Abstract:
A device is presented for holding and dispensing material stored on a hollow, cylindrical roll. The device includes a spindle for holding a roll of material that is pivotally attached to a support arm. The spindle can be manually positioned between an open position for loading and unloading rolls of material, and a closed position that securely holds the roll in place for dispensing. The device advantageously permits single-handed operation, has no removable parts, and can be configured to work with a number of different types of rolls and materials.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    This present invention relates generally to a roll holder which can be used to hold any material stored on or dispensed from a hollow roll, including but not limited to toilet paper, paper towels, adding machine paper, gift wrapping paper, plastic wrap, aluminum foil, chain, packaging material, tape, string, and rope.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    While the present invention relates to holding a roll containing any of a number of different types of materials, the preferred embodiment relates generally to paper towels and toilet paper. Such preferred embodiment is only one of a number of potential embodiments and is used herein as an example, and should in no way be construed as a limitation.  
           [0005]    Conventional toilet paper roll holders and paper towel holders generally include an elongate base secured to a wall or cabinet and includes two parallel arms extending outward from each end of the base. Interposed between the outstretched arms is usually a spring loaded spindle that passes through the hollow roll. The spindle ends fit into recesses or holes in the outstretched arms and is spring loaded such that it may be collapsed to become shorter than the distance between the parallel outstretched arms. This ability to collapse longitudinally is what allows the spindle to be removed and inserted into the bores of the outstretched arms. Alternatively, as is most often found on rolls directed to paper towel, each parallel outstretched arm includes a short boss for engaging each end of the hollow paper roll.  
           [0006]    Conventional roll holders present several difficulties in use. One difficulty of such roll holders is the difficulty of replacement. It often requires removing the spindle from the elongate base and sliding it through the bore of the roll holder. This type of roll holder requires two hands to operate. Secondly, because in most roll holders, the spindle is completely removed from the base which can lead to lost or broken parts. Furthermore, replacing a roll requires some amount of manual dexterity, and those with difficulty due to arthritis or other infirmity may find this task extremely difficult.  
           [0007]    Conventional roll holders that utilize two bosses to hold either end of the roll are often more difficult to manipulate than those utilizing a spindle. The roll must be handled and positioned manually over the bosses, and is clumsy to handle because of its bulk. Additionally, roll holders of this type often do not hold the roll when a free end of the roll material is pulled firmly.  
           [0008]    Other types of roll holders vary broadly from one to another, however, the most popular roll holders in use have been described and their deficiencies exposed herein.  
           [0009]    What is needed is a roll holder that is very easy to load and unload, is economically efficient, one that can be operated with one hand and does not require manual dexterity, and one that holds the roll firmly.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    The present invention advantageously provides a solution to the above mentioned difficulties with prior art inventions by providing a roll holder that requires only one hand to change the roll, has no detachable parts to become damaged or lost, firmly holds the roll when the free end of the roll of material is pulled, and does not require any fine motor skills to operate.  
           [0011]    This is accomplished by the disclosed invention through the use of a spindle attachment that is pivotally mounted to one outstretched arm and is received by a second outstretched arm. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    These and other features will now be described with reference to the drawings summarized below. These drawings and the associated description are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention. Throughout the drawings, reference numbers are re-used to indicate correspondence between referenced elements.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention in the open position.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1A is a perspective view of the present invention in the closed position.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the base plate and outstretched support arms.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2A is another perspective view of FIG. 2 showing additional detail FIG. 3 illustrates a spindle for use with the base plate and support arms. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0017]    The following description, with accompanying drawings, represents specific embodiments and methods for practicing the present invention. It is understood that other embodiments may be implemented without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the following description is illustrative and should not be construed as limiting in scope.  
         [0018]    With reference to FIG. 1, the present invention comprises two substantially parallel support arms  2 ,  4  extending outwardly from a base plate  8 . The base plate includes mounting holes  18  for mounting the base plate to a fixed surface. It should be appreciated that paper rolls as generally known in the art may or may not include an integrated base plate  8 . While a base plate  8  is convenient and often desired to dictate the spacing of the outwardly stretching arms  2 ,  4  relative to one another, it is not a necessary component of the present invention. However, because of the convenience aspect, and not as a limitation, the disclosed invention will describe the use of an integral base plate  8 . The base plate  8  is firmly attached to a wall or cabinet (not shown), or some other supporting surface by screws (not shown) inserted through mounting holes  18 . Alternatively, without the use of a base plate  8 , the support arms may have a small base plate of their own or other means on their mounting ends for being attachable to a supporting surface as is generally known in the art, usually accomplished with screws.  
         [0019]    Attached to either end of the base plate  8  are two outwardly stretching support arms  2 ,  4 . Interposed between the outward end of the support arms is a spindle  10  that is pivotally fixed to one of the support arms  2  by a pin  12 , and is received into a trough  14  in the opposing support arm  4 . One end of support arm  2  includes a means for attaching the spindle  10 , and allowing the spindle to pivot about the support arm  2  in a vertical plane. The opposing support arm  4  includes means for receiving an end of the spindle  18 . The mounted end of the spindle  16  may be attached by any suitable means to allow pivoting movement about point  12  in a vertical plane. The illustrated embodiment discloses a pin  12 , however, a hinge or other suitable means will accomplish the desired result. When the spindle  10  is received into the trough  14  formed in the second support arm  4 , the spindle is substantially horizontal as shown in FIG. 1A. The disclosed description describes a spindle that pivots or rotates about one of the support arms in a vertical plane, and is substantially horizontal while holding a paper roll, however this is not the only contemplated configuration, and other directions of rotation are permissible within the scope of the present invention. Additionally, the present description provides that gravity is the restoring force that tends to rotate the spindle to its horizontal orientation, however, there could be some other applied restoring force such as a torsion spring.  
