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Patent Abstract
An air freshener has a base. The base has scented material therein.
An abutment is connected to said base. A guide which accommodates
a portion of a paper towel holder is connected to said abutment.
The air freshener in an installed has an external surface of the
abutment in frictional contact with an internal surface of the paper
towel tube so that the air freshener will rotate when the paper
towel tube is rotated by conventional means.
Patent Claims
I claim:
1. An air freshener comprising: a base having scented material
therein; an abutment connected to said base; and guide which accommodates
a portion of a paper towel holder, connected to said abutment.
2. The air freshener of claim 1 wherein said air freshener further
comprises: an installed position wherein, said abutment has an external
surface in frictional contact with an internal surface of the paper
towel tube, and wherein said air freshener will rotate when said
paper towel tube is rotated by conventional means.
3. The air freshener of claim 1 wherein the base further comprises:
a first end wall; a second end wall spaced from the first end wall;
a side wall joining the first and second end walls; a chamber formed
by said first end wall, said second end wall and said side wall.
4. The air freshener of claim 1 wherein the abutment has a width
sufficient to form a frictional coupling with a conventional paper
towel tube when at least a portion of said abutment is disposed
in said tube.
5. The air freshener of claim 1 wherein the scented material is
a plurality of scented beads.
6. The air freshener of claim 1 wherein the abutment is tubular
and an internal surface of the abutment forms at least a portion
of said guide.
Patent Description
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0001] The present invention concerns an air freshener having an
abutment portion removably coupleable within an end portion of a
tube in a paper towel roll.
BACKGROUND
[0002] There are many products on the market aimed at improving
the scent of the air in household rooms. One such product is a scented
toilet paper roller. A known roller has a cavity containing scented
beads and a number of openings to allow the scent from the beads
to be released into the air. The roller supports a roll of toilet
paper in a conventional toilet paper holder. An example of a known
scented roller is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,510, Singer.
The patent is directed towards a universal scent-emitting toilet
paper roller. The roller is described as including three components
molded of thermoplastic material. Two of these components are identical
vented hollow closed ended generally cylindrical roller halves,
each half containing tongues and slots which permit the two roller
halves to be axially slidably joined together. The third thermoplastic
component is a helical coiled spring designed to fit inside the
joined together roller halves and urge the two halves into their
maximum axially extended position. A recessed truncated conical
projection axially centered on the closed end of each roller half
fits the assembled roller into a rolled paper dispenser. A quantity
of scent-emitting pellets are contained within the hollow interior
of the joined together roller halves to be tumbled about as the
roller is rotated by the removal of paper, thus causing scent to
be emitted into the atmosphere through vents in the roller.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
[0003] One embodiment of the present invention is an air freshener.
The air freshener has a base. Extending from the base is an abutment.
A guide which accommodates a portion of a paper towel holder is
connected to said abutment. The base forms a chamber. Within the
chamber is scented material. Vents open into the chamber.
[0004] The air freshener has an installed position wherein in the
installed position the abutment extends into an end portion of a
conventional tube of a paper towel roll. The abutment has an external
surface which contacts the internal surface of the paper towel tube
to form a frictional fit therewith such that the abutment will rotate
when the roll of paper towel roll is rotated during conventional
use.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of the air freshener aligned
with an insert bracket of a wall mounted paper towel holder and
the paper towel roll, wherein the paper towel roll has been partially
cut away.
[0006] FIG. 2 is a front plan view looking into the aligned air
freshener shown in FIG. 1.
[0007] FIG. 3 is a rear plan view of the aligned air freshener
shown in FIG. 1.
[0008] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the air freshener shown
in FIG. 2 without the paper towel bracket.
[0009] FIG. 5 is a side perspective view of the air freshener wherein
one of the two side walls forming the base has been removed from
the base.
[0010] FIG. 6 is a front side view of the air freshener showing
a fill plug removed from an aperture.
[0011] FIG. 7 is a front side perspective view of the air freshener
in a metalized wrapping wherein a portion of the wrapping has been
cut out.
[0012] FIG. 8 is one of the scented beads depicted in FIG. 4.
[0013] FIG. 9 is a partial sectional view of the scented bead of
FIG. 8 showing a layer of scented oil around the plastic core of
the scented bead.
[0014] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the air freshener aligned
with an upright paper towel holder and paper towel roll.
[0015] FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the air freshener aligned
around the spindle of a wall mounted paper towel holder having a
paper towel roll therein.
