Holder for flaccid flat articles such as napkins

Abstract

A holder maintains flaccid, flat articles in substantially vertically no matter how many articles are removed from it. The holder's base defines a generally horizontal plane when the holder is in normal use. A pair of lateral walls are attached to the base and arranged in vertical planes generally normal to the horizontal plane. These walls, with predetermined height and spacing from each other a predetermined distance, form a region that receives and holds the stacked, flat, flaccid articles—such as napkins—vertically oriented substantially parallel to the lateral walls. Gravity-actuated force-generating members apply a generally horizontal force to the stack of articles within the region and urge them toward one of the lateral walls and away from the other. This application of force substantially reduces any drooping or collapse of the articles and keeps them erect no matter how many articles are placed within or removed from the holder.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATION [0001] This utility patent application is based on an earlier filed provisional application, for a “Sure-Hold Napkin Holder,” which was filed on September 24, 2003, and received the Ser. No. 60 / 505,531. This application takes priority from that provisional application.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] This invention generally relates to article holders and, more specifically, to a holder for flaccid flat articles such as napkins, files, correspondence, and other such articles. [0004] 2. Description of the Prior Art [0005] While numerous napkin holder designs have been proposed, the prior art has failed to create a simple design that generally has the appearance of a typical or traditional napkin holder while it maintains the generally soft and flaccid napkins from drooping as the napkin holder is depleted, and fewer and fewer napkins remain between two fixed spaced lateral upright walls. [0006] For example, one p...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a holder for maintaining flaccid flat articles, such as table napkin, that overcomes the disadvantages inherent in the prior art holders.

[0010] It is another object of the invention to provide a holder for maintaining soft or flaccid flat articles, ones that are subject to drooping, that is simple in construction and economical to manufacture.

[0011] It is still another object of the invention to provide a holder as in the previous objects that continues to maintain a substantially constant force on vertically oriented, flaccid articles to prevent such articles from drooping or collapsing, particularly when the holder becomes depleted of such articles.

[0013] It is a further object of the information to provide a holder of the type under discussion that maintains a stack of vertically arranged flaccid flat articles in an organized, neat array, so that the upper edges of such articles continue to be available for easy access, gripping and removal from the holder.

[0014] It is still a further object of the invention to provide a holder as in a previous object that prevents flaccid flat articles, vertically arranged, from inadvertently falling out or being blown out by wind or the like when the napkin holder is not full.

[0015] In order to achieve the above objects, as well as others that will become evident hereinafter, a holder for maintaining flaccid flat articles in substantially vertical orientations independently of the number of articles received or removed from the holder, in accordance with the present invention, comprises a base defining a general horizontal plane when the holder is placed on a support surface during normal use. A pair of lateral walls are attached to said base and arranged in vertical plane general normal to said horizontal plane. Said walls have a predetermined height and are spaced from each other a predetermined spaced distance to form a region for receiving and holding a plurality of stacked flaccid, flat articles such as napkins, with orientations generally parallel to said spaced walls and vertical planes. An important feature of the invention is the provision of gravity-actuated force-generating means for applying a generally horizontal force on a stack of flaccid articles to cause said articles to be urged towards one of said lateral walls and away from the other of said lateral walls to substantially reduce the drooping and / or collapse of said articles and maintain said articles erect independently of the number of articles within or removed from the holder.

Problems solved by technology

While numerous napkin holder designs have been proposed, the prior art has failed to create a simple design that generally has the appearance of a typical or traditional napkin holder while it maintains the generally soft and flaccid napkins from drooping as the napkin holder is depleted, and fewer and fewer napkins remain between two fixed spaced lateral upright walls.

While such design avoids the drooping or sagging problem, such napkin holders necessarily have a larger footprint than conventional or traditional napkin holders.

Such napkin holders are significantly more complicated and costly.

However, as napkins are removed from the holder, the remaining napkins are no longer held firm between the vertical walls, and thus they hang loose, and become limp and fold over each other, which makes it more difficult to grasp the edge of the napkins and remove them from the holder.

The more napkins that are removed from the holder, the more difficult it becomes to remove a single napkin without having the others fall over each other.

They can also fall out of the napkin holder if one moves the holder.

In addition, if the napkin holder is used outside, such as on a patio table, a deck table or a picnic table, the slightest breeze can blow the napkins away.

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