GB2528242A - Wall-mountable holder for a glove dispensing system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a wall-mountable holder 1 for dispensing gloves from a pack 401,501 of stacked disposable gloves 402 held within the holder, the gloves being stacked within the stack along a stacking axis 505,505, the holder comprising a substantially cuboid housing 2 and within the housing at least one receptacle 4,4,4, the or each receptacle for holding at least one of the packs 401,501 of stacked gloves. The housing comprises: a plurality of external faces 11-16 including a rear face 12 and opposite the rear face a front face 11 and between the front face and the rear faces a lower face 15; a mounting feature for mounting the rear face of the holder to a substantially vertical mounting surface such that the lower face 15 faces downwards and the front face 11 faces away from said mounting surface. The housing also comprises for each receptacle, at least one front dispensing aperture 6,6,6 on the front face 11 of the housing for dispensing gloves and at least one lower dispensing aperture 8,8,8 on the lower face 15 of the housing for dispensing gloves, the front dispensing aperture 6,6,6 being elevated relative to the lower dispensing aperture 8,8,8 when the rear face of the housing is mounted on the substantially vertical mounting surface. The front aperture 6,6,6 and the lower aperture 8,8,8 extend to the same receptacle within the housing whereby the holder is capable of dispensing gloves from one or the other of the front and lower dispensing apertures depending on the orientation of the stacking axis of a pack of gloves held by the receptacle. The holder further comprises an opening for providing access to the receptacle when a pack of gloves is to be placed in the receptacle prior to dispensing of gloves through one or the other of the front or lower apertures.

Description

Wall-mountable Holder for a Glove Dispensing System

BACKGROUND

a. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the dispensing of disposable gloves for use in clinical, veterinary, medical or food preparation environments, and in particular to a wall-mountable holder and a glove dispensing system comprising the holder and one or more packs of disposable gloves held within the holder.

b. Related Art The control of infection of patients in hospitals, clinics, and doctors' surgeries has become an ever more pressing concern with the rise of infectious bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics, in particular methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Research has shown that high levels of MRSA and C. difficile are present on everyday items in hospitals. Samples taken from an intensive care unit at a London hospital found MRSA on charts, bins, pens, medical notes, phones and computer keyboards. There was also MRSA present on staff aprons and hands.

The most common route for MRSA infection is between patients or via a doctor or nurse. Hospital staff can spread MRSA by using such items after having contact with patients.

Research has also shown that if someone has MRSA on their hands, the bacteria would be left on the next four surfaces touched by that person. Once MRSA is on an item it will remain there for up to 80 days unless that item is cleaned. C. difficile will remain active on surfaces much longer than that.

Most gloves used in hospitals and clinics are examination gloves, also called inspection gloves. Because examination gloves are used in large numbers, these are not supplied in individual sterile packages, but instead in relatively inexpensive cardboard dispensing boxes. Use of these disposable medical gloves can help prevent cross-contamination, but a problem arises if external parts of the glove are touched by a person prior to or during donning of the glove. Such external parts can then become contaminated prior to use.

One effective way of dispensing multiple quantities of examination gloves is disclosed in US 5,816,440, in which a cuboid dispenser has two side-by-side approximately cubic glove packs each containing a stack of interfolded gloves inside an outer container, with a cuff portion of each glove being folded behind the cuff portion of the next glove in the stack. A cuff portion of the glove to be dispensed protrudes from a dispensing aperture of the box so that a user can grip a portion of the cuff, which may for long cuff gloves is folded back on itself and for short cuff gloves is a beaded cuff end. When the glove is pulled free from the dispensing aperture, the finger portion then pulls the cuff of the next glove to be dispensed free from the aperture. When the glove stack is interfolded in this way with one transverse fold line about midway along the length of the glove, the resulting glove stack has an approximately square cross-section transverse to a dispensing axis of the dispenser.

Other types of glove interfolding have been proposed, for example an S-fold type of interfolding disclosed in WO 2012/085704 Al in which there are two transverse folds at approximately the one-third and two-third points between the finger tips and the end of the glove cuff. This type of interfolding also produces a glove stack in which the finger portion of each glove loops around the cuff portion of the next glove to be dispensed. However, in this case the stack of gloves will be narrower in the direction transverse to the fold lines.

Whether or not the stack of gloves is interfolded for cuff-first dispensing, the glove dispenser may include a compression or biasing means such as a spring behind the glove stack or an elastic band around the glove stack to push the glove stack towards the dispensing aperture as the glove stack become depleted. Examples of such compression or biasing means are disclosed in US 4,844,293, US 4,997,105 and GB 2489326 A. Alternatively, if the dispensing opening is in a downwards facing side of the holder as disclosed in us 5,816,440 then the glove stack may simply move under its own weight towards the dispensing opening as gloves are dispensed.

For convenience and to help prevent contamination of gloves prior to dispensing, it is preferred if gloves are dispensed from a holder mounted to a convenient vertical surface. The holders will usually have a back plate with holes for mounting screws, or other such mounting feature by which the holder can be affixed to a vertical surface such as a wall, a cabinet or other object having a substantially vertically extending surface. In this specification, all such holders are referred to as Wall-mountabld' holders. Example of such holders are disclosed in GB 2467180 A, which shows a holder for a substantially cubic glove pack consisting of a single stack of interfolded gloves inside an outer container with the dispensing aperture of the pack oriented downwards, and GB 2489326 A which shows a holder for a rectangular cuboid glove pack consisting of twin stacks of interfolded gloves inside a single outer box-like container of card material with a dispensing passage in the container oriented laterally away from the vertical mounting surface on which the holder is mounted. Elongate cuboid holders may also hold a single similarly shaped glove pack having a single container inside of which is a single stack of non-interfolded gloves in which the stack consists of a gloves laid flat one on another.

A potential problem of holders that are capable of holding just one glove pack, is that gloves can unexpectedly run out. This is quite likely to happen, as glove containers are normally made from an opaque card material, for example cardboard, stiff paper, a resilient plastic sheet material or any other suitable type of sheet material. All such suitable sheet-like materials will be referred to herein as b&d materiar'. The card material can be made transparent or at least partially transparent or translucent to ameliorate this problem. Alternatively, it is also known to form the container substantially or mostly from a flexible and easily deformable clear plastic film material, such as high or low density polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, or biaxially oriented polypropylene, in the manner of packaging inside a bag. All such readily deformable or collapsible containers, whether or not made from a polymeric material, are to herein as bag-likd' containers. A bag-like container may comprise one or more sides that comprise a card material component which may also provide reinforcement. This is particularly useful on the dispensing side of the bag-like container, as printed product information and the dispensing aperture can then be printed on the card material.

In addition to unexpectedly running out of disposable inspection gloves, another problem faced by users of such gloves is that there is a wide variety different types of wall-mountable holders, each one of which is, in general, specifically designed to receive one type of glove pack. A user may not wish to be tied to one supplier or a particular type of glove pack, but it is inconvenient if a user has to change a wall-mounted holder for a different type of holder, or alternatively mount a second type of holder adjacent to an existing holder.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a more convenient wall-mountable holder and a glove dispensing system comprising the holder and one or more packs of disposable gloves held within the holder, for use in medical, veterinary, clinical or food preparation environments or in any other environment where the control of hand-borne contamination is important.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a wall-mountable holder for dispensing gloves from a pack of stacked disposable gloves held within the holder, said gloves being stacked within the stack along a stacking axis, the holder comprising a substantially cuboid housing and within the housing at least one receptacle, the or each receptacle for holding at least one of said packs of stacked gloves, wherein the housing comprises: -a plurality of external faces including a rear face and opposite the rear face a front face and between the front face and the rear face a lower face; -a mounting feature for mounting the rear face of the holder to a substantially vertical mounting surface such that the lower face faces downwards and the front face faces away from said mounting surface; and -for the or each receptacle, at least one front dispensing aperture on the front face of the housing for dispensing said gloves and at least one lower dispensing aperture on the lower face of the housing for dispensing said gloves, said front dispensing aperture being elevated relative to said lower dispensing aperture when the rear face of the housing is mounted on said substantially vertical mounting surface; wherein said front aperture and said lower aperture extend to the same receptacle within the housing whereby the holder is capable of dispensing said gloves from one or the other of said front dispensing aperture and said lower dispensing aperture depending on the orientation of said stacking axis of a pack of said gloves held by said receptacle, the holder further comprising an opening for providing access to said receptacle when said pack of gloves is to be placed in said receptacle prior to dispensing of said gloves through one or the other of said apertures.

