End Wrap Dispenser

Abstract

A dispenser attachable to a user's arm adjacent the wrist forms a receptacle for a plurality of superposed sheets of nonwoven, absorbent fibrous material. These sheets are commonly known in the art of cosmetology as end wraps. The dispenser has a base portion integral with two downwardly extending resilient flanges which conform to the shape of the arm adjacent the wrist. A plurality of sidewardly extending arms is attached to the base portion. Tongue members connected to the ends of the arms mate with slots provided in the base portion. The arms generally extend in four directions at right angles to each other to form part of a bottom surface for the receptacle. Upwardly extending arms are attached to the sidewardly extending arms. Flanges, which are connected to the upwardly extending arms, extend above the bottom surface of the receptacle. The flanges are spaced from the surface in a generally parallel relationship. The flanges are paired and are connected to each other. A reinforcing arm inter-connects the pairs of connected flanges. The four upwardly extending arms are positioned along the sides of a rectangular pattern to form a receptacle for the plurality of superposed sheets. The upwardly extending arms are spaced to provide easy access to the top sheet of the plurality of superposed sheets to assist in removal of the top sheet without disturbing the next subjacent sheet.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a sheet material dispenser and, more particularly, to a dispenser for a plurality of superposed sheets of material, which dispenser is attachable to a human arm.

When a cosmetologist is giving a permanent wave treatment to the hair of a customer, it is conventional to apply a permanent wave solution to the hair. Thereafter a section (a plurality of strands) of hair is selected for rolling onto a roller or curling form. A small rectangular sheet of material, such as a nonwoven, absorbent fibrous mat, is conventionally wrapped around the free ends of the section of hair. These sheets are known in the art of cosmetology as end wraps. After the end wraps are wrapped about the end of the section of hair, the section is rolled onto a roller. The primary purpose of end wraps is to hold the ends of individual strands in a section together as they are placed on the roller. Greater uniformity of permanent waving is thus achieved.

End wraps are conventionally supplied in a cardboard or paperboard box in large quantities. Provision is usually made in the box or container for dispensing the sheets. Generally the box is sufficiently large to prevent its positioning in a readily accessible location. Normally, the box must be situated on a counter or shelf adjacent the position in which the cosmetologist works. When an end wrap is needed, the cosmetologist must turn from the customer after having grasped a section of hair and must secure a roller as well as an end wrap while holding the section of hair in place. This procedure is unnecessarily complicated since three items must be manipulated at the same time, i.e., the section of hair, the roller, and the end wrap. The present alternative of reaching independently for the rollers and the end wraps requries unnecessary double movement, thus wasting valuable time.

The original box has the further disadvantage, when using it situated on a shelf, of not remaining stationary as an attempt is being made to remove an individual end wrap from the box. Furthermore, most original boxes have no provision for retaining the subject end wraps in the box as the topmost end wrap is being removed. Thus additional time is consumed in separating the desired end wrap from those subjacent to it.

