Dispenser For Paper Sheets

Abstract

A dispenser for containing and holding a stack of absorbent products includes a dispensing opening through which the products are dispensable and a manually graspable member that is graspable by a user from outside the dispenser and manipulatable to move the stack when the stack is in a depleted state from a retracted position relative to the dispensing opening to a position adjacent to the dispensing opening. The dispenser includes a stack moving member having a first configuration conforming to faces of the dispenser that are transverse to one another and a second configuration forming a ramp between those faces and extending towards the dispensing opening. The stack moving member is reconfigurable from the first configuration to the second configuration to move the stack when the stack is in a depleted state from a retracted position relative to the dispensing opening to a position adjacent to the dispensing opening.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention is concerned with a dispenser for holding and containing a stack of absorbent products such as paper sheets. The paper sheets may be any non-woven absorbent or hygiene material that is paper based. The percentage of paper fibres in the sheet can vary so that only a minor portion of the non-woven may be paper fibres. This is true of some moist wipes, whereby paper fibres are mixed with a large percentage of polymer fibres. The paper sheets may be paper towels, napkins, facial tissue, moist/wet wipes, toilet paper, etc. The absorbent products may be absorbent garments such as diapers (or incontinence garments), absorbent pads such as sanitary towels or pant-liners.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

[0002] It is known in the art to provide a box for holding and containing a stack of paper sheets. The box will have a dispensing opening through which the sheets are dispensable from the stack and the box. Commonly, for facial tissue products, sheets are stacked in the box and the box is designed so that the sheets lay stacked upon one another with the weight of the stack resting on a bottom sheet of the stack, wherein the bottom sheet is adjacent a bottom face of the box. The dispensing opening is provided, usually centrally, on a top face of the box adjacent a top sheet of the stack. Typically, the sheets are interfolded so that as one sheet is dispensed, it pulls part of the next sheet through the dispensing opening to give so called `pop-up` dispensing. `Pop-up` dispensing makes it easy to locate the next tissue for dispensing as it sticks out of the box, as compared to having to reach into the box through the dispensing opening to grab a sheet. Doing such would be particularly fiddly as the stack becomes depleted as the top sheet would be spaced away from the dispensing opening toward a bottom of the box. `Pop-up` dispensing is effective for ensuring that a first sheet in the stack is easy to grasp. There are, however, disadvantages to the technique. The depth of the box is limited to a length of the sheets minus the overlap margin between adjacent tissues, which may be an undesirable design constraint in some applications. Further, some paper sheet materials do not lend themselves to interfolding, so pop-up sheet dispensers are not always a viable option.

[0003] There is also known a tissue box whereby the stack rests on the bottom of the box on an edge of the sheets in the stack. That is, planar faces of the first and last sheets in the stack are located adjacent front and back faces of the box, while bottom edges of each sheet are located adjacent a bottom face of the box with respect to gravity so that the weight of the stack rests on those bottom edges. Such boxes may be wall mountable in that a top of the box can be hung from a support member (e.g. a towel bar) such as those made for being received in a hollow core of, say, a roll of kitchen towels. A dispensing opening may be positioned at the bottom of the front face of the box.

[0004] An example of an edge stacked paper sheet dispenser is the packaged absorbent paper product of US 2002/0092789. It can occur in such a paper product dispenser that, when the stack becomes depleted, the stack moves to the back of the dispenser, away from the front of the dispensing opening. If that occurs, a user may struggle to reach the paper sheets. In view of such an issue, US 2002/0092789 discloses one version of the packaged absorbent product dispenser that is in the shape of a three dimensional parallelogram so that a bottom face is angled downwardly from a back face to a front face, which feeds the paper sheets to the dispensing opening as the stack is depleted. This helps to eliminate the need to reach into the dispenser when there is a missed interfold or dispensing problem. The parallelogram design of US 2002/0092789 may not always work as it is intended. That is, the depleted stack could take on a profile, whereby these sheets are not fed to the dispensing opening and thus still get stuck at the back of the dispenser.

[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,007 and US 2002/0108962 disclose other mechanisms for positioning a depleted stack towards the dispensing opening. U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,007 discloses a rotatable blocking member that is biased toward a blocking position. The blocking member moves to the blocking position under the bias once the stack is depleted to a predetermined extent. In the blocking position, the stack is blocked from moving away from the dispensing opening by a user applying an upward force to the bottom sheet of the stack in trying to withdraw a sheet through the dispensing opening. US 2002/0108962 discloses a sheet dispensing aid in the form of a spring that pushes the sheets forward towards the dispensing opening. The biased blocking member and the spring dispensing aid of these prior art documents are not inexpensive to manufacture. Accordingly, they may be more suitable for implementation in a permanent, refillable dispenser, rather than a disposable one that is inexpensively made and designed to be disposed of once the stack is used up.

