Wire dispenser

Abstract

A toroidal shaped improved wire dispenser comprising an upper and lower circular dish, said dishes having cylindrical walls with an outwardly extending flange at right angles to said cylindrical walls, an annular tongue formed in the lower circular dish flange, an annular groove formed in the upper circular dish flange wherein said tongue and groove mate in nesting arrangement, and a holding ring encompassing the flange of said upper and lower dishes whereby said upper and lower dishes are secured together. The upper dish has a centered aperture therethrough having an outwardly extending coaming whereby a wire held within the toroid formed by upper and lower dishes may be withdrawn. The lower dish has a centered aperture having an inwardly extending coaming of greater diameter than said coaming of said upper dish aperture, said outwardly extending coaming forming a hub upon which another wire dispenser may be stacked and a plurality of wires withdrawn simultaneously through the uppermost aperture.

Description

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

This invention relates to improvements to receptacles for containing and dispensing rolls of insulated wire with the provision for convenient withdrawal of the wire and stacking of a plurality of receptacles, said receptacles described and claimed in the patent to my invention, U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,455 issued Aug. 31, 1971 and entitled Wire Dispenser.

The insulated wire that is supplied by the manufacturers for electrical use normally is contained in 500 foot rolls in cardboard containers. The wire is drawn from the center of the coil or roll of wire and has a tendency to become tangled in itself when withdrawn. Further, it is common practice to draw a plurality of different insulated wires from a plurality of cardboard containers for insertion in a common conduit which, when done so, usually become tangled among themselves. My patented invention provides means for dispensing rolls of insulated wire from the wire dispenser, said wire dispenser comprising two shallow circular dishes held together with screws, each said shallow circular dish having a center aperture permitting withdrawal of the insulated wire. The invention of this application is directed to improved means for securing the shallow circular dishes together and improvements in stacking said wire dispenser.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The invention described herein provides improvements to my above cited invention comprising circumferential flange means at the exterior edge of the cylindrical wall of both the upper and lower circular dishes forming the wire dispenser, an annular tongue formed in the flange of the lower circular dish, a receiving groove formed in the flange of the upper circular dish, and an annular ring means encompassing in nesting arrangement the exterior portions of both flanges of the upper and lower circular dishes, the dishes mating together to form a toroid. To facilitate removal of the annular holding ring, a break is formed in the ring and spring means attached to opposite sides of the ring to permit spreading of the ring. A top annular ring is formed upon the roof exterior of the upper circular dish and a bottom annular ring is formed upon the floor exterior of the lower circular dish such that upon stacking of a plurality of wire dispensers, the top annular ring nests inside the bottom annular ring of adjacent dispenser.

By means of the improvements above described, the upper and lower dishes of the wire dispenser may be easily and rapidly separated by grasping the holding ring means at the site of the spring means, expanding the ring means, and removing from the flange of the upper and lower circular dishes. Additionally, the wire dispensers may be easily stacked with relative horizontal movement abated.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improvement to the above subject patented invention whereby the separation of the upper and lower circular dishes for the insertion or removal of insulated wire may be facilitated.

It is another object of the present invention to provide improved means whereby the upper and lower circular dishes will remain fixed as to lateral movements between the two circular dishes.

Further, it is still another object of the present invention to provide means permitting the expansion of the annular holding ring in order to remove the ring from its position holding the upper and lower circular dishes of the wire dispenser in nesting arrangement.

It is still further another object of the present invention to provide means of inhibiting relative horizontal movement between a plurality of stacked wire dispensers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the upper half of the wire dispenser showing the inventive improvements.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the assembled wire dispenser showing the inventive improvements.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the improved wire dispenser.

FIG. 4 is a prospective view of the broken portion of the annular holding ring with the spring between opposite ends.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing an alternate improvement to the upper and lower circular dishes of the wire dispenser.

FIG. 6 is a prospective view of an alternate method to holding the end portions of the annular holding ring.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1 defining the upper circular dish of the wire dispenser the invention comprises roof 21 and cylindrical wall 22 having flange means 51 extending outward at right angles to cylindrical wall 22. The annular groove means 52 (not shown) is situated in the approximate center of flange 51.

In the center of roof 21 is the aperture formed by exterior extending coaming 31 which rises in a gentle curve from roof 21. Top annular ring 23 is formed on the exterior of roof 21.