The receptacle is therefore a common receptacle for different types of glove packs held in the receptacle, and so the, or each, receptacle is also common to at least one front dispensing aperture and at least one lower dispensing aperture.

The gloves to be dispensed may be any type of glove, for example short cuff hygienic inspection gloves such as the interfolded gloves illustrated in GB 2489326 A, having a beaded cuff end, or long cuff medical gloves, including optionally long cuff gloves that have the cuffs folded back to reduce the length of the gloves in an interfolded stack such as those illustrated in US 5,816,440. The gloves to be dispensed may also comprise stacks of gloves that are not interfolded for cuff-first first dispensing.

The pack of gloves will comprise means for holding the stack of gloves together, for example an outer container. The receptacle is then configured to receive and hold exterior surfaces of the outer container such that the stack of gloves is correctly positioned for dispensing of gloves from the dispensing aperture.

The mounting feature may be any type of feature that permits mounting of the holder to a vertical surface, for example clearance holes in the rear face for screws or self-adhesive pads on the rear face of the of the housing or brackets that extend around the rear face of the housing.

The glove pack may comprise a single stack of gloves contained inside a flexible thin-walled and therefore collapsible bag-like container, which may be reinforced on a dispensing side with at least one reinforcing member. Each glove in the stack of gloves will, in general, have a cull portion and a finger portion. Each stack will, in general, also have a pair of opposite ends, namely a first end and a second end, between which gloves are stacked one on another.

The gloves may be interfolded with each other such that the finger portion of each glove wraps around the cuff portion of the next glove to be dispensed whereby, in use, the cull of the next glove to be dispensed is pulled into position for cuff-first dispensing by movement of the current glove being dispensed. In this way, cuff-first dispensing can be assured. Interfolded stacks of gloves tend to have a square or nearly square outline, especially for inspection gloves which have relatively short cuff portions that terminate with a beaded cull end.

Alternatively, the gloves may be laid flat one on another in the stack, in which case the stack will be elongated along the long axis of each glove extending from the cull end to the endmost finger tip. The receptacle will then have a similarly elongated shape for receiving and holding the stack.

The, or each, glove stack will have a perimeter that extends around the stack between the ends of the stack. The first end of the stack is the dispensing end of the stack from which gloves are presented for dispensing gloves cuff first.

The stack can be substantially enveloped by a flexible bag-like container, the container having a first end wall and a second end wall and extending between the end walls a side wall. The first and second end walls extend over, respectively, the first and second ends of the stack and the side wall extends around the perimeter of the stack, whereby the stack is contained by the bag-like container. The first end wall then comprises a dispensing portion of the container which, in use, provides a dispensing passage in the first end wall through which gloves pass during cuff-first dispensing of gloves. As the bag-like container is flexible, the side wall of the container is collapsible, so that if the glove pack or the dispenser includes a compression means such as a spring to urge the second end wall towards the first end wall in order to move the stack of gloves towards the dispensing passage as gloves are progressively dispensed from the stack, then the side wall can deform to accommodate such movement.

Although such a spring-biasing means may be desirable when the stacking axis is substantially horizontal, a spring-biasing means is not needed when the stacking axis is substantially vertical, as then the stack of gloves will tend to move downwards under its own weight as gloves are dispensed.

There may be at least one reinforcing member in the bag-like container to help maintain the shape of the first end of the stack. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the reinforcing member is at the dispensing end of the stack and is configured with respect to the stack to allow gloves to reach the dispensing passage in the pack during cuff-first dispensing of gloves from the stack.

Preferably the reinforcing member provides this dispensing passage through which each glove passes on its way to the dispensing aperture of the housing as each glove is dispensed.

When gloves are packaged in a bag-like container, then such a container may be held without the need for any other packaging or containment within the receptacle of the housing. Alternatively, the bag-like container may be held within a box-shaped outer container, which may be of a card material, for example cardboard, stiff paper, semi-rigid sheet material or any other suitable type of sheet material.

Alternatively, the box-shaped container may be a resilient polymeric material, for example polypropylene, which has the ability to recoil or spring back into shape after bending.

All such sheet-like materials suitable for a box-like container, including resilient polymeric material, will be referred to herein as tard material. The box-like outer container can then be held within the receptacle without the need for any other packaging or containment within the receptacle of the housing. If the gloves are interfolded examination gloves having short cuffs, packaged as a single stack inside a similarly shaped container, then the glove pack will be substantially cubic.

If the receptacle is elongate, then the receptacle may hold two or more such containers. Alternatively, the glove pack may comprise an elongate box-like container so that it can contain two side-by-side stacks of interfolded gloves, in which case the receptacle will be elongate so that it can hold such a glove pack.

All such different types of packs of gloves comprising any suitable means for holding together one or more glove stacks are referred to herein as a "pack of glovS'.

The use of at least two dispensing apertures, at least one on the front face of the housing and at least one on the lower face of the housing, permits the receptacle within the housing to receive and hold a wide variety of such different types of glove pack, for example having a substantially cubic shape or having a rectangular cuboid shape, and with the dispensing side of the pack of gloves facing towards either the front or lower faces of the housing, depending on the dimensions of the glove pack.

Furthermore, the receptacle may be sized to receive multiple glove packs, or the housing may contain more than one receptacle, preferably in a side-by-side configuration, so that more than one glove pack can be held by the housing. In this way, glove packs having different size gloves, for example small, medium and large, can be held and dispensed from the glove dispenser. Or, gloves can be dispensed from multiple packs all of the same glove size so that when one glove pack runs out of gloves another glove pack in the same dispenser is still available for dispensing gloves.

It is therefore advantageous if there is a plurality of front dispensing passages for dispensing gloves in a substantially horizontal direction from a corresponding plurality of packs of gloves held by the same receptacle.

Similarly, it is useful if there is a plurality of receptacles, these receptacles being spaced horizontally apart when the rear face of the housing is mounted on a substantially vertical mounting surface.

The opening may be an open access aperture in an upper face of the housing opposite the lower face of the housing. However, it is preferred ii the opening is a hatch in one or more faces of the housing, this hatch being movable such that the hatch may be moved to an open orientation to provide access to the, or each, receptacle and moved to a closed orientation after one or more packs of gloves are placed in the, or each, receptacle. The hatch may comprise at least part of the front face of the housing and may comprise at least part of an upper face of the housing opposite the lower face of the housing. When the front face of the housing comprises the hatch, then the front dispensing aperture may be a passage through the hatch.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a glove dispensing system for dispensing disposable gloves, comprising a wall-mountable holder and a pack of gloves containing a plurality of disposable gloves, the pack of gloves having gloves that are stacked within the pack of gloves along a stacking axis and the pack of gloves having at one end of said stack a dispensing end from which gloves may, in use, be dispensed, wherein said holder is as in the first aspect of -10-the invention and the pack of gloves is sized so as to be received and held by the receptacle in one of two possible orientations, namely a first orientation in which the dispensing end of said stack is positioned for glove dispensing through said front dispensing aperture and a second orientation in which the dispensing end of said stack is positioned for glove dispensing through said lower dispensing aperture.