One attempt to alleviate the problem of obtaining an end wrap each time a new section of hair is rolled has been to secure the original box in which the end wraps are provided to the cosmetologist's arm by use of an elastic band. This attempt at solving the problem is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of bulkiness and difficulty in retaining all end wraps in the box. Normally the entire end of the original box is removed to dispense end wraps. It is readily apparent that although a box can be attached to the cosmetologist's arm, there is no convenient way to retain the plurality of end wraps in the box if the cosmetologist should drop his arm to his side. Furthermore, the original box does not conform to the arm and thus has a tendency to rotate about the arm. An elastic strap if sufficiently tight to prevent rotation of the box can cause undue discomfort to the wearer's arm. Also when an attempt is made to secure the original box to the arm, the box will crush, oftentimes to a size less than that required to fully dispense its contents.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an end wrap dispenser which solves the foregoing problems of the prior art. Other advantages and objects of the present invention are: to provide a dispenser attachable to an arm of a user; to provide a dispenser which is easily attachable to an arm; to provide a dispenser which fits the contour of the arm and which will not rotate about the arm; to provide a dispenser which is comfortable to wear but yet which maintains a given position on the arm; to provide an end wrap dispenser which is easily refillable and which securely retains a plurality of end wraps in stacked or superposed relationship; to provide an end wrap dispenser which provides easy and ready accessibility to individual end wraps without releasing a section of hair or without reaching a great distance to grasp an end wrap; to provide an end wrap dispenser which readily dispenses only one end wrap at a time; to rpovide a dispenser which is lightweight, small, and durable; to rpovide a dispenser which is stable during the removal of an individual end wrap; and to rpovide a dispenser which is readily oriented on the arm to dispense an end wrap in the proper direction, i.e., one in which the dispensing opening conforms to the natural position of the arms during rolling of a section of hair.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention therefore provides an article of manufacture for dispensing sheets of material from a stack of such sheets which comprises a base means having an upper surface, a first bracket means attached to and extending upwardly from the base means, a second bracket means attached to and extending upwardly from the base means and spaced from the first bracket means, and an attachment means for attaching the base means to an appendage. The first and second bracket means cooperate with the upper surface of the base means to form at least a partially enclosed receptacle having a rectangular outline for a stack of sheets. The first bracket means includes a first bar extending upwardly from the base means having a first bracket connected thereto at a spaced distance from the surface of the base means and extending over the surface, and a second bar extending upwardly from the base means having a second bracket connected thereto at a spaced distance from the surface of the base means and extending over the surface. The second bracket means, including third and fourth upwardly extending bars, is similarly constructed. Each of the upwardly extending bars of the bracket means are coincident with a different edge of the rectangular outline of the receptacle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present invention can be acquired by reading the ensuing specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the dispenser of the present invention attached to the user's arm and shown dispensing an end wrap;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the dispenser alone;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the dispenser showing in ghost outline the position of a stack of end wraps in the dispenser and a single end wrap partially dispensed; and

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of the dispenser of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The end wrap dispenser 10 of the present invention is designed to be attached to the human arm 12 as shown in FIG. 1. An arm attachment band 14 is connected to the receptacle portion 16 of the dispenser 10. A stack of end wraps 18 is positioned in the receptacle 16. An opening 20 in the receptacle portion 16 is provided so that a single end wrap 22 can be easily removed by grasping between the forefinger and thumb of the user's opposite hand 24.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 the dispenser 10 includes an arm band 14 comprising a base portion 26 integrally formed with and connected to an inner arm attachment segment 28 and an outer arm attachment segment 30. The arm band 14 is preferably injection molded or otherwise formed from a moldable, synthetic polymeric composition. Any of a variety of such compositions available on the market are suitable for this purpose. Preferably the composition is resilient so that the attachment band segments 28 and 30 can be flexed sidewardly to fit over the portion of the user's arm adjacent his wrist and will flex back to the original position once in place on the arm.

The receptacle portion, generally designated 16, of the dispenser 10 is also preferably injection molded in a single integral piece from the same composition. Receptacle portion 16 includes four upwardly extending arms or bars 32, 34, 36 and 38. The four upwardly extending arms 32 through 38 are connected to the base portion 26 of the arm band 14 by inwardly extending arms 40, 42, 44 and 46. The interior ends of arms 40, 42, 44 and 46 contain tongue-like projections which mate with female slots provided in the edges of the base portion 26. An interference fit is provided between the tongues and slots so that the receptacle portion 16 cannot easily separate from the base portion 26. Flanges 48, 50, 52 and 54 are connected to the upper ends of the upwardly extending arms 32 through 38. The flanges are preferably paired and interconnected with each other. Thus flanges 48 and 50 are interconnected to form a first corner bracket and flanges 52 and 54 are interconnected to form a second corner bracket. Additionally, cross bar 56 interconnects the two pairs of flanges.

As shown in FIG. 3 in ghost outline, a stack 58 of end wraps is positioned within the receptacle portion 16. It will be noted that each of the upwardly extending arms 32 through 38 has an inner surface which substantially conforms to the rectangular peripheral edge of the stack 58 of end wraps. The upwardly directed arms 32 and 38 furthermore are positioned such that the distance between them provides easy access to the stack so that a single end wrap 60 shown in ghost outline can easily be removed. For this reason arm 38 is positioned adjacent the intersection of the rearward edge of the stack 58, the edge nearest the elbow of the user, and the inside edge of the stack 58, the edge substantially parallel to the inside of the arm. Arm 32 is positioned along the forward edge of the stack 58; arm 34 is positioned along the outside edge of the stack 58; and arm 36 is positioned along the rearward edge of the stack 58.