Referring now to FIG. 2 defining a side view of the assembled wire dispenser, the invention comprises the upper dish roof 21 and cylindrical wall 22 with outwardly extending flange means 51, said flange means 51 being at right angles with cylindrical wall 22. The lower circular dish comprises floor 11, cylindrical wall 12, and outwardly extending flange means 41 at right angles with the cylindrical wall 12. Interiorly extending coaming wall 20 (not shown) defines a central aperture in the lower dish. Bottom annular tongue 13 is formed on the exterior of floor 11.

Exteriorly extending coaming 31 is of a diameter approximately 1/3 the diameter of the upper circular dish of the wire dispenser and is sized such that its outside diameter is slightly less than the interior diameter of the interior coaming 20 of the lower circular dish of the wire dispenser. The upper dish coaming 31 then nests within the lower dish 21 in holding arrangement when a plurality of the wire dispensers are stacked upon each other in order that a plurality of wires may be drawn simultaneously. Further, the stacking holding arrangement is further secured by means of the upper circular dish top annular ring 23 nesting within the adjacent wire dispenser lower circular dish bottom annular ring 13.

Referring to FIG. 3, the wire dispenser is shown in the assembled position wherein the upper and the lower circular dishes of the wire dispenser have been placed in mating arrangement having flange means 51 of the upper dish resting upon flange means 41 of the lower half of the wire dispenser and annular tongue means 42 nesting within annular groove means 52. Horizontal movement of one portion of the wire dispenser relative to the other portion is thus circumvented. Holding the upper and lower circular dishes of the wire dispenser in nesting arrangement is annular holding ring means 61 encompassing the outer portion of flanges 51 and 41 and preventing vertical movement of one half of the wire dispenser relative to the other. Holding ring 61 encompasses the outwardly extending flanges through all of their circumference less a small portion where the ring is cut away in order to expand the ring and thus facilitate removal and placement of it in its place. Top annular ring 23 is shown on the exterior roof 21 of the upper dish and bottom annular ring 13 is shown on the exterior floor 11 of the lower dish.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the broken portion of holding ring means 61 is shown with the spring means 62 attached by its ends 63 and 64 to the holding ring means 61. In the preferred embodiment, holding ring means 61 has partially punched through the ring proximate the ends and upon its side which lies parallel to and above the upper circular dish flange 51 of the wire dispenser, a half round tab of metal 65 and 66, each of which are raised sufficiently to hold the ends of the spring means 63 and 64.

Thus, in operation, the holding ring means 61 is grapsed at its ends proximate the spring and spread to remove it the upper and lower circular dish flanges of the wire dispenser. This in turn permits the upper and lower portions of the wire dispenser to easily separate permitting the insulated wire dispenser to be placed therein. Thereupon, the ring means is similarly spread placed back into its resting relationship with the upper and lower circular dish flanges and assembling the wire dispenser.

FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of the subject inventive improvement wherein wall 12a of the cylindrical wall of the lower circular dish and the cylindrical wall 22a of the upper circular dish are first curved inwardly towards the center of the dish and then outwardly to form the flanges 41a and 41b respectively, and having annular tongue 42a nesting in annular groove 52a. Holding ring 61 similarly encompasses flanges 41a and 51a of the lower and upper circular dishes in the alternate embodiment as it does in the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3. The alternate embodiment shown and described in FIG. 5 may be utilized when it is desired that the sides of the subject inventive wire dispenser be recessed so as not to interfere and catch on nearby objects.

FIG. 6 shows an alternate embodiment of the holding ring means 61 wherein metal tabs 71 and 72 are partially punched from the horizontal portion of holding ring means 61. The tabs are raised to a vertical position and holes drilled through the tabs to accommodate metal screw means 73 whereupon the screw means screw the tabs together and thus hold the holding ring means 61 in a fixed arrangement when encompassing the upper and lower circular dish flanges of the wire dispenser. The holding rings 61 fastening method comprising the metal tabs 71 and 72 and metal screw 73 are located on the flat horizontal portion of holding ring means 61 in order that it be protected by the walls of the wire dispenser.