[0006] Accordingly it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a dispenser for dispensing a stack of absorbent products such as paper sheets that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and includes a means for moving the stack toward a dispensing opening of the dispenser when the stack becomes depleted.

[0007] In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a dispenser for containing and holding a stack of absorbent products such as paper sheets located inside the dispenser, the dispenser comprising a dispensing opening through which the products are dispensable, wherein the dispenser comprises a manually graspable member that is graspable by a user from outside the dispenser and manipulatable by the user to move the stack when it is in a depleted state from a retracted position relative to the dispensing opening to a position adjacent to the dispensing opening.

[0008] A dispenser according to the present disclosure includes a manually graspable member protruding to outside of the dispenser, which can be pulled upon by a user to move the stack toward the dispensing opening where the products may be easily grasped and dispensed, as compared to the retracted position where the products are spaced from the dispensing opening and can not be easily reached. It is under manual force from the user that the stack is moved toward the dispensing opening, which is in contrast to the spring mechanisms of the prior art discussed above. Accordingly, the stack moving means of the present disclosure may be relatively inexpensively manufactured. Further, the stack is movable from the retracted position whenever it is deemed to be necessary at the behest of the user by manipulating the manually graspable member.

[0009] In an embodiment, the dispenser comprises a stack moving member for engaging the stack, wherein the manually graspable member is manipulatable to reconfigure the stack moving member to thereby move the stack from the retracted position to the position adjacent the dispensing opening when the stack is in the depleted state.

[0010] Thus, the manually graspable member and the stack moving member are operatively associated with one another. The former being positioned outside of the dispenser for operation by a user and the latter being positioned inside the dispenser to operate on, and in engagement with, the stack to affect a stack moving operation.

[0011] In an embodiment, the manually graspable member is arranged to protrude out of the dispensing opening to allow it to be grasped by a user.

[0012] The manually graspable member thus extends from inside the dispenser to outside the dispenser in order to allow it to operate with the stack inside the dispenser and the dispensing opening provides a convenient opening through the dispenser to use for the manually graspable member to protrude through. It is envisioned that a separate opening may be provided through which the manually graspable member can extend. For example, a dedicated slot could be provided, perhaps in the same face as the dispensing opening, out of which the manually graspable member can protrude.

[0013] In an embodiment, the stack moving member is arranged to protrude out of the dispenser to provide the manually graspable member.

[0014] This is a simple, yet effective, way to operatively associate the stack moving member and the manually graspable member, specifically by making them integral members. The manually graspable part of the stack moving member is manipulatable from outside the box to cause the stack engaging part to move the stack toward the dispensing opening so that a product can be easily reached. One can, however, imagine other implementations such as one where a separate manually graspable member is positioned outside the box and is attached to the stack moving member by extending through a wall of the dispenser. The manually graspable member preferably protrudes through the dispenser on the same face of the dispenser as the face where the dispensing opening is located. One can, however, imagine an alternative implementation where the manually graspable member protrudes through a side face relative to a front face where the dispensing opening is located. Such a manually graspable member would still be operable on the stack moving member to move the stack from a retracted position to a forward position adjacent the dispensing opening.

[0015] In an embodiment, the stack moving member is for engaging a face of the stack opposed to a face of the stack that is positioned adjacent to the dispensing opening.

[0016] In this embodiment, the stack moving member is shaped to have a part positioned behind the stack relative to the dispensing opening, which ensures the stack will be moved forward when a force is applied to the stack moving member by way of the manually graspable member in a direction toward the dispensing opening.

[0017] In an embodiment, the stack moving member is shaped to cradle the stack when the stack is in the retracted position so as to engage a face of the stack opposed to a face of the stack adjacent the dispensing opening and a side of the stack connecting the opposed faces.

[0018] In this way, the stack moving member securely engages faces of the stack transverse to one another by taking on an L shaped profile. This cradling effect is able to grip the stack to allow controlled movement thereof when the manually graspable member is manipulated.

[0019] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a dispenser for holding and dispensing a stack of absorbent products such as paper sheets, the dispenser comprising a dispensing opening through which products in the stack are dispensable, wherein the dispenser comprises a stack moving member having a first configuration conforming to faces of the dispenser that are transverse to one another and a second configuration forming a ramp between those faces of the dispenser and extending towards the dispensing opening, wherein the stack moving member is reconfigurable from the first configuration to the second configuration to thereby move the stack when it is in a depleted state from a retracted position relative to the dispensing opening to a position adjacent to the dispensing opening.

