Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Coil holder or support – Mounted coil holder or spindle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-10
2001-12-11
Rivera, William A. (Department: 3653)
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Coil holder or support
Mounted coil holder or spindle
C242S615300, C221S001000, C221S062000, C221S063000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06328252
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a dispenser of individual paper sheets.
The invention relates, in particular, to a dispenser enabling its user to take one or more sheets in succession by unwinding from the center of a product in roll form, which has no central tube or core and which consists of a plurality of successive sheets forming a coiled strip, a free end of which projects toward the outside of the roll from the center of said roll.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Such a dispenser is used, in particular, for obtaining multiple-use absorbent paper sheets based on cellulose wadding.
The paper takes the form of a coiled strip, from which the successive sheets are to be dispensed.
For this purpose, a first technique involves providing, at the outlet of the dispenser, means which partially block the unwinding of the strip under the effect of the pull applied to the latter by the user, by means, the lower edge of which is cutting or in the form of sawteeth, so as to form sheets by tearing off and/or cutting off from a continuous strip.
According to another technique, the strip in roll form is precut, that is to say it comprises uniform partial cuts corresponding to consecutive sheets usually of the same length, and, here again, the dispenser comprises, in its lower part, means through which the precut paper strip passes, said means gripping the latter so as to enable the user to separate the sheet which is extracted from the dispenser from the following sheet by exerting a sudden additional pull in order to separate it along the precut line.
A dispenser has already been proposed for this purpose, of the type comprising:
a dispenser housing comprising a fixed first part and a moveable second part mounted in an articulated manner relative to the fixed part between an open position for reloading the dispenser and a closed position, in which said second part delimits, with the first part, an upper receptacle for storing in a vertical position the roll to be unwound;
a lower plate which is carried by the fixed part of the housing and which supports vertically a lower axial end of the roll and comprises a hole for the passage of the strip;
and a fixed dispensing nozzle which is arranged below the support plate and which delimits a downwardly convergent passage of frustoconical general shape, the upper inlet orifice of which is substantially in the extension of the hole in the support plate, so as to guide the strip toward its lower outlet orifice of reduced diameter, and which comprises a generally vertically oriented cutout in the general form of a slot, which extends between the upper inlet and lower outlet orifices, in order to make it easier for the free end of the strip of a roll to be introduced into the passage of the dispensing nozzle.
A first example of such a dispenser is described and illustrated in the document EP-A-0,740,921, in which the element for closing the cutout of the dispensing nozzle is produced in one piece with the lower part of the moveable second part of the housing and in which the cutout is a narrow vertical slot with parallel edges, which issues vertically upward and downward into the upper inlet and lower outlet orifices of the passage formed in the body of the dispensing nozzle.
Such a design has many disadvantages.
First of all, the slot is narrow and it is difficult to introduce the free end portion of the strip of a new roll or of a partially unwound roll, without damaging the strip, in as much as the slot is narrow and in as much as it is necessary to keep the moveable second part of the housing in the high position.
Moreover, when the housing is being closed as a result of the vertically downward tilting of its moveable second part, the closing of the cutout by the closing element integrated into the moveable part of the housing takes place “blind”, that is to say there is a considerable risk that the person responsible for replacing the roll will jam the strip in the introduction slot by means of the closing element.
Moreover, it is found, during use, that the paper strip which passes through the passage in the nozzle rubs continuously against that part of the inner wall of the convergent passage which is cut out and completed by the closing element, that is to say the strip rubs against a wall which is not perfectly smooth and continuous, with the considerable risk that the paper strip will be damaged if the two pieces do not have the perfect fit.
Another example of such a dispenser according to the prior art is described and illustrated in the American patent application number U.S. Ser. No. 81732,014 filed on Oct. 16 1996.
The design proposed in this document is substantially similar to that described and analyzed above, except that the axis of articulation of the moveable second part of the housing is a vertical axis.
This design has most of the disadvantages mentioned above in respect of that described and illustrated in the document EP-A-0,740,921.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to overcome these disadvantages, the invention proposes a dispenser of the type mentioned above, defined in that the width of the cutout in the vicinity of the upper orifice is clearly greater than its width in line with the lower outlet orifice into which it issues vertically downward, so as to make it possible to introduce said free end of the strip vertically from the bottom upward through the cutout and then radially toward the axis of the dispensing nozzle.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
the cutout is formed in a part of the passage which is located toward a rear vertical bottom of the fixed part of the housing, by means of which bottom the latter is fastened to a wall or to a support, in such a way that, during use, that portion of the strip which passes vertically through the dispensing nozzle cooperates with a portion, not cut out, of the inner wall of the passage;
the dispensing nozzle comprises an element for closing the cutout, which has a shape complementary to that of the latter and which is mounted in an articulated manner relative to the body of the dispensing nozzle between a position of use, in which the cutout is closed and in which the passage is delimited by a continuous inner wall, and a reloading position, in which said closing element is retracted in order to release the cutout for the purpose of introducing the free end of the strip;
the element for closing the cutout is mounted in an articulated manner relative to the body of the dispensing nozzle about a horizontal upper axis located vertically substantially in is line with the upper inlet orifice of the dispensing nozzle, and the element for closing the cutout is mounted tiltably between a high position of use and a low reloading position;
the axis of articulation of the element for closing the cutout is offset radially outward relative to that portion of the edge of the upper inlet orifice of the passage which said closing element comprises, so as to cause the element for closing the cutout to tilt by gravity from its high position of use toward its low reloading position;
the dispenser comprises means for the automatic locking of the element for closing the cutout in the position of use;
the means for the automatic locking of the element for closing the cutout comprise an elastically deformable automatic locking tab which comprises a catching nose which cooperates with a complementary notch in the support plate of the roll;
the means for the automatic locking of the element for closing the cutout comprise a locking and positioning finger which is arranged at the lower free end of the element for closing the cutout and which, in the position of use, is received in a complementary receptacle of the body of the dispensing nozzle;
the fixed first part of the housing comprises a perforated lower horizontal bottom, through which the dispensing nozzle extends vertically downward, so as to give access, from outside the housing, to the element for closing the cutout, for the purpose of manipulating said closing element between its position of
Guillemette Philippe
Neveu Jean-Louis
Georgia Pacific France
Rivera William A.
Young & Thompson
LandOfFree
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