Patent Description:
Soap is used in many applications, including for washing one's hands.

When provided as a solid block, the soap often is exposed to the environment, leaving it prone to loss of quality. Furthermore, a solid block is often used in combination with water, leaving the user with a wet and slippery block of soap which is hard to store. When soap dissolved in water is used in portable soap dispensers, not only does the soap have to be transported but also the water in which the soap is dissolved, resulting in inefficient transport.

<CIT> discloses a pocket soap dispenser for dispensing soap using a threaded spindle and a nut for driving a piece of soap towards a rotating rasp.

<CIT> discloses a soap dispenser for grating soaps with a rectangular cross-section. The soap is pressed against a hand-turnable grater, and by rotating the grater, the soap is grated. An exit opening of the soap dispenser is covered by a removable cap. The rectangular cross-section prevents rotation of the soap in the dispenser without having to use a round soap with a groove therein.

The above problem of the prior art is solved by a soap dispenser comprising the features of claim <NUM>. Additional and optional features are defined in dependent claims <NUM>-<NUM>. It is preferred to provide a portable soap dispenser which allows solid soap to be dispensed, with limited exposure of the piece of soap to the environment. Exposure to the environment of the piece of soap may result in loss of a piece of the piece of soap, aging, loss of quality, unintended contact with moisture or dirt, any other negative effect or any combination thereof. The invention provides a soap dispense, that may be a portable pocket soap dispenser, comprising a soap holder, arranged to engage with a piece of soap; a knife holder, arranged to be rotatably connected with the soap holder, such that the soap holder and the knife holder may rotate relative to each other over an axis of rotation. The knife holder comprises: a knife-blade module, provided substantially radially relative to the axis of rotation, arranged to engage with the piece of soap, such that when the soap holder is rotated relative to the knife holder, the knife-blade module scrapes over the piece of soap. The knife holder further comprises a first opening, provided substantially under the knife-blade module, arranged as an exit for scrapings of the piece of soap.

The soap dispenser is arranged to enclose at least a substantial part of the piece of soap, herewith protecting the piece of soap from exposure to the environment. The soap dispenser may be temporarily arranged in an open position which allows scrapings of soap to leave the dispenser. After use, the soap dispenser may be placed in a closed position in which the piece of soap is substantially closed off from the environment.

An embodiment of the soap dispenser comprises an urging element arranged to urge the piece of soap towards the knife-blade module.

In another embodiment of the soap dispenser, the soap dispenser is arranged such that the soap holder may be translated relative to the knife holder parallel to the axis of rotation between a first position and a second position, wherein in the first position, the soap piece provided in the soap holder is placed at a distance from the knife-blade module, and in the second position, the piece of soap engages with the knife-blade module.

The soap holder comprises one or more exit openings, arranged as an exit for scrapings of the piece of soap, and may further comprise one or more protrusions arranged to engage with one or more indentations of the piece of soap, such that a rotation of the soap holder is coupled to a rotation of the piece of soap.

The soap dispenser provides further a piece of soap arranged to be provided in a soap holder of a soap dispenser according to any of the previous embodiments, wherein the piece of soap substantially extents from the first radius to the second radius. The piece of soap may comprise one or more indentations, corresponding to the one or more protrusion of the soap holder.

The various aspects and embodiments thereof will now be discussed in conjunction with drawings. In the drawings:.

<FIG> shows a portable soap dispenser <NUM>, comprising a soap holder <NUM> and a knife holder <NUM>. The soap holder <NUM> is arranged to engage with a piece of soap <NUM>. The knife holder <NUM> is arranged to be rotatably attached to the soap holder <NUM>, such that the knife holder <NUM> and the soap holder <NUM> may be rotated relative to each other over an axis of rotation <NUM>.

The knife holder <NUM> comprises a knife-blade module <NUM>, provided substantially radially relative to the axis of rotation <NUM>, and arranged to engage with the piece of soap <NUM> provided in the soap holder <NUM>. The knife-blade module <NUM> is further provided such that when the soap holder <NUM> rotates relative to the knife holder <NUM>, at least part of the knife-blade module <NUM> scrapes over the piece of soap <NUM>. The knife holder <NUM> further comprises a knife holder opening <NUM>, provided substantially under the knife-blade module <NUM>, wherein the knife holder opening <NUM> is arranged as an exit for scrapings or shavings of soap which are scraped of the piece of soap <NUM>.

