Holder for collapsible tubes

March 13, 1951 _D. elterman etal 2,544,751

HOLDER FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBES

Filed March 30, 1S49

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Patented Mar. 13, 1951

2,544,751

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,544,751

HOLDER FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBES

Daniel Elterman, Northport, Leonard E. Elterman, East Northport, and Walter Elterman, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application March 30,1949, Serial No. 84,366

Claims.

This invention relates to holders; for collapsible tubes.

It is an object of the invention to provide a holder of the character described' which constitutes few and simple parts, is inexpensive to manufacture, is. light in weight and is durable in use.

It is another object of the invention to provide a holder of the character described in which a tube can be inserted easily and. which can be adjusted simply and rapidly to accommodate tubes of different sizes.

Other objects of the invention will in part be . obvious and in part will be pointed: out hereinafter. .

The invention accordingly consists in the fea. tures of construction,, combinations of elements, . and arrangements, of. parts, which will: be exemplified in. the construction, hereinafter described and illustrated and. of which the scope of application will be. indicated, in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one. of the various possible embodiments of the invention,.

Fig.. 1 is a central vertical section, through, a ²⁵tube holder, constructed, ifi accordance with the invention, a. tube being positioned therein;

Fig. 2 is a. front view, of said tube holder;

Fig.. 3 Is. a to.p view, of the. tube holder with, its cap partly broken, away to show certain details of 30 construction.;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken, substantially along the. line. 4—4 of Eig.. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the, line. 5—5 of Fig. 1; 35 and

Fig.. 6 is- an exploded side view of the tube holder.

Referring, now in. detail to. the drawings, the . reference numeral 10 denotes, a tube holder, em- 40 bodying the invention and. constituting a. base 12, a pedestal 14 and a top. 16, the pedestal serving as an off-center support to hold the top in. elevated condition relative to the base.. AH these parts of the holder can. be fabricated from, any 45 . suitable self-form-maintaining material. Ho.w. ever, the same preferably are. made from a plastic, inasmuch as several otherwise necessary machine operations thereby. are eliminated., and :. since the use of plastic permits the elimination of 50 a spring, as later will be. apparent.

To enable the holder to-accommodate tubes of different sizes, the pedestal is s.o constructed that its length, can be. adjusted. To, this end. the ; pedestal is made, in two halves, to-wit, an upper §5

01., 248—109) half 18 and a lower half 20, the upper half being molded in one piece with the top 16 and the lower half being molded in one piece with the base i 2, Such arrangement has the further advantage of 5 simplifying molding procedure. The upper pedestal half has a cross-sectional configuration which, roughly, is of U-shape. More specifically, the cross-sectional configuration of said upper half is arcuate, being in the form of a thin-walled 10 semi-circle, as best seen in Fig. 4. The lower half 20 of the pedestal has a matching thin-walled cross-sectional configuration (likewise seen in Fig. 4), so that: it is adapted to telescopically receive the upper half.

in order to guide the upper half vertically in its movement relative to the lower half and to prevent relative rotation of these two circularly shaped halves, orfe of said halves is formed with at least one vertically extending projection and ²⁰ the. other half with a mating irregularity. As shown herein, the vertically extending projection is in the form of a pair of vertical ribs; 22, 24 projecting outwardly-from adjacent the vertical side edges of the upper pedestal half 18. These ribs slidably engage mating slots 26, 28 molded in an inwardly directed flange 30 at the top edge of the lower pedestal half 20. In addition, the forward faces of the ribs ride on the rear faces of a pair of inwardly extending vertical rails 32, 34 fashioned on the vertical side edges of the lower pedestal half. Thus, the upper half is held captive in the lower half.

The pedestal also includes means to hold the two halves in any adjusted position. Such means comprises a vertically extending series of nubs or teeth 36 projecting rearwardly from the outer back surface of the upper pedestal half. The top end of the series of teeth is located adiacent the top of the upper pedestal half- and the bottom end of the series of teeth is spaced from the bottom edge of said pedestal half. From the lowermost tooth to said bottom edge the entire surface of the lower pedestal half is uniformly slightly raised to form a broad low ledge 38. The rim of the flange 30 slidably engages the outer back surface of the upper pedestal half above the ledge 38 and the ledge 38 slidably engages the internal forward surface of the. lower pedestal half. Said flange is not. notched to pass the teeth 36. However, due to the, inherent resilience of thin sections of plastic material, the flange 30 will flex outwardly and the. upper half will flex inwardly in the region of the. teeth when the upper pedestal half is lifted or depressed with sufficient force. This action permits passage of the teeth in either

2,544,781 folded metal strip 42 conventionally the bottom of a standard collapsible tube 44. The rear end of the well the hollow portion of the pedestal direction. Only a few pounds of effort is required thus to move the upper pedestal half relative to the lower half, this being sufficiently great to prevent accidental displacement, but not enough to render adjustment difficult. Further to facilitate this adjustment, the edges of the teeth are rounded as shown in Fig. 1, whereby the teeth exert a camming action on the flange 30.

Extension of the upper half is limited by abutment of the ledge 38 against the flange. Due to the breadth of the ledge, neither half can flex sufficiently to pass the ledge beneath the rim of the flange.

The base 12 is fashioned with a narrow horizontally elongated well 40 which is designed to receive the present on dispensing opens into thereby to permit tubes having overly long strips 42 to be accommodated by the holder.

The top 16, which is substantially parallel to the base 12, is fashioned to provide a cup-shaped interior in which there is adapted to be located and concealed the frusto-conical top 45 of the standard tube 44. It is desirable to have the holder top 16 taper upwardly somewhat, for example by having the top provided with steps 48, as indicated, to roughly match in its over-all taper, the taper of the top of the conventional tube 44.

The flat upper surface of said ton is provided with a through opening 50 designed to pass the male threaded neck 52 of the conventional tube 44. Optionally, the opening 50 may include two Or more overlapping circular openings, as shown, which are of different diameters in order to enable the holder to receive tubes having different sized necks. These openings are designed to receive the neck of the tube after the tube cap has been removed.

The top 16 also includes a cap 54 having a hollow interior and a cork ply 56 covering the inside surface of its crown. The rear edge of the cap has a pair of outwardly extending registered trunnions 58. These trunnions are located between a pair of fingers 60 projecting upwardly from the top 16 and having inwardly directed flanges 62, 64 along its upper and side edges. Said go flanges define a space wherein the trunnions are captively held. The rear edge 66 of the cap is rounded, as indicated in Fig. 1, and is adapted to rest on a matching concave seat 68 in the top 16. Such mounting of the cap permits the same to 55 rotate freely and also to shift vertically through short distances. In this fashion the cap better is able to adjust itself to different lengths of necks after the holder top i 6 has been pushed down to engage the top 46 of the tube around the base of 60 the neck. The cork ply 56 is employed better to close the open mouth of the dispensing tube when the same is left in the holder without its normal screw top.

It thus will be seen that there is provided a 65 holder for collapsible tubes which achieves the several objects of the invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes 70 ably interengaged, means to guide said halves for might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described, or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.