In the age of baroque application of technology to ridiculously simple tasks, consider the Simple Human Products Press N Tear Paper Towel Dispenser as proof that design with technology CAN improve function in simple tasks, not just add sizzle and pointless complexity.
I have spent a long life utterly disatisfied with accessing paper towels. Laugh if you must, but it is a fact. I have tried wall hanging dispensers, upright dispensers, even made my own up right dispenser from scrap wood. I have scavenged the internet and department stores. And all to no satisfaction...until now.
In a thrift store, I found an upright dispenser by Simple Human Products.
This thing flat out works. And I like it. And I almost look forward to grabbing a paper towel now. And it doesn't accelerate my use of paper towels. By reducing my frustration at getting a paper towel, it allows me to focus on getting just the amount I need.
I know it took a ton of energy to make. But it will last me the rest of my life and this design could be done in greener material (are you listening Koen?). Surely, a designer building on this design could now find ways to make it out of recycled, or better yet (Koen?) ceramic material. I am not a shiny metal addict. I would much prefer a ceramic up right paper towel dispenser, one in which every line was a Van de Veldian/de Winterian fusion of function and ornament.
Until that time, may i highly recommend this product by Simple Human Products.
http://www.simplehuman.com/products/paper-towel-holders/press-n-tear.html
I hear you!
Most dispensers apply an constant amount of pressure to the whole side of the roll so it will break where supposed to. Mostly the paper breaks whereever it wants to.
I've nerver seen one that'll give you the amount you want neither. This mechanism here does look promising!
"the age of baroque application of technology to ridiculously simple tasks"
that just reminded me of an article on design observer that explores how "design technology" functions largely as ornament for everyday products without solving any actual problems. Very entertaining.
http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=10777
What am I missing?
Does this device require two hands to operate? If so, don't all the other paper-towel roll holders work just as well as this one if you use two hands to operate THEM?
Besides giving you a way to keep the roll dry when both your hands happen to be wet, what does this thing do differently than those others?
Dear DC....
...Not only do I have to write books, I also have to re-design the paper towel holder? Well?Lucky me! I did one already, a few decades ago?If the base is large, heavy and anti-slip you can actually operate the thing with one hand as long as there is enough resistance on unrolling the paper. My solution was to end the cylindrical central tube high enough to make space for a plastic ball (the whole thing was in ABS) with a steel weight inside. The ball had a spark eroded (textured) surface and by sliding over the central tube it would centre the cardboard tube of the paper towel roll. It was heavy enough to create enough friction on the cardboard. When pulling slowly the paper would unroll, when pulling faster the paper would split on the perforated line? It stayed on the market for a number of years and eventually the buyers wanted to see something "new".
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