[0020] The dispenser of the second aspect of the present disclosure allows the stack to substantially fill the dispenser when the stack is in a full state because it conforms to the faces of the dispenser, thereby not taking up space. In the second configuration, a depleted stack is moved toward the dispensing opening by being tilted in the dispenser by the ramp. The ramp further provides a configuration down which the stack can slide to position a product for dispensing conveniently adjacent the dispensing opening.

[0021] This form of reconfiguring of the stack moving member to a ramped shape from a shape conforming to the walls of the dispenser is preferably applied to the first aspect of the disclosure. One can, however, imagine an implementation whereby the stack moving member remains in the shape it has when it conforms to the inner walls of the dispensing opening and is simply moved toward the dispensing opening in that shape to move the stack to the position adjacent the dispensing opening.

[0022] In an embodiment, the stack moving member is fixed at a point relative to the dispenser so that at least part of the stack moving member rotates about the fixed point in reconfiguring from the first configuration to the second configuration.

[0023] Thus, pulling on the manually graspable member causes the stack moving member to rotate about the fixed point to form the ramp.

[0024] Preferably, a blocking member is provided to prevent upward movement of the stack moving member, where upward is to be interpreted in the context of the direction of movement the stack moving member makes in rotating to the second configuration. The blocking member acts to prevent upward movement as the stack moving member runs from inside the dispenser to outside the dispenser in reconfiguring the stack moving member from the first configuration to the second configuration. In an embodiment, the blocking member is located at a junction between inside and outside of the dispenser. These features ensure that the stack moving member is pulled outward and perhaps a little downward, in moving the stack toward the dispensing opening. It could happen, particularly in the embodiment rotatable about the fixed point, that the stack moving member is moved upward and away from the dispensing opening, which would not facilitate a sheet being conveniently grasped through the dispensing opening. To ensure proper forward movement of the stack, the blocking member is provided.

[0025] In an embodiment, the stack moving member is bent to conform to first and second faces of the dispenser when it is in the first configuration, wherein the first and second faces of the dispenser extend substantially transversely to one another, and the bend is straightened in order to form a ramp between the first and second faces that extends toward the dispensing opening in the second configuration of the stack moving member.

[0026] In this embodiment, the stack moving member is reconfigured from a space saving configuration where it is in conformity with the faces of the dispenser to allow the dispenser to be filled to a configuration forcing the sheets adjacent the dispensing opening for easy access thereto.

[0027] In an embodiment, the stack moving member is moveable relative to the dispensing opening. This feature enables the stack moving member to pull the stack closer to the dispensing opening.

[0028] In an embodiment, the stack moving member is sized and shaped to be able to close the dispensing opening when the stack moving member is in the first configuration and the second configuration. That is, the stack moving member may protrude out of the dispenser to form a flap, which may also provide the manually graspable member, that is positionable to close the dispensing opening.

[0029] In an embodiment, the stack moving member is sized and shaped to cover, at least substantially, the entire dispensing opening when the stack moving member is in the first configuration and the second configuration. Thus, the stack moving member may serve the dual function of being configurable to move the stack from a retracted position to a forward position when it is depleted and also to entirely close the dispensing opening for hygiene purposes. Further, because the stack moving member is so sized, it protrudes from inside the dispenser where it engages the stack to outside the dispenser where it provides both a cover and a manually graspable member that is manipulatable to affect movement of the stack from the retracted position to the forward position. That is, it is the cover that can be manipulated by a user (e.g. pulled), in order to bring the stack forward to the dispensing opening.

[0030] The stack moving member may thus include two folds, one between first and second parts of the stack moving member respectively conforming to the first and second faces of the dispenser and one between the second part and a third part of the stack moving member forming a cover member and manually graspable member when the stack moving member is in the first configuration. The folds provide hinges. The first hinge/fold allows the stack moving member to be straightened to form the ramp and the second hinge/fold allows the stack moving member to provide an openable and closeable flap with respect to the dispensing opening.

