Patent ID: 11877703
Assignee: nan
Field: Furniture, games (Other fields)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A ligature-resistant, paper towel dispenser, comprising:
a housing having a top panel, a front panel, a rear panel, and a pair of side panels secured together to define a hollow, interior chamber configured and dimensioned for receipt therein of a stack of paper towels, said housing having an open bottom end having a width greater than the entire a stack of paper towels to be inserted there-through into said interior chamber thereof; and
means for resiliently and flexibly supporting a stack of paper towels from below the stack of paper towels in said interior chamber above said open bottom end of said housing and for permitting manual dispensing of successive individual paper towels from the bottom of said stack and from said interior chamber downwardly through and out of said open bottom end of said housing, said means for resiliently and flexibly supporting and permitting manual dispensing of successive paper towels comprises at least one resilient, flexible member having a fixed end secured in said housing adjacent to said open bottom end thereof and an opposite free end, said at least one resilient flexible member is mounted in said housing perpendicular to said front and rear panels and is disposed to transversely span a majority of said open bottom end of said housing to support from below a stack of paper towels disposed thereabove, and said free end of said at least one resilient flexible member is movable upwardly relative to said open bottom end to permit insertion of a stack of paper towels into said interior chamber with said free end of said resilient flexible member being movable downwardly to permit successive removal of paper towels one at a time through said open bottom end of said housing,
wherein, at least one of said rear panel and said front panel has an inner surface having a recessed channel formed therein adjacent to said open bottom end of said housing which extends transversely of said at least one panel and along substantially the entire width of said at least one panel, and said fixed end of said at least one resilient, flexible member is slidably mounted in said recessed channel and is configured and dimensioned for forming a mechanical interlock with said channel for releasably locking said fixed end of said at least one resilient flexible member in said channel and, in turn, in at least one of said rear panel and said front panel.