The preferred material to be used for constructing the improved wire dispenser described above is polycarbonate plastic such as General Electric Lexan 121. If desired, all or just the upper circular dish of the invention may be of clear plastic in order that the status of the remaining insulated wire in the wire dispenser may be observed.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, together with alternate embodiments, it will be understood that there is not intent to limit the invention by such disclosure but, rather, it is intended to cover all modification in alternate construction falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended Claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. An improved Wire Dispenser comprising a lower circular dish having a floor, a cylindrical wall, said cylindrical wall having an inward taper at the portion most distal from said floor, and outwardly extending flange operably connected to said cylindrical wall at the most distal point from said floor, said flange being parallel to said floor, and a central aperture, said aperture having an inwardly extending coaming; an upper circular dish having a roof, a cylindrical wall, said cylindrical wall having an inward taper at the portion most distal to said roof, an outwardly extending flange connected to said cylindrical wall at a point most distal to said roof and parallel to said roof, and a central aperture, said aperature having an outwardly extending coaming; and means for holding said upper dish flange, said upper dish being in a concave downward position, to said lower dish flange, said lower dish being in a concave upward position.

2. The improved wire dispenser as defined in claim 1 wherein said upper dish flange has an annular groove formed therein, and said lower dish flange has an annular tongue formed therein whereby said lower dish flange tongue mates with said upper dish groove when said improved wire dispenser is assembled.

3. The improved wire dispenser as defined in claim 2 wherein said holding means for holding said upper dish flange to said lower dish flange includes a broken annular ring having semi-circular cross section.

4. The improved wire dispenser as defined in claim 3, whereby the upper circular dish aperture outside diameter is less than said lower circular dish central aperture inside diameter whereby a plurality of the improved wire dispensers may be stacked upon each other with the upper circular dish aperture nesting inside the adjacent lower circular dish aperture.

5. The improved wire dispenser as defined in claim 4 wherein an annular tongue is formed upon the exterior floor of the lower circular dish, an annular tongue is formed upon the exterior roof of the upper circular dish, said outside circumference of said tongue formed on said upper circular dish being less than the inside circumference of said tongue formed on said lower circular dish whereby the upper circular dish exterior tongue rests inside an adjacent lower circular dish exterior tongue in order that relative horizontal movements is circumvented between the improved wire dispensers when they are in stacking arrangement.

6. The improved wire dispenser as defined in claim 5 wherein said holding means further includes spring means operably attached to the end portions of said broken portion of said annular ring.

7. The improved wire dispenser as defined in claim 5 wherein said holding means includes screw means operably attached to each end portion of said broken portion of said annular ring whereby the ring end portions may be screwed towards each other or away from each other.

8. The improved wire dispenser as defined in claim 6 wherein said lower circular dish is made of polycarbonate plastic material having a thickness in the range of 0.078 inch to 0.125 inch, said dish having a flat floor; and said upper circular dish made of polycarbonate plastic material having a thickness in the range of 0.078 inch to 0.125 inch, said dish having a flat roof.

9. An improved wire dispenser comprising a lower dish made of polycarbonate plastic material having a thickness in a range of 0.078 inch to 0.125 inch, said dish having a flat floor, a cylindrical wall having a selected inner radius, an outwardly extending flange attached to said cylindrical wall at right angles to said cylindrical wall, an annular tongue formed in said flange, a central aperture having an inwardly extending coaming, said aperture having a selected inner diameter, an annular ring shaped tongue of selected inner diameter formed on said floor exterior; an upper dish made of polycarbonate plastic material having a thickness in the range of 0.078 inch to 0.0125 inch, said dish having a flat roof and a cylindrical wall having a selected inner diameter, an outwardly extending flang attached to said cylindrical wall at right angles to said cylindrical wall, an annular groove formed in said flange, a central aperture with outwardly extending coaming, said coaming having a selected outside diameter, and an annular ring shaped tongue formed on said exterior roof of selected outer diameter; and an annular holding ring having a broken portion and having a semi-circular cross section whereby said upper dish flange is held together to said lower dish flange and said upper dish flange groove mating with said lower dish flange tongue, said holding rings broken end portion held together by spring means attached to each end, and whereby a plurality of said wire dispensers may be placed in stacking arrangements, said upper dish exterior annular tongue nesting within an adjacent lower dish floor exterior tongue.