Patent Publication Number: US-7909182-B2

Title: Sheet material dispenser

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a sheet material dispenser with at least two compartments for the accommodation of sheet material, in particular in the form of brochures, in which the compartments are formed by module components, which can be joined together and released again. 
     A sheet material dispenser of the above type is known, the module components of which provide accommodation for sheet material and have a rear wall and a front wall which are joined together by two side walls and an end wall. With the known sheet material dispenser the rear walls and the front walls of the module components are provided with means by which module components can be joined together. The use of a front wall with the described sheet material dispenser excludes the division of the module parts providing accommodation for the sheet material in order to accommodate sheet material in the sheet material dispenser, the width of which is smaller than the width of the tray. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the invention is to provide a sheet material dispenser which has at least one divisible module part for accepting sheet material. This object is solved according to the invention in that the module components include a tray used for accepting sheet material, at least one front plate and at least one partition wall, that the tray consists of a rear wall, two side walls and an end wall forming its lower end and that the tray is provided with longitudinal slots in the region of its rear wall for the attachment of the partition wall, which has hooks that can be inserted into the longitudinal slots, and by means of which the said tray can be divided. 
     The sheet material dispenser according to the invention offers the advantage that with the said dispenser it is possible to employ one and the same tray for the orderly accommodation of sheet material of different widths. 
     It has been found to be particularly advantageous if the tray has in each case at least one protrusion directed towards the tray interior in the region of the edges of its two side walls facing away from its rear wall, that on the rear side of the rear wall of each tray at least two mountings are provided for accepting the protrusions of a further tray which can be joined to the tray and that a limit stop is provided for limiting the movement, directed parallel to the rear wall, of the trays which can be respectively joined together. A tray formed in this way can be joined to further trays without difficulty in order to configure in this manner a sheet material dispenser having several staggered trays which are arranged one behind the other. 
     If the partition wall is also equipped with protrusions directed towards the side walls of the tray, then these protrusions together with the protrusions of the side walls facilitate the connection of additional trays having a reduced filling volume, which similarly consist of a rear wall, two side walls and an end wall forming their lower end and the width of which essentially corresponds to the spacing between the partition wall and the respective side wall facing it. 
     For the user of a sheet material dispenser of the above type a module component kit is thus available which enables the construction of the sheet material dispenser to be adapted to the respective circumstances. Here too, the situation is favourable in that due to the use of trays which are open at the front side, the material expense for the manufacture of sheet material dispensers with several compartments is less than in cases in which module components are used with front walls. 
     In practice it is recommended for production and stability reasons that each side wall is provided with more than three protrusions and also the rear sides of the rear walls are fitted with a plurality of mountings, wherein the number of the mountings assigned to a row of protrusions does not necessarily have to be equal to the number of protrusions. 
     The spacing between the protrusions of the respective side wall and the mountings assigned to these protrusions is practically equally large. 
     The rear sides of the rear walls of the trays are provided with parallel guides in the vicinity of the side walls, of which the guides of the respectively rearmost tray can be used for the acceptance of components which facilitate setting up or hanging up the sheet material dispenser. 
     Further features and details of the invention can be taken from the dependent claims and the following description of an embodiment of the invention illustrated in the enclosed drawing. The following are shown: 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  a perspective view of a sheet material dispenser with two trays and an additional tray, 
         FIG. 2  the perspective front view of a tray, 
         FIG. 3  the perspective rear view of the tray according to  FIG. 2 , 
         FIG. 4  the insertion of a component for setting up a sheet material dispenser on a table or similar object, 
         FIG. 5  the insertion of the component illustrated in  FIG. 4  for the case where suspension of the sheet material dispenser on a wall is desired, 
         FIG. 6  the insertion of a partition wall in a tray, 
         FIG. 7  the perspective front view of an additional tray, 
         FIG. 8  the rear view of the additional tray according to  FIG. 7 , 
         FIG. 9  an illustration corresponding to  FIG. 4  for the case of a sheet material dispenser of additional trays, 
         FIG. 10  an illustration corresponding to  FIG. 5  for the case of a sheet material dispenser of additional trays, 
         FIG. 11  the perspective view of fragments of two additional trays being joined together, 
         FIG. 12  the front view of a front plate, 
         FIG. 13  the rear view of the front plate according to  FIG. 12 , 
         FIG. 14-17  the configuration of a sheet material dispenser, 
         FIG. 18  a section through the sheet material dispenser according to  FIG. 17  and 
         FIG. 19  a particularly simple embodiment of a sheet material dispenser. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
     In  FIG. 1 , designated with  1   a  and  1   b , two trays are arranged staggered, of which the front tray  1   a  is divided by a partition wall  2  into two parts each forming one compartment for a smaller sheet format. The right side of the sheet material dispenser is also provided with a tray, which is similarly intended for the accommodation of sheet material of a smaller format and is designated as the additional tray  3  in the following to differentiate it from the larger tray  1 . Details of the construction of the trays  1  can be taken from  FIGS. 2 and 3 , of which  FIG. 2  shows the front side and  FIG. 3  the rear side of a tray  1 . Each tray  1  has a rear wall  4 , two side walls  5  and  6  as well as an end wall  7 . In the centre of the trays  1  there are longitudinal slots  8  for accepting a partition wall  2 . The side walls  5  and  6  of the trays  1  are, in the region of their edges facing away from the rear wall  4 , provided with lug-shaped protrusions  9  which protrude into the interior of the tray  1 .  10  and  11  are holes, which facilitate a direct mounting of the tray  1  on a wall. 