The soap holder <NUM> of the soap dispenser <NUM> may comprise one or more keying protrusions <NUM>, arranged to correspond to one or more keying indentations <NUM> comprised by the piece of soap <NUM>. The keying protrusion <NUM> and corresponding keying indentation <NUM> may have any shape, and are arranged to couple a rotation of the soap holder <NUM> around the axis of rotation <NUM> to a rotation of the piece of soap <NUM> around the axis of rotation <NUM>. In another embodiment of the soap holder <NUM>, the soap holder <NUM> comprises one or more keying indentations and the piece of soap <NUM> comprises one or more corresponding keying protrusions.

In the embodiment of the soap dispenser <NUM> as shown in <FIG>, the soap dispenser <NUM> comprises an urging module <NUM>, wherein the urging module <NUM> comprises a spring <NUM> as an urging element and a pressing plate <NUM>. The spring <NUM> is arranged to at a first side urge the pressing plate <NUM> towards the piece of soap <NUM>, and therewith urge the piece of soap <NUM> towards the knife-blade module <NUM>. At a second side of the spring <NUM>, opposite to the first side, the spring <NUM> is arranged to urge against a top shell <NUM>. The pressing plate <NUM> is arranged to transfer an urging force of the spring <NUM> to the piece of soap <NUM>. An embodiment of the soap dispenser <NUM> without the pressing plate <NUM> may be envisioned as well, wherein in such an embodiment the urging force of the spring <NUM> is applied directly to the piece soap <NUM>. The spring <NUM> may be a coil spring, conical spring, pancake spring, helical spring, Belleville spring, disc spring, any other spring or any combination thereof.

In an embodiment of the urging module <NUM>, a range of translational movement of the urging module <NUM> over the axis of rotation <NUM> of the pressing plate <NUM> is restricted. The restriction prevents the pressing plate <NUM> from contacting the knife-blades <NUM>, and prevents accidental scraping of the pressing plate <NUM> when the knife-blades <NUM> are rotated relative to the pressing plate <NUM> around the axis of rotation <NUM>. The restriction may be provided by one or more protrusions provided on at least one of the pressing plate <NUM> and the knife holder <NUM>. Alternatively, the restriction may be provided by one or more restriction protrusions <NUM> provided by a first clamp <NUM>. When the soap dispenser <NUM> is assembled, the pressing plate <NUM> may be provided between the restriction protrusion <NUM> and the top shell <NUM>.

In an alternative embodiment of the soap dispenser <NUM> comprising the urging module <NUM>, the soap holder <NUM> is arranged to be translated relative to the knife holder <NUM> parallel to the axis of rotation <NUM> between a first position and a second position. In the first position, the piece of soap <NUM> provided in the soap holder <NUM> is provided at a distance from the knife-blade module <NUM>, such that the soap holder <NUM> may be rotated relative to the knife holder <NUM> significantly without the knife-blade module <NUM> scraping scrapings of the piece of soap <NUM>. In the second position, the piece of soap <NUM> engages with the knife-blade module <NUM>, such that rotation of the soap holder <NUM> around the axis of rotation <NUM> relative to the knife holder <NUM> results in the knife-blade module scraping scrapings of the piece of soap <NUM>.

The knife-blade module <NUM> of the soap dispenser <NUM> as shown in <FIG> comprises one or more knife-blades <NUM>, wherein edges of the knife-blades <NUM> are provided substantially radially relative to the axis of rotation <NUM>. The knife-blades <NUM> comprised by the knife-blade module <NUM> extend from a first radius from the axis of rotation <NUM> to a second radius from the axis of rotation <NUM>, wherein the first radius is larger than <NUM>. This arrangement allows one or more knife-blades <NUM> to substantially engage the piece of soap <NUM> at any position between the first radius and the second radius. In other words, the extension of the knife-blades <NUM> from the first radius to the second radius results in no part of any knife-blade <NUM> being present at the axis of rotation <NUM>. This is preferred because it is not possible to scrape scrapings of the piece of soap <NUM> at the axis of rotation <NUM> with a rotating movement around the axis of rotation <NUM>.

