US3910455A - Razor blade dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

The specific disclosure provides a safety razor blade dispenser of the type in which the uppermost blade in a stack of blades is pushed end-wise into shaving position in a head of an associated razor. The dispenser comprises a molded plastic body having the stack of blades biased upwardly against narrow ribs, and a pusher slidable in a slot formed in the top of the body for engaging the uppermost blade in the stack and pushing it through a blade exit aperture formed in a forward end wall of the body. An end closure member is positioned in an opened rear end of the body. The end closure member includes a pair of slots in an upper rear surface thereof for seating rear portions of the ribs.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 Ferraro 1451 Oct. 7, 1975 [73] Assignee: Warner-Lambert Company. Morris Plains. NJ.

[22] Filed: Dec. 10, 1973 [21] Appl. No: 423,626

Related Application Data [63] Continuationin-part of Ser. No, 330.368, Feb. 7,

I973. abandoned.

Primary lfxaminer-Rbert B Reeves Assistant E.tamincrjohn P. Shannon Attorney. Agent. or Firm-James F. Powers, Jr.; Albert H. Graddis [5 7] ABSTRACT The specific disclosure provides a safety razor blade dispenser of the type in which the uppermost blade in a stack of blades is pushed end-wise into shaving posi- [52] us. Cl H 221/102; 221/232 tion in a head of an associated razor The dispenser [51] Int. Cl. B651) 83/10 comprises a molded plastic body having the stack of [58] Field of Search 221/102. 232 279, 276; blades biased p y uguiflst narrow ribs and 21 220/41; /354 359 pusher slidablc in a slot formed in the top of the body for engaging the uppermost blade in the stack and [56] Referen e Cited pushing it through a blade exit aperture formed in 21 UNITED STATES PATENTS forward end wall of the body. An end closure member 2 300 596 11/194,) R be t 206/359 is positioned in an opened rear end of the body. The 2792933 S/WS; a g "5 X end closure member includes a pair of slots in an 3:429:472 2/1969 'i' 220/41 X upper rear surface thereof for seating rear portions of 3,549,046 12/1970 Iten 1. 221/102 the ribs- FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 6 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures 1,457,394 11/1969 Germany 221/232 1| H1" 1 m I l ,4

6 l' 2 I I /I1 I i/i l /8 l ll ll US. Patent Oct. 7,1975 Sheet 1 of2 3,910,455

RAZOR BLADE DISPENSER CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of US. patent application Ser. No. 330,368, filed Feb. 7, 1973, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to safety razor blade dispensers of the type in which the uppermost blade in a stack of blades is adapted to be pushed end-wise into shaving position in a head of an associated razor. More particularly, the present invention relates to molded plastic dispensers of such type.

2. Description of the Prior Art Molded plastic razor blade dispensers having a finger-operated pusher for dispensing the uppermost blade in a stack are known in the art. ,A problem in molded plastic dispensers having pushers is that dimensions of inter-engaging parts is critical because molding practices inherently leave slight sinks and warping in the dispenser body surfaces which may result in malfunction of the dispenser, for example, by the pusher binding with the top surface of the dispenser body.

US. Pat. No. 3,288,328 provides a molded plastic dispenser wherein a pusher has channels formed on the underside thereof for sliding engagement with laterally extending flanges formed on the top part of the dis-, penser body. US. Pat. No. 3,549,046 is another example of a molded plastic dispenser, and provides narrow, laterally extending shallow lands on the underside of the fingeroperated pusher for sliding engagement with the upper surface of the dispenser body.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an improved blade dispenser having a relatively simple structure to permit ease of manufacture, and to insure structural rigidity.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a safety razor blade dispenser of the type in which the uppermost blade in a stack of blades is adapted to be pushed end-wise into shaving position in a head of an associated razor. The dispenser comprises a horizontally elongated body of molded plastic having top and bottom walls, a pair of side walls extending between the top and bottom walls, and a forward end wall extending between the side walls at one end of the body. The other end of the plastic body is opened between the side walls. A blade pusher is slidable in a longitudinal slot formed in the top wall of the body, and includes a blade-engaging portion below the top wall for engaging the uppermost blade in a stack of blades in the body when the pusher is moved from a rearmost position in the slot forwardly to push the uppermost blade through a blade exit aperture in the forward end wall. The blades are biased upwardly against downwardly directed ribs formed on each side of the slot. An end closure member is positioned in the opened end of the body, and includes a pair of slots in an upper rear surface for seating a rear portion of each one of the downwardly directed ribs. By seating the ribs in the closure member slots, outward and inward movement of the dispenser side walls is limited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a dispenser embodiment constructed in accordance with the present invention with a portion of the dispenser body cut away;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the dispenser with a pusher moved forwardly to partially eject the uppermost blade, and with a portion of the top wall of the dispenser body cut away;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the front end of the dispenser;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a pusher component;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the pusher component of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of the rear end of the pusher of FIGS. 4 and 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an end closure member used in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of the end closure member of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal cross-section view of the body of the dispenser of FIGv 1;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the body of the dispenser taken along Lines l0l0 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an elevational view of the rear end of the dispenser embodiment with the end closure member removed; and

