US2946431A - Blade dispenser - Google Patents

Description

July 26, 1960 Filed Dec. 2, 1957 W. l. NISSEN BLADE DISPENSER 5 Sheets-Sheei 1 IN VEN TOR.

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BLADE DISPENSER Filed Dec. 2, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVE TOR.

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BLADE DISPENSER Filed Dec. 2. 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

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BLADE DISPENSER Warren I. Nissen, Topsiield, Mass, assignor to The Gillatte Company, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 2, 1957, Ser. No. $9,987

7 Claims. (61]..206-16) This invention comprises a new and improved dispenser for sharp edged blades such as safety razor blades, and in one aspect contemplates improvements in dispensers of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,722,308, November 1, 1955; that is to say, a dispenser constructed at least in part of resinous plastic material and in part of sheet metal. Such plastic materials have the advantage of being light in weight, moisture and corrosion proof, and of low manufacturing cost. They are, however, under some conditions subject to deformation by cold flow of the plastic material when subjected to continuous stress, as for example the pressure exerted by a spring located within the dispenser for positioning the blade stack. This weakness is obviated in dispensers of the type now under consideration by providing a self-contained metallic system effective to exert continuous yielding pressure on the blade stack entirely independently of the plastic portions of the dispenser.

In dispensers of this type it has been found necessary heretofore to employ as separate elements a blade-supporting plate whose function is to support the blade stack always in a flat condition and insure that the blades remain in that condition as the stack is drawn down to as few as two or three blades, and a bowed spring arranged to urge the plate and blade stack toward the discharge position.

An important feature of the present invention is the employment of a blade-supporting plate of spring metal constructed and arranged to carry out as a single element the functions of the two elements above described, and also to serve as an element of the desired self-contained metallic system exerting yielding pressure on the blade stack independently of its plastic elements. To this end an important feature of the invention comprises a spring blade-supporting member having a central flat portion merging at both sides into angular side walls which, in turn, merge into outwardly extending flanges for securing the supporting member in place within the dispenser.

Other features of the invention comprise mechanical details of structure facilitating the employment of this combined blade-supporting and positioning member and other wise contributing to the sturdy and reliable organi- Zation of the dispenser as a whole and its manufacture by methods of mass production.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a view in perspective showing the elements of the dispenser in exploded relation and on an enlarged scale,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the plastic body portion of the dispenser,

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the spring blade-supporting member in place,

Fig. 4 is a similar view with the blades added,

Fig. 5 is a simi.ar view with the metal cover added,

plate biased and connected to the metal cover of the dispenser,

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of the dispenser showing the metal cover in unattached position,

Fig. 9 is a similar view showing the metal cover fully attached, and

- Fig. 10 is a view in cross-section on the line 10-1 0 of Fig. 9. r

In its illustrated form the the dispenser comprises three elements in addition to the blade stack which it contains. These, as shown in Fig. 1, include a body molded of plastic resin, a spring blade-supporting and positioning plate, and a cover also of sheet metal.

The plastic body comprises a flat bottom it) substantially rectangular in contour and having upright side walls 11 and 12, both of which are interrupted so as to form a wide notch or recess symmetrically located in the walls at opposite sides of the body and spanned by a con necting rib 13. The lower edges of the wall sections are provided with a downwardly opening groove for the reception of flanges on the side walls of the cover as will presently appear. The bottom It terminates at each end in a semi-circular recess or opening 14 while the side walls 11 and 12 extend beyond these recesses and are connected by low transverse end Walls 15 and 16. From the end walls flat tables 17 and 18 extend inwardly and from these tables extend upstanding studs 19 and 20 which serve to locate the blades transversely in the dispenser. The tables i7 and 13 are located substantially above the level of the bottom it) and serve initiallyto hold the supporting blade which underlies the blade stack.

Each end wall 15 and 16 merges into an upwardly curved bottom section shaped to supply at one end the lower edge 21 of a blade exit opening and at the other end to provide the lower edge 22 or" a corresponding exit opening. These bottom sections extend transversely between the side walls 11 and 12 and are provided at each end with a projecting cover-supporting lug 23-24 which is located slightly below the top edge of the side wall. Both of the side walls are provided at each of their ends with external pads 25 providing shoulders against the inner edges of which the ends of the cover are to be fitted and which also supply a pleasing finish to the dispenser as a whole.

The bottom It? is also provided with a pair of spaced parallel slots 26 located symmetrically and serving to admit the arms of a spring flexing tool as will be presently described.