[0031] In an embodiment, the dispenser comprises a releasable attachment, preferably being repeatably releasable and reattachable, of the stack moving member to the dispenser. This may be in the form of adhesive tape, or the combination of adhesive tape and a releasable film, or hook and loop attachment, a cooperating push button and receptacle arrangement, a slide fastener or other known means. The releasable attachment could provide a border about the stack moving member for attachment about at least a major portion of a periphery of the dispensing opening. A slide fastener comprises as one mating component protruding lines defining a channel between them and as a cooperating mating component a protruding line for secure receipt in the channel. The stack moving member may thus protrude from the dispenser, yet be attachable to an outside surface to keep it neat. Further, the releasable attachment may be used to keep the stack moving member in a dispensing opening closing position for hygiene purposes. In a disposable implementation of the dispenser, it may be wrapped with a plastic film also for hygiene purposes.

[0032] Preferably, the dispenser is made, at least to a major degree, of cardboard. This is an environmentally friendly, often, but not necessarily, biodegradable material. Other materials can be used. Thus, the dispenser of the present disclosure is preferably a disposable one that is intended to be disposed of after the stack is completely depleted. Refillable implementations are, however, imagineable that would be made of more hardwearing materials than cardboard. The dispenser may thus be made of plastic, wood or metal at least to a major degree. The stack moving member (and the manually graspable member) is preferably made of cardboard as well. Other materials could be used, which may be biodegradable or less biodegradable materials could also be used in view of the relatively small size of the stack moving member. Alternative materials for the stack moving member (and the manually graspable member) are paper or plastic film.

[0033] In an embodiment, the dispenser comprises the stack of absorbent sheets. The products may be diapers, incontinence diapers or pads, panty liners, feminine towels, etc. In an embodiment, the product claimed is a dispenser box in combination with a stack of sheets. The sheets are preferably in the form of a kitchen paper product for wiping up kitchen and other household spills. The dispenser can hold and contain a stack of paper sheets of any kind, as described above. The sheets may be separate in the stack or they may be interfolded. The present disclosure is particularly useful with separate sheets as they are more prone to becoming stuck at the back of a dispenser as they do not have the pop out functionality of interfolded sheets.

[0034] In an embodiment, the dispenser includes hanging structure to enable the dispenser to be hung from a wall. It can be advantageous to have a dispenser for tissues mountable to a wall since it can then be lifted away from a counter top where the dispenser and paper sheets may be prone to being wetted by counter top spills. The hanging structure may be in the form of one or more holes in a face of the dispenser opposed to a face encompassing the dispensing opening. Alternatively, the hanging structure may be structure to allow the dispenser to be hung from a bar, such as a bar usually used to hang kitchen roll from. Any other known and compatible means for hanging a paper sheet dispenser to a wall may be utilised with the dispenser of the present disclosure.

[0035] The dispenser comprises a front face encompassing the dispensing opening. The dispensing opening is preferably positioned at one end of the front face, rather than being centrally located. In this way, the dispenser can be hung from a wall with the dispensing opening at a bottom of the front face. In an embodiment, the front face is elongate, as is the dispenser itself, and the dispensing opening is located at one longitudinal end of the front face, which will thus be a bottom of the dispenser when the dispenser is correctly hung from a wall with the top end of the front face facing upwards.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0036] FIG. 1 shows a front view of a dispenser with a cover member in an open configuration.

[0037] FIG. 2 shows a front view of a dispenser with the cover in a closed position.

[0038] FIG. 3 shows a cross sectional view of the dispenser, where the cross-section is taken down a longitudinal central line of the dispenser as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1. There can be seen a stack moving member in its configuration when the dispenser is full of paper sheets (the stack is full).

[0039] FIG. 4 shows the same cross sectional view of the dispenser as FIG. 3, except that the stack moving member has been pulled forward because the stack is in a depleted state, thereby moving the stack forward to a position adjacent the dispensing opening.

[0040] FIG. 5 shows a rear view of the dispenser showing the wall hanging structure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0041] FIG. 1 shows a box shaped dispenser 1 comprising bottom and top faces 2, 3, side faces 4, 5 and front and back faces 6, 7 (the back face 7 can be seen in FIG. 5). The front face is characterised by encompassing a dispensing opening 8. The dispensing opening is located in the front face 6 at a position adjacent the bottom face 2. The back and top faces 7, 3 are respectively opposed to the front and bottom faces 6, 7. The dispenser 1 is elongate in that a direction from the bottom face to the top face 2, 3 is a longitudinal direction, while a lateral direction extends from one side 4 to the other side 5. The dispensing opening 8 is positioned laterally centrally at the bottom of the front face 6.

