Severing by tearing or breaking – Methods – With preliminary weakening
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-27
2002-07-02
Rachuba, M. (Department: 3724)
Severing by tearing or breaking
Methods
With preliminary weakening
C225S016000, C225S034000, C225S046000, C225S051000, C225S067000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06412678
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet material dispensing apparatus and method. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for dispensing sheet material from at least one source of sheet material.
2. Description of Related Art
A number of different types of sheet materials are dispensed from dispensers. Typically they are wound into a roll either with or without a core to provide a maximum amount of material in a relatively small amount of space. Some examples of these materials include paper towels, toilet tissue, wrapping paper, aluminum foil, wax paper, and plastic wrap. Rolled sheet materials are typically dispensed from dispensers having structure for allowing the roll of sheet material to rotate while the material is removed from the roll. Although these dispensers have been in existence for a long period of time, some of them have many drawbacks and disadvantages.
In many conventional dispensers for sheet material, a user must rotate a crank or move a lever each time the user desires to remove material from the dispenser. This crank or lever typically rotates a roller mechanism for feeding the sheet material from the dispenser. Although these types of dispensers are effective at dispensing sheets of material, a user must make physical contact with the crank or lever each time the user desires to dispense the sheet material from the dispenser. For example, during a single day in an extremely busy washroom, hundreds or even thousands of users may physically contact a dispenser to dispense paper toweling therefrom. This leads to possible transfer of germs and a host of other health concerns associated with the spread of various contaminants from one user to another.
Another problem associated with conventional dispensers is that of maintaining an adequate supply of the rolled sheet material in the dispenser. In one type of dispensing system, a housing contains a single roll of material during dispensing. This type of dispenser requires frequent monitoring by a service attendant to determine when substantially all of the material has been dispensed so that a new roll of material may be loaded in the dispenser. When the new roll is loaded, the partially consumed roll is often discarded in place of the new roll, resulting in the waste of a significant amount of usable material left on the partially consumed roll.
In an attempt at solving the problem of maintaining an adequate supply of sheet material, some conventional dispensers have a transfer mechanism allowing for subsequent dispensing from multiple rolls of sheet material. Although these types of dispensers are sometimes effective at dispensing substantially all of the material from each of the rolls, they are often very complex, leading to increased cost and reduced reliability.
Lack of control of the length of material dispensed is another problem associated with some conventional dispensers. For example, some conventional dispensers include a cutter allowing a user to select a particular length of sheet material before cutting it away from the remainder of the roll of material. Because a continuous sheet of material can be rapidly removed from these types of dispensers, more material than is necessary may be removed from the dispenser, resulting in waste.
In an effort to overcome these problems, conventional dispensers include automatic cutting knives or blades, which cut a predetermined length of sheet material. However, due to their design, dispensers of these types are often noisy and bulky.
Further attempts have been made to limit the amount of sheet material continuously dispensed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,526 to Moody, and pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/851,937 to Moody, filed on May 6, 1997, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose a system for dispensing individual segments of sheet material from a roll of sheet material having perforated tear lines separating the individual segments. Pulling an end-most segment of the sheet material tears the end-most segment away from the remaining material along a perforated tear line separating the end-most segment from the remainder of the material. Although this type of dispenser is effective, additional features such as multiple roll capacity are lacking.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for an improved dispenser and method for dispensing sheet material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a sheet material dispensing apparatus and method that substantially obviate one or more of the limitations of the related art.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention includes an apparatus for dispensing sheet material from at least one source of sheet material. The apparatus includes a housing defining an interior including a first section for a first source of sheet material and a second section for a second source of sheet material, and an outlet though which an end portion of sheet material is dispensed from at least one of the sources. At least one nipping surface is disposed in the housing. A nipping element is pivotally mounted in the housing so that the nipping element pivots between a first position in which a first portion of the nipping element and the nipping surface form a nip for the end portion of sheet material, and a second position in which at least a second portion of the nipping element and the nipping surface form a nip for the end portion of sheet material.
In another aspect, the apparatus includes a sensor for sensing the amount of sheet material of the first source of sheet material, the sensor includes at least one cam surface moving in response to a change in size of the first source of sheet material. At least one cam follower cooperates with the nipping element. The cam follower contacts the cam surface and the cam surface moves with respect to the cam follower to control movement of the nipping element.
In an additional aspect, the apparatus includes at least one isolating element movably mounted in the housing. The isolating element moves between a second source isolating position in which the isolating element positions the second source out of contact with the nipping surface and a second source dispensing position placing the second source in contact with the nipping surface.
In another aspect, the apparatus includes a housing defining an interior for accommodating a quantity of sheet material therein and an outlet through which the sheet material is dispensed. The housing includes a first housing member, a second housing member, and at least one hinge member allowing the first housing member to pivot with respect to the second housing member between a closed position limiting access to the interior of the housing and an open position allowing access to the interior of the housing. A latch is provided on the housing for selectively retaining the first housing member in the closed position. At least one biasing element cooperates with the first and second housing members. The biasing element biases the first housing member toward the closed position when the first housing member moves to the open position so as to limit free movement of the first housing member to the open position.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the apparatus includes a housing defining an interior including a first section for a source of sheet material and a second section for the source of sheet material, the second section being larger than the first section, and an outlet through which the sheet material is dispensed. A sensor is disposed in the housing for sensing the size of the source while the source is in the second section. An indicator cooperates with the sensor to provide an indication when the size of the source is small enough to place the source of sheet material in the first section of the housing.
In a further aspect, the apparatus includes a lever
Carpenter David
Gracyalny Dale T.
Grasso Kamala
Johnson Douglas W.
Johnson Peter D.
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP
Fort James Corporation
Rachuba M.
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