Separable wipes dispenser

Abstract

A tubular floor stand wipes dispenser is disclosed in which wipes connected to each other are withdrawn through a hole in a first shelf at an acute angle to the shelf. The leading wipe engages an edge of the shelf around the hole as it is being withdrawn from the dispenser, thereby stressing and breaking the connection of the leading wipe to the next wipe. A user is required to withdraw the leading wipe in this manner by the outer edge of a second shelf disposed above and partially over the hole in the first shelf. A gel dispenser may be arranged on the stand above the second shelf to protect wipes issuing from the hole from any dripping gel. An arrowhead shaped opening on the front of the stand directs disposal of used wipes into a waste container within the stand.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to columnar floor stands which dispense individual hand wipes from a supply roll, and invite a user to dispose of them in a compartment just below the roll. More particularly, it relates to a columnar stand which requires a person reaching for a wipe to withdraw it against the edge of a dispensing passage which stresses and breaks the selected wipe's connection to the supply roll.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various floor stand dispensers are illustrated in the prior art. One, for example, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 8,561,837, namely, a stand having a body portion containing an upper compartment from which wipes are dispensed through an orifice in the lid and a lower compartment housing a container such as a wastebasket for used wipes. Another is shown in pre-grant publication No. 2006/0289558 A1 which illustrates a stand with a hinged lid giving access to an upper compartment where dispenser packages of wipes are inserted, and a hinged door on the front of a lower compartment for servicing a wastebasket stored there. The used wipes are deposited in the wastebasket through an inlet opening in the door. Another example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,157 directed to a litter container which is a box with a hinged lid mounted on a stand straddling a transmission hump in an automobile. The lid includes an upper compartment for wipes and a dispensing outlet in the top panel of the lid. The lower portion of the box is a collector for used wipes or other materials. U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,383 discloses a base plate vertically mounted on a door panel and supporting both an upper compartment for dispensing wipes and a lower open-ended pocket for accepting used wipes.

These patents illustrate the efforts of inventors to handle situations where wipes dispensers distribute wipes which are often connected to each other in a supply roll. The dispensers disburse the wipes from a storage compartment inside the dispenser adjacent an orifice in a panel of the dispenser. There they are individually made available to a user who simply pulls on the first wipe protruding from the orifice. However the wipes still on the roll in the storage compartment have little resistance to being pulled out along with the initial wipe, a situation known as “roping,” and thus a user must find some way of separating the wipe he . selected from those that follow. Normally that separation requires a user to use two hands, and even then some of the connected wipes may be withdrawn from the orifice before the initial wipe is successfully separated.

It is an object of this invention to provide a design of a hand wipes dispenser which severs an individual hand wipe from a supply roll when a user withdraws the wipe from the dispenser.

It is another object of this invention to provide a design of a hand wipes dispenser which resists hand wipes which are serially connected in a supply roll from being withdrawn from the dispenser in a string and still connected to the following wipes in the roll.

It is another object of this invention to provide a design of a hand wipes dispenser which places a hand gel dispenser adjacent to a portal from which wipes are dispensed but protects the portal from excess gel escaping from the gel dispenser.

It is another object of this invention to provide a design of a hand wipes dispenser which positively directs disposal of used wipes into a lower compartment of the wipes dispenser.

It is another object of this invention to provide a design of a hand wipes dispenser which provides for a wipes dispenser from an upper end, and a weighted, stabilizing end opposite the wipes dispenser end which stabilizes tower-tipping forces on the upper end of the dispenser.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent after reading the description of the invention which follows.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention is a tubular floor stand wipes dispenser in which wipes connected to each other in a supply compartment within the dispenser are withdrawn from the dispenser through a hole in a first shelf at the top of the supply compartment at an acute angle to the shelf The acute angle brings a leading wipe against an edge of the shelf around the hole, thereby stressing and breaking the connection of the wipe to the next wipe in the compartment. A user is required to withdraw the leading wipe in this manner by an edge of a second shelf which is spaced apart from the first shelf disposed above and partially over the hole in the first shelf A gel dispenser may be arranged on the stand above the second shelf, and that shelf protects the wipes issuing from the hole in the first shelf from gel which might drip from the gel dispenser. An arrowhead shaped opening on the front of the stand spaced well apart from the gel dispenser directs a person who has used a wipe to deposit it into a waste container in a second compartment within the stand below the compartment where the wipes are stored.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an assembled floor stand wipes dispenser embodying this invention and illustrating the disposition of a first shelf with a dispensing hole through which wipes are drawn located below a smaller second shelf partially overlying the dispensing hole;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the shelves and body of the wipes dispenser in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A is a broken away portion of the wipes dispenser in FIG. 1 illustrating a frontal perspective view of a gel dispenser located above the smaller second shelf of the wipes dispenser;

