Blade Dispenser

Abstract

A combined container and dispenser for bare blades comprising a base member, a cover member, a blade ejector movable into and outwardly from the cover member, and a plate of elastic sheet metal engaged over the cover and interlocked under the base member holding the parts in assembled relation, the plate having spring pressure fingers integral therewith projecting through an opening in the cover member applying a spring pressure to the top of the contained stack of blades.

Description

The invention is in the art of blade holders adapted to serve as dispensers therefrom of individual blades as desired. It concerns particularly a holder and dispenser for bare blades of the industrial type adapted to be mounted in handles. The U.S. Pat. No. to Braginetz 3,577,637 discloses the general combination of a handle and a replaceable blade; and that patent and the later U.S. Pat. No. to Braginetz 3,542,245 show a unit adapted to hold a stack of blades and a pivoted lever operable to withdraw individual blades therefrom such latter features in general being embodied in the blade holder and dispenser of the present application.

The present invention, however, comprises an independent unit for blades having a novel construction providing functional advantages over prior devices. It includes a base member, a cover member secured thereto, and a blade ejector member, the combination including further an elastic element which serves the double function of securing the parts together and having a portion projecting through an opening in the cover and elastically engaging the top of the blade stack to maintain the blades in a firm orderly stacked relation with respect to each other. The unit embodies further features such as an arrangement of structural parts and relations to provide ready assembly and automatic locking of the parts in the completed unit with the assembled supply of blades.

Additional structural features and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the description to follow and a representative embodiment of the invention as depicted in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view in perspective showing the several parts of the dispenser;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the complete assembled dispener;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view with parts of the cover and top elastic plate broken away;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken on the plane 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken on the plane 5--5 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on the plane 6--6 of FIG. 3.

A general understanding of the construction may be obtained by first a consideration of the several parts shown in FIG. 1 which include a base member 10, a blade ejector 11, a stack of blades 12, a cover member 13 and a top elastic plate 14. The members 10, 11 and 13 may conveniently and economically be comprised of a suitable plastic material, and the elastic plate preferably of spring sheet metal material.

Referring first to the base member, it embodies in general a bottom plate 15 which has an upstanding wall 16, conforming in general outline to the shape of the particular blades to be held in the dispenser which in this case comprises blades of trapezoidal shape. Within the wall 16 are located a pair of raised platforms 17 and 18 upon which the stack of blades is adapted to rest. The particular blades illustrating the invention have one or more notches 19 in the rear edge, two being shown in FIG. 1, and the wall 16 of the base at the back includes a pair of vertical ribs 20 adapted to fit into the notches 19 of the blades.

The blade ejector is movably mounted over the plate 15 being in the present case of the hinge type having a hole 25 adapted to engage over the pin 26 of the plate 15.

The ejector 11 has a rear panel section 27 adapted to engage freely in the space between the two platforms 17 and 18 when the ejector is in the closed position as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, for example. Located at the rear edge of the panel 27 are a pair of upstanding lugs 30 which have a front sharp shoulder but taper downwardly and rearwardly. The panel 27 has a thickness equal substantially to the thickness of the platforms 17 and 18 above the surface of the plate 15. As indicated, particularly in FIG. 4, the bottom of the ribs 20 are spaced above the top of the plate 15 in distance such that the lugs 30 when the ejector is in the closed position engage freely under the bottom of the respective lugs 20 and conform in shape thereto. The front edge of the ejector is provided with an upstanding rib 31 behind which the front cutting edge 12a of the bottom blade is positioned.

As described above, the stacked blades rest on the platform members 17 and 18. The height of the space for the blade stack of course depends upon the thickness of the individual blades and the desired capacity of the dispenser, the blade stack being omitted from the FIGS. 3 to 6 except as indicated by broken lines 35.

Engaged over the blade stack and conforming in general shape to the base is the cover member 13 which has side walls 40 and 41 and end walls 42 and 43. The side walls project outwardly with respect to the end walls and the end wall in each case engages over the ends of the plate 15 of the base in the respective notches 44 and 45, the bottom edges of the end walls 42 and 43 merging with and being substantially in the plane of the bottom surface of the plate 15. The forward wall 40 has an upwardly notched elongated opening 46 providing thereby a slot between the top edge of the opening 46 and the top surface of the base plate 15 adapted to receive therethrough the ejector 11, the opening conforming in shape and size to the front edge of the ejector section having the rib 31. The cover also has an opening 50 adjacent the end wall 42 adapted to receive a finger piece 51 integral with the ejector, the front wall 40 of the cover being also appropriately cut away whereby the finger piece 51 merges smoothly with the front wall of the cover. As may be noted, the end wall 42 of the cover is substantially perpendicular to the top surface and correspondingly to the plane of the base member 10 but the other end wall 43 is inclined downwardly and outwardly, as appears particularly in FIGS. 1 and 4, for a purpose which will be described shortly in connection with the top plate 14. The interior of the cover member 13 has a longitudinally extending vertical wall 52 the bottom edge of which has a pair of laterally projecting lugs 53 adapted to engage in complemental openings 54 at the bottom edge of the rear portion of the wall 16 of the base 10 when the cover is applied to the base member. The wall 52 is somewhat flexible and in the application of the cover to the base the wall is initially flexed a small amount until in the home position the lugs 53 snap into the openings 54 locking the base and the cover members together.