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the body of the dispenser taken along Lines l2l2 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the embodiment of the present invention comprises three main components formed ofmolded plastic. Specifically, the embodiment comprises adispenser body 10 which provides a storage enclosure for a stack of unused blades 12, anend closure 14. for closing off the rear end of thebody 10 after the unused stack of blades 12 is loaded therein, and ablade pusher 16 which is manipulated by a user to slide the uppermost blade from the stack of unused blades 12 into a head of well-known single edge razors such as shown in US. Pat. Nos. 2,9l 1,713, 2,911,714 and 3,203,093. With reference to the figures, thedispenser body 10 is an elongated molded plastic structures having aforward end wall 18 which isjoined at its lower end with abottom wall 20. Thedispenser body 10 also has atop wall 21 formed by a pair ofhorizontal panels 22, 24 which are spaced apart so that the inner edges of therespective panels 22, 24 define aslot 26 extending the length of thebody 10 rearwardly from theforward end wall 18. The portion of theforward end wall 18 which bridges theslot 26 acts a stop abutment to limit forward travel of theblade pusher 16.

Thebody 10 also has afront side wall 30 and a coextensiveback side wall 32, each of theside walls 30, 32 being formed integrally with therespective panels 22, 24, and with thebottom wall 20. Thepanels 22, 24 and thewalls 20, 30, 32 all terminate at the rear of thebody 10 in a common vertical plane to define an open rear end 33 (FIG. 9).

The interior of thebody 10 is also provided with an integrally formedhorizontal partition wall 34 formed with theforward end wall 18 andside walls 30, 32. The rear end of thepartition wall 34 terminates a short distance from the openrear end 33 of thebody 10 as shown at least in FIG. 1 to permit the reception of theend closure 14 within therear end 33. Thepartition wall 34 divides the interior of the body into an upper compartment 36'which supportingly receives the stack of unused blades 12, and alower compartment 40 which serves as a used blade chamber for receiving used blades removed from the razor when a blade change has been made. The bottom wall is provided with aslot 38 for providing access to thelower compartment 40 for inserting a used blade therein. The stack of unused blades 12 is supported in theupper compartment 36 on a bowed spring member 42 which, when thepusher 16 is in its rearmost position, biases the stack upwardly (FIG. 1)' to urge the uppermost blade against a pair oflongitudinal ribs 44, 46 formed on the underside of thepanels 22, 24, respectively. When thus biased upwardly against theribs 44,46, theuppermost blade 13 registers with ablade exit slot 48 formed in the forward end wall 18 (FIG. 3). It will be noted from at least FIG. 10 that theribs 44, 46 extend from theforward end wall 18 to the openrear end 33.

Thedispenser body 10 is also provided with an integrally formed key 50 which, in a conventional manner and as described in at least US. Pat. Nos. 2,911,713 and 2,91 1,714, is inserted in a razor head during the course of a blade change to align theexit slot 48 with the razor head and to condition the razor head for receipt of theuppermost blade 13.

As noted above, the openrear end 33 of thebody 10 receives and is closed off by anend closure 14. With reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 7 and 8, theend closure 14 is an essentially hollow structure having an upper part I consisting ofside walls 60, 62, afront wall 64, and arear wall 66. Therear wall 66 extends the full depth of thebody 10 to close off the openrear end 33 of thebody 10. Theend closure 14 is closely received within thedispenser body 10 and is provided with an elon gated downwardly depending portion 69 I having a wedge-like projection 68 which extends outwardly from theside wall 62 to engage in anaperature 70 formed in the front side wall to act as a locking means for retaining theend closure 14 in thebody 10.

With reference to FIG. 7, therear end wall 66 of theend closure 14 extends laterally from the.side wall 62 and has an angledinstep 83. An opposing angled instep 118 (FIG. 1) is formed on thefront side wall 30 of thebody 10, and theinsteps 83, 118 can be used to maintain a decorative insert (not shown) on thefront side wall 30.