[0042] There is a cover member 9 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 that is used to open and close the dispensing opening 8. The cover member 9 is pivotable between the open and closed configurations, which can respectively be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. The cover member has attached to it a piece of tape 10 to releasably attach the cover member 10 in the closed position to a portion of the front face 6 just above the dispensing opening 8. The releasable adhesive of the tape 10 is such as to allow the cover member 9 to be repeatedly reattached to the front face 6, ideally for as many recursions as there are sheets held in the dispenser. The cover member 9 substantially completely covers the dispensing opening 8 in the closed position. This is enabled by a slot 11 that is continuous with the dispensing opening 8, yet laterally longer than the dispensing opening 8 on either side of the dispensing opening 8. The cover member 9 can thus be made laterally longer than the dispensing opening 8 to thereby cover the full lateral extent of the dispensing 8, while still being able to extend from inside the dispenser 1 to outside the dispenser 1.

[0043] The cover member 9 is referred to as a manually graspable member in the summary section above and in the claims below. This alternative terminology will also be used in the present description depending upon the function being described. As will become clear from FIGS. 3 and 4, the cover member 9 serves the dual purpose of covering the paper sheets in the stack when it is in the closed position and serving as a manually graspable member 9 that is operable by a user to move the stack forward in the dispenser 1 when the cover member 9 is in the open position.

[0044] Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, there can be seen a laterally central, longitudinal cross-section of the dispenser 1 of FIG. 1, which has been taken along the dotted line of FIG. 1. The dispenser 1 includes a stack moving member 12 in the form of a planar piece that has been folded twice to provide three panels 12a, 12b, 12c. A first panel 12a is attached to the inside of a back face 7 of the dispenser 1 at a fixed point 13. When the stack moving member 12 is in the retracted position shown in FIG. 3, the first panel 12a is in face to face relation with the back face 7 of the dispenser 1 and extends so as to conform to the back face 7 of the dispenser 1. When the stack moving member 12 is in the retracted position, the second panel 12b is in face to face relation with the bottom face 2 of the dispenser 1 and extends so as to conform with the bottom face 2. In the retracted configuration of the stack moving member 12, the first and second panels 12a, 12b extend transversely to one another, with the first panel 12a extending longitudinally relative to the dispenser 1 and the second panel 12b extending laterally relative to the dispenser 1. The third panel 12c extends through the slot 11 to extend outside of the dispenser 1 (relative to the inside of the dispenser 1 for containing a stack of sheets) and provides the manually graspable/cover member 9. The third panel 12c is pivotable about a hinge 13 (FIG. 1) provided by the fold between the second and third panels 12b, 12c from the open position of FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 to the closed position of FIG. 2 to thereby provide an openable and closeable cover member 9 as described above.

[0045] When the cover member/manually graspable member 9 is pulled upon from outside the dispenser 1 by a user, the stack moving member 12 is moved from the retracted position of FIG. 3, where it conforms to inside faces of the dispenser 1, to an extended position as shown in FIG. 4. In the extended position, the first and second panels are straightened with respect to the retracted configuration when they have a transverse bend between them. The stack moving member thus changes from a configuration conforming to the inside faces 2, 7 of the dispenser 1 to a ramped configuration, where the stack moving member 12 provides a ramp from a middle portion of the back face 7 where the fixed point 13 is to the slot 11 adjacent the dispensing opening 8. The ramp provided by the stack moving member provides a downward slope for a stack of paper sheets 14 contained by the dispenser to slide down toward the dispensing opening 8. It is not necessarily the downward slope that is critical in getting the stack of paper sheets 14 adjacent the dispensing opening 8 as compared to the retracted position of the stack moving member 12. The stack of paper sheets 14 has a corner that sits in a corner of the stack moving member 12 provided by the fold between the first and second panels 12b, 12c. When the stack moving member 12 is moved to the extended position of FIG. 4, its corner is moved closer to the dispensing opening 8 as the stack moving member 12 rotates about the fixed point 13 under force exerted on the stack moving member 12 by a user grasping and pulling on an end of the third panel 12c/cover member/manually graspable member 9. The corner of the stack 14 will remain seated in the corner of the stack moving member 12, thereby moving the stack 14 closer to the dispensing opening 8. The first panel 12a needs to be long enough and the fixed point positioned such that the arc followed by the corner between the first and second panels 12a, 12b is sufficiently shallow (i.e. not too curved) that the stack is able to move close enough to the dispensing opening 8 even when the stack is almost completely depleted (i.e. just one or a few sheets left). In the extended configuration of the stack moving member 12 shown in FIG. 4, the part of the second panel 12b will protrude through the slot 11, as well as the cover/manually graspable member 9/third panel 12c.

