US3433544A - Adapter to provide multiple size capability for paper towel cabinet - Google Patents

Description

D. c. MONYETTE ET AL March 18, 1969 3,433,544

DAPTER TO PROVIDE MULTIPLE SIZE CAPABILITY FOR PAPER TOWEL CABINET Monyeie W0 ZsZe Filed June 12, l

' 50 Jana Id C 3 5/ Jean Z I wfm United States Patent 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An adapter which provides for the dispensing of any of a number of various sizes of folded paper towels from a cabinet made to dispense a single size of folded paper towels. The adapter is comprised of a single rigid sheet folded in a V-shape with a lip extending outwardly from the vertex of the V. The lip fits into the dispensing slot at the bottom of the cabinet. One side of the V defines an inclined surface on the interior of the cabinet to guide paper towels into the dispensing slot. The other side of the V is fastened at the front bottom inside of the cabinet. The lip prevents smaller towels from falling through the dispenser slot, yet does not inhibit dispensing of the larger towels. The inclined surface keeps the smaller towels aligned and toward the back of the cabinet.

Background of the invention This invention relates to an improved paper towel cabinet for dispensing folded paper towels one at a time and, more particularly, relates to an adapter fastened to the inside of such a paper towel cabinet to provide the cabinet with dispensing capability for any of a number of paper towel sizes.

Generally, folded paper towels are dispensed one at a time from an appropriately mounted cabinet. The cabinet is usually attached to a wall. The front of the cabinet generally folds out and down in order to allow filling of the cabinet with a stack of paper towels. The towels are dispensedv from a slot extending across the entire width at the bottom of the cabinet.

The dimensions of a cabinet as well as the dimensions and position of the dispensing slot are dependent upon the towel size 'which is to be dispensed by the cabinet. The towel size is, in turn, dependent upon the particular needs at each particular cabinet dispenser site. Different towel requirements are met by different towel sizes having various absorbancy and wear characteristics.

Requirements at a dispensing site may change. To provide numerous towel cabinets for various towel sizes as the requirements change would be expensive. To unnecessarily use an expensive towel because such a towel is the only one which fits in the cabinet at a particular site would be wasteful.

Summary of the invention In a principal aspect, the present invention comprises a paper towel cabinet which is modified to provide multiple size towel capability for a single cabinet, preferably by the attachment to an existing cabinet of an adapter. The adapter generally comprises a V-shaped structurally rigid device which has a lip extending outwardly from the vertex of the V. The adapter is inserted on the inside of the towel cabinet. The lip is made to extend outwardly and downwardly into the dispensing slot at the bottom of the cabinet. One side of the V-shaped device is attached to the cabinet and holds the adapter in place. The opposite side of the V-shaped device provides an inclined plane surface which directs the paper towels toward the dispensing slot.

3,433,544 Patented Mar. 18, 1969 It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an improved adapter for paper towel cabinets which provides multiple size paper towel dispensing capability to a single size of cabinet.

-It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved paper towel cabinet adapter which can be economically attached to most existing paper towel cabinets.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a simply constructed and economical paper towel cabinet adapter which provides multiple size towel capability for a paper towel cabinet.

These and other objects, advantages and fetaures of the present invention will be made fully illustrated by the detailed description !which follows.

Brief description of the drawing In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of a typical towel cabinet and the improved adapter;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of a paper towel cabinet utilizing the adapter; and

FIGURE 3 is a front sectional view of the adapter taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

Description of the preferred embodiment FIGURE 1 illustrates in a perspective view the positioning of the adapter improvement 10 in a typical paper towel cabinet. The cabinet, comprised of a front section 12 and a rear section 14, is generally mounted on a vertical member such as a wall by screws attached through the openings 16 in the back panel 18 of the rear section 14. The front section 12 has a right hand side flap 22 and a left hand side flap 24 which are pivotally attached to the lower right side wall 26 and the lower leftside wall 28, respectively by the hinge pivot points or rivets- 30 and 32. Thus the front section 12 may be swung upwardly about the hinge pivot points 30 and 32 and mate with the back section 14 to form an enclosed paper towel cabinet.

The latch 34 catches the downwardly extending flap 36 to hold the front section 12 in a closed position. The latch 34 is operated by key (not shown). The front section 12 has a vertical slot 38 defined in the front panel 40 of the front section 12. When the front section 12 is in a closed position, a visual observation of the slot 38 indicates the level or amount of paper towels in the cabinet. Paper towels are normally dispensed through the slot 52 defined by the flap 54 at the bottom of the back section 14 and the paper guide 42 attached to the front section 12.

The improvement is the adapter, generally shown at 10, formed from a single rigid piece of structural material such as sheet metal. The adapter 10 is V-shaped having a first surface 44 and two leaves or flaps 46 and 48 which define a second plane. A planar extension of the first surface 44 defines the lip 50 at the vertex of the V-shaped adapter 10. The adapter 10 is appropriately fastened into the position indicated by the phantom lines in FIGURE 1. The lip '50 extends over the paper guide 42 into the area of the dispenser slot 52.