When the receptacle is elongate, such that the receptacle extends in a substantially vertical direction when the holder is mounted on a vertical mounting surface, there may be two substantially cubic packs of gloves held within the same receptacle one on top of another each with a substantially horizontal stacking axis.

There may then be one dispensing aperture that is elongate in a vertical direction.

The configuration of the dispensing aperture and the two packs of gloves may then be such that the stacking axes of each stack of gloves is in proximity with either the lower end or the upper end of the front dispensing aperture.

Therefore, when the receptacle is elongate such that the receptacle extends in a substantially vertical direction when the holder is mounted on a vertical mounting surface, a third aspect of the invention provides a glove dispensing system for dispensing disposable gloves, comprising a wall-mountable holder and a first pack of gloves and a second pack of gloves, each of the packs of gloves containing a plurality of disposable gloves and having gloves that are stacked within the pack of gloves along a stacking axis and each of the packs of gloves having at one end of the stack a dispensing end from which gloves may, in use, be dispensed, wherein the first pack of gloves is sized so as to be received and held by the elongate receptacle in a first orientation in which the dispensing end of the stack is positioned for glove dispensing through the front dispensing aperture and the second pack of gloves is sized so as to be received and held by the receptacle in a second orientation in which the dispensing end of the stack is positioned for glove dispensing through the lower dispensing aperture.

Furthermore, when there is one elongate and vertically extending front dispensing aperture, the first pack of gloves may be an elongate pack of gloves holding gloves which are not transversely folded to reduce the length of the gloves inside the pack of gloves, and the dispensing end of the stack is positioned for glove dispensing through a portion, for example a lower or upper end portion, of the elongate front dispensing aperture.

The flexible thin-walled material of the bag-like container can be made from a relatively inexpensive and non-bulky material, for example a flexible polymeric material having a thickness in the range of 25 pm to 200 pm. All such relatively thin-walled materials which do not have the mechanical strength to maintain their shape, even under their own weight, are referred to herein as "collapsible' materials. The glove pack can then be loaded into the housing to form the glove dispensing system. As the housing is reusable, this can be made from durable materials, for example an injection moulded plastics materials and include features to facilitate easy loading and secure retention of the glove pack within the housing.

The glove pack is therefore a relatively inexpensive cartridge for loading into a reusable housing to form a glove dispensing system.

Once all the gloves have been dispensed from a glove pack, the dispenser housing may be opened up, for example by means of a removable cover portion of the housing, and the depleted pack removed and a full pack inserted in its place.

The bag-like container may include at the dispensing end of the stack at least one reinforcing member that has an aperture to allow gloves to reach the dispensing passage during cuff-first dispensing of gloves from the stack.

The reinforcing member may be a plate that has an aperture extending through the plate which allows the gloves to reach the dispensing aperture in the housing as cuffs are dispensed cull first from the stack.

A problem can arise if the gloves being dispensed rub against the edges of the dispensing aperture in the housing. Initially, the bag-like container is preferably -12-taut around the enclosed glove and reinforcing member or members. However, the bag will collapse as the remaining gloves in the stack are progressively moved towards the dispensing passage, and so the bag will become slack. The collapsible bag-like container may be held within an outer card material container, which may be either a disposable, single-use container or alternatively a reusable container with a lid or cover that can be opened or closed to remove a depleted bag-like container and replace this with a fresh bag-like container. Such a reusable outer container for receiving one or more inner containers of gloves (which may be either a bag-like container or a box-shaped container), suitable for loading into the wall-mountable holder of the invention, is referred to herein as atadd'. As such a caddy contains one or more stacks of gloves, the caddy is also a type of glove pack that may be held by the receptacle of the housing.

If the bag-like container is not held inside any other outer card material box-like container, then spring-biasing means inside the housing can be used to press the bag-like container against an inside wall of the housing. The dispensing end of the bag-like container is then compressed against an adjacent inner surface of the housing into which the glove pack has been loaded. This tends to stabilise the portion of the bag-like container from being pulled or dragged outwards together with the glove being dispensed.

Whatever the type of container for the stack of gloves, it is, however! particularly advantageous if the dispensing aperture in the housing is larger than the size of any dispensing aperture of a bag-like container held within the housing as this will help to minimise or eliminate any transfer of contamination external surfaces of the housing contamination to gloves being dispensed.

Therefore, the dispensing apertures in the housing are preferably larger in at least one dimension than any dispensing passage in glove stack containers held within the housing.

In preferred embodiments, the dispensing apertures in the housing are outside the -13-bounds of the dispensing passages in bag-like containers held within the housing, for example, being fully set back from the edges of the apertures in the housing.

All of these arrangements provide the benefit that when a glove is pulled from the glove pack during dispensing, as the glove being dispensed does not drag on the sides of the dispensing aperture in the housing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described, by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a wall-mountable holder for dispensing gloves from a pack of stacked disposable examination gloves according to a first preferred embodiment of the invention, having a housing with three side-by-side receptacles each of which has two corresponding dispensing apertures, one in a lower face of the housing and the other in a front face of the housing, the front face also serving as part of an access hatch; Figure 2 shows the wall-mountable holder of Figure 1 with three glove packs of a first type being received and held in the receptacles, prior to closing of the access hatch, each glove pack comprising a single stack of flatly laid gloves within an elongate container having a single dispensing passage aligned with one of the front dispensing apertures in the housing; Figure 3 shows the wall-mountable holder of Figure 1 with four glove packs received and held in the receptacles prior to closing of the access hatch, two of a second type each comprising two stacks of interfolded gloves and two of a third type each comprising one stack of interfolded gloves, each glove pack comprising a container having for each glove stack a dispensing passage aligned with the front dispensing aperture in the housing; Figure 4 shows the wall-mountable holder of Figure 1 with three glove packs received and held in the receptacles prior to closing of the access hatch, one of a fourth type that comprises one stack of interfolded gloves and that has a dispensing passage aligned with a lower dispensing aperture of the housing, and also with two glove packs of a fifth type each comprising two stacks of interfolded gloves and two corresponding dispensing passages aligned with the front dispensing aperture in the housing; Figure 5 shows the wall-mountable holder of Figure 1 with three glove packs of a sixth type received and held in the receptacles, prior to closing of the access hatch, each glove pack comprising a single stack of interfolded gloves within an elongate container having a single passage aligned with one of the lower dispensing apertures in the housing; Figure 6 shows the wall-mountable holder of Figure 1, after the access hatch of the wall-mountable holder of Figure 5 has been closed; Figures 7 to 10 show various perspective views of the wall-mountable holder of Figure 1, illustrating the various stages in the closing of the access hatch; Figure 11 is a cross-section of the housing of a glove dispensing system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention in which the holder is mounted on a vertically extending surface and the fifth type of glove pack is held within a receptacle of the wall-mountable holder, showing also how a latch mechanism behind an upper face of the housing keeps the access hatch closed; Figure 12 is a perspective view showing a wall-mounting means on the rear face of the housing and the latching mechanism with the access hatch closed; Figure 13 is a perspective view of the fourth type of a glove pack, showing how this has an outer bag-like container for loading into the wall-mountable holder; Figure 14 is a perspective view of the fifth type of a glove pack, comprising a reusable caddy with two side-by-side compartments each for holding one of the fourth type of glove packs of Figure 13, one compartment being full and the other having had a lid removed to show an interior of the compartment; Figure 15 is a cross-section through the caddy of Figure 10, showing a removable lid of the caddy and an empty one of the compartments; and Figure 16 is a cross-section similar to that of Figure 11, taken along line XVI-XVI of Figure 14 showing how a removable tab is pulled from the fourth type of glove pack to expose the cuff of the first glove to be dispensed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 shows a wall-mountable holder 1 for dispensing disposable medical inspection gloves. The holder comprises a housing 2 and within the housing three receptacles 4, 4', 4', each for holding at least one pack of stacked gloves.