     On the rear side of its rear wall the tray  1  has receptacle-shaped mountings  12 , which accommodate the protrusions  9 . 
     The rear wall  4  is also provided with guides  13 , which are formed from L-shaped protrusions arranged in pairs. For reasons of injection moulding, in the region of the guides  13  there are recesses  14  in the rear wall  4 . As illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the guides  13  are used to accommodate components  15 , with the aid of which the sheet material dispenser can be set up on a table or other support or also hung in a sloping position on a wall. The components  15  have two side walls  16 ,  17  arranged spaced from one another in the form of right-angled triangles, which are joined together in the region of the limbs of the triangles by transverse walls  18 ,  19  and which in the region of the hypotenuse of the triangle are provided with guide strips  20 ,  21 , which can be pushed into the guides  13 . Limit stops  22  on the rear side of the rear wall  4  together with the counter stops  23 ,  24  on the components  15  limit their insertion path. The arrangement of the components  15  in the vicinity of the side walls  5 ,  6  of the respective rearmost tray  1  increases the resistance of the set-up sheet material dispenser to tilting. Immediately below the limit stops  22  there are latching dips  25 , which hold the components  15  in the inserted position. To facilitate the sloping suspension of the sheet material dispenser, the transverse wall  18  is provided with holes  26 . 
     Details of the partition wall  2  and fitting it to the rear wall  4  of the tray  1   a  in  FIG. 1  can be taken from  FIG. 6 . As can be seen, the partition wall  2  is provided at its lower edge with hooks  27  which can be inserted into the longitudinal slots  8 . In the inserted state a clip  28  locks into a recess  29  in the end wall  7 . On its edge facing away from the hooks  27  also the partition wall  2  has lug-shaped protrusions  9 , which together with the protrusions  9  on the side walls  5 ,  6  facilitate the connection of the additional tray  3  having a reduced filling volume for the acceptance of sheet material with a smaller format. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the protrusions  9  are arranged on an edge of the partition wall, this edge being arranged opposite the hooks  27 . The width of the additional trays  3  is in the illustrated case equal to half the width of the tray  1 . If the rear walls  4  are provided with several rows of longitudinal slots  8 , then with appropriately adapted additional trays other divisions can also be realised. 
     As can be seen from  FIGS. 7 and 8 , the construction of the additional trays  3  essentially corresponds to the construction of the tray  1 . For parts corresponding to one another, the same reference numerals are therefore used. Due to the smaller dimensions of the additional trays  3  the number of protrusions  9 , of mountings  12  and guides  13  of the additional trays  3  can be less than in the case of the tray  1 . The dimensions of the above mentioned parts and their spacing to one another however match the dimensions of the corresponding parts of the tray  1  and their spacing to one another. 
     Based on the identical basic construction of the trays  1  and the additional trays  3 , it is possible to configure a sheet material dispenser which only consists of the additional trays  3 . In such a case it is recommended however that the component  15  illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 5  is replaced by a component  30  which has similarly reduced dimensions and which is provided with only a single hole  26 . 
     As can be seen best in  FIG. 11 , the mountings  12  are open at their outer sides and their ends facing the end wall  7 , whereas the ends facing away from the end wall  7  are closed and form the limit stops  31  which limit the insertion movement of the protrusions. Through a longitudinal lug  32 , which practically extends over the complete height of the trays  1  or of the additional trays  3 , the mountings  12  are similarly closed on their internal side. In other words, they form open pocket-like receptacles on two sides. To prevent the longitudinal lugs  32  from hitting the end wall  7  when fitting the trays  1  and the additional trays  3  together, the latter are provided with recesses  33 . 
     Of course, each of the front trays  1  or additional trays  3  must be provided with a cover formed from a front plate  34  on their front side. As can be seen from  FIGS. 12 and 13 , the front plate  34  is provided with grooves  35  in the region of its side edges and at its lower edge with a transverse strip  36  which forms a limit stop and which contacts the inner side of the end wall  7  with the sheet material dispenser in the assembled state. 
     The assembly of a sheet material dispenser having two compartments  37  formed from two trays  1  is explained in the following based on  FIGS. 14 to 17 .  FIG. 14  illustrates the front view of the two trays  1  and a front plate  34  as well as the sectioning line X-X of the sections illustrated in  FIGS. 15 to 17 . In the course of the assembly of the parts—as indicated by the arrow sequence  38 —first the front plate  34  is pushed from above over the protrusions  9  of the front tray  1  until its transverse strip  36  (cf.  FIGS. 12 and 13 ) contacts the inner side of the end wall  7 . Then the front tray  1  is moved perpendicularly to the rear wall  4  of the rear tray  1  in the direction of the arrow  39  until the trays  1  take up the position illustrated in  FIG. 16  in which the mountings  12  are aligned with the protrusions  9 . Now the front tray  1  is pushed in the direction of the arrow  40  parallel to the rear wall  4  of the rear tray  1  until the position illustrated in  FIG. 17  is reached.  FIG. 18  illustrates a section along the line Y-Y in  FIG. 17  through the assembled parts. 
     The sheet material dispenser illustrated in  FIG. 19  consists of only one tray  1 , which is divided by a partition wall  2  into two compartments.