In the soap dispenser <NUM> as shown in <FIG>, the soap holder <NUM> comprises one or more soap holder openings <NUM>, arranged as conduits for the scrapings of soap to leave the soap dispenser <NUM>. The soap dispenser <NUM> further comprises a bottom shell <NUM> as a closing part, arranged to, in the embodiment of the soap dispenser <NUM> of <FIG>, be rotated around the axis of rotation <NUM> relative to the soap holder <NUM>. The rotation of the bottom shell <NUM> is coupled to the rotation of the knife holder <NUM>, such that when the bottom shell <NUM> is rotated, the knife holder <NUM> rotates with it around the axis of rotation <NUM>.

The coupling between the rotation of the bottom shell <NUM> and the knife holder <NUM> is provided by a clamping module comprising the first clamp <NUM> and a second clamp <NUM> on which will be elaborated further below. The bottom shell <NUM> is arranged to be rotated around the axis of rotation <NUM> through one or more closed positions, and one or more open positions. The bottom shell <NUM> comprises one or more second openings <NUM> as exit openings, arranged to, when the bottom shell <NUM> is in an open position, substantially align with one of the soap holder openings <NUM> of the soap holder <NUM>, such that a conduit is provided for scrapings of the piece of soap <NUM> to leave the soap dispenser <NUM> through one of the second openings <NUM> and one of the soap holder openings <NUM>.

In an alternative embodiment of the closing part, the closing part is arranged to translate substantially radially relative to the axis of rotation <NUM> between an open position and a closed position. In the closed position, the closing part substantially blocks one or more of the soap holder openings <NUM>, such that scrapings of soap may not exit the soap dispenser <NUM>. In the open position, the closing part substantially does not block one or more of the soap holder openings <NUM>, such that scraping of soap may exit the soap dispenser <NUM> through at least one of the one or more soap holder openings <NUM>.

In the soap holder <NUM>, the soap holder <NUM> comprises one or more soap holder openings <NUM>, for example four openings, wherein the openings may be equiradially provided, for example one opening every <NUM> degrees, relative to the axis of rotation <NUM>.

In the embodiment of the soap dispenser <NUM> as shown in <FIG>, the bottom shell <NUM> comprises a closing abutment <NUM>, corresponding to one or more closing protrusions <NUM> comprised by the soap holder <NUM>. When the bottom shell <NUM> is in the closed position, the closing abutment <NUM> engages with one of the closing protrusions <NUM> of the soap holder <NUM>. The engagement results in a force threshold that needs to be exceeded to rotate the bottom shell <NUM> relative to the soap holder <NUM>, as the closing abutment <NUM> needs to be disengaged from the one of the closing protrusions <NUM>. A user of the soap dispenser <NUM> may feel whether the bottom shell <NUM> is in the open position or in the closed position respectively by the absence or presence of the force threshold. The force threshold may also prevent the bottom shell <NUM> from rotating to an open position while the soap dispenser <NUM> is not being used, for example during transport or storage.

The closing abutment <NUM> may comprise two protrusions, with between the protrusions an indentation arranged to receive at least part of the closing protrusion <NUM>. The closing protrusion <NUM> may be at least partly chamfered or rounded off to decrease the force threshold. In an alternative embodiment of the soap dispenser <NUM>, the bottom shell <NUM> comprises one or more closing protrusions, and the soap holder <NUM> comprises the closing abutment.

The soap dispenser <NUM> as shown in <FIG> further comprises a clamping module comprising a first clamp <NUM> and a second clamp <NUM>. The first clamp <NUM> and the second clamp <NUM> are arranged to engage with one another to be releasably connected. When engaged, the first clamp <NUM> and the second clamp <NUM> are arranged to substantially constrain a translation of the soap holder <NUM> relative to the knife holder <NUM> over the axis of rotation <NUM>.

The clamping module further comprises a top shell <NUM> as an enclosing part, arranged to substantially enclose the soap holder <NUM>, piece of soap <NUM>, and knife module <NUM> together with the bottom shell <NUM>. The top shell <NUM> is arranged to be rotated relative to the bottom shell <NUM>. The top shell <NUM> is further arranged as a housing for the urging module <NUM>, and may be arranged to provide grip to a user's hand gripping the top shell <NUM>. The grip may be provided by a particular shape of the top shell <NUM> or by a high-friction texture.