With reference now also to Figures 2-12, the housing comprises six substantially rectangular sides or external faces 11-16, being substantially rectangular cuboid in shape. A first side or front face 11 is provided by a first, or front side wall 21 which has three single vertically elongate glove dispensing front apertures 6. 6'. if", one for each receptacle 4, 4', 4'.

Opposite this front face is a rear side or face 12 is provided by a second, or rear side wall 22. Extending between these opposite front and rear side walls 21, 22 is a pair of opposite lateral sides or left and right faces 13, 14, provided by a pair of vertically elongate side walls 23, 24. The remaining two sides are a pair of horizontally elongate opposite lower and upper end faces 15, 16, provided by a pair of opposite lower and upper end walls 25, 26. The lower end wall 25 has three horizontally elongate glove dispensing lower apertures 8, a, a', one for each receptacle 4, 4, 4'.

The front and lower apertures are vertically aligned or vertically grouped with a corresponding common receptacle, such that in each group there is at least one lower aperture and at least one front aperture, the front aperture being relatively in front of and above the lower aperture. In this example, as there is in each such group just one front aperture and just one lower aperture, each group of apertures comprises a pair of apertures.

Preferably, the front face 11 is substantially at right angles to the lower face 15.

Each of the lower apertures is configured to dispense gloves from a glove stack having a substantially vertically oriented stacking axis, and each of the front apertures is configured to dispense gloves from a glove stack having a substantially horizontally oriented stacking axis.

In the illustrated embodiment, the holder is therefore substantially cuboid with six faces. Each face is substantially parallel with an opposite face, and each face is at substantially right angles with four adjacent faces.

The holder preferably comprises an opening for providing access to the receptacles 4, 4, 4' by which packs of gloves may, in use, be loaded into one or more of the receptacles prior to dispensing of gloves through one or the other of the pairs of apertures in the housing front and lower faces. The opening is separate from the front aperture and the lower aperture.

As will be explained in more detail below, the opening in this example is an access hatch 9, for providing access to the receptacles 4, 4', (when a full pack of gloves is to be placed in the receptacles prior to dispensing of gloves through one or the other of the front or lower apertures. The opening is opened and closed by means of the access hatch 9, which also provides the entire front wall 21 and a front part of the upper end wall 26 of the housing.

When the access hatch 9 is closed, as shown in Figures 6, 11 and 12, the lower wall, upper wall, left wall and right wall each extend between the front and rear walls.

The receptacles 4, 4', 4' within the housing 2 are all open to one another, so that there is a single compartment 20 inside the housing. The compartment 20 is partially subdivided by a first set of two horizontally extending fins or ribs 19 that project along a vertical plane into the compartment 20 from the lower wall 25 and by a second set of two other ribs 19' that project along the same vertical planes into the compartment from the front wall 21.

As shown in Figure 12, each of the second set of fins or ribs 19' is elongate, the length of each of these ribs extending in a vertical plane when the hatch 9 is closed. Pairs of the first and second set of ribs are in alignment with each other, each pair extending in the same vertical plane, these vertical planes being parallel with each other. The ribs 19, 19' space apart glove packs loaded into the compartment and are relatively narrow, being between about 0.5 mm and 2 mm in thickness, so as to minimise wasted space within the holder 1.

Adjacent pairs of receptacles are therefore open to one another inside the housing, each receptacle being partially separated from an adjacent receptacle by at least one fin or rib that extends in a substantially vertical plane away from an inner surface of the housing, the or each fin defining a corner or vertex of each of the adjacent elongate receptacles.

The rear face 12 of the holder 1 preferably provides a mounting feature by which the holder may be screwed to a vertical supporting surface 3, such as a wall (see Figure 11). In this example, the mounting feature is in the form of five clearance holes 17 for screws 5. When mounted, the lower face 15 faces downwards and the front face 11 faces away from the mounting surface. The front dispensing apertures 6, 6, 6' are therefore elevated relative to the lower dispensing apertures a, a, a' when the rear face of the housing is mounted on a substantially vertical mounting surface. Also, for each receptacle, the front dispensing aperture on the front face and the lower dispensing aperture on the lower face are substantially aligned with each other in a vertical plane.

Figure 2 shows the wall-mountable holder 1 with three glove packs of a first type 101 being received and held in the receptacles 4, 4 4', prior to closing of the access hatch 9. Each glove pack comprises a single stack of flatly laid gloves 102, within an elongate outer container 103 of card material having a single dispensing passage 104 aligned with one of the front dispensing apertures 6, 6', E in the housing 2 when a stacking axis 105 of the stack is substantially horizontal. Such a stack of gloves does not provide cuff-first dispensing of gloves. Nevertheless, such glove packs 101 are commonly used and the holder 1 allows a user to load such a pack into a receptacle, since the receptacle matches the typical size of such glove packs.

Figure 3 shows the wall-mountable holder of Figure 1 with four glove packs received and held in the receptacles prior to closing of the access hatch 9. Two of these glove packs are of a second type 201 each comprising two stacks of interfolded gloves 202. The other two glove packs are of a third type 301 each comprising one stack of interfolded gloves 302.

This example illustrates how an elongate receptacle extending in a substantially vertical direction when the holder is mounted on a vertical mounting surface, can be configured to hold at least two substantially cubic packs of gloves one on top of another each with a substantially horizontal stacking axes in alignment with the or each front aperture for dispensing gloves from each of the stacked packs of -19-gloves.

The second type of glove pack is preferably of the type disclosed in GB 2489326 A, in which a stack of interfolded gloves 202 for cuff-first dispensing is biased towards a dispensing passage 204 along a substantially horizontal stacking axis 205 by means of an elastic band, the pair of glove stacks being contained within an elongate outer card material container 203. It should be noted, however, that other types of compression means could be used, for example a sponge which when compressed has a tendency to expand, or a sprung blade, which may be an inexpensive plastic material. External compression means, i.e. biasing means outside the glove pack. may alternatively be used, for example a coil spring, which may optionally be incorporated in a rear wall of the housing, rather than inside the glove pack.

The third type of glove pack 301 may also be similar to the type disclosed in GB 2489326 A, except that there is just one stack of interfolded gloves 302 for cuff-first dispensing biased towards a dispensing passage 304 along a substantially horizontal stacking axis 305 by means of an elastic band, the single glove stack 302 being contained within a more cubic outer card material container 303.

The glove packs 101. 201. 301 of Figures 2 and 3 each have dispensing apertures 104, 204, 304 oriented and aligned for dispensing through one of the front dispensing apertures 6, 6, Gin the housing when the packs are loaded with the stacking axis 105, 205, 305 of the packs being substantially horizontal.

Figure 4 shows the wall-mountable holder of Figure 1 with three glove packs received and held in the receptacles prior to closing of the access hatch, one of a fourth type 401 two glove packs of a fifth type 501.

The fourth type of glove pack 401 is illustrated in more detail in Figures 13 and 16, from which it can be seen that this comprises one stack of interfolded gloves 402 -20 -for cuff-first dispensing through a dispensing passage 404 when a stacking axis 405 is aligned with one of the lower dispensing apertures 8' of the housing 2 when the packs are loaded with the stacking axis of the packs being vertical.