The spring-supporting plate or platform is rectangular in outline and includes a fiat central portion 30 having a slot 31 at each end to receive the studs 19-20 of the base and merging at each edge into an angular wall 32 a section 33. This, in turn, merges into a hooked flange 34 located symmetrically and of a length to fit with clearance in the notches or recesses of the side walls 11 and 12 of the plastic base. The platform portion 39 is stiffened by these angular sidewalls and remains always in fiat condition beneath the blade stack whereas the side walls are sprung from the position shown in Fig, 6 to that shown in Fig. 7 when the supporting plate is forced into its assembled position and attached to the metal cover of the dispenser. In this operation the plate as a whole is biased so as to urge the blade stack continually upwardly away from the bottom 10 and toward the finger opening 41. p

It will be seen that the blade-supporting member in order to perform its two functions includes the per assess-1..

manently flat platform section 30 stiflened by the longitudinal angular walls 32 into which it merges and the resilient marginal portions formed by the wall sections 32- and 33 which are deflected when this member is assembled in'the dispenser so that the member as a whole acts as a bowed spring to maintain the uppermost blade- 28 of the blade stack in'contact with the metal cover of the' dispenser and in line with its exit openings.

The blades 28 for which the dispenser is designed are:

of well. known commercial type provided with a longitudinal median slot of such width as to receive with clearance the studs 19 and-.20. Thedispenser is loaded by placing the blades 28 in staggered relation located longitudinally by the studs 19. and 20aas-shown in Fig. 4. At'this stage the blade stack rests upon the platform portion 30 of'the bladessupporting memberand that, in turn, is supported by thetables Hand 18 at a level above the bottom 10.

The metallic cover 40' of the dispenser is preferably constructed-of thin sheet metal. It is generally rectangu lar in contour and provided with a centrally located finger opening 41. It is folded at both ends 42 thus providing stiff rounded'edges defining the exit openings of the dispenser in cooperation with the edges 21 and 22 of the base. The cover has downturned side walls 43 merging at their lower edges into inturned flanges 44. The side walls 43- are of such length as to fit over the side walls 11 and 12 of the base and abut the end pads 25. The inturned flanges 44 are rolledor hooked to engage beneath the ribs13 as already stated and at the end of each flangeis formed an articulate ear 45.

Before the'cover 49 is assembled in completing the dispenser the spring platform member is placed under resilient stress in the manner shown in Figs. 6 and 7 with theassistance of a forked tool 36 having arms shaped to pass freely through the slots 26 in the bottom It Having assembled the various parts as indicated in Figs. 2 to 5, they areinverted as' shown in Fig. 6. In this position the blade stack is engaged between aninturned flange defining-the finger opening 41 and the platform 30 which now lies beneath the tables 17 and 18. The flanges 34 of the blade supporting member extend upwardly at either edge of the bottom 10. Now when the tool 36'is forcibly depressed these flanges and the resilient Wall sections 32 and 33 are forced downwardly as indicated in Fig. 7 until the flanges 34 snap under the inturned hooked flanges 44 of the cover. The blade-supporting platform is thus incorporated under stress'in an all metal system in which the platform 30 is always urged upwardly away from thetables 17 and 18 and towardthe finger opening 41-.

In the assembling operation the side walls 43 of the metal cover are straddled over the baseas suggested in Fig. 8 and then pressed'inwardly to engage beneath the ribs 13. When this is done the ears 45 are bent into engagement with correspondingly formed portionsof the ribs 13 as suggested in Fig. 9.

Having thus disclosed rnyinvention and described in detail one example thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent;

1. A'blade dispenser comprising a plastic body and a to bias said flat portion to urge the blade'stack toward the finger opening of the cover.

2. In a blade dispenser, a spring blade-supporting and blade-biasing platform having a central fiat portion merging at both sides into angular side walls which in turn 'merge into outwardly and downwardly extending hooked resilient flanges for securing the supporting platform in place within the dispenser.

3. In a blade dispenser, a blade-supporting and blade biasing member of spring metal having a permanently flat portion merging at both sides into down-turned side walls and those walls merging in turn into resilient outwardly and downwardly extending sections having marginal flanges of less length than the adjacent sections of the supporting member.

4. A blade dispenser comprising a plastic body and a metal cover includingmeans connecting them together, said body and said cover being shaped to form together an elongated enclosure having exit opening at its ends, the plastic body having a flat bottom and tables at each end at a fixed distance above the bottom, in combination with a blade stack and a blade supporting-member of spring metal having a flat central portion initially resting at its ends upon said tables and having side flanges, said metal cover including means in engagement with said flanges in such a manner as to bias the central portion of the blade-supporting member away from said tables.

5. Ablade dispenser comprising a plastic body and a metal cover, said body and said cover being shaped to form together a rectangular enclosure having an end exit, the plastic body having a bottom and spaced side wall sections connected by longitudinal ribs and the cover having side walls and flanges inturned and reversely bent and engaged beneath said ribs to provide a supporting abutment.

6. A blade dispenser as defined in claim 5 in which the side walls of the cover have at each" end an articulated ear bent over a corresponding portion of the plastic body.

7. In a blade dispenser, a cover, a blade-supporting member of spring sheet metal having a permanently flat rectangular platform merging into angular side portions and a-blade stack on'said blade supporting member, said cover including means engaging said side portions to marginally hold said portions in a deflected condition of resilient stress biasing the platform and said blade stack toward said cover of the dispenser.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,722,308 Sinclair Nov. 1, 1955 2,775,366 'Willhelm Dec. 25, 1956 2,792,933 Butlin May 21, 1957

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