Dispensing Carton For Rolls Of Sheet Material

Abstract

A dispensing carton for a supply roll of sheet material wherein such carton has an easily shielded sheet material cutter and has means enabling easier grasping, unrolling, and severing of a terminal portion of the sheet material. The carton also has at least one flap engaging the terminal portion of the sheet material to prevent such terminal portion from moving to an inaccessible position within the carton following a dispensing operation.

Description

Many types of dispensing for sheet material provided in roll form have been proposed heretofore; however, these previously proposed cartons are generally comparatively expensive to produce and are difficult to use because the sheet material to be unrolled from an associated roll thereof is difficult to grasp, unroll, and sever.

SUMMARY

This invention provides a simple and economical dispensing carton for a roll of sheet material wherein such carton has an easily shielded cutter and has means controlling a free terminal portion of the sheet material to enable easier grasping, unrolling, and severing of the sheet material to provide more efficient dispensing thereof.

Other details, uses, and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description of the exemplary embodiments thereof presented in the accompanying drawings proceeds.

The accompanying drawings show exemplary embodiments of this invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the dispensing carton of this invention with a roll of sheet material carried therein and with the carton ready for shipment;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and particularly illustrating the free terminal end of the roll of sheet material carried within the carton of FIG. 1 extended through a dispensing slot in the carton and over a cutter defining the top edge of the front wall of the carton with such terminal end being tucked behind the front wall to thereby cover the cutting edge of the cutter and define a protective shield thereover;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view particularly illustrating the manner in which a desired length of sheet material is pulled out of the carton, as shown by dotted lines, and then pulled substantially horizontally against the cutter, as shown by solid lines, to sever the desired length of sheet material from the roll carried within the carton;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken essentially on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3 and particularly illustrating the manner in which resilient means fixed to the front wall of the carton and normally used to hold the terminal end portion of the sheet material outwardly for easy grasping is compressed during the severing of a desired length section from its normal position, shown by dotted lines, to the solid line position illustrated;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the carton illustrating the free terminal portion of the sheet material after a desired length or section has been severed therefrom;

FIG. 6 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken essentially on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5 and particularly illustrating the resilient means fixed to the front wall of the carton and the manner in which such resilient means holds the end of the terminal portion of sheet material outwardly to enable easy grasping thereof;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken essentially on the line 7-7 of FIG. 5 and particularly illustrating hinged flap means provided in the front wall of the carton wherein such flap means has an upper portion which engages the sheet material and serves as a brake holding the terminal portion of the sheet material from moving to an inaccessible position within the carton;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view particularly illustrating by solid lines the position of a hinged flap means prior to pulling the free terminal portion of the sheet material through the dispensing slot in the front wall of the carton and illustrating by dotted lines the position to which the hinged flap means is yieldingly held by the sheet material upon pulling such sheet material through the dispensing slot;

FIG. 9 is a view taken essentially on the line 9-9 of FIG. 5 with parts in cross section, parts in elevation, and parts broken away;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a support which is used at each end of the carton of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view particularly illustrating a plurality of spaced support means or pads fixed to the bottom wall of the carton of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view particularly illustrating a typical pair of support pads fixed adjacent one end of the bottom wall of the carton with each pad having a cover in the form of a protective tape which protects the lowermost surface of each pad during storage and transportation; and

FIG. 13 is a plan view of the blank utilized to make the carton of FIG. 1 and illustrating a cutter fixed to the front wall of the blank in its flattened condition so that such cutter defines the top edge of the front wall in the resulting carton made from the blank.

DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Reference is now made to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings wherein an exemplary dispensing carton of this invention is illustrated and designated generally by the reference numeral 20 and the dispensing carton 20 rotatably supports a roll 21 of sheet material 22 and enables efficient dispensing of such sheet material in a manner as will be described in detail subsequently. The dispensing carton 20 may be utilized to dispense rolls of sheet material of all types including sheet materials made of paper, plastic, metallic foil, and the like.