In addition to closing off the rear end of thebody 10, theend closure 14 provides means with which the stack of blades 12 is positioned within thedispenser body 10 in such a manner as to maintain the cutting edges thereof out of contact with thefront side wall 30. With particular reference to FIGS. 2, 7 and 8, the stack of blades 12 is positioned within thedispenser body 10 by anangled lug 74 formed at the corner of theend closure 14 defined by the juncture offront wall 64 andside wall 62. Thelug 74 has avertical edge surface 75 disposed at an angle of substantially 45 with the longitudinal axis of thedispenser body 10, and thelug surface 75 is adapted to engage with similarly angled corners 77 of the blades in the stack 12. In positioning the stack of blades 12, the lug 74-functions in conjunction with a similarly shaped but oppositely facing lug 76 (FIGS. 2 and 10) formed integrally with theforward end wall 18 and with thefront side wall 30.

Theend closure 14 also serves to strengthen the overall rigidity of thedispenser body 10 and limits inward and outward movement of the front and backside walls 30, 32 by the upper four corners of theend closure 14 being nested in undercut slots orgrooves 132, 134 (FIG. 12) of thetop panels 22, 24, respectively,

with the rear ends of thelongitudinal ribs 44, 46 being positioned inrecesses 81, 82 formed at the upper end of therear wall 66 oftheend closure 14..

With reference to FIGS. 4-6, theblade pusher 16 has I a relatively wide finger-engageable portion 97 and a blade-engagingportion 91. The finger-engageable portion 97 and the blade-engagingportion 91 are interconnected by a longitudinally elongatedmember 90 which extends through theslot 26. The finger-engageable portion 97 has a narrow transverseundersurface support portion 94 for sliding engagement with the upper surfaces of thetop wall 21 as definedby thehorizontal panels 22, 24. Theundersurface support portion 94 can be so narrow such that it provides a line contact with the upper surfaces of thetop wall 21. The underside of the finger-engageable portion 97 also has beveledundersurface portions 92, 93 extending forwardly and rearwardly, respectively, from the transverse undersur facesupport portion 94. The transverse support and beveledundersurface portions 94, 92, 93 limit the contact surface of thepusher 16 with thetop wall 21 to minimize the possibility of the pusher binding with thetop wall 21 due to irregularities therein.

As shown in FIG. 12, the sides of the blade-engaging 1portion 91 are in close contact with the inner surfaces of theribs 44,46. Such close contact also serves to strengthen the overall rigidity of the dispenser body 10 I by further limiting inward movement of the front and backside walls 30, 32. The. blade-engagingportion 91 isdimensioned to extend downwardly beneath theribs 44, 46 a distance such that thefront edge 95 abuttingly engages only theuppermost blade 13 in the stack 12 as I the pusher. 16 is moved forwardly in the slot 26.To' insure that the blade-engagingportion 91 engages only theuppermost blade 13, theend closure 14 has an elongatedmember 80 extending forwardly from the 7rear wall 66 which biases the pusher l6 upwardly when thepusher 16 is in the .rearmost portion of theslot 26 as shown in FIG. 1. Therear end 96 of thebladeengaging portion 91 is beveled or curved, and the foragainst thetop wall 21. As shown in the figures, the un-.

dersurface support portion 94 can, suitably be located at about one-sixth the length of thepusher 16 from the front end thereof.

Dispensement of theuppermost blade 13 from the stack 12 involves positioning thepusher 16 as shown in FIG. 1 and moving the pusher forwardly through a re-,

cess 130in thefront wall 64 of theend closure 14. The

front edge of the blade-engagingportion 91 engages an end of theuppermost blade 13 and moves it through theblade exit slot 48 as shown in FIG. 2 to position theuppermost blade 13 ina razor, head which has been conditioned in a known manner by the cam surfaces 112, 114 formed on the key 50.

As used herein with reference to theundersurfaces 92, 93, beveled" contemplates both flat and curved surfaces which are out of engagement with the top surfaces of thetop wall 21. Thedispenser body 10, theend closure 14, and thepusher 16 can be suitably formed of molded acrylonitride butadiene styrene (ABS). Further, the dispenser body and/or thepusher 16 can be formed of a plastic substance having a relatively low coefficient of friction such as Teflon, e.g., polytetrafluoroethylene (FTFE).