FIG. 3B is a rear perspective view of the portion of the wipes dispenser and associated gel dispenser shown in FIG. 3A;

FIG. 3C is a top plan view of the portion of the wipes dispenser and associated gel dispenser shown in FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4A is an enlarged view of the mounting bracket shown in FIG. 3B for the gel dispenser;

FIG. 4B is an enlarged view of the clip which engages the gel dispenser mounting bracket shown in FIGS. 3B and 4A to the body of the wipes dispenser above the smaller second shelf shown in FIG. 3A;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the wipes dispenser shown in

FIG. 1 which does not include the gel dispenser; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the wipes dispenser shown in FIG. 1 which incorporates a stabilizing base plate on the lower end of the wipe dispenser's body.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A floor stand wipes dispenser which embodies the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. The dispenser's shroud 10 includes a body section 12 and a head section 14. A first shelf 16 inside the shroud separates the body section of the shroud from the head section. The first shelf also includes a passageway 18 from the body section to the head section through which a wipe 20 and wipes from a supply which follow wipe 20 may be withdrawn into the head section. A second shelf 22, which includes a protective gasket 22a on its front edge, is located in the head section 14 spaced apart from the first shelf and partially overlying passageway 18 so that a wipes user who pulls wipe 20 out of the dispenser cannot pull it straight up. He is required by the location and size of the second shelf to pull wipe 20 out at an acute angle to the first shelf. Preferably the head section 14 is angularly truncated, with its lower edges at the front of the shroud, in order to provide easy access to wipe 20 and allow a person reaching for wipe 20 to pull it out of passageway 18 in a direction which avoids the second shelf.

Hand gel dispenser 24 is situated on the head section 14 of the shroud above second shelf 22. Preferably the gel dispenser is attached to the shroud with a linkage member 26 conformed to the back of the gel dispenser and a clip 26a holding the linkage member 26 onto the shroud. The linkage member 26 and clip 26a hold the gel dispenser over the second shelf. When the gel dispenser is activated by a valve operator such as arm 24a, the second shelf prevents liquid from the gel dispenser from falling on a wipe which is poised in the passageway 18.

The body section 12 of shroud 10 is comprised of first and second side members 28 and 30 which are connected to each other by a yoke 32, thereby forming columnar recess inside the side members and the yoke. A hinge 34 is provided along an edge of the first side member, and a door 36 mounted on the hinge, so that the columnar recess is enclosed when the door 36 is shut. Additional shelves 38a and 38b may be disposed within the columnar recess, thereby dividing the recess into more than one compartment.

The door 36 includes an aperture 40 through the door which is shaped to direct attention toward a compartment in the recess below the first shelf where a waste receptacle can be placed. When aperture 40 is shaped like an arrowhead or downwardly pointing triangle, or similar directional pointing configuration, a wipes user's attention is drawn to a portal where the wipe he has just recently drawn from the dispenser and used may be thrown away.

Forming the wipes dispenser of this invention as a somewhat tall unit can mean that it might be tipped by an enthusiastic user when he pulls a wipe from the passageway 18, or by someone else as he walks by and brushes the dispenser. In order to combat these situations, a stabilizing pedestal 42 may be engaged on a lower end of the side members 28 and 30 and yoke 32 opposite the head section 14 and first shelf 16. Pedestal 42 may be a somewhat heavy weight and may, as illustrated in FIG. 6, extend outside the side members and the yoke to provide a larger footing for the dispenser.