The dispensing carton 20 has a front wall 23, a bottom wall 24, a rear wall 25, a top wall 26, and a pair of end walls or ends each designated by the same reference numeral 30. The top wall 26 is foldably fastened to the rear wall 25 in a hinged manner and has a closure flap 31 extending downwardly from the forward or swinging end thereof.

The front wall 23 has a horizontally arranged dispensing slot means or slot provided therein and designated generally by the reference numeral 32 and the slot 32 has an overall length indicated at 33 which is longer than the corresponding width 34 of the sheet material 22. In this example of the invention the slot 32 extends substantially completely across the front wall 23 of the carton 20.

The dispensing carton 20 has a cutter 35 for the sheet material 22 and the cutter is in the form of a cutting knife having a sawtoothed cutting edge 36. The cutter 35 is suitably fixed to the front wall 23 and defines the top edge of such front wall. The cutting edge 36 is a comparatively sharp edge and it has been found that it is desirable to shield such edge so that a person will not be injured thereby when the dispensing carton 20 is not in use or during shipment and handling of such carton.

Although the shielding of the cutting edge 36 and hence the cutter 35 could be achieved by providing complicated and expensive structure and dispensing carton provides shielding of such cutting edge in a simple manner without requiring additional structural components for the carton and without wasting sheet material 22. In particular, it will be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings that the sheet material 22 has a free terminal portion 40 which extends outwardly through the slot 32 and the terminal portion 40 has a terminal end 41 which extends over the cutter 35 and is tucked behind the front wall 23 to thereby cover the cutter 35 and define a shield for its sawtoothed edge 36. In addition, the width of the top wall 26 and the construction of the closure flap 31 is such that upon inserting such closure flap behind the front wall 23 the terminal end 41 is sandwiched between the front wall and the closure flap whereby the terminal end 41 is thus held firmly in position to define the previously mentioned shield over the cutting edge 36.

With the terminal end 41 thus held in position the carton 20 with its roll 21 of sheet material 22 is ready for shipment in a safe manner and this is the condition illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Further, it is a simple matter to commence the dispensing of sheet material 22 from within the carton 20 merely by inserting a finger, or the like, between the terminal end 41 and the closure flap 31 to thereby pull the terminal end 41 free and commence the unrolling of any desired length of sheet material 22 from the supply roll 21 and severing of the desired length essentially in the manner illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawings.

The carton 20 has a pair of end supports 44 carried at opposite ends thereof, see FIGS. 9 and 10, and each support 44 has an inwardly facing antifriction surface 45 and an antifriction cylindrical supporting surface 46. The cylindrical supporting surfaces 46 of the end supports 44 are particularly adapted to receive a pair of right circular cylindrical ends 50 of a core member 51 which is utilized to support the roll 21 of sheet material 22. The core member 51 with its cylindrical ends 50 supported on the supporting surfaces 46 enables the roller 21 to be rotated merely by pulling the free terminal portion 40 of the sheet material 22 and as the terminal portion 40 is pulled the antifriction surfaces 45 and 46 assure efficient unwinding or unrolling of the sheet material 22 from its roll 21 with minimum drag. The end supports 44 may be made of any suitable material; however, each support is preferably made of an antifriction plastic material so that its antifriction surfaces 45 and 46 are provided as an inherent part of the support 44.

Each end support 44 has a cutout 52 in the top front portion thereof and in the completed carton 20 with the roll 21 carried within such carton the cutouts 52 unable easy insertion of the closure flap 31 behind the front wall 23. The end supports 44 may have a configuration which corresponds to the configuration of the end walls 30 whereby the roll 21 of sheet material with its core member 51 may be easily inserted within the carton 20 merely by loosely supporting the ends 44 on the cylindrical portions 50 and inserting the roll 21, core member 51, and the supports 44 within the carton 20. With this construction the carton 20 and its end supports 44 may be reused once a particular supply roll 21 has been exhausted merely by opening the top wall 26, removing the exhausted supply roll 21, and inserting a new roll in the manner outlined above.