FIGURE 2 illustrates the adapter 10 positioned in a closed paper towel cabinet filled with various sized paper towels 58, 60 and 62. The first surface 44 of the adapter for-ms an inclined plane which extends substantially from a position at the lower middle portion of the front wall 40 to a position above and just short of the slots 52 defined at the bottom of the cabinet. Since the first surface 44 extends only partially across the width of the cabinet, the larger towels 58 are not restricted from passing through the slot 52. The slot 52 is defined by the open area between the rearward extension of the paper guide 42 and the frontward extension or fiap 54 of the rear section 20 of the paper towel cabinet.

The lip 50 extends downwardly and outwardly into the slot 52. The leaves 46 and 48 are glued and fastened by an epoxy cement to the top part of the paper guide 42. Alternative fastening means such as rivets would also be suitable. A brace 56 facilitates the positioning and fastening of the adapter 10. The paper towels 58, 60 and 62 which are positioned Within the cabinet are pushed toward the rear panel 18 of the cabinet by the first inclined surface 44. However, the lip 50 retards or prevents the smaller size towels from falling through the slot 51. The lip 50 is symmetrically positioned on the vertical center axis of the cabinet in the center of the slot 52. The restricted width or lateral extension of the lip 50 insures that large paper towels 58 may be dispensed, and also insures that smaller paper towels 60 and 62 will be retained within the cabinet. The lip 50 is slightly curved in the downward direction to facilitate dispensing yet retain the smaller towels 60 and 62.

As an example of the operation of the improvement in a paper towel dispensing cabinet, an adapter was provided for a dispensing cabinet which was designed to dispense 3% x 10% c-fold cabinet folded paper towels 58 in FIGURES 2 and 3. A paper towel of this type is known by the tradename Handifold, manufactured by Ft. Howard Paper Company of Green Bay, Wis. Simultaneously inserted into the cabinet were 3" x 9 /2" intermediate sized folded paper towels 60 and 2 /2 x 6%" smaller sized folded paper towels 62. The intermediate sized towels 60 were folded in the multifold configuration. Such a folded towel is known by the tradename Selfold, manufactured by Ft. Howard Paper C0., Green Bay, Wis. The smaller sized folded towels 62 were folded in the narrowfold configuration. Typical of such folded towels is the towel known by the tradename Plyfold, manufactured by Ft. Howard Paper Co., Green Bay, Wis. The towels 58, 60 and 62 were then removed from the dispenser by pulling on the towel side flap 64 which protruded into the slot 52. Regardless of the size of the towels 58, 60 or 62, the towels 58, 60 and 62 were dispensed one at a time.

In practice only one size towel will normally be used in a dispenser. For purposes of experiment all the sizes were used and arranged in various orders within the cabinet. As illustrated in FIGURE 3, the smaller towels 60 and 62 may be positioned to abut one side of the cabinet. However, it was found that the smaller towels 60 and 62 could be positioned in any manner within the cabinet without adverse dispensing results.

Thus it can be seen that as the needs in a certain area change from a size and fold such as Handifold, a paper towel with a different size fold and absorbancy such as Selfold or Plyfold may be used in a paper towel cabinet which is provided with the improvement of the adapter 10 of this invention.

While in the foregoing there has been described a preferred embodiment of the present invention it is to be understood that all equivalents are to be included within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cabinet for dispensing individual folded paper towels, said cabinet having an inside, a front wall, sidewalls, a vertical central axis, and a lower horizontal panel with a dispensing slot therein, the improvement to provide multiple towel size capability for said cabinet compnsmg:

a single planar sheet disposed on the inside of said cabinet and extending from said front wall to a position short of said slot;

a substantially coplanar extension of said planar sheet forming a lip extending outwardly into said dispenser slot; and

means for fastening said improvement to said cabinet such that said lip extends outwardly and downwardly into said slot.

2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein the improvement includes first and second flaps integrally attached to said planar sheet, said flaps being coplanar and defining a second plane, said planar sheet and said second plane defining a V-shaped adapter having a vertex, said vertex being disposed at a position short of said slot, and said lip extending from said vertex and curving outwardly and downwardly into said dispenser slot.

3. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said planar sheet has lateral sides substantially parallel to said sidewalls, said planar sheet having a width substantially less than the width of said cabinet, and said lip extends laterally in both directions from said vertical axis for a distance substantially short of the lateral sides.

4. In a cabinet for dispensing folded paper towels, said cabinet having a front wall defining a substantially vertical plane, and a dispenser slot disposed along the bottom wall of said cabinet, the improvement comprising:

fixed planar means extending from adjacent the vertical plane of said front wall at an incline to a position adjacent said slot to guide the folded towels toward said slot and fixed retarding means extending into said slot to prevent the folded towels from falling through said said slot, said fixed planar means and said fixed retarding means providing multiple size paper towel capability by permitting variously sized towels to be simultaneously housed and serially dispensed from said cabinet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,488,040 11/ 1949 Straubel 22149 3,115,998 12/1963 Joyce et a1. 312-39 XR 3,341,067 9/1967 Bastian 22144 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

J. L. KOHNEN, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

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