In use, a container 44 holding a supply of wipes connected to each other may be set on shelf 38a inside the columnar recess in shroud 10, and the leading wipe 20 in the supply positioned up through passageway 18 in shelf 16. Also, a waste receptacle 46 may be placed on shelf 38b. Then door 36 is closed. When a user wishes to obtain a wipe, in order to grasp wipe 20 he will be directed by the configuration of shroud 10 to the lower side of the truncated head section 14, and at that point extend his hand below second shelf 22. As he grasps and then pulls on wipe 20, he cannot pull it straight up due to the location of shelf 22 over the passageway 18. That location requires that he pull the wipe at an acute angle to shelf 16, whereupon wipe 20 will more firmly engage an edge of shelf 16 around the passageway and stress wipe 20's connection to the next wipe from the supply. The strain usually breaks wipe 20's connection to the following wipe in an uneven manner along the connection and leaves a portion of the following wipe protruding from the passageway.

As previously noted, the shelves inside the shroud's columnar recess may be arranged to provide variously sized compartments inside the columnar recess. If only a smaller waste receptacle is needed, shelf 38b may be positioned so that a separate compartment can be located beneath shelf 38b. If desired, however, shelf 38b may be eliminated and a larger waste receptacle used. Normally, when shelf 38b is used, a base shelf 48 is provided to close the bottom end of shroud 10, which also results in forming an additional compartment for storing supplies such as further rolls of wipes.

Various modifications of this invention can be made without departing from its true spirit and scope. Accordingly, no limitation is intended by the foregoing description, and the full breadth of the invention is intended to be covered in the following claims.

Claims

1. A floor stand for dispensing wipes comprising

a shroud member having a head section and a body section,

a first shelf in the shroud member separating the head section from the body section and including a passageway for wipes attached together in a string located in the body section to be drawn into the head section, and

a second shelf disposed in the head section spaced apart from the first shelf in a location requiring withdrawal of the wipes from the passageway at an acute angle to the first shelf and directing each leading wipe in the string during withdrawal against an edge of the first shelf at the passageway to stress and break the wipe from the string.

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

5. The floor stand of claim 1 in which the head section above the first shelf is angularly truncated.

6. A floor stand for dispensing hand wipes comprising

a shroud member having a body section and a head section,

the body section including first and second side members, a yoke connected to the side members forming a columnar recess inside the side members and the yoke, a hinge on an edge of the first side member, a door mounted on the hinge enclosing the columnar recess,

a first shelf inside the columnar recess arranged to hold a supply of hand wipes attached together in a string adjacent the head section, and

a second shelf disposed in the head section spaced apart from the first shelf in a location directing each leading wipe in the string during its withdrawal from the head section against an element in the head section to stress and break the wipe from the string.

7. (canceled)

8. The floor stand of claim 6 in which the door includes an aperture communicating with the columnar recess and shaped to direct attention toward a compartment for disposing used wipes inside the columnar recess.

9. (canceled)

10. The floor stand of claim 6 which includes a pedestal engaging an end of the side members and the yoke opposite the head section arranged to hold the stand upright.

11. The floor stand of claim 10 in which the pedestal is a horizontally disposed plate extending beyond the sides of the shroud member.

12. (canceled)

13. A floor stand for dispensing wipes comprising

a shroud member having a head section and a body section,

a first shelf in the shroud member separating the head section from the body section and including a passageway for wipes located in the body section to be drawn into the head section,

a second shelf disposed in the head section partially overlying the passageway spaced apart from the first shelf in a location requiring withdrawal of the wipes from the passageway at an acute angle to the first shelf, and

a hand gel dispenser engaged to the shroud by a linkage holding the dispenser over the second shelf.

14. A floor stand for dispensing wipes comprising

a shroud member having a head section and a body section,

a first shelf in the shroud member separating the head section from the body section and including a passageway for a leading wipe and further wipes attached together in a string of wipes located in the body section to be successively drawn into the head section, and

a second shelf disposed in the head section sufficiently proximate to the first shelf to require a prospective wipe user to withdraw the leading wipe from the passageway at an acute angle to the first shelf and against an edge of the first shelf at the passageway to stress and break the leading wipe from the string of wipes.