Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Coil holder or support – Mounted coil holder or spindle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-30
2001-07-31
Marcelo, Emmanuel M. (Department: 3653)
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Coil holder or support
Mounted coil holder or spindle
C242S588300, C312S034800
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267323
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVRNTION
The invention relates to rolled product dispenser apparatus and methods. In particular, the invention is directed to apparatus for dispensing paper from jumbo or large paper rolls. The dispensers disclosed in the invention are convenient to re-load with new paper rolls, and may be used with either cored or coreless rolled paper.
BACKGROUD OF THE INVENTION
Absorbent paper products for use in commercial buildings typically are dispensed from wall-mounted dispensers. Rolled paper products include toilet tissue, paper toweling, and the like. These products may be stored and dispensed using hollow cylindrical cores that form the support structure about which the paper is wrapped. These rolled, cored paper products are loaded into wall mounted dispensers for use by the public. Most rolled cored products are dispensed by mounting the core on a spindle passing through the core of the roll. In some cases, a mounting structure operatively engages each end of the core, on the sides of the rolled product, thereby suspending the rolled product to facilitate dispensing.
In other prior art dispensers, a coreless roll may be used. Some coreless rolls provide paper wound into the center of the roll. The paper may be indented at the geometric center of the roll on each side, forming an indentation axis about which the roll may be suspended, and paper dispensed from the roll.
Large or jumbo sized toilet tissue rolls are dispensed in restrooms of commercial buildings and in other locations in which a relatively high volume of rolled paper products are deployed. Typically, the large rolls are mounted in dispensers so that the core of the roll is supported on an axis of rotation, or hub, within the dispenser housing. These large size rolls may be largely invisible to the consumer, as often they are protected in a closed housing which dispenses the paper to the user at its lower edge.
Conventional large roll dispensers may feature a housing cover that can be removed only with a key to facilitate reloading the dispenser. Other dispensers employ a hinged housing cover which must be opened or moved laterally to facilitate reloading the dispenser. Reloading dispensers is a time consuming task for maintenance personnel. In general, it is desirable to provide a process for reloading dispensers in a manner that is efficient and simple. One challenge in commercial dispenser design is to provide a dispenser that may be reloaded easily and quickly, but still offers security to the rolled paper product, thereby protecting the dispenser contents from vandalism and theft.
Coreless rolls of paper product are employed in applications where it is desirable to avoid using a core in the center of the rolled product. Coreless rolled products may be manufactured as provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,148 to form a depression in the side of the roll that facilitates supporting and dispensing the roll. Devices capable of dispensing coreless rolled paper products have been disclosed as provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,576. Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,985, is directed to a method of treating a coreless roll to create a mounting hole in at least one end of the roll to provide a self-supporting roll for mounting in a rotary dispenser.
It would be desirable to provide a dispenser capable of dispensing either cored or coreless paper rolls easily and efficiently. Further, it would be desirable to provide a dispenser that may be loaded quickly and easily, without key-operated external housing covers that must be removed or unlocked to reload the dispenser.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An apparatus and method for dispensing cored or coreless rolled paper is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a housing having a dispensing side from which rolled paper products may be dispensed. A doorway enclosed by one or more doors allows the insertion of a rolled paper product through the doorway to the interior of the housing in a simple and efficient manner. One or more roller guides may be mounted at the base or bottom of the dispenser to contact the outer circumferential surface of the rolled paper, thereby supporting the rolled paper within the housing. The roller guides also assist in dispensing the rolled paper from the housing. Cored or coreless rolled paper may be dispensed from the apparatus.
In the invention, a dispenser for rolled paper is disclosed comprising a housing, the housing having an exterior surface on the outside of the housing and an interior space on the inside of the housing. The housing has a dispensing side from which rolled paper products may be dispensed, and a doorway. The doorway provides an entry point capable of accommodating the insertion of a rolled paper product through the doorway from the outside of the housing to the interior of the housing.
Reloading the apparatus with a new roll is simple and convenient. Cored or coreless paper may be dispensed using the invention of this application. The ability to dispense cored or coreless paper is evident because the dispenser does not support the rolled paper by way of a spindle or other centralizer-type device, but instead allows the paper to dispense by resting the rolled paper upon guide rollers which turn, allowing the paper to feed to the outside of the housing. Even coreless paper without any means of suspending the paper by external support of the roll axis may be dispensed using the invention of this application.
In one embodiment, a support frame is connected to the housing and is capable of supporting a rolled paper product in a position to dispense paper to the outside of the housing. Further, a roller guide is presented, the roller guide being mounted on the support frame. The rolled paper contacts the roller guide, and the roller guide provides a rotatable contact surface for dispensing rolled paper. In one embodiment of the invention, the door is attached to the housing by a hinge. In some aspects of the invention, the door operates as a support frame on the dispensing side of the dispenser. There may be more than one door, and in a desirable embodiment there are two doors, in which each door contains one roller guide to support the roll and assist in dispensing paper.
One advantage of the invention is the opportunity and ability it affords maintenance personnel to load new rolls into the dispenser with only one hand, in one easy and swift motion. It is not required that the maintenance personnel use keys or otherwise manually unlock or re-adjust the housing in order to load a new roll into the dispenser.
In some embodiments of the dispenser, the doors may be located on the side of the dispenser, rather than on the bottom, such as, for example, in restroom stalls in which a handicapped rail is located immediately beneath the mounted dispenser. When there is an obstruction on the underside of the dispenser, it is possible to provide an embodiment in which side doors facilitate loading a new roll, while the dispenser still may dispense paper from below. In some applications, there is enough room below the mounted dispenser to dispense paper, but not enough space to facilitate loading a new roll from underneath the dispenser. In the application of this invention, the dispenser the paper may be dispensed in either a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation, and in most cases there is no correct or incorrect orientation for the paper to be inserted into the dispenser, as the paper will feed in either direction.
One advantage of the invention is that in one embodiment, it is possible to touch the rolled paper using an extended hand through the doorway of the housing, such as when loading a new roll, or when feeding the roll to reveal a “tail” of paper for dispensing.
In one embodiment of the apparatus the doors are hinged. In many cases, the outer circumferential surface of the rolled paper will bias against at least two guide rollers while dispensing paper to the outside of the housing. Centering ribs may (optionally) be located on the inside surface of the housing to assist in centering the roll over the guide rollers.
A method of disp
Luettgen Christopher O.
Phelps Stephen L.
Dority & Manning PA
Kimberly--Clark Worldwide, Inc.
Marcelo Emmanuel M.
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