[0046] In the full state shown in FIG. 3, the stack of paper sheets 14 is completely fills the dispenser 7 to such an extent that the stack moving member panels 12a and 12b are forced by the stack 14 to conform to inside faces of the dispenser 1. The package 1 is deep enough that a user can not reach a thumb and forefinger through the dispensing opening 8 to grasp a tissue therebetween when a sheet is faced against the rear face 7 of the dispenser 1, hence the need for a stack moving member 12. A depleted stack 14 is shown in FIG. 4 and is generally a quantity of paper sheets less than when the dispenser 1 is full and that can not be conveniently grasped by a thumb and forefinger through the dispensing opening 8 when the depleted stack 14 is faced against the rear face 7 of the dispenser 1.

[0047] Referring to FIG. 5, the rear face 7 of the dispenser 1 can be seen. The rear face 7 has positioned on it at least one (four in the shown embodiment) adhesive strip 15 and at least one wall (again, four) mounting hole 16. If a wall fastener such as a screw is conveniently available, the wall mounting holes 16 can be used to mount the dispenser 1 to the wall. Alternatively, the peelable strips can be used to mount the dispenser to a wall.

[0048] The dispenser 1 is optimally made entirely, or at least to a major extent, of cardboard, as this material is readily available, is inexpensive, is often biodegradable and is able to be processed with established know-how to make the dispenser 1.

[0049] In use, the dispenser 1 can be mounted to a wall via the adhesive strips 15 or the mounting holes 16, usually at a location in the kitchen that is conveniently accessible and position so that the dispenser 1 is not in contact with a counter top. The dispenser may, however, be used in a mode sitting on a counter top. In this sense, the strips 15 and mounting holes 16 are optional. The dispenser 1 is mounted so that the dispensing opening 8 located downwardly. The dispensing opening is revealed by opening the cover member 9 (which is provided by a third panel 12c of the stack moving member 12) by peeling the tape 10 from the front face 6 of the dispenser 1. A user withdraws a paper sheet from the stack 14 through the dispensing opening 8 in an outward motion (normal to the wall) when the sheet is grasped by a user. The cover member 9 may hang down under gravity, allowing the user to remove a paper sheet in a downward and outward motion. The dispensing opening 8 (including the slot 11) is preferably coterminous with the bottom of the front face 6 (where it meets the bottom face 2) so that there is not any intervening front face 6 material getting in the way of a sheet being pulled downwards. After a user has withdrawn a required number of sheets, the cover 9 is closed over the dispensing opening 8 to protect the stack 14 from dust and other contaminants for hygiene reasons.

[0050] After, say, half of the sheets in the stack 14 have been withdrawn, the user will no longer be able to conveniently withdraw sheets through the dispensing opening 8 as they will be located at the back of the dispenser 1, too far away from the dispensing opening to conveniently reach. The user can thus grasp the cover member 9, which is thus being used as a manually graspable member 9, with the thumb and forefinger at a front edge portion thereof and pull on it. In doing so, the stack moving member moves from the bent configuration shown in FIG. 3 that conforms with inside back and bottom faces 7, 2 of the dispenser 1 to a straightened configuration as shown in FIG. 4 that ramps the stack 14 closer to the dispensing opening. In going from the bent to the straightened configuration, the stack moving member 12, and particularly the fold between the first panel 12a and the second panel 12b rotate about the fixed point 13 attaching the stack moving member 12 to the back face 7, thereby moving the fold, and the back of the stack 14 sitting on it, closer to the dispensing opening 8. The depleted stack 14 is thus moved to a position adjacent the dispensing opening 8 from a retracted position to allow a user to conveniently grasp a front sheet in the stack 14 and withdraw it through the dispensing opening 8. The user can then close the dispensing opening by pivoting the third panel 12c about the fold between the second and third panels 12b, 12c to cover the dispensing opening 8 and adhere the tape 10 to the front face 6. Before closing the dispensing opening, the user may move the stack moving member 12 back into the dispenser conforming configuration of FIG. 4 by pushing on the front edge portion of the third panel 12c until the fold between the first and second panels 12b, 12c again meets the corner between the back face 7 and the bottom face 2 of the dispenser 1.

[0051] There is a wall overhang of the front face 6 of the dispenser 1 between the slot 11 and the dispensing opening 8. As the stack moving member 12 is pulled out through slot 11, it runs against the wall overhang, which thus prevents the stack moving member from moving into the dispensing opening 8. Importantly, this means that the stack moving member 12 is blocked from being moved upwardly and thus the pulling direction of the cover member 9 is required to be outwardly (and perhaps a little downwardly). Upward movement could, in theory, not be effective in moving the sheets closer to the dispensing opening 8.