[0016] FIG. 12 is a front and side perspective view of an alternative
embodiment of the air freshener in FIG. 1; the abutment being a
pair of resilient arms having internal support brackets extending
therefrom.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT
[0017] One example of the invention is further described in detail
as follows.
[0018] The air freshener has a base 20, an abutment 22 and a guide
24. The guide 24 allows the air freshener to be oriented around
a portion of a paper towel holder, such as a portion of a spindle
26 or a portion of a towel holder bracket 28. The guide 24 in the
present embodiment is in the form of a bore 25a and counter bore
25b through the air freshener. The bore can be referred to as a
passage or aperture.
[0019] In an installed position at least a portion of the abutment
22 is disposed within an end portion (cut away in the drawings)
of the tube 30 in the paper towel roll 29. The abutment frictionally
couples with the tube such that the air freshener will rotate with
the tube when the tube is rotated around spindle 26 or insert bracket
28 of a conventional paper towel holder. The base 20 is external
to the paper towel roll at the one end (cut away in the drawings)
of the paper towel roll.
[0020] The base 20 of the described embodiment has a first end
wall 32 and a second end wall 34. A side wall 36 joins the first
end wall and second wall. The first end wall 32, second end wall
34 and side wall 36 enclose a chamber 38. The chamber 38 has disposed
therein scented material 40. Within the chamber is an internal barrier
44 which prevents the scented material 40 from falling into the
aperture 25a. The internal barrier 44 is formed from an end of the
tube forming the abutment 22. The abutment portion 22 of the tube
extends from one side of the first end wall. The internal barrier
portion 44 of the tube extends from the other side of the first
end wall.
[0021] Vents 42 in the end walls allow for ambient air to be in
fluid communication with the scented material 40.
[0022] The base, can have an aperture 46 in the side wall into
which a fill plug 48 can be disposed. The aperture and fill plug
allow for disposal of the scented material 40 in the base chamber
20.
[0023] The base member would have a diameter 49 of about 41/2"
and an axial length 49a of between {fraction (3/16)}" to 1/4".
The venting in the base can have a variety of configurations. The
shown embodiment shows a swirled-like venting on both the first
and second end walls. The venting is formed by way of curvilinear
openings 42 in the end walls. The curvilinear openings are separated
by curvilinear ribs 51. The air freshener can be made with only
venting either the first or second end walls as opposed to both.
Additionally, the side wall could be vented. Further, only portions
of the base member could be vented.
[0024] The abutment 22 extends away from the first and second end
wall and is transverse to the first and second end wall. The abutment
22 is tubular. The internal surface 25b of the tubular abutment
22 defines a portion of the guide which can accommodate a conventional
paper towel spindle 26 or end bracket 28. The external surface 25c
of the tubular abutment provides frictional coupling with the internal
surface of the paper towel tube. The frictional coupling should
have sufficient opposing forces so the air freshener remains stationary
relative to the paper towel tube when the paper towel tube is rotated.
It is contemplated that the tubular abutment would have an interior
diameter 53 of approximately 1{fraction (7/16)} of an inch. The
thickness 54 of the tubular abutment member would be approximately
{fraction (1/32)} of an inch. The tubular abutment would have an
axial length 55 of about 1/2 of an inch.
[0025] Although the guide in one shown embodiment is completely
open prior to disposal over the paper towel spindle, it is possible
that the guide could be closed and open upon insertion of the spindle
or bracket into the guide. For instance, the guide (FIG. 12) could
include resilient internal members 60 which open up upon insertion
of the spindle through the abutment 62, 63. In the alternative embodiment,
the abutment is a pair of juxtapositioned arms 62, 63. The resilient
members 60 after insertion would exert an outward force on the abutment
to cause or assist the external surface of the abutment to form
a frictional fit with the internal surface of the paper towel tube.
The resilient members of course could also be positioned or constructed
differently.
[0026] The air freshener can be sealed with a metalized wrapper
70. The wrapper can be disposed around the air freshener so as to
provide a substantially airtight barrier around the freshener. The
metalized wrapper is preferably aluminum coated with polyester.
The scented material disposed within the base consists of a plurality
of scented beads 40. The beads are made out of a resilient soft
plastic. The beads are scented. The scented beads have applied thereto
a layer of scented oil 72.
[0027] The invention disclosed herein has been described with reference
to a particular example. It is understood that the invention may
be embodied in a variety of other examples not specifically described
herein. The scope of the invention, thus is not limited by the example
described herein. The invention is intended to only be limited as
required by the appended claims.
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