As a final operation in the assembly, the elastic metal plate 14 is applied over the assembly, the end wall 60 thereof being engaged first down over the end wall 42 of the housing and the elastic plate is then swung counter-clockwise whereby the end portion 61 of the plate 14 is forced down the inclined wall 43 of the cover until it snaps over the bottom edge of the wall 43. The end walls 60 and 61 have turned in flanges 62 and 63 respectively which extend over the bottom edges of the walls 42 and 43 of the cover and also engage under the ends of the base 10, the base having small transverse recesses 64 and 65 to receive the flanges 62 and 63 respectively. The side walls 40 and 41 of the cover extend upwardly beyond the top wall forming a pair of ribs between which the plate 14 is nested in the assembled dispenser.

The plate 14 has integral therewith a pair of elastic fingers 70 formed by cuts in the plane of the plate and bent downwardly in an arc shape. Fingers 70 engage through a slotted opening 71 in the cover 13 and extend downwardly into engagement with the top surface of the blade stack and continue on down to maintain a spring pressure on the blade stack as the top surface of the stack is progressively lowered by removal of individual blades.

The operation in dispensing blades is believed to be readily understandable from the description of the parts and their relation but it may be briefly described that for the removal of the blade of the operator grasps the finger piece 51 swinging the ejector panel outwardly, the lugs 30 being engaged within the notches 19 of the bottom blade cause the blade to move outwardly resting upon the panel 27. At the outer position, shown in broken lines at 11a in FIG. 3, the blade may be freely picked off from the panel 27. In the meantime, the stack has moved downwardly the thickness of one blade whereby the bottom blade is resting on the platforms 17 and 18. Upon swinging the ejector back into the dispenser, the lugs 30 being inclined downwardly to the rear, move easily under the bottom blade causing sufficient elevation of the stack to permit the lugs to reach the complete inward position where they are engaged under the ribs 20 of the back wall of the base and the stack of blades resumes its full bottom position resting on the platforms 17 and 18.

Since various changes may be made in the dispenser described herein and different embodiments of the invention made within the principles thereof, it is intended that all matter contained herein shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A blade dispenser comprising a generally flat elongated base, a stack of blades mounted thereon; a cover engaged over the blade stack said cover having a top wall, side walls and end walls enclosing the stack, said side walls having ribs extending upwardly beyond the said top wall; a movable blade ejector arranged to engage a blade from the stack and project it outwardly through an opening in said cover, and an elastic plate positioned between said upwardly extending ribs and having end portions with flanges releasably engaged over the respective ends of said base, and said plate having a spring element integral therewith projecting through an opening in said cover top wall and elastically engaging the top of the blade stack.

2. A blade dispenser in accordance with claim 1 in which the said end portions of the elastic plate extend down over and enclose the said end walls of the cover.

3. A blade dispenser in accordance with claim 2 in which one of said cover end walls is inclined downwardly toward the base and outwardly to expedite the assembly of said elastic plate with the said flanges snapped into locking engagement under the ends of the base.

4. A blade dispenser in accordance with claim 1 which includes interlocking lugs and slots between said base and cover arranged to snap flexibly into engagement automatically when the cover and base are brought into engagement in assembly.

5. A blade dispenser in accordance with claim 1 in which said movable blade ejector is located below the blade stack and has a lug for engaging the bottom blade at its rear edge thereby to project the blade outwardly upon outward movement of the ejector.

6. A blade dispenser in accordance with claim 5 in which said opening in the cover comprises an elongated slot in one of the side walls thereof through which said ejector and the projected blade may emerge.

7. A blade dispenser comprising a base, having an upward extending wall portion defining a space with a stack of blades substantially held within said space, a cover having a top wall and a front wall enclosing said stack of blades, a blade ejector movably mounted in the dispenser arranged to project a blade outwardly through an opening in the dispenser, an elastic plate engage over said cover having end portions bent down over the respective ends of said cover, said end portions each having an inwardly turned bottom flange elastically engaged under the respective end of the base thereby to hold the plate, cover and base in assembled relation, and said plate having an elastic finger bent downwardly through an opening in said cover and engaging the top of the blade stack.