[0052] Once the dispenser is completely out of sheets to dispenser, the dispenser 1 can be dismounted from the wall and thrown away and replaced with a new one.

[0053] A preferred embodiment has been described above. A number of variations are envisageable, some of which are described in the following.

[0054] The dispenser has been described as elongate in the bottom to top direction. We can imagine a dispenser that is elongate in the left side to right side direction, while a lateral axis of the dispenser passes through top and bottom faces thereof. A dispensing opening in such a box would still be provided at the bottom of a front face of the dispenser along the lateral axis and it would be positioned at a central location in the front face along the longitudinal axis.

[0055] The slot and the dispensing opening do not have to be continuous with one another. One can imagine a slot of similar configuration to that shown in FIG. 2 that is spaced from the dispensing opening and thus has a bridge of material of the front face of the dispenser between them. This might not be as easy to make as two holes would need to be made and it might not be as easy to get the stack moving member threaded through such a small slot. In the embodiment of FIG. 2 where the dispensing opening and slot are continuous, the stack moving member can be laterally shortened by bending to fit through the dispensing opening and then moved down into position in the slot where it is able to reform to its initial lateral extent.

[0056] The dispensing opening may be closed when it is first used by a separate cover member that is integral with the front face but tearable away therefrom by making use of a line of weakness. This will be familiar to the skilled person from facial tissue boxes where a dispensing opening is covered by a tear away cover member that is defined in the face of the box with a line of weakness. Such a design may be appealing as it offers security that the stack of paper sheets is delivered in a hygienic state. In such an embodiment, the manually graspable member can be delivered in a position covering the tear away cover member as shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the manually graspable member may be positioned inside the dispenser and only moved outside for manual grasping after the tear away cover member has been removed.

[0057] In an extension of the above design having a tear away cover member, but which is also an independently applicable feature, the stack moving member and the manually graspable member may be thinner than the dispensing opening, perhaps provided in the form of a strip. This would mean that it would not act as a cover member, as it would be laterally too thin to cover the dispensing opening. However, such a design may be advantageous as the reduced extent may be aesthetically pleasing. Since it is not serving as a cover member, it could also be made shorter so as not to protrude as far out through the dispensing opening. If the manually graspable member and stack moving member do not also have a cover member function, then the slot is not a required feature since they are thinner than the dispensing opening. This design may also make it easier to wrap the stack moving member and manually graspable member around a bottom edge of the stack so as to be easily located inside the dispenser for storage and shipment and only be protrudable outside of the dispenser once the dispenser has been opened such as by tearing a cover member away as described above.

[0058] Instead of, or in addition to, the wall mounting structure shown in FIG. 5, the dispenser may be hangable from a bar such as that used for rolling the core of a kitchen roll about. For example, the top of the dispenser may be provided with a suitably dimensioned hook. Alternatively, the top of the dispenser could be provided with a flap attached to one of the front face and the back face of the dispenser and removably attachable to the other of the front and back face so that it can be threaded about the bar (as shown in FIG. 1A of US 2002/0092789).

[0059] The holes for the wall mounting structure could be replaced by a central hole, positioned toward a top of the dispenser, so that only one wall fastener is needed to hang the dispenser from a wall. The wall fastener could be any available wall hook, including one already located on a user's wall. Thus, a dedicated or specially wall is not required.

[0060] The stack moving member, the cover member and the manually graspable member are in the shown embodiments all the same integral piece. They could, however, be provided as separate members, while still implementing the core concept of the present disclosure. Thus, one can imagine, with reference to FIG. 1, a manually graspable member in the form of a pull button extending from the side faces 4, 5 of the dispenser and being attached to a separate stack moving member. The manually graspable member would be operable to move the stack moving member to move the stack, as required by the present disclosure. In a less modified form from that shown in FIG. 1, the protruding manually graspable member could be a separate, yet attached, piece from the stack moving member. The manually graspable member could thus be made of different material or be of different dimension, i.e. laterally thinner, than the stack moving member. Making them as separate pieces could feasibly ease manufacture. They would be otherwise as shown in the figures and described above. Similarly, a cover member may be attached to a bottom face of the dispenser and pivotably attached thereto to open and close the dispensing opening or be a tear away member as described above, without being effected by the goings on of the manually graspable member and the stack moving member. Accordingly, the members can be integral or separate without departing from the scope of the invention. Nonetheless, the preferred embodiment is to have the members integral, as described above.

