Utility blade dispenser

• US 4,789,080 A
• Filed: 04/23/1986
• Issued: 12/06/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: American Safety Razor Co. (Edgewell Personal Care Company)
• Original Assignee: American Safety Razor Co. (Edgewell Personal Care Company)
• Inventors: Iten, Clemens A.
• Primary Examiner(s): BARTUSKA, FRANCIS JOHN
• Application Number:
  US06/854,869
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: 221/232, 221/279, 221/280
• US Class Current: 221/279
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 83/10 for dispensing razor-blades

Abstract

A utility blade dispenser having an open channel conforming to the configuration of the cutting portion of a utility blade. The channel base is defined by an upward supporting surface, and its top by a blade follower which is engaged in a pawl and ratchet fashion with tracks on the sides of a slot at the rear of the channel. The dispenser body can be molded in a two-piece mold to form an exceptionally strong blade dispenser package.

Claims

1. In combination with a stack of utility blades each having a generally trapezoidal shape with four discrete sides including a base edge and an outer edge shorter than said base edge lying parallel to said base edge, with the remaining two sides inclined from said base edge and interconnecting the parallel edges at opposite ends of the blade, a dispenser comprising:

a dispenser body having a base;

means on said dispenser body for laterally constraining said stack of said utility blades in contact with said dispenser body by contact with no more than three edges of said blades including, for all blades in the stack above the lowermost blade, contact between said base and side edges of the trapezoidally shaped blades and without contact with the short edges of the blades, said lateral constraining means comprising first and second lateral wings integral with and projecting forwardly at equal acute angles from said dispenser body base, the portions of said dispenser body in contact with said side and base edges constituting said wings and said dispenser base, respectively, for all blades in the stack above the lowermost blade, said wings having vertically extending outermost edges spaced laterally one from the other throughout their vertical extent a distance greater than the length of said short edges such that the dispenser is open along a front face thereof completely laterally exposing the short edges of the stack of blades above the lowermost blade in the stack;

means on said dispenser body engageable with the lowermost blade of the stack for supporting said stack on said dispenser body, said means being dimensioned to permit application of a pushing force to the lowermost blade at the bottom of said stack; and

means movably engaged with said dispenser body base for engaging the uppermost blade in the stack and maintaining the blades in stacked condition;

said lateral constraining means being dimensioned to permit the lowermost blade of the stack of utility blades to leave the stack thereof in a lateral direction upon application of the pushing force.

2. A dispenser as claimed in claim 1 wherein said dispenser is molded of plastic.

3. A dispenser as claimed in claim 1 wherein said dispenser body base has a vertical slot, and wherein said maintaining means comprises a blade follower engaged with sides of said slot.

4. A dispenser as claimed in claim 3 wherein said vertical slot has two parallel vertical sides provided respectively on a back surface of said base with a first and second ratchet track, and wherein said follower includes a pawl projection projecting through said slot for engagement with both said first and second ratchet tracks along the back surface of said base.

5. A dispenser as claimed in claim 4 wherein at least one of said first and second ratchet tracks extends downward past a lowermost portion of said vertical slot and downwardly past the lowermost end of the other of said ratchet tracks.

6. In combination with a stack of utility blades each having a generally trapezoidal shape with four discrete sides including a base edge of predetermined length and an outer edge shorter than and parallel to said base edge, with the remaining two sides inclined from said base edge at base angles of like magnitude interconnecting the parallel edges, the perpendicular distance between said parallel edges defining a blade depth, a dispenser comprising:

a dispenser body having a front surface at least partially forming a rear wall of a channel for retaining said utility blades;

first and second vertical side wings on said dispenser body, bracketing said front surface and spaced on said dispenser body a distance substantially equal to said base edge length, said first and second vertical side wings projecting outward from said dispenser body a distance less than said depth and toward each other at an angle with said dispenser body substantially equal in magnitude to said base angle, said first and second vertical side wings at least partially forming angled sides of said channel;

a blade support projecting forward from a bottom portion of said dispenser body and at least partially forming a bottom of said channel, said blade support having a first portion projecting forward a distance less than said depth to form an access aperture permitting application of a sideways force to a utility blade atop said blade support;

a blade follower received in a vertical slot in said front surface between said first and second wings and at least partially forming a movable top of said channel;

a top surface of said blade support being lower than the lower edge of said second wing by a distance greater than said blade thickness to form an exit aperture through which said utility blade atop said blade support may leave said channel through said access aperture upon said application of said sideways force, said channel formed by said front surface and said wings being open along a side thereof opposite said front surface and for substantially the entire vertical extent of said wings such that said stack of blades above the lowermost blade in said dispenser are laterally constrained by contact with no more than three edges of said blades and the dispenser is open along a front face thereof with the short edges of the blades otherwise laterally unrestrained by said dispenser body;

said vertical slot having two parallel vertical sides provided respectively at a back surface of said dispenser body with a first and second ratchet track, and wherein said follower includes a pawl projection for projecting through said slot for engagement with said first and second ratchet tracks along the back surface of said base.

7. A dispenser as claimed in claim 6 wherein at least one of said first and second ratchet tracks extends downward on said back surface past a lowermost portion of said vertical slot and downwardly past a lowermost end of the other of said ratchet tracks.

8. A dispenser as claimed in claim 6 wherein said dispenser body, first and second vertical side wings, and blade support are integral and formed of rigid plastic.

9. A dispenser according to claim 6 wherein said three contacting edges of said lowermost blade constitute said base edge, one side edge, and said shorter edge.

10. A dispenser according to claim 6 wherein said lateral constraining means includes a lip carried by said supporting means for engaging the short edge of the lowermost blade in the stack, the portions of said dispenser body in contact with the three edges of the lowermost blade of the stack to provide lateral constraint therefor constituting said base, one of said side wings and said lip.

11. For utility blades in the form of a regular trapezoid and having a predetermined thickness, depth, base angle, and base length, a dispenser comprising:

a dispenser body having a front surface at least partially forming a rear wall of a channel for retaining said utility blades;

first and second vertical side wings on said dispenser body, bracketing said front surface and spaced on said dispenser body by a distance substantially equal to said base length, said first and second vertical side wings projecting outward from said dispenser body by a distance less than said depth and toward each other at an angle with said dispenser body substantially equal to said base angle, said first and second vertical side wings at least partially forming angled sides of said channel;

a blade support projecting forwardly from a bottom portion of the rear wall of said dispenser body and at least partially forming a bottom of said channel, said blade support having a first portion projecting forward by a distance less than said depth to form an access aperture permitting application of a sideways force to a utility blade atop said blade support;

said blade support including a second portion projecting forwardly of the rear wall of said dispenser body a distance beyond the distance said side wings project from said dispenser body, said second portion carrying an upwardly projecting lip for engaging the shorter edge of a blade to prevent outward movement of the blade in a direction away from and normal to said base and facilitating sideways sliding movement of the blade through said access aperture; and

a blade follower received in a vertical slot in said front surface between said first and second wings and at least partially forming a movable top of said channel;

a top surface of said blade support being lower than the lower edge of said second wing by a distance greater than said blade thickness to form an exit aperture through which said utility blade atop said blade support may leave said channel through said access aperture upon said application of said sideways force.

12. A dispenser according to claim 11 in combination with a stack of utility blades disposed in said channel, each blade being in the form of a regular trapezoid having a base edge, oppositely disposed side edges inclined from said base edge toward one another and an outer edge shorter than the base edge, said depth constituting the shortest straight line distance between said base and said short edge.