The top shell <NUM> as the enclosing part may comprise at the inside one or more coupling protrusions (not shown in <FIG>), arranged to engage with one or more coupling abutments <NUM> comprised by the soap holder <NUM>. Herein, the engagement of the coupling protrusions and coupling abutments <NUM> provides a coupling of the rotation of the top shell <NUM> around the axis of rotation <NUM> with the rotation of the soap holder <NUM> around the axis of rotation <NUM>. Alternatively, the top shell <NUM> comprises the coupling abutments and the soap holder <NUM> comprises the coupling protrusions.

The first clamp <NUM> and the second clamp <NUM> are arranged such that they extend through the hole provided by the fact that the piece of soap <NUM>, knife module <NUM>, soap holder <NUM>, pressing plate <NUM> and bottom shell <NUM> extend from the first radius outwards relative to the axis of rotation <NUM>.

When the user of the soap dispenser <NUM> wants to place or replace the piece of soap <NUM> in the soap holder <NUM>, at least part of the clamping module may be disassembled from the soap dispenser <NUM>.

In the embodiment of the soap dispenser <NUM> as in <FIG>, all components are aligned around the axis of rotation <NUM>. Further more, all components are provided substantially axisymmetrically around the axis of rotation <NUM>, wherein except for the first clamp <NUM> and the second clamp <NUM>, the components extend from a certain radius from the axis of rotation <NUM>, wherein said certain radius is larger than <NUM>. The extension of all components except for the first clamp <NUM> and the second clamp <NUM> allows the first clamp321 and the second clamp <NUM> to be provided at the centre of the soap dispenser <NUM>, resulting in a compact form factor. Furthermore, at a smaller radius relative to the axis of rotation <NUM>, scraping the piece of soap <NUM> by rotation becomes more difficult. Therefore, the volume within the first radius around the axis of rotation <NUM> would not have been used for the piece of soap <NUM> or any other component of the soap dispenser <NUM>.

In an alternative embodiment of the soap dispenser <NUM>, at least part of the first clamp <NUM> and at least part of the second clamp <NUM> extend from a third radius, wherein the third radius is larger than <NUM> and smaller than the first radius. This extending of the first clamp <NUM> and the second clamp <NUM> provides a hollow centre of the soap dispenser <NUM>.

The soap dispenser <NUM> as shown in <FIG> is substantially disc shaped and may be sized to fit a user's hand. In alternative embodiments, the soap dispenser <NUM> is substantially shaped as a cube, rectangular prism, cylinder, triangular prism, any other prism, any other shape or any combination thereof. Embodiments of the piece of soap <NUM> are envisioned resembling any shape the soap dispenser may have, as to optimally fill the volume of the soap dispenser with soap.

To use the soap dispenser <NUM>, a user may hold the bottom shell <NUM> as the closing part in one hand, and rotate the top shell <NUM> as the enclosing part with the other hand. With this rotation, scrapings are scraped of the piece of soap by the knife-blades <NUM> provided by the knife module <NUM>. The scrapings fall out of the soap dispenser <NUM> through the knife holder opening <NUM>, at least one of the soap holder openings <NUM>, and the exit opening <NUM> into the user's hands. Because the rotation of the bottom shell <NUM> and the knife holder <NUM> are coupled, the exit opening <NUM> of the bottom shell <NUM> and the knife holder opening <NUM> of the knife holder <NUM> remain aligned during rotation of the bottom shell <NUM> relative to the soap holder <NUM>. This means that a substantial part of scrapings of the piece of soap <NUM> exit the soap dispenser <NUM> directly after having been scraped, and a building up of soap scrapings in the soap dispenser <NUM> is prevented. The soap dispenser <NUM> may be arranged to be used with a single direction of rotation, for example clockwise around the axis of rotation <NUM>, or may be arranged to be used with two directions of rotation, clockwise and counterclockwise around the axis of rotation <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a piece of soap <NUM>, arranged to be placed in the soap holder <NUM> of a soap dispenser <NUM>. In an embodiment of the piece of soap <NUM>, the piece of soap <NUM> comprises soap with a plurality of colours. A first colour is provided in a bottom part of the piece of soap <NUM>, and a second colour is provided at a top part of the piece of soap <NUM>. The piece of soap <NUM> is arranged to be placed bottom first in soap holder <NUM>. When the bottom part of the piece of soap <NUM> is scraped, the scrapings will have the first colour. After the bottom piece has been scraped away, the top part is scraped, resulting in scrapings of the second colour. The second colour may indicate to the user of the soap dispenser <NUM> that the bottom part is gone and that a new piece of soap <NUM> may be required soon. The bottom part may be a substantially larger part than the top part. Different colours may also be used to indicate the type, fragrance, any other property, or any combination of properties of the piece of soap <NUM>.