As previously mentioned, the front wall 23 has the dispensing slot 32 extending thereacross and the slot 32 extends substantially horizontally across such front wall and receives the free terminal portion 40 of the sheet material 22 for dispensing purposes. The carton 20 also has flap means shown in this example of the invention as a plurality of hinged flaps 54, see FIGS. 5, 7 and 8, extending across the dispensing slot 32 and each flap 54 has an upper portion shown as an upper corner portion 55 which is yieldingly held against the sheet material 22 for reasons which will now be described in detail.

Any desired length 56 of sheet material 22 may be easily pulled upwardly and out of the carton 20 essentially in the manner illustrated by dotted lines at 57 in FIG. 3 and such desired length or section 56 is then severed by pulling from the dotted line position at 57 to the solid line position illustrated at 58 to thereby sever such length against the cutting edge 36 of the cutter 35. However, if the dispensing slot similar to the slot 32 were to be a comparatively large open slot of the type generally provided in many previously proposed dispensing cartons there would be a tendency, once the desired length of sheet material 56 had been severed, for the free terminal portion 40 of sheet material which would extend between such slot and the cutter 35 to fall by gravity within the dispensing carton 20 and such terminal portion 40 would thus be substantially temporarily inaccessible. To use a dispensing carton with such a large open slot would require considerable effort in retrieving the free terminal end after each desired length of sheet material has been severed following a dispensing operation.

However, the flaps 54 assure that sheet material 22 may be dispensed from the carton 20 in an efficient manner. In particular, the upper corner portions 55 of the flaps 54 engage the sheet material 22 and after a desired length has been severed the corner portions 55 urge the sheet material against that portion of the front wall 23 defining the top portion of the slot 32 whereby each flap 54 serves as a brake holding the terminal portion 40 from dropping within the carton 20 to an inaccessible position.

The dispensing slot 32 in the front wall 23 is defined by a rectilinear slit 60 extending across the front wall 23 and having a length which is longer than the corresponding width of the sheet material 22 and the slit 60 defines the length of the dispensing slot 32. In this example of the invention the dispensing slot 32 is also defined by a plurality of three cutout openings and, for convenience, each cutout opening is designated by the reference numeral 61 although the central cutout is larger than the equal-size side cutouts. The cutouts 61 are of substantially rectangular configuration and arranged so that an associated rectangular flap 54 is defined between a pair of cutouts 61, see FIGS. 3--5.

Each flap 54 is provided as an integral part of the front wall 23 and the top edge of each flap 54 is defined by an associated portion of the slit 60 and each side edge 62 of each flap 54 is defined by an associated cutout 61. Each flap 54 also has a base portion 64 aligned with an upwardly facing edge 65 in the front wall 23 which defines the bottom of the dispensing slot 32.

With the flaps 54 formed as an integral part of the front wall 23 it will be appreciated that each flap 54 inherently tends to assume the solid line position illustrated at 66 in FIG. 8. Thus, upon pulling the free terminal portion 40 of the sheet material 22 through the slot 32 the flap 54 will move to the dotted line position illustrated at 67 in FIG. 8 so that the upper portion 55 of each flap 54 will yieldingly bear against the sheet material 22 to provide the above-described braking action and prevent the terminal portion 40 from falling within the carton 20.

To control the resiliency of each flap 54 and its tendency to return to the solid line position 66 illustrated in FIG. 8, weakening means in the form of weakened line 70 may be provided to define the base portion of each flap 54. The weakened line 70 is defined by a plurality of spaced cuts arranged in a rectilinear path and aligned with the bottom edge of the slot 32. Further, each weakened line 70 assures that the upper portion 55 of each flap 54 will yieldingly bear against the sheet material 22 with a substantially controlled force as determined by the nature of such weakening means whereby the braking action provided by the flaps 54 is effectively controlled.