         [0020]    A paper roll is loaded by first rotating the spindle  10  about the first support arm  2  such that the spindle is in a position to provide adequate clearance for a paper roll&#39;s hollow center to slide onto the spindle. For aiding one-handed operation, the spindle may only rotate slightly past vertical. As the spindle is rotated about the first support arm, once it passes a vertical orientation, further rotation is inhibited so that the operator may let go of the spindle and it will remain in a near vertical orientation until the operator rotates the spindle oppositely toward the other support arm. While in the open position as shown in FIG. 1, the user then slides the paper roll onto the spindle  10 . Finally, the operator returns the spindle to its initial orientation wherein it is received into the second support arm  4  by any of a number of means.  
         [0021]    The second support arm means for receiving the paper roll may include such embodiments as a trough, groove, latch, a bore receiving a spring loaded boss, or any of a number of other means as known in the art.  
         [0022]    Material stored on the roll is removed by pulling on the free end of the roll material, at which time, the hollow roll will spin on its longitudinal axis around the spindle  10 . Because the spindle is held securely to the support arms during use, it is nearly impossible for the roll to become dislodged from the roll holder by firmly pulling on the free end of roll material.  
         [0023]    A paper roll is removed by repeating the above steps, this time first removing the empty roll before introducing a new roll.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 illustrates the static portion of the invention comprising the two support arms  2 ,  4  supported by the integral base plate  8 . The base plate  8  includes mounting holes  18  for attaching the base plate  8  to a wall, cabinet, or other fixed surface.  
         [0025]    At the supporting end  20  of supporting arm  2  is located attaching means for pivotally attaching spindle  10 . In one aspect, two opposing flanges  26 ,  28  are each provided with a through hole  30 ,  32 . The flanges  26 ,  28  are spaced to receive the spindle  10  therebetween. The spindle  10  includes a through hole that may be coaxially aligned with the flange holes  30 ,  32 . A pin is inserted through the through hole  30 , through the hole provided in the spindle  10 , and through hole  32 . Thus pivotal attachment of the spindle to support arm  2  is accomplished.  
         [0026]    It should be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that many other methods of pivotally attaching the spindle  10  to the support arm  2  are possible. Alternatively, the spindle may be rotatably connected to a support arm having a different geometry than depicted. For example, the support arm  2  may be cylindrically shaped, thus allowing the spindle  10  to include a bore for receiving the cylindrical support arm. It should also be noted that the spindle  10  may alternatively connect to support arm  4  instead of support arm  2 .  
         [0027]    The supporting end  24  of support arm  4  includes a means for receiving an opposite end of the spindle  10 . In one aspect, the means for receiving an end of the spindle  10  is a simple trough  14 . The trough  14  may be integrally formed with the support arm  4 , or may be separately attached. The trough  14  adequately supports the spindle  10  such that when a free end of material is pulled in a transverse direction  42 , the spindle is securely held by the trough  14 . Alternatively, the spindle  10  may be received by any of a number of devices that adequately secures the spindle  
         [0028]    Notably, the length of the support arms  2 ,  4  in the transverse direction  42  is dictated by the radius of the material roll to be used with the invention. For example, the distance from the center of the spindle to the exposed face of the base plate  8  should be at least greater than the radius of the material roll to allow the material roll to dispense material without interfering with the base plate  8 . Furthermore, the length of the base plate  8  in the longitudinal direction  40  should also be dictated by the longitudinal length of the material roll. For example, the spacing of the support arms  2 ,  4  should be at least equal to the longitudinal length of the roll of material plus additional spacing to allow for the spindle supporting means  12 ,  14  to allow the roll to freely dispense material.  
         [0029]    Thus, the present invention is adaptable to many different sizes of material rolls. Furthermore, the present invention can be constructed out of many different materials depending on the application for which it is implemented. For example, in small home uses such as for holding and dispensing toilet paper or paper towels, the device may be constructed from a suitable plastic, or may be made decorative by manufacturing the device out of a metal which may be optionally chrome plated. Alternatively, for industrial uses and applications involving large, heavy rolls of material such as chain, rope, or packing materials, the device may be constructed out of any of a number of suitable metals.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 3 illustrates a spindle for use with the present invention. The spindle approximates a cylinder having a longitudinal distance 40 much larger than its diameter. The spindle is generally cylindrically shaped, although it could have a cross-section approximating any regular polygon such as a dodecagon, decagon, octagon, or hexagon, or any other multisided geometry that allows a hollow roll to spin around the spindle about its longitudinal axis. The spindle has a through hole  46  toward a proximate end  48  for receiving a pin  12  as previously described. The spindle  10  is then pivotally attached at the pin  12  location while the opposing spindle distal end  50  is free to pivot. However, when the spindle is in its closed position as illustrated in FIG. 1A, the spindle distal end  50  is securely held by a securing means, for example, a trough, as also illustrated in FIG. 1A.  
         [0031]    These and other advantages will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. The foregoing description does not encompass all embodiments and is for illustrative purposes. Several other embodiments will become readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that do not deviate from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined solely by the following claims.