The fifth type of glove pack 501 comprises two of the fourth type of glove pack 401, and therefore comprises the fourth type's stacks of interfolded gloves 402, each stacked along the corresponding stacking axis 405 for cuff-first dispensing through the corresponding dispensing passage 404 in the fourth type of glove pack. The fifth type of glove pack 501 has an outer dispensing passage 504 that is aligned with one of the front dispensing apertures 6, 6' in the housing 2 when the stacking axis 405 is substantially horizontal.

The fourth and fifth types of glove pack 401, 501 are described in more detail below with reference to Figures 13 to 16.

Figure 5 shows the wall-mountable holder of Figure 1 with three glove packs of a sixth type 601 received and held in the receptacles 4, 4, 4', prior to closing of the access hatch 9. Each glove pack comprises a single stack of interfolded gloves 602 stacked along a along a substantially vertical stacking axis 605 for cuff-first dispensing within an elongate card material outer container 603 of card material having a single dispensing passage 604 aligned with one of the lower dispensing apertures 8, 8'. Sin the housing 2. Although not illustrated, the glove pack 601 may include a compression or biasing means such as that disclosed in GB 2489326 A to keep gloves presented for dispensing close to the dispensing aperture 8, &, 8'.

However, as gravity will tend to downwardly move gloves in a depleted glove stack, for example as disclosed in US 5,816,440, it may not be necessary in this configuration for the glove pack to comprise any compression means or biasing means.

Once the housing 2 has been loaded with one or more glove packs 101, 201, 301, 401, 501, 601, then the hatch 9 is moved to a closed orientation, as shown in Figures 6 and 11 to provide a glove dispensing system 10 according to the -21 -invention.

With the hatch closed, it will be seen that one elongate and vertically extending front dispensing aperture is suitable for dispensing gloves from a range of different types of substantially cuboid (i.e. cubic or rectangular cubic) packs of gloves. The dispensing aperture may extend over at least a central portion of the elongate receptacle and with a length of between about 50% and 75% of the total length of the receptacle. In this way, the receptacle may also be used to hold and dispense gloves from an elongate pack of gloves holding gloves which are not transversely folded to reduce the length of the gloves inside the pack of gloves.

The skilled person will, of course, appreciate that the holder may have just one or two or more than three laterally adjacent receptacles, and the number of laterally adjacent dispensing apertures and the number of receptacle dividing ribs will therefore depend on the number of adjacent receptacles.

Whatever the number of receptacles, at least one front aperture and at least one lower aperture extend to the same receptacle within the housing whereby the holder is capable of dispensing gloves from one or the other of the front or lower dispensing apertures, depending on the orientation of the stacking axis of a pack of the gloves held by the receptacle.

The interfolded stacks of gloves described above have one transverse fold mid-way along the length of each glove. The invention is, however, applicable to other types of interfolding, for example the S-fold type interfolding mentioned above, as disclosed in WO 201 2/085704 Al.

The person skilled in the art will appreciate that the particular dimensions of the receptacles will depend ultimately on the dimensions of the glove stack, and the number of glove stacks in a pack, this will depend on the type of interfolding and also on other factors, for example if the gloves are each folded in half in a longitudinal direction, or if the cuff portion is folded back towards a palm or hand -22 -portion, or if there is any inward folding the glove portions for the little finger of the glove or thumb of the glove, all of which would have the effect of narrowing the glove stack in a particular direction.

Figures 7 to 10 show various perspective views of the wall-mountable holder 1, illustrating the various stages in the closing of the access hatch 9.

Figure 11 is a cross-section of part of a glove dispensing system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, showing the fifth type of glove pack 501 loaded into one of the receptacles of the housing and with the holder mounted on the vertically extending surface 3 such as a wall. A latch mechanism 34, 35 behind the upper face 16 of the housing 2 keeps the access hatch 9 closed.

Figure 12 is a perspective view showing the wall-mounting means 17 on the rear face 12 of the housing with all receptacles empty and with the latching mechanism 34, 35 keeping the access hatch 9 closed.

The access hatch 9 is connected by a hinge lSto a front edge 27 of the lower wall of the housing 2, by which the hatch can pivot between open and closed orientations.

The hatch comprises substantially all of the front face 11 and front wall 21 of the housing 2 and a forwards part 28 of the upper wall 26 of the housing. As shown most clearly in Figure 11, a rear edge 29 of the forwards part 28 of the upper wall 26 has an engagement feature 34 that latches into engagement with a retention feature 35 on a forwards edge 36 of a rear portion 37 of the upper wall 26. In this example, the engagement feature is a number of rearwardly extending tangs 34 with an upwardly facing notch 38 and the retention feature 35 is a downwardly extending lip 39 that snaps into engagement with the notch when the access hatch is pressed closed. These features together form a latch mechanism 34, 35. The latch mechanism is disengaged to open up the receptacle by pressing down 41 on the forwards portion 28 of the upper wall 26 which, being made from a resiliently -23 -flexible plastic material, flexes downwards to disengage the lip 39 from each notch 38.

To aid engagement of the lip into the notch, an upper part of a rearwards projection 42 of the tang 34 has a ramp feature 43 that abuts against the lip 39 as the hatch 9 is being pressed shut, so that the forwards portion 28 of the upper wall 26 is resiliently deflected downwards until the notch 38 snaps upwards into engagement with the lip 39.

The fourth type of glove pack 401 will now be described with reference now to Figure 13 shows that this type of a glove pack has an outer bag-like container comprising a bag 80 and a reinforcing member 50. The fourth type of glove pack 401 may either be loaded directly into the wall-mountable holder 1 for downwards dispensing of gloves or, as shown in Figure 14 may be loaded into a reusable caddy 90 to form a fifth type of glove pack 501. Figures 15 and 16 show cross-sections through the caddy 90 before and after loading of the fourth type of glove pack 401.

The fifth type of glove pack 501 comprises a compression means 7 that acts to press against the glove pack 401 such this is kept up against the caddy dispensing passage 504 as gloves are dispensed and the glove pack becomes depleted.

The fourth type of glove pack 401 comprises a stack of gloves 70, each glove 71 having at one end a cuff portion 57 and at an opposite end a finger portion. A beaded cuff end 60 is at the end of the cuff portion 57. The stack 70 has a pair of opposite ends, namely a first end 64 and a second end 65, between which the gloves are stacked in interfolded layers in which each glove is transversely folded mid-way along its length. The stack has a perimeter 66 which extends between these ends 64, 65.

The first end is a dispensing end 64 of the stack 70 from which gloves are presented for dispensing cuff first. The gloves 71 are interfolded with each other -24 -such that the finger portion of each glove wraps around the cuff portion 57 of the next glove to be dispensed whereby, in use, the cuff of the next glove to be dispensed is pulled into position for cuff-first dispensing by movement of the current glove being dispensed.

The fourth type of glove pack container 403 is a bag-like container and comprises a flexible outer bag 80, which may be of a shrink wrap plastic sheet material that is joined to the reinforcing member 50, for example by gluing. The container has a first end wall 81 and a second end wall 82 and extending between these end walls a third, side wall 83. The second and third walls 82, 83 are provided entirely by the bag 80, which therefore extends over the entire second end 65 of the stack and the perimeter 66 of the stack 70. The first end wall 81 extends over substantially all the first end 64 of the stack and is partly provided by the bag which wraps around an outer periphery of the first end 64 of the stack. The stack is therefore substantially contained by the bag.

The first end wall 81 of the container 403 comprises a dispensing portion 84 of the container which has a dispensing passage 85 in the bag through which gloves pass during cuff first glove dispensing.