[0061] In the preferred embodiment, the stack moving member takes on a straightened form from a bent form in order to move the stack closer to the dispensing opening, as shown by comparing FIGS. 3 and 4. It can be imagined, however, that the stack moving member maintains a bent form in moving closer to the dispensing opening. Thus, the planar stack moving member could be folded into an L shaped profile when viewing the edge and be made relatively rigid. Some sort of track or other guide, such as the side walls, could be provided along which the stack moving member is guided in moving from a retracted position to a position closer to the dispensing opening by pulling on the manually graspable member. In this modification, the stack moving member would not need to be fixed to a rear face of the dispenser.

[0062] In another modification, the stack moving member could be made of a resilient material so that it automatically moves back to a retracted position relative to the dispensing opening after the manually graspable member is released. This would require two handed dispensing, but may offer hygienic benefits as the stack may move with the stack moving member into a position receded from the dispensing opening, which is where contaminants come from.

[0063] The scope of the invention is defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A dispenser for containing and holding a stack of absorbent products located inside the dispenser, the dispenser comprising a dispensing opening through which the products are dispensable, and a manually graspable member that is graspable by a user from outside the dispenser and manipulatable by the user to move the stack when the stack is in a depleted state from a retracted position relative to the dispensing opening to a position adjacent to the dispensing opening, wherein the manually graspable member is arranged to protrude out of the dispensing opening to allow the manually graspable member to be grasped by the user when the stack is in the retracted position.

2. The dispenser of claim 1, further comprising a stack moving member for engaging the stack, wherein the manually graspable member is manipulatable by the user to reconfigure the stack moving member from a first configuration in which the stack is in the retracted position to a second configuration in which the stack is moved to the position adjacent the dispensing opening when the stack is in the depleted state.

3. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the stack moving member engages a face of the stack opposed to a face of the stack that is positioned adjacent to the dispensing opening.

4. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the stack moving member conforms to faces of the dispenser and of the stack that are transverse to one another when the stack moving member is in the first configuration, and forms a ramp connecting faces of the dispenser and extending towards the dispensing opening when the stack moving member is in the second configuration.

5. A dispenser for holding and dispensing a stack of absorbent products, the dispenser comprising a dispensing opening through which products in the stack are dispensable, and a stack moving member having a first configuration conforming to faces of the dispenser that are transverse to one another and a second configuration forming a ramp between those faces of the dispenser and extending towards the dispensing opening, wherein the stack moving member is reconfigurable from the first configuration to the second configuration to thereby move the stack when the stack is in a depleted state from a retracted position relative to the dispensing opening to a position adjacent to the dispensing opening.

6. The dispenser of claim 5, further comprising a manually graspable member that is graspable by a user from outside the dispenser and is manipulatable by the user, wherein the manually graspable member is manipulatable by the user to reconfigure the stack moving member from the first configuration to the second configuration to thereby move the stack from the retracted position to the position adjacent the dispensing opening when the stack is in the depleted state.

7. The dispenser of claim 3, wherein the stack moving member is arranged to protrude out of the dispenser when in the first configuration to provide the manually graspable member.

8. The dispenser of claim 3, wherein the stack moving member is shaped to cradle the stack when the stack is in the retracted position and the stack moving member is in the first configuration so as to engage a face of the stack opposed to a face of the stack adjacent the dispensing opening and a side of the stack connecting the opposed faces.

9. The dispenser of claim 3, wherein the stack moving member is fixed at a point relative to the dispenser so that at least part of the stack moving member rotates about the fixed point in reconfiguring from the first configuration to the second configuration.

10. The dispenser of claim 3, wherein the stack moving member is bent at a bend to conform to first and second faces of the dispenser when the stack moving member is in the first configuration, wherein the first and second faces of the dispenser extend substantially transversely to one another, and the bend is straightenable to form a ramp between the first and second faces that extends toward the dispensing opening in the second configuration of the stack moving member.

11. The dispenser of claim 3, wherein the stack moving member is sized and shaped to close the dispensing opening when the stack moving member is in the first configuration.

12. The dispenser of claim 3, wherein the stack moving member is sized and shaped to cover the entire dispensing opening when the stack moving member is in the first configuration.

13. The dispenser of claim 3, further comprising a releasable attachment of the stack moving member to an outside surface of the dispenser that is repeatedly releasable and reattachable.

14. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein a majority of at least one of the dispenser, the stack moving member and the manually graspable member is made of cardboard.

15. The dispenser of claim 1 containing and holding a stack of paper sheets.