective and partial sectional views of a simple tissue roll stacking and deployment apparatus 10 of the present invention for storing and deploying a plurality of stackable tissue roll R₁ 301, tissue roll R₂ 302, tissue roll R₃ 303, tissue roll R₄ 304 and tissue roll R₅ 305. Of these tissue rolls R₂ 302 to R₅ 305 are reserve rolls still wrapped in their respective shipping wraps W₂ 312 to W₅ 315 while the tissue roll R₁ 301 has already been deployed with its shipping wrap stripped away and is partially used up.

In this embodiment, notice that the mounting base of the first surface-mountable bracket 18 and that of the second surface-mountable bracket 20 are formed into one body. In this way, a mutual alignment between the surface-mountable bracket 18 and the second surface-mountable bracket 20 is advantageously avoided during their mounting onto the fixed surface 500.

A user-positionable handle element 24 is still located near the demarcation 22 between the tissue roll R₁ 301 and tissue roll R₂ 302. However, instead of being engaged to the pole 12, the user-positionable handle element 24 can be plugged into a bracket through hole 23a on the mounting base of the surface-mountable brackets 18 and 20. Thus, in its loading position, the user-positionable handle element 24 can be unplugged from the bracket through hole 23a thus positioned out of the path along the pole 12 for loading the tissue rolls R₁ 301 to R₅ 305. After the loading of the tissue rolls R₁ 301 to R₅ 305 onto the pole 12, on the other hand, the user-positionable handle element 24 can be, after passing through the demarcation 22, plugged back into the bracket through hole 23a in a deployed position to separate the deployed tissue roll R₁ 301 from the remaining tissue rolls R₂ 302 to R₅ 305. The plunger portion of the user-positionable handle element 24 can be designed to snugly plug in yet still unpluggable from a properly oriented bracket through hole 23a perpendicular to the pole axis so that the user-positionable handle element 24 projects in a direction generally perpendicular to the pole 12. As an alternative, the user-positionable handle element 24 can instead be plugged into a hole pre-made on the fixed surface 500 during installation.

Similar to what were already illustrated in FIG. 2A through FIG. 2C, the user-positionable handle element 24, now located on the surface-mountable brackets 18 and 20, can be implemented with a variety of ways when the illustrated pipe section 34 is visualized to be replaced by a proper section of the surface-mountable brackets. While not graphically illustrated here, yet another simple hence preferred embodiment of the user-positionable handle element 24 is to have it pivotally mounted onto the mounting base of the surface-mountable brackets 18 and 20 such that the handle element 24 can be swung, within an X-Y plane, into or out of the path along the pole 12 for loading the tissue rolls R₁ 301 to R₅ 305. As yet another alternative, the user-positionable handle element 24 can instead be pivotally mounted onto a mechanical pivot base pre-made on the fixed surface 500 during installation.

As described with more exemplary embodiments, a simplified, so far as manufacturing and usage are concerned, open structure apparatus is proposed for storing and deploying a plurality of stackable roll-shaped objects such as tissue rolls for installation and use near a fixed surface of various orientations. A subset of the stackable roll-shaped objects can be easily deployed for use. The apparatus is simple and low cost, affording a flexible installation environment and further improved easiness of use while made cosmetically pleasing if so desired. However, for those skilled in this field, these exemplary embodiments can be easily adapted and modified to suit additional applications without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention. Thus, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements based upon the same operating principle. The scope of the claims, therefore, should be accorded the broadest interpretations so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

Claims

1. A simplified apparatus for storing and deploying for use, near a fixed surface, a plurality of stackable roll-shaped objects R1, R2,..., RN with N>=2, wherein the roll-shaped objects R1, R2,..., RM, with M<N, can be deployed for use, the apparatus comprising:

a pole having a first end and a second end defining a pole length sufficiently long for piercing through and holding said plurality of stackable objects R1, R2,..., RN;

a first surface-mountable bracket and a second surface-mountable bracket for, after being respectively mounted on said fixed surface, respectively engaging the first end and the second end of said pole with held plurality of stackable roll-shaped objects while allowing a later removal of said pole from the two surface-mountable brackets; and

a user-positionable partitioning means, located on one of said surface-mountable brackets and near a demarcation between roll-shaped objects RM and RM+1, said partitioning means capable of being positioned by a user between a loading position and a deployed position where:

(c1) in its loading position, said partitioning means is positioned out of the path for loading said R1, R2,..., RN; and

(c2) in its deployed position, said partitioning means is positioned to separate the set of deployed objects R1, R2,... RM from said R1, R2,..., RN

thereby forming an open structure facilitating the ongoing usage of said deployed objects R1, R2,... RM and replenishment thereof from the remaining stackable objects RM+1, R2,..., RN.

2. The simplified apparatus of claim 1 wherein said first surface-mountable bracket and second surface-mountable bracket are further formed into one body thereby simplify an alignment work during their mounting onto said fixed surface.

3. A simplified apparatus for storing and deploying for use, near a fixed surface, a plurality of stackable roll-shaped objects R1, R2,..., RN with N>=2, wherein the roll-shaped objects R1, R2,..., RM, with M<N, can be deployed for use, the apparatus comprising:

a pole having a first end and a second end defining a pole length sufficiently long for piercing through and holding said plurality of stackable objects R1, R2,..., RN;

a first surface-mountable bracket and a second surface-mountable bracket for, after being respectively mounted on said fixed surface, respectively engaging the first end and the second end of said pole with held plurality of stackable roll-shaped objects while allowing a later removal of said pole from the two surface-mountable brackets; and

a user-positionable partitioning means, located on said fixed surface and near a demarcation between roll-shaped objects RM and RM+1, said partitioning means capable of being positioned by a user between a loading position and a deployed position where:

(c1) in its loading position, said partitioning means is positioned out of the path for loading said R1, R2,..., RN; and

(c2) in its deployed position, said partitioning means is positioned to separate the set of deployed objects R1, R2,... RM from said R1, R2,..., RN

thereby forming an open structure facilitating the ongoing usage of said deployed objects R1, R2,... RM and replenishment thereof from the remaining stackable objects RM+1, R2,..., RN.

4. The simplified apparatus of claim 3 wherein said first surface-mountable bracket and second surface-mountable bracket are further formed into one body thereby simplify an alignment work during their mounting onto said fixed surface.