Because the perimeter wall 66 of the bag is flexible in the direction of compression, the compression means 7 is free to squeeze the entire glove pack to move the glove layers evenly towards the dispensing side of the glove pack as gloves are sequentially dispensed.

The glove pack container 403 includes a reinforcing member 50 of card material in order to stabilise the dispensing end 64 of the bag 80 and stack 70 as the glove pack becomes depleted. The reinforcing member in this example is a rectangular plate of card material, either of cardboard about 1 mm to 2 mm thick or plastic sheet material about 1 mm thick.

The dimensions of the reinforcing member or plate 50 help to define the lateral -25 -dimensions of the periphery of the glove stack. This is because the bag SO when full wraps tightly around the reinforcing plate and glove stack 70. The reinforcing member does not compress in a lateral direction, while the glove stack can be squeezed inwards somewhat in the lateral direction, and so the glove stack will tend to conform to the lateral dimensions of the reinforcing member as the material of the bag presses inwards against the glove stack.

It is preferred if the reinforcing member 50 extends to the edges of the glove stack in order to shield the bag 80 at the first wall 81 of the bag from being dragged out of position owing to the action of friction from the movement of the glove being dispensed. In this example, the reinforcing member 50 is substantially square.

Therefore, during dispensing of gloves the reinforcing member 50 maintains the shape of the first end 64 of the stack 70 as gloves 71 are progressively dispensed from the stack.

The fourth type of glove pack 401 can be loaded into the housing receptacle in one orientation with the stacking axis vertical 505' for dispensing through any one of the three lower dispensing apertures 8, 8', 8 for example as shown in Figure 4.

Alternatively, the fourth type of glove pack 401 can be loaded into the caddy 90 to form the fifth type of glove pack 501 and then with the stacking axis horizontal 505 the gloves may be dispensed through one of the three front dispensing apertures 6, 6', 6', as shown in Figures 4 and 11. In this case, the caddy 90 together with the bag-like container 403 together form a fifth type of container 503 for the glove stack 402.

The fifth type of glove pack 501 is elongate for loading into the elongate housing receptacle 4, 4', 4 length ways and is configured to dispense gloves along a substantially horizontal axis 505 through the front dispensing apertures 6, 6, 6'.

It should be noted, however, that the fifth type of glove pack 501 is also suitable -26 -for individual use resting alone on any horizontal surface for dispensing gloves upwardly along a substantially vertical axis.

The reinforcing member is preferably a plate 50 and provides the dispensing passage 404 of the fourth type of glove pack 401. The dispensing passage is preferably elongate in the direction of flattened cuff ends 60, and provides an elliptical, dispensing aperture with a long axis 74 that is 70 mm long and a short axis 75 that is 30 mm wide. This aperture is preferably oval with circularly rounded ends 76 and opposite straight sides 77.

The caddy 90 has a pair of dispensing passages 504. 504'. each of which is substantially rectangular with a pair of long side edges 78 and a pair of short side edges 79. In this example, each caddy dispensing passage has a long axis 174 that is 90 mm long and a short axis 175 that is 53 mm long. The caddy dispensing passage long and short axes are aligned with the corresponding long and short axes of the dispensing aperture. The folds in each glove are parallel with the long axis 74 of the reinforcing plate dispensing passage 404 so that the flattened glove cuff ends 60 are also aligned with the long axis of the dispensing aperture of the reinforcing member.

The dispensing passage 85 in the bag 80 has the same shape and orientation the caddy dispensing aperture or passage 504, but is about 5 mm shorter in each dimension, so as to provide a nominal 2.5 mm set back in the edges of the bag dispensing passage 85 from the corresponding edges of the caddy dispensing aperture. Allowing for some relative movement between the bag and reinforcing plate, this helps to ensure a minimum 1 mm set back of the dispensing passage in the bag first wall. Therefore, both of the edges in the bag dispensing passage 85 and caddy dispensing passage 504 are substantially rectangular, with the edges of the bag dispensing passage being fully separated from the edges of the dispensing passage 404 in the reinforcing member 50. The advantage of this is that the glove being dispensed will not drag and pull at the bag, which could cause the bag to be pulled away from the glove stack once the bag becomes -27 -compressed and slack by movement of the compression plate towards the dispensing end of the glove stack. Therefore, during dispensing of gloves the reinforcing member 50 shields the first wall 81 of the bag 80 from the movement of the glove 71 being dispensed. The first wall is therefore not pulled out of place or drawn out of the glove dispenser towards the user as gloves are being pulled from the holder 1.

When the dispensing passage 85 in the bag is set back from the dispensing passage 404 of the reinforcing member 50, the dispensing passage of the reinforcing member therefore the shape and location of a dispensing passage of the fourth type of glove pack 401.

Although not illustrated, there may, however, be an advantage to reversing the set back of the edge in the wall of the flexible bag and the dispensing aperture in the reinforcing member, particularly if an adhesive is used to adhere the first wall of the bag to the reinforcing member to prevent lateral movement between the first wall of the bag and the reinforcing member. In this case, the dispensing passage in the reinforcing member would be set back from the dispensing passage of the bag, so that the dispensing passage of the bag would define the shape and location of the dispensing passage of the glove pack. As the bag is flexible, relatively thin and has smooth edges, there would in this arrangement be less friction in the passage of each glove through the dispensing passage of the glove pack.

In order to prevent transfer of contamination which might be present on the reusable caddy 90, the long and short edges 78, 79 of the passage 504 of the fifth type of glove pack 501 are set well back from the reinforcing plate aperture 404.

Preferably this set back is at least 5 mm in the direction of the long axis 74 of the plate dispensing passage 404 or passage and at least 20 mm in the direction of the short axis 75 of the plate dispensing passage. With the fourth type of glove pack 401 correctly loaded into one of two receptacles or compartments 120, 120 of the caddy 90, the caddy dispensing passage 504, 504' provides access to the -28 -dispensing passage 404 of the fourth type of glove pack 401.

In this example, the reinforcing member 50 has a long dimension 67 (in the direction of the plate dispensing passage short axis 75) of 120 mm and a short dimension 68 (in the direction of the plate dispensing passage long axis 74) of 114 mm. These dimensions provide sufficient clearance (about 1 mm) around the periphery of the reinforcing member 50 and surrounding bag 80 when inserted into one of two compartments 120, 120 in the caddy 90. The compartments have corresponding long and short internal dimensions 31,32 of 122mm and 118mm respectively. This slight deviation from a square outline also polarises the glove pack so that this can only be inserted one way into the compartment.

Because the peripheral wall 66 of the bag 80 is flexible in the direction of compression, the biasing or compression means 7 is provided to squeeze the entire glove pack to move the glove layers evenly towards the dispensing side of the glove pack as gloves are sequentially dispensed.

One advantage of the arrangement described above is that the compression means 7 acts to compress the first wall 81 of the flexible bag 80 against an inner surface 99 of the caddy surrounding the edge 78, 79 of the caddy dispensing passage 504. This also helps to prevent unwanted movement of the bag first wall.

The dispensing passage 404 of the reinforcing member 50 is initially covered over by a removable panel 86, which is a portion of the reinforcing member. The panel is centrally located in the reinforcing member, being separable from the remainder of the reinforcing member by means of an elliptical line of weakness 61 such as a cut or perforation in the material of the reinforcing member. When the removable panel is removed, the line of weakness defines the shape of the dispensing passage 404.

In this example, the reinforcing member 50 is a sheet of a thin cardboard material, with smooth top and bottom sides and a corrugated interior (not illustrated), having -29 -an overall thickness of 1 mm.