The weakening means 70 for each flap 54 is shown as being defined by a plurality of spaced cuts in this example of the invention; however, it will be appreciated that any suitable weakening technique may be utilized. In addition, only two flaps 54 of rectangular configuration are illustrated in this example with such flaps being provided as an integral part of the single thickness front wall 23; yet, it is to be understood that such flaps may be provided as separate members and fixed to the front wall and that any desired number of flaps may be provided including a single flap, or more than two flaps.

The construction of the flaps 54 is carefully determined and their combined width is only a portion of the length of the dispensing slot 32 whereby the flaps 54 engage only a portion of the sheet material 22. It will be appreciated that if the flaps were to extend substantially completely across the full length of the slot it would be very difficult to pull the sheet material from within the carton 20 due to the high frictional drag created by the wider flaps contacting the sheet material. Thus, the flaps 54 enable unobstructed dispensing of sheet material from within a carton 20 and yet provide the braking action in the manner described above.

The carton 20 has resilient means 72 supported between the dispensing slot 32 and the cutter 35 and in this example of the invention the resilient means 72 is fixed to the front wall 23 immediately adjacent the top of the dispensing slot 32, see FIGS. 4, 5, and 6. The resilient means 72 is particularly adapted to normally yieldingly hold the terminal portion 40 of the sheet material 22 to enable easy grasping thereof as by a thumb and forefinger and at a location as indicated at 73 in FIG. 5.

A desired length 56 of sheet material 22 is unrolled from the roll 21 and severed essentially as illustrated in FIG. 3 and as previously described. Upon pulling the base of a desired length of sheet material against the cutter 35 the resilient means 72 is of such a character that it is temporarily flattened against the front wall 23 from its normal full size indicated by dotted lines at 75, in FIG. 4, to a temporarily flattened condition indicated by solid lines at 76. This capability of the resilient means 72 to be temporarily flattened assures that a substantially straight cut is provided to define the newly severed end 80, see FIG. 3, of a particular desired length 56 of sheet material while assuring that the sheet material 22 engaging the resilient means 72 is not torn or damaged during contact against such resilient means.

The resilient means 72 may be made of any suitable material and in this example of the invention is shown as being made of an easily compressible foam product such as a foam rubber strip, for example, having the general shape of a parallelepiped. The foam rubber strip or block 72 is suitably fixed to the front wall 23 as by an adhesive material acting between the inside surface of the foam rubber strip and the outside surface of the front wall 23 and has a thickness indicated at 81 in FIG. 6 which assures the terminal portion 40 is held outwardly sufficiently to enable easy grasping and as previously mentioned.

The foam rubber strip 72 may extend substantially along the entire front wall 23 while being fixed in position above the dispensing slot 32. However, in this example of the invention the strip 72 is a comparatively short strip provided only in the central portion of the front wall 23. It will also be appreciated that a plurality of spaced strips similar to the foam strip 72 may be fixed in a rectilinear path at predetermined spaced intervals across the front wall 23 and between the dispensing slot 32 and the cutter 35.

The foam rubber strip 72 is of the type which is compressible with minimum application of force upon urging the sheet material 22 thereagainst. Further, once a desired length of sheet material 22 has been unrolled and severed the remaining free terminal portion 40 has no forces acting thereagainst; thus it is only necessary for the resilient character of the foam strip 72 to be such that it is capable of moving the free terminal portion 40 outwardly from the front wall 23 (see FIG. 6) to enable easy grasping and dispensing of another desired length of sheet material 22.

The carton 20 has support means in the from of a plurality of spaced support pads 82 fixed to the front portion of the bottom wall 24 and a plurality of spaced support pads 83 fixed to the rear portion of the bottom wall 24 adjacent the rear wall 25. The support pads 82 and 83 prevent relative sliding movement between the carton and an associated supporting surface 84, see FIGS. 3 and 11, on which the carton 20 may be supported particularly following the unrolling of a desired length of sheet material from the roll 21 and during the pulling of the sheet material in a substantially horizontal direction roughly parallel to the supporting surface.