Because the end wraps are flexible both individually and in stacked relationship, the opening between the arms 32 and the arm 38 can be utilized both for refilling the receptacle with a stack 58 of end wraps and can be utilized for removing an individual end wrap 60. Upwardly extending arms 32 through 38 are so positioned that a stack of end wraps cannot easily fall or cannot easily be removed from the receptacle portion 16. However, due to the individual flexibility of a single end wrap, one such end wrap can be easily removed while the receptacle portion 16 retains the remainder of the stack.

As an alternate method for filling the receptacle 16, the tongue portion of the inwardly extending arm 40 can be removed from the slot provided in the base portion 26. The junctions between arm 40, arm 32 and flange 48 can be straightened out so that a stack of end wraps 58 can be slipped rearwardly into the receptacle portion 16. Thereafter the tongue on arm 40 can be reinserted into its respective slot in base 26.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications of the preferred embodiment of the end wrap dispenser can be formed. For example upwardly extending arms 32 and 34 and flanges 50 and 48 can be joined to form a continuous corner piece, thus completely covering the corner of the stack 58. A similar construction can be utilized between upwardly extending arms 36 and 38 and flanges 52 and 54. Similarly, the space between arms 34 and 36 and flanges 50 and 52 can be enclosed. Thus a receptacle can be formed which has only the access region between arms 32 and 38 and flanges 48 and 54 open. Additionally, if desired, the connecting bar 56 can be omitted. If desired the base portion can be formed integrally with the receptacle portion, providing a separate arm band portion for attaching the receptacle to the arm.

The present invention has been described in relation to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Certain variations, substitutions of equivalents and other changes will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the foregoing specification. It is intended that the concept as disclosed be limited only by the definition contained in the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An article of manufacture for dispensing sheets of material from a stack of said sheets comprising:

base means having an upper surface,

first bracket means attached to and extending upwardly from said base means, said first bracket means including a first bar extending upwardly from said base means and having a first flange connected thereto at a location spaced above said surface and extending over said surface and a second bar extending upwardly from said base means and having a second flange connected thereto at a location spaced above said surface and extending over said surface,

second bracket means attached to and extending upwardly from said base means, said second bracket means spaced from said first bracket means, said first and second bracket means cooperating with said upper surface to form at least a partially enclosed receptacle for a stack of said sheets, said receptacle having forward, outside, rearward and inside edges, said second bracket means including a third bar extending upwardly from said base means and having a third flange connected thereto at a location spaced above said surface and extending over said surface and a fourth bar extending upwardly from said base means and having a fourth flange connected thereto at a location spaced above said surface and extending over said surface, said receptacle having a generally rectangular outline, each of said bars coincident with a different edge of said rectangular outline, and attachment means connected to said base means for attaching said base means to an appendage.

2. The article of claim 1 further comprising:

an inwardly extending arm connecting each of said bars to said base means, the inner portion of said arm carrying a tongue member for mating with a slot defined by said base means, the top portion of said arm cooperating with said surface to form the bottom of said receptacle.

3. The article of claim 1 wherein said first and second flanges are interconnected and wherein said third and fourth flanges are interconnected.

4. The article of claim 3 further comprising:

a connecting member interconnecting said first and second flanges with said third and fourth flanges, said connecting member being spaced from said surface.

5. The article of claim 3 wherein said attachment means comprises:

a first resilient arcuate member attached to and extending downwardly from said base means,

a second resilient arcuate member attached to said base means, and extending downwardly from said base means,

said base means adapted to rest on a human arm adjacent the wrist, the inner surface of said first member substantially conforming to the curvature of the outer portion of the arm adjacent the wrist, the inner surface of said second member substantially conforming to the curvature of the inner portion of the arm adjacent the wrist.

6. The article of claim 3, said first bracket means being positioned adjacent the intersection of the forward edge and the outside edge, said second bracket means being positioned adjacent the intersection of said rearward edge and said inside edge.

7. The article of claim 6 wherein said first bar is positioned near the midpoint of said forward edge, said second bar being positioned on the outside edge of said receptacle, said third bar being positioned on the rearward edge of said receptacle, and said fourth bar being positioned on the inside edge of said receptacle adjacent the intersection of the inside edge and the rearward edge.