The removable panel 86 has a finger grip feature in the form of a tab 88 in the centre of the removable panel. The tab is partially separable from the remainder of the panel by means of a line of weakness 62 such as a cut or perforation in the material of the removable panel. This line of weakness extends around a circular arc of about 3000. When pressed inwards, as shown in Figure 16, the tab enables a user to hook a finger under the panel 86 to pull it away from the rest of the reinforcing member 50.

Figures 14-16 show different views of the fifth type of glove pack 501 comprising the caddy 90 for loading into an elongate housing receptacle 4, 4, 4'. The two side-by-side compartments 120, 1 2G in the caddy 90 are each covered over by separate, removable covers 109, log. Each cover provides a first or front side 111 of the caddy having a corresponding front side wall 91 that provides one of the two caddy dispensing passages 504. The other five sides 112 -116 of the caddy 90 are provided by five fixed side walls 92 -96, and so each cover 109, io when removed provides access to one of the caddy compartments 120, 1 2&.

A second or bottom side wall, opposite the removable covers 109, 109' supports the compression means 7 which in this example comprises a spring-biasing means 30 in the form a coil spring for biasing or pressing the stack of gloves 70 towards the caddy dispensing passage 504. The coil spring 30 when expanded has a frustoconical outer shape, and the compression plate 40 has a rectangular periphery 33 that makes a sliding fit with the side walls 93-96 of each compartment, including a dividing wall 119 that extends perpendicularly between the opposite long side walls 93. 94 at a longitudinal midpoint of the caddy 90.

When the fourth type of glove pack 401 is to be loaded into one of the compartments 120, 120' of the caddy 90, the removable cover 109, io is first removed from the remainder of the caddy, as will be further described below. The glove pack 401 is then inserted with the second end wall 82 pressing the -30 -compression plate 40 inwards until the spring 30 is fully compressed, as shown in Figures 11 and 16. The removable cover is then reattached to the remainder of the caddy, as will be further described below.

One advantage of this is that the compression means 7 acts to compress the first wall 81 of the flexible bag 80 against an inner surface of the caddy, which is in this example the inner surface 99 of one of the removable covers 109, 109. The first wall 81 of the flexible bag is therefore held in place by contact with the inner surface 99 of the caddy surrounding the dispensing aperture edges 78, 79.

Each compression plate 40. when biased fully towards the front side 111 of the caddy, and with the removable cover removed as shown in Figure 15, is restrained from further movement by an inwardly directed lip 122 that extends fully around the compartment 120, 120. In this configuration, the lip 122 provides an end stop for movement of the compression plate 40. In this example, the end stop is in the form of a step or ledge 124 on one side of the lip facing in towards the compartment against which the compression plate makes contact when no glove pack 401 is loaded into the compartment.

Leading into the compartment, the lip has a chamfered edge 126. The removable cover 109, 109 has a similarly chamfered inner edge 127 which sits down against the chamfered edge 126 of the lip when the cover in place over the compartment 120, 120.

The chamfered edge 126 of the lip 122 also helps to prevent any tearing of the flexible bag 80 when this is inserted into the compartment.

Beneath the chamfered edge 126 of the lip 122, the removable cover 109. 109 has on two opposite sides 128, 129 a projection 132 that engages with the ledge 124 inside the compartment. The projection 132 and chamfered inner edge 127 of the cover form a slot or groove 134 into which the lip 122 is seated.

-31 -The removable cover 109, i1J has a rectangular outer edge 136, being 123mm in the direction of the cover aperture long axis 174 and 122 mm in the direction of the cover aperture short axis 175. Although nearly square, this difference in dimension is enough to ensure that the cover connects to the rest of the caddy 90 in one orientation, with the cover aperture long axis 174 extending perpendicular to the length 130 of the caddy. As the projections 132 are in line with the cover aperture long axis 174, these projections press against the chamfered inner edge 126 of the lip 122 at around a midpoint of the length 31 of each compartment 120, 120.

The long side walls 93, 94 of the caddy have enough flexibility at this point to flex outwards and then back inwards as indicated by the double headed arrows 138 thereby permitting the cover to be snap-fitted to the lip when the lip 122 seats in the groove 134 provided between the projection 132 and chamfered inner edge 127 of the cover. The removable cover 109, 109' then sits substantially flush with edges of the compartment walls and within the chamfered edge 126 that extends fully around each of the compartments 120, 12G.

With the removable cover 109, 109' in place, the removable panel 86 is then removed from the reinforcing member 85 to expose the cuff end 60 of the first glove 71' to be dispensed.

When all the gloves 71 have been dispensed, the empty pack can be removed from the compartment as follows. The removable cover 109, 109' has a pair of recesses 139 in the outer face 111 of each cover midway along the opposite sides 128, 129 that have the projections 132. The recesses are preferably arcuate, and expose the chamfered edge 126 of the lip 122 at these points, so that a user may press a finger against the lip at this point to flex 138 the long sides walls 93, 94 of the caddy 90 outwardly at this point in order disengage the lip 122 from one of the grooves 134 in the cover outer edge 136. The user may insert another finger inside the cover aperture 504 and engage with the underside 99 of the cover to pull the cover outwardly and thereby remove the cover fully from the compartment 120, 120. The empty glove pack can then be removed from the compartment, and a new glove pack 401 inserted into the compartment, and the removable cover -32 -replaced, as described above.

The fourth and fifth types of glove packs 401, 501 described above can each hold up to 250 disposable ambidextrous short cuff nitrile inspection or examination gloves of 3 g weight in each stack of gloves 70. This is a suitable weight for use in clinical, veterinary, medical or food preparation environments. With improvements in production, typical glove weights have recently been reduced to as low as 2.5 g, and it has been determined that the fourth type of glove pack described above can hold up to 500 of such light-weight shod cuff gloves. Such gloves are typically 230 mm long, with the cuff end 60 of each glove being rolled to form a bead for easier grasping when the glove is being donned and to provide some strength and tear resistance at the cuff end 60, In order to achieve this packing density on a production scale, it is preferable if the glove stacks are formed using automated glove placement and folding machinery, for example of the type described in patent document WO 2011/048414 Al.

The invention is, however, applicable to other types of gloves, for example thicker utility gloves or longer examination gloves or surgical gloves, which may be packed with over-folded cuffs, in which the cuff portion 57 is folded back partly towards the finger portion along the outside of the glove to reduce glove length so that gloves may be packed flat in a container of reduced length or interfolded in a substantially square stack.

The most important part of the glove dispenser to keep free from contamination is in the close vicinity of the glove cuffs where these extend through the dispensing passage of the flexible bag. Although it is always possible for a careless person to touch external surfaces of the part of the flexible bag or the reinforcing member nearest the dispensing passage, such that contamination could be transferred to later dispensed gloves, an advantage of the present invention is that the glove packs are intended to be disposable and will therefore not be reused. In each example, it is the glove pack which is most likely to be touched, not the apertures in the wall-mountable housing. After all gloves have been dispensed from a glove -33 -stack, a fresh glove pack will replace the used glove pack, thereby removing any such contamination from the glove dispenser.

The surrounds of the aperture in the reusable caddy or the apertures in the wall-mountable housing may of course become contaminated from time to time; however, as these are reusable components, these can be impregnated with a biocide, for example silver. Furthermore, because the surrounds of the aperture in the reusable caddy and housing are well separated from the dispensing passage in the glove packs, it is possible to apply a disinfectant to the surfaces around the dispensing apertures without risk of contaminating gloves. This is particularly the case if a procedure is followed to give the caddy or housing a disinfecting clean whenever a new glove pack has been loaded into one of the caddy compartments.

Most advantageously this can be done after loading and prior to removing a temporary cover, peel-off strip or removable tab over the dispensing passage of the glove pack.