Although the support pads 82 and 83 may be of identical construction, if desired, in this example of the invention the support pads 82 are of one type and the support pads 83 are of another type as will now be described in detail. In particular, the support pads 82 have pressure-sensitive adhesive surface means shown as a pressure-sensitive adhesive surface 85 which in addition to preventing relative sliding movement adhesively holds the carton 20 against its associated supporting surface. The adhesive surfaces 85 of the pads 82 prevent the dispensing carton from toppling during the severing of a desired length of sheet material 22.

Each pad 83 provided adjacent the rear wall 25 of the carton has a friction surface 86 which in this example is not an adhering surface but is a high friction surface. The surfaces 86 help prevent sliding movement of the carton during the dispensing of sheet material 22.

Each of the pads 82 and 83 has a cover in the form of a cover tape 90 which protects a surface 85 or 86 of its associated support pad 82 or 83 respectively. The tape 90 is normally used during storage and shipment of the dispensing carton 20 with its roll 21 of sheet material 22 and once the dispensing carton is ready for use each strip of tape 90 is peeled away by grasping an edge thereof and pulling essentially in the manner illustrated at 91 in FIG. 12.

Two types of support pads, namely support pad 82 having an adhering surface and support pad 83 having a surface which resists lateral movement, have been provided on the exemplary carton 20. However, all of the pressure pads provided may be of identical construction, such as, identical to the support pad 82, for example. Further, the entire bottom wall 24 may be provided with either an adhering or a high friction support pad or any number of pads may be provided on the bottom wall 24 and arranged in any desired pattern.

The carton 20 may be formed in any suitable manner and made from any suitable foldable material. It is preferably formed using a single piece blank designated generally by the reference numeral 93 in FIG. 13 of the drawings. The blank 93 is made of paperboard, or the like, and may have an exposed surface thereof laminated with metallic foil (such as aluminum-containing metallic foil), suitably colored, embossed, imprinted, or remaining plain, as desired. The description of the blank will proceed by describing primarily those structural portions which were not previously described in detail in connection with the description of the carton 20. However, where a detailed description was made previously in connection with the carton, such description will not be repeated in connection with the blank and corresponding component portions of the blank 93 will be designated by the same reference numerals as in the carton 20.

The blank 93 is suitably cut and scored and adapted to be assembled to define the resulting carton 20 and comprises a plurality of parallel spaced-apart score lines 94, 95, 96, and 97 defining the extent in one direction of the front wall 23 extending outwardly of score line 94, bottom line 24 extending between score lines 94 and 95, backwall 25 extending between score lines 95 and 96, top wall 26 extending between score lines 96 and 97, and closure flap 31 extending outwardly of score line 97.

A pair of score lines 100 define opposite end edges of the backwall 25 and a substantially rectangular flap 101 extends outwardly of each score line 100. Each flap 101 defines the inside flap of an associated end wall 30 in the resulting carton 20.

The front wall 23 has a pair of score lines 102 defining its opposite end edges and a substantially rectangular flap 103 extends outwardly of each score line 102. Each flap 103 defines the middle flap of an associated end wall 30 in the resulting carton 20.

The bottom wall 24 also has a pair of score lines 104 defining its opposite end edges and each score line 104 has a substantially rectangular flap 105 extending outwardly thereof. Each flap 105 defines the outside layer or surface of an associated end wall 30 upon folding the blank to define the resulting carton 20.

The cutter 35 provided in the carton 20 is preferably in the form of a substantially elongated flat strip and is fastened in position with the blank 93 in its flat form utilizing a plurality of spaced rivets 106. Upon assembling the blank 93 the cutter 35 defines the top edge of the front wall 23, as previously explained.

