Variable-sectioned rolled towel

Abstract

A rolled towel (or any other roll of sheets), such as a paper towel roll, construction to facilitate the use of sheets from said rolled towel as placemats and napkins. The construction comprises including a plurality of lines of weakness alternating distances apart along at least a portion of the length of, for instance, the paper towel roll such that the roll comprises sheets of alternating sizes. The alternating sizes correspond, at least roughly, to the size of a placemat and the size of a napkin. Printing on the sheets can optionally be used to more readily define the perforations and thereby facilitate accurate separation, and can optionally be used anywhere on the sheets for aesthetic purposes.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to rolled towels or sheets. In a specific aspect, it relates to improved sectioning of rolled towels such as paper towel rolls. [0003] 2. Description of Related Art [0004] Rolled towels such as paper towel rolls, whether they are actually made of paper (for instance, the absorbent materials from which common household paper towels are fashioned) or made of cloth, felt or some other material, are well-known in the art. For instance, any number of brands of paper towel rolls are commonly sold for various uses: from auto mechanic shop work to cleaning the kitchen and other household chores. Such paper towel rolls are perforated into uniform sheets such that each sheet of paper towel separated from the roll is substantially the same size. A common problem encountered during the use of many such uniform paper towel rolls is the need for sheets of specific or varying sizes and shapes, dependi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] It is another object of the present invention to provide such facilitation cost-effectively.

[0011] In the light of these and other objectives, the present invention presents a novel and nonobvious rolled towel—for instance a paper towel roll—construction to facilitate use of the sheets thereon as appropriately sized placemats and napkins, such construction comprising perforating the rolled towel at alternating intervals to form alternating sheets of two different lengths, the first length consistent with the size of a placemat and the second length consistent with the size of a napkin. Thus, the rolled towel consists of alternating placemat and napkin sheets, the placemat sheets being longer in length such that they more readily approximate the size of an average placemat and the napkin sheets being shorter such that they more readily approximate the size of an average napkin.

[0013] The preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a roll of paper towels wherein the roll is perforated such that it contains alternating sheets of two distinct sizes, the first sized sheets of such a length that they more closely correspond in size to that of a standard placemat (for instance, roughly 14 to 18 inches) and the second sized sheets of a shorter length such that they more closely correspond in size to that of a standard napkin (for instance, roughly 8 to 12 inches so that the napkin may be folded, as some standard napkins are, to an appropriate size). Optionally printed thereon are decorative designs—or instance, boarders—that also may serve to distinguish the edges of the placemats and napkins to facilitate easier determination of the perforated tear points on the roll.

Problems solved by technology

A common problem encountered during the use of many such uniform paper towel rolls is the need for sheets of specific or varying sizes and shapes, depending on the use for which they are needed.

Thus, users of paper towels are often forced to make one size (and shape) fit all.

Each of these suggested remedies do not, however, address a common problem often encountered when using rolled towels such as paper towels.

But paper towels of uniform size are inherently unsuitable for use as both placemats and napkins because of the larger size of standard placemats as compared to standard napkins.

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