The example of caddy 90 described above has two glove packs within a single outer container body that is rectangular cuboid in shape. The overall outer shape of the caddy is not of particular importance to the invention, as long as the caddy is seated securely inside the receptacle once loaded into the housing for the wall-mounted holder. For example, if the caddy had just one compartment for one glove pack, then the caddy would have a substantially square cuboid shape.

Depending on the internal dimensions of the receptacle, the caddy may also be suitable for loading into the receptacle with the stacking axis substantially vertical, for downward dispensing of gloves from the wall-mounted holder.

The invention therefore provides a convenient wall-mountable holder for dispensing gloves that can be used with a wide range of different types of relatively low cost replaceable glove packs for loading into the wall mounted holder, and which is particularly useful for controlling contamination in a medical or clinical environment or in any other environment where the control of hand-borne contamination is important.

Claims (23)

1. -34 -CLAIMS1. A wall-mountable holder for dispensing gloves from a pack of stacked disposable gloves held within the holder, said gloves being stacked within the stack along a stacking axis, the holder comprising a substantially cuboid housing and within the housing at least one receptacle, the or each receptacle for holding at least one of said packs of stacked gloves, wherein the housing comprises: -a plurality of external faces including a rear face and opposite the rear face a front face and between the front face and the rear face a lower face; -a mounting feature for mounting the rear face of the holder to a substantially vertical mounting surface such that the lower face faces downwards and the front face faces away from said mounting surface; and -for the or each receptacle, at least one front dispensing aperture on the front face of the housing for dispensing said gloves and at least one lower dispensing aperture on the lower face of the housing for dispensing said gloves, said front dispensing aperture being elevated relative to said lower dispensing aperture when the rear face of the housing is mounted on said substantially vertical mounting surface; wherein said front aperture and said lower aperture extend to the same receptacle within the housing whereby the holder is capable of dispensing said gloves from one or the other of said front dispensing aperture and said lower dispensing aperture depending on the orientation of said stacking axis of a pack of said gloves held by said receptacle, the holder further comprising an opening for providing access to said receptacle when said pack of gloves is to be placed in said receptacle prior to dispensing of said gloves through one or the other of said apertures.
2. 2. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in Claim 1, in which the lower aperture is configured to dispense gloves from a glove stack having a substantially vertically oriented stacking axis.
3. 3. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the front -35 -aperture is configured to dispense gloves from a glove stack having a substantially horizontally oriented stacking axis.
4. 4. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in Claim 3 when depended from Claim 2, in which the front face is substantially at right angles to the lower face.
5. 5. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in Claim 4, in which both the front dispensing aperture and the lower dispensing aperture are elongate, the front dispensing aperture being elongate in a vertical direction and the lower dispensing aperture being elongate in a horizontal direction, each of said directions being substantially parallel with the rear face of the housing.
6. 6. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in any preceding claim in which the opening is an open access aperture in an upper face of the housing opposite the lower face of the housing.
7. 7. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5, in which the opening is a hatch in one or more faces of the housing, said hatch being movable such that the hatch may be moved to an open orientation to provide said access to said receptacle and moved to a closed orientation after said pack of gloves is placed in said receptacle.
8. 6. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in Claim 7, in which said hatch is connected by a hinge by which said hatch can pivot between said open and closed orientations.
9. 9. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in Claim 7 or Claim 8, in which said hatch comprises at least part of the front face of the housing and comprises at least part of an upper face of the housing opposite the lower face of the housing.
10. 10. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in any one of Claims 7 to 9, in which the front face of the housing comprises said hatch such that the front dispensing -36 -aperture is a passage through the hatch.
11. 11. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in preceding claim, in which there is a plurality of said front dispensing passages for dispensing gloves in a substantially horizontal direction from a corresponding plurality of packs of gloves held by said same receptacle.
12. 12. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in any preceding claim in which the front dispensing aperture on the front face and the lower dispensing aperture on the lower face are substantially aligned with each other in a vertical plane.
13. 13. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in any preceding claim in which the receptacle is elongate such that the receptacle extends in a substantially vertical direction when the holder is mounted on said vertical mounting surface, whereby the receptacle is configured to hold at least two substantially cubic packs of gloves one on top of another each with a substantially horizontal stacking axes in alignment with the or each front aperture for dispensing gloves from each of said packs of gloves.
14. 14. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in Claim 13, in which there is one elongate and vertically extending front dispensing aperture for dispensing gloves from said substantially cubic packs of gloves.
15. 15. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in any preceding claim, in which there is a plurality of said receptacles, said receptacles being spaced horizontally apart when the rear face of the housing is mounted on said substantially vertical mounting surface.
16. 16. A wall-mountable holder as claimed in Claim 15, in which adjacent pairs of receptacles are open to one another inside the housing, each receptacle being partially separated from an adjacent receptacle by at least one fin that extends in a substantially vertical plane away from an inner surface of the housing, the or each -37 -fin defining a corner each of said adjacent elongate receptacles.
17. 17. A glove dispensing system for dispensing disposable gloves, comprising a wall-mountable holder and a pack of gloves containing a plurality of disposable gloves, the pack of gloves having gloves that are stacked within the pack of gloves along a stacking axis and the pack of gloves having at one end of said stack a dispensing end from which gloves may, in use, be dispensed, wherein said holder is as claimed in any preceding claim and the pack of gloves is sized so as to be received and held by the receptacle in one of two possible orientations, namely a first orientation in which the dispensing end of said stack is positioned for glove dispensing through said front dispensing aperture and a second orientation in which the dispensing end of said stack is positioned for glove dispensing through said lower dispensing aperture.
18. 18. A glove dispensing system as claimed in Claim 17, when dependent from Claim 13 or Claim 14, in which there are two substantially cubic packs of gloves held within said same receptacle one on top of another each with a substantially horizontal stacking axes in proximity with opposite ends of said front dispensing aperture.
19. 19. A glove dispensing system for dispensing disposable gloves, comprising a wall-mountable holder and a first pack of gloves and a second pack of gloves.each of said packs of gloves containing a plurality of disposable gloves and having gloves that are stacked within said pack of gloves along a stacking axis and each of said packs of gloves having at one end of said stack a dispensing end from which gloves may, in use, be dispensed, wherein the holder is as claimed in Claim 13 or Claim 14 and the first pack of gloves is sized so as to be received and held by the elongate receptacle in a first orientation in which the dispensing end of said stack is positioned for glove dispensing through said front dispensing aperture and the second pack of gloves is sized so as to be received and held by the elongate receptacle in a second orientation in which the dispensing end of said stack is positioned for glove dispensing through said lower dispensing aperture.

    -38 -
20. 20. A glove dispensing system as claimed in Claim 19, when dependent from Claim 14, in which the first pack of gloves is an elongate pack of gloves holding gloves which are not transversely folded to reduce the length of the gloves inside the pack of gloves, and the dispensing end of said stack is positioned for glove dispensing through a portion of said elongate front dispensing aperture.
21. 21. A glove dispensing system as claimed in Claim 19 or Claim 20. in which at least one of said packs of gloves comprises a caddy, the caddy having at least one glove dispensing aperture and at least one compartment and said compartment holding a stack of gloves contained by a bag-like container, and said stack of glove having a stacking axis aligned for dispensing gloves through said dispensing aperture.
22. 22. A wall-mountable holder for dispensing gloves from a pack of stacked disposable gloves held within the holder the holder being substantially as herein described, with reference to or as shown in the accompanying drawings.
23. 23. A glove dispensing system for dispensing disposable gloves, comprising a wall-mountable holder and a first pack of gloves and a second pack of gloves, the glove dispensing system being substantially as herein described, with reference to or as shown in the accompanying drawings.