While present exemplary embodiments of this invention, and methods of practicing the same, have been illustrated and described, it will be recognized that this invention may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

We claim:

1. A dispensing carton for a roll of sheet material comprising, a wall having a horizontally arranged dispensing slot provided therein, said slot being adapted to receive the free terminal portion of said sheet material therethrough for dispensing purposes, a cutter for said sheet material supported by said carton adjacent the top edge of said wall, and hinged flap means extending across said slot, said flap means having a lower edge hinged to said wall and an upper portion arranged outwardly of said wall while being yieldingly held against said sheet material, said upper portion allowing a desired length of said sheet material to be easily unrolled from said roll and pulled through said slot and upon severing said desired length said upper portion engages said sheet material and serves as a brake holding the terminal portion of said sheet material which extends between said slot and said cutter from moving to an inaccessible position within said carton.

2. A carton as set forth in claim 1 in which said flap means comprises a plurality of substantially rectangular flaps.

3. A carton as set forth in claim 1 in which said wall comprises a single thickness wall, said flap means comprises single thickness flap means made from an integral part of said single thickness wall and has a base portion aligned with an upwardly facing edge of said wall which defines the bottom of said slot, and said upper portion of said flap means being normally positioned inwardly of the outer surface of said wall causing said upper portion to yieldingly bear against said sheet material upon pulling said sheet material through said slot.

4. A carton as set forth in claim 3 in which said flap means has weakening means defining said base portion, said weakening means causing said upper portion to yieldingly bear against said sheet material with a substantially controlled force determined by the nature of said weakening means.

5. A carton as set forth in claim 1 in which said slot and flap means are defined by a rectilinear slit extending across said wall with said slit being longer than the corresponding width of said sheet material and a plurality of spaced cutouts adjoining said slit and being arranged therebeneath with each pair of adjacent cutouts defining an associated flap means therebetween.

6. A carton as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising resilient means supported by said carton, said resilient means normally yieldingly holding said terminal portion away from said carton to enable easy grasping thereof.

7. A carton as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising support means fixed to said carton and being adapted to engage a supporting surface for said carton, said support means preventing relative sliding movement between said carton and said supporting surface particularly following the unrolling of a desired length of said sheet material from said roll and during pulling of said sheet material in a direction parallel to said supporting surface and against said cutter.

8. A carton as set forth in claim 7 in which said support means comprises pressure-sensitive adhesive surface means which in addition to preventing said relative sliding movement holds said carton adhered against said supporting surface.

9. A carton as set forth in claim 7 in which said support means comprises a plurality of spaced pads each having a pressure-sensitive adhesive surface which in addition to preventing said relative sliding movement also holds said carton against said supporting surface and further comprising a cover for each of said pads, each cover being adapted to be easily removed to enable said carton to be easily removed to enable said carton to be adhesively fastened against said supporting surface during the dispensing of said sheet material.

10. A carton as set forth in claim 7 and further comprising separate resilient means supported by said carton between said slot and said cutter, said resilient means normally yieldingly holding a terminal portion of said sheet material which extends between said slot and said cutter away from said carton to enable easy grasping of said terminal portion and upon unrolling said desired length of said sheet material from said roll and pulling the base of said desired length against said cutter said resilient means is temporarily flattened against said wall to assure the provision of a substantially straight cut defining one end of said desired length of sheet material while assuring said sheet material is not damaged upon engaging said resilient means.

11. A dispensing carton for a roll of sheet material comprising, a wall having a horizontally arranged dispensing slot provided therein, said slot being adapted to receive the free end of said sheet material therethrough for dispensing purposes, a cutter for said sheet material supported by said carton adjacent the top edge of said wall, and resilient means supported by said carton between said slot and said cutter, said resilient means normally yieldingly holding a terminal portion of said sheet material which extends between said slot and said cutter away from said carton to enable easy grasping of said terminal portion and upon unrolling a desired length of said sheet material from said roll and pulling the base of said desired length against said cutter said resilient means is temporarily flattened against said wall to assure the provision of a substantially straight cut defining one end of said desired length of sheet material while assuring said sheet material engaging said resilient means is not damaged thereby, said resilient means comprising an easily compressible foam product, said foam product having a thickness in a direction transverse to said wall which is sufficient to enable said easy grasping, and said foam product being easily compressible and thus easily temporarily flattened against said wall.