The piece of soap <NUM> extends substantially from the first radius to the second radius, corresponding to the radial extension of the knife-blades <NUM> comprised by the knife-blade module <NUM>. The extension from the first radius to the second radius of the piece of soap <NUM> results in a donut-like shape of the piece of soap. The piece of soap <NUM> as shown in <FIG> comprises the keying indentations <NUM> substantially at the second radius. In an alternative embodiment of the piece of soap <NUM>, the keying indentations <NUM> are provided substantially at the first radius.

Pieces of soap <NUM> and soap holders <NUM> are envisioned with different corresponding keying indentations <NUM> and keying protrusions <NUM> to distinguish between different properties of the soap. Properties may include anti-allergy, anti-bacterial, baby-friendly, biological, sustainable, vegan properties, any other properties or any combination thereof. Only the pieces of soap <NUM> with the correct keying indentations <NUM> corresponding to the keying protrusions <NUM> provided by a certain soap holder can be placed in the soap holder <NUM> and used in combination with the soap dispenser <NUM>. The different types of pieces of soap <NUM> and soap holders <NUM> may be provided with markings to indicate to a user that they are compatible and what properties they hold.

A piece of soap <NUM> and corresponding soap holder <NUM> without keying indentations <NUM> and keying protrusions <NUM> may also be envisioned. In such an embodiment, a force parallel to the axis of rotation <NUM> may have to be provided to the piece of soap <NUM> to prevent the piece of soap <NUM> from rotating with the knife holder <NUM> when the bottom shell <NUM> is rotated relative to the top shell <NUM> around the axis of rotation <NUM>.

The various aspects and at least some embodiments may be summarised by means of the following numbered embodiments:
In the description above, it will be understood that when an element such as layer, region or substrate is referred to as being "on" or "onto" another element, the element is either directly on the other element, or intervening elements may also be present. Also, it will be understood that the values given in the description above, are given by way of example and that other values may be possible and/or may be strived for.

Furthermore, the invention may also be embodied with less components than provided in the embodiments described here, wherein one component carries out multiple functions. Just as well may the invention be embodied using more elements than depicted in the Figures, wherein functions carried out by one component in the embodiment provided are distributed over multiple components.

It is to be noted that the figures are only schematic representations of embodiments of the invention that are given by way of non-limiting examples. For the purpose of clarity and a concise description, features are described herein as part of the same or separate embodiments. The word 'comprising' does not exclude the presence of other features or steps than those listed in a claim. Furthermore, the words 'a' and 'an' shall not be construed as limited to 'only one', but instead are used to mean 'at least one', and do not exclude a plurality.

A person skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various parameters and values thereof disclosed in the description may be modified and that the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

It is stipulated that the reference signs in the claims do not limit the scope of the claims, but are merely inserted to enhance the legibility of the claims.

Claim 1:
Soap dispenser (<NUM>), comprising:
- a soap holder (<NUM>), arranged to engage with a piece of soap (<NUM>);
- a knife holder (<NUM>), arranged to be rotatably connected with the soap holder, such that the soap holder and the knife holder may rotate relative to each other over an axis of rotation (<NUM>); the knife holder comprising:
- a knife-blade module (<NUM>), provided substantially radially relative to the axis of rotation (<NUM>), arranged to engage with the piece of soap, such that when the soap holder is rotated relative to the knife holder, the knife-blade module scrapes over the piece of soap; and
- one or more exit openings (<NUM>), provided substantially under the knife-blade module, arranged as an exit for scrapings of the piece of soap;
wherein:
- the one or more exit openings (<NUM>) are comprised by the soap holder; and
- the soap dispenser further comprises a closing part (<NUM>), arranged to:
- in a closed position, block the one or more exit openings of the soap holder; and
- in an open position, substantially not block the one or more exit openings, such that scrapings from the piece of soap can exit the soap dispenser through the one or more exit openings.