What is claimed is:

1. In a safety razor blade dispenser of the type in which the uppermost blade in a stack of blades is adapted to be pushed edgewise into shaving position in a head of an associated razor, the combination comprising:

a horizontally elongated body of molded plastic having top and bottom walls, a pair of side walls extending between said top and bottom walls, and a forward end wall extending between said side walls at one end of said body, the other end of said body being opened between said side walls,

said stack of blades being located within and extending longitudinally of said body,

said forward end wall having a blade exit aperture formed therein,

said top wall including a longitudinal slot formed therein, and a downwardly directed longitudinal extending rib on each side of said slot,

a blade pusher of molded plastic slidable in said slot,

and including (1) a blade-engaging portion below said top wall for engaging the uppermost blade in said stack of blades when said pusher is moved from a rearmost position in said slot forwardly to push the uppermost blade through said blade exit I aperture, and (2) a finger-engageable portion above said top wall,

an end closure member of molded plastic positioned in said opened end of said body, said end closure member comprising a pair of grooves in anrupper rear surface of said end closure member respectively having seated therein a rear portion of each LII one of the downwardly directed ribs, upper portions of said closure member nested between the outer, sides of the downwardly directed ribs and said side walls of said body, and a forwardly ex tending elongated member for biasing said bladeengaging portion upwardly when said pusher is in said rearmost position in said slot, said elongated member being spaced downwardly from said top wall, and

means in said body for biasing said stack of blades upwardly against the downwardly directed ribs to position the uppermost blade in a horizontal plane definedby said exit aperture when said pusher is in said rearmost position in said slot.

2. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said elongated member is resiliently yieldable when said blade pusher is moved to said rearmost position in said slot.

3. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said bladeengaging portion has outer side surfaces in continuous abutting sliding engagement with the inner surfaces of the downwardly directed ribs.

4. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said end closure member comprises a first vertically elongated lug at one forward side thereof, and wherein said body comprises a second vertically elongated lug at a forward inner side thereof opposing said first lug, said first and second lugs maintaining cutting edges of said stack of blades spaced from one of said side walls of said body.

5. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said body has l a horizontal partition integrally formed therein to divide said body into an upper compartment and a lower compartment, and (2) a port in said bottom wall thereof to provide used razor blade access to said lower compartment; said stack of blades being positioned in said upper compartment, and said biasing means being positioned between said partition and said stack of blades.

6. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said elongated member and said blade-engaging portion have upper forward and lower rear surfaces, respectively, shaped to guide said blade-engaging portion between said top wall and said elongated member.

Claims (6)

1. In a safety razor blade dispenser of the type in which the uppermost blade in a stack of blades is adapted to be pushed edgewise into shaving position in a head of an associated razor, the combination comprising: a horizontally elongated body of molded plastic having top and bottom walls, a pair of side walls extending between said top and bottom walls, and a forward end wall extending between said side walls at one end of said body, the other end of said body being opened between said side walls, said stack of blades being located within and extending longitudinally of said body, said forward end wall having a blade exit aperture formed therein, said top wall including a longitudinal slot foRmed therein, and a downwardly directed longitudinal extending rib on each side of said slot, a blade pusher of molded plastic slidable in said slot and including (1) a blade-engaging portion below said top wall for engaging the uppermost blade in said stack of blades when said pusher is moved from a rearmost position in said slot forwardly to push the uppermost blade through said blade exit aperture, and (2) a finger-engageable portion above said top wall, an end closure member of molded plastic positioned in said opened end of said body, said end closure member comprising a pair of grooves in an upper rear surface of said end closure member respectively having seated therein a rear portion of each one of the downwardly directed ribs, upper portions of said closure member nested between the outer sides of the downwardly directed ribs and said side walls of said body, and a forwardly extending elongated member for biasing said bladeengaging portion upwardly when said pusher is in said rearmost position in said slot, said elongated member being spaced downwardly from said top wall, and means in said body for biasing said stack of blades upwardly against the downwardly directed ribs to position the uppermost blade in a horizontal plane defined by said exit aperture when said pusher is in said rearmost position in said slot.

2. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said elongated member is resiliently yieldable when said blade pusher is moved to said rearmost position in said slot.

3. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said blade-engaging portion has outer side surfaces in continuous abutting sliding engagement with the inner surfaces of the downwardly directed ribs.

4. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said end closure member comprises a first vertically elongated lug at one forward side thereof, and wherein said body comprises a second vertically elongated lug at a forward inner side thereof opposing said first lug, said first and second lugs maintaining cutting edges of said stack of blades spaced from one of said side walls of said body.

5. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said body has (1) a horizontal partition integrally formed therein to divide said body into an upper compartment and a lower compartment, and (2) a port in said bottom wall thereof to provide used razor blade access to said lower compartment; said stack of blades being positioned in said upper compartment, and said biasing means being positioned between said partition and said stack of blades.

6. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said elongated member and said blade-engaging portion have upper forward and lower rear surfaces, respectively, shaped to guide said blade-engaging portion between said top wall and said elongated member.

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