Personal portable tissue roll holder

Abstract

A holder assembly (10) for sanitarily containing a roll of tissue paper (18). The holder assembly includes a canister (12), a cap (14) and a holding tube (16), wherein the tissue paper roll is disposed on and about the holding tube and is preferably rotatable therearound. The tissue roll holder assembly is conveniently carriable by an individual to meet cleaning and hygiene needs where such needs may not otherwise reliably be met, especially when the individual encounters an urgent need for relief.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/970,341 filed Sep. 6, 2007.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This relates to the field of containers and more particularly to personal portable containers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many individuals have encountered the need to personally relieve themselves while away from home or office, especially while traveling or hiking and so forth, and find that the facilities immediately available to them on such occasion are unequipped to provide tissue for cleaning. This is especially an acute as well as embarrassing problem for persons who have certain medical conditions or have had certain forms of surgery performed; such persons may have a sudden need for relief arise requiring immediate attention. One such condition presenting these difficulties is colon cancer. Too many times there are no cleaning supplies immediately available, nor service personnel immediately available to be of assistance in replenishing supplies, even if the basic facility, a restroom, is available. Further, such emergencies may also arise where there are no such facilities available and therefore cleaning tissue is nonexistent, such as while traveling in rural or remote areas.

It is desirable to provide an article conveniently carriable by an individual at all times to provide cleaning tissue, in a sanitary manner.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly, the present invention is a portable holder for a roll of toilet tissue, that is conveniently carriable by an individual. The holder completely encloses the tissue roll, and is easily openable for access while maintaining the tissue in a sanitary state when unopened. The holder includes a canister and a cap that is removably securable to the canister in a manner that seals the canister for maintaining the tissue in the sanitary state when closed. Preferably, the holder includes a holding rod of appropriate length about which a standard tissue paper roll is placeable, and preferably easily rotatable with respect thereto, with the holding rod being secured to the cap. Thus, the holder assembly is also preferably and conveniently a tissue dispenser. The canister and lid may have complementary threads so that the cap may be screwable to and unscrewable from the canister, for example. Optionally, the cap may include an external handle enabling convenient manual holding for easily dispensing the tissue.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and constitute part of this specification, illustrate the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, and, together with the general description given above and the detailed description given below, serve to explain the features of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the holder assembly of the present invention, with the cap slightly parted from the canister;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the holder assembly;

FIG. 3 is aside view of the cap with the holding rod, with a tissue roll shown exploded therefrom; and

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternative embodiment including an external handle affixed to the cap.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments illustrated below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. These embodiments are chosen and described to best explain the principle of the invention and its application and practical use and to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention.

Holder assembly 10 of the present invention includes a canister 12, a cap 14, and a holding rod 16. As shown in FIG. 3, the holding rod 16 is preferably affixed to the cap 14 and extends from an inner surface thereof and is contained within the canister 12 along with a roll 18 of tissue thereon. The components may economically be of conventional plastic materials, and the cap and holding rod could be molded as a single entity. Preferably, the canister 12 and the cap 14 are complementarily threaded and fit together to establish a tight closure to maintain sanitary conditions within the canister; however, other fastening arrangements may be used, such as a bayonet coupling. The holder assembly 10 is of such dimensions as to enable tissue rolls of standard size to be contained therein, such as having a diameter of about 5″ and also a depth of about 5″, with the holding rod 16 similarly being of standard dimension to fit loosely within the cardboard tube around which tissue paper is rolled, such as about 1″ in diameter and about 5″ in length. These dimensions may be varied, of course, especially if other sizes of toilet tissue roll become popular, and thus are not restrictive of the invention.

Seen in FIG. 1 is a hole 20 into which the ends of a cord 22 may extend and be terminated by an enlargement such as a knot or by a conventional fastener, the cord thus establishing a convenient carrying handle. Such a cord may be about one foot in total length, and may conveniently allow the canister to be held by placing one's arm through the cord loop. Optionally, as shown in FIG. 4, the cap may have an external handle 24 that may be utilized to enable convenient manual holding of the cap during use and/or opening and closing of the holder assembly.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A tissue roll holder assembly for conveniently being carried by a person to assist in cleaning or hygiene, comprising:

a canister;

a cap securably and removably affixable to the canister; and

a holding rod affixed to one of the cap and canister and extending within the holder assembly and adapted to receive thereonto a roll of tissue paper,

wherein the holder assembly is adapted to conveniently contain the roll of tissue paper that is accessible quickly by the person while containing the tissue paper in a sanitary state.

2. The holder assembly of claim 1, wherein the holding rod is of a diameter selected to easily enable the roll of tissue paper to be disposed thereonto and rotatably therearound during dispensing of the tissue when the canister is open.

3. The holder assembly of claim 1, wherein the holding rod is affixed to an inner surface of the cap.

4. The holder assembly of claim 1, further including a carrying cord secured thereto.

5. The holder assembly of claim 4, wherein the carrying cord is secured to the canister.

6. The holder assembly of claim 1, wherein the canister and the cap are openable and closeable by relative rotation.

7. The holder assembly of claim 6, wherein the canister and the cap are complementarily threaded.

8. The holder assembly of claim 1, wherein the cap further includes an external handle enabling manual gripping thereof.