12. A carton as set forth in claim 11 in which said cutter is fixed to and defines the top edge of said wall and said resilient means is fixed to said wall immediately adjacent the top of said slot.

13. A dispensing carton for a roll of sheet material comprising, a wall having a horizontally arranged dispensing slot provided therein, said slot being adapted to receive the free end of said sheet material therethrough for dispensing purposes, a cutter for said sheet material supported by said carton adjacent the top edge of said wall, and resilient means supported by said carton between said slot and said cutter, said resilient means normally yieldingly holding a terminal portion of said sheet material which extends between said slot and said cutter away from said carton to enable easy grasping of said terminal portion and upon unrolling a desired length of said sheet material from said roll and pulling the base of said desired length against said cutter said resilient means is temporarily flattened against said wall to assure the provision of a substantially straight cut defining one end of said desired length of sheet material while assuring said sheet material engaging said resilient means is not damaged thereby, said cutter being fixed to and defining the top edge of said wall, said resilient means comprising a compressible foam product which is fixed to the central portion of said wall immediately adjacent the top of said slot, and said foam product having a length which is substantially less than the length of said slot and a thickness transverse said wall which is sufficient to enable said easy grasping with said foam product being easily compressible and thus easily temporarily flattened against said wall.

14. A carton as set forth in claim 13 in which said foam product comprises a foam rubber strip having the general shape of a parallelepiped.

15. In combination: a dispensing carton and a roll of sheet material rotatably supported within said carton, said carton comprising, a rear wall, a top wall fastened to said rear wall in a hinged manner and having a simple single thickness closure flap extending downwardly from its swinging end, a front wall having a horizontally arranged dispensing slot provided therein, said slot receiving the free terminal portion of said sheet material therethrough for dispensing purposes, and a cutter for said sheet material fixed to and defining the top edge of said front wall, said free terminal portion of said sheet material having a terminal end which extends over said cutter and is tucked behind said front wall thereby covering said cutter to define a shield thereover, said closure flap being inserted behind said front wall to push and hold said terminal end of said sheet material downwardly and in sandwiched relation between said front wall and said closure flap to define said shield.

16. A combination as set forth in claim 15 in which said roll of sheet material comprises a roll of metal foil, said cutter comprises a knife having a sawtoothed cutting edge, and said terminal end covers said sawtoothed edge and the entire cutter.

17. A combination as set forth in claim 15 in which said carton further comprises, hinged flap means extending across said slot, said flap means having an upper portion arranged outwardly of said wall while being yieldingly held against said sheet material, said upper portion allowing a desired length of said sheet material to be easily unrolled from said roll and pulled through said slot, and upon severing said desired length said upper portion engages said sheet material and serves as a brake holding the terminal portion of said sheet material which extends between said slot and said cutter from moving to an inaccessible position within said carton.

18. In combination: a dispensing carton and a roll of sheet material rotatably supported within said carton, said carton comprising, a front wall having a horizontally arranged dispensing slot provided therein, said slot receiving the free terminal portion of said sheet therethrough for dispensing purposes, a cutter for said sheet material fixed to and defining the top edge of said front wall, said free terminal portion of said sheet material having a terminal end which extends over said cutter and is tucked behind said front wall thereby covering said cutter to define a shield thereover, a pair of end supports carried at opposite ends of said carton, each of said supports having an inwardly facing antifriction surface and a cylindrical supporting surface, and a core member extending through said roll and having a pair of cylindrical ends each adapted to be supported on an associated cylindrical supporting surface, said antifriction surfaces of said supports enabling easier unrolling of said roll during dispensing of said sheet material, each of said end supports being made of an antifriction plastic material and having a cutout in the top front portion thereof, said cutouts enabling easy insertion of a closure flap comprising the swinging end of a top wall for said carton, whereby said closure flap sandwiches said terminal end against said front wall.