Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Unwinding – With drive mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-25
2001-10-16
Nguyen, John Q. (Department: 3653)
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Unwinding
With drive mechanism
C242S564200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06302351
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to dispensers of multiple rolls of sheet material and, in one aspect, to dispensers for two rolls of paper towels.
Dispensers for rolls of flexible material, such as paper towel rolls, are well known. Paper towel dispensers are widely used in public lavatories to dispense paper toweling for users to dry their hands. A roll of paper towels typically is rotatably supported inside the dispenser cabinet and either a crank or lever is operated by the user to drive a feed mechanism for dispensing the paper toweling. The feed mechanism typically includes a drive roller rotated by a crank or lever and a idler or pressure roller. The paper toweling is fed through a nip between these two rollers and the pressure roller is spring loaded or otherwise biased toward engagement with the drive roller. The tension resulting from the gripping action applied to the paper toweling as it is rolled around the drive roller pulls on the paper toweling to rotate the paper roll so that the paper toweling can be unwound from the paper roll. This tension varies in part depending on the amount of anti-rotation friction applied by the roll support. Nevertheless, pulling paper off of a suspended roll requires a transfer of energy from the nip, through the bonded fibers of the paper, to the suspended roll. To prevent tearing, the paper toweling being dispensed must have a sufficient tensile strength to withstand the tension required for unwinding.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
There is a trend toward using paper toweling having lower tensile strengths by virtue of being designed to be softer and/or more absorbent. Such paper toweling typically includes larger size and/or more air pockets or is otherwise designed to be less dense. Such toweling requires fewer fibers per square inch of material and is generally less costly to produce than conventional roll toweling. However, conventional dispensers cannot be used to dispense such softer or more absorbent paper toweling because the tension required to unwind the toweling from a roll can exceed the tensile strength of the toweling and cause tearing of the toweling.
Accordingly, the invention provides a dispenser for dispensing material from the outer surface of a roll. The dispenser includes a cabinet, and a drive roller having an outer surface and being rotatably mounted in the cabinet so that the outer surface of the roll rests directly on the outer surface of the drive roller. The dispenser also includes a pressure roller rotatably mounted in the cabinet so that the material passes between the drive roller and the pressure roller, and a drive mechanism connected to the drive roller. The cabinet includes support means inside the cabinet cooperating with the outer surface of the drive roller to define a trough for removably receiving the roll such that the roll is at least partially supported by the drive roller. The dispenser also includes a support for supporting the roll so that the outer surface of the roll engages the outer surface of the drive roller.
It is a principal advantage of the invention to provide a dispenser for rolled toweling or other sheet material wherein the weight of the roll of toweling is supported directly on the drive roller so that the toweling is unwound from the roll directly onto the drive roller.
It is another advantage of the invention to provide a dispenser that eliminates the possibility of the roll “jumping” off of the support if the speed of the drive roller rapidly increases.
It is another advantage of the invention to provide a dispenser which is capable of dispensing sheet materials having low tensile strengths, such as softer or more absorbent paper toweling.
It is another advantage of the invention to provide a low cost dispenser for multiple rolls of sheet material including a minimum number of parts requiring separate fabrication and/or assembly.
It is another advantage of the invention to provide a dispenser that does not include a separate support for the reserve roll and/or the primary roll, and that can be used for dispensing core-less rolled sheet material.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the following detailed description, the drawing and the appended claim.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2334689 (1943-11-01), Wooster
patent: 2957738 (1960-10-01), Marcuse
patent: 3294460 (1966-12-01), Wooster et al.
patent: 3489361 (1970-01-01), Marion et al.
patent: 4236679 (1980-12-01), Jespersen
patent: 5400982 (1995-03-01), Collins
Collins Scott J.
Omdoll Paul A.
Michael & Best & Friedrich LLP
Nguyen John Q.
The Colman Group, Inc.
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