PAPER TOWEL DISPENSEN

• US 20010001475A1
• Filed: 12/03/1999
• Published: 05/24/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GPCP IP Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: Andrew R. Morris, James H. Murphy, John S. Formon
• Inventors: FORMON, JOHN S., MORRIS, ANDREW R., MURPHY, JAMES H.
• Granted Patent: US 6,419,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 242/563.2
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 10/36 with mechanical dispensing, roll switching or cutting devices
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 10/3612 with drive and pinch rollers
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 10/3625 with electronic control means
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 2010/3668 Detection of the presence of a user
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/10 Methods
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/12 With preliminary weakening
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/205 With feed-out of predetermined length from work supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/209 With feed-out of lead-end to aid initial grasping
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/21 Merely to provide lead-end for manual grasping
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/246 Including special support for wound supply package
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/393 Web restrainer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/543 Sensing means responsive to work indicium or irregularity

Abstract

A powered dispenser for dispensing individual paper towel segments from a continuous roll of paper provided with spaced lines of tearing comprises a housing, a support for the roll of paper, a feed mechanism, and a control device. The control device senses the presence of a user to activate the feed mechanism, controls the amount of material which is dispensed from the housing for any one cycle, and prevents further dispensing of the paper until the previous segment is separated from the roll. The control device detects the leading edge of the paper to initiate monitoring of the length of paper to be dispensed to prevent any cumulative error in dispensing the segments.

Claims

1. A dispenser for flexible sheet material comprising:

a support for rotatably supporting a roll of sheet material;

a feed mechanism for advancing the sheet material;

a motor for driving the feed mechanism;

a control device for powering said motor to drive said feed mechanism so as to dispense a predetermined length of the sheet material; and

a sensor for detecting a leading edge of said sheet material and activating said control device.

2. The dispenser of

claim 1

, wherein said feed mechanism includes a feed roller driven by said motor and an opposing pressure roller between which the sheet material is passed.

3. The dispenser of

claim 2

, wherein said feed mechanism further includes a drive gear and a rotatable axle to support said feed roller and said drive gear, and said motor is provided a worm gear engaged with said drive gear.

4. The dispenser of

claim 2

, wherein said control device includes an encoder for determining the predetermined length of sheet material.

5. The dispenser of

claim 2

further comprising a housing with a discharge opening, said support and said feed mechanism being within said housing.

6. The dispenser of

claim 5

, wherein said sensor is positioned between said feed roller and said discharge opening.

7. The dispenser of

claim 1

further comprising a housing with a discharge opening, said support and said feed mechanism being within said housing.

8. The dispenser of

claim 1

, wherein said sensor is a photo-detector device.

9. The dispenser of

claim 1

, wherein said control device includes a counter device.

10. The dispenser of

claim 1

, wherein said control devices includes a timer device.

11. The dispenser of

claim 1

, further comprising an activation sensor for sensing the presence of a user and activating said motor.

12. The dispenser of

claim 11

, further comprising means for preventing activation of said motor when said sensor detects a dispensed but unremoved segment of the sheet material.

13. The dispenser of

claim 1

, further comprising means for preventing activation of said motor when said sensor detects a dispensed but unremoved segment of the sheet material.

19. The dispenser of

claim 12

further comprising a housing with a discharge opening, said support and said feed mechanism being within said housing.

14. A dispenser for flexible sheet material comprising:

a feed mechanism for dispensing a first segment of the sheet material;

a sensor for sensing the presence of a user, said sensor activating said feed mechanism for advancing the web of sheet material in response to sensing the user; and

a controller for preventing said feed mechanism from dispensing a second segment of the sheet material through said discharge opening until the first segment of sheet material has been removed.

15. The dispenser of

claim 14

, wherein said controller includes a sensor for sensing the presence of the first segment of the sheet material when dispensed but not removed.

16. The dispenser of

claim 14

, wherein said activating sensor includes a light sensitive sensor.

17. The dispenser of

claim 14

, wherein said feed mechanism includes a motor.

18. The dispenser of

claim 17

, wherein said controller includes a device for controlling the length of the first segment of the sheet material, said control device terminating the actuation of said motor when a predetermined length of sheet material has been dispensed.

20. The dispenser of

claim 14

, wherein said feed mechanism includes at least one feed roller to dispense to the sheet material and a motor to drive said feed roller.

21. A dispenser for dispensing sheets defined by perforations in a roll of paper held thereby, said dispenser comprising:

a motorized feed mechanism with an output end from which a leading end of said roll of paper is fed to make at least one of said sheets accessible to allow said user to remove said at least one of said sheets from a remainder of said roll;

a controller connected to control said feed mechanism and configured to feed said at least one of said sheets responsively to an input generatable by said user;

a sheet detector connected to said controller and configured to indicate whether a fed one of said at least one of said sheets is removed from said remainder of said roll;

said controller being further configured to retract said at least one of said sheets after a lapse of a predefined interval and responsively to said sheet detector.

22. A dispenser as in

claim 21

, wherein said sheet detector is positioned to detect a presence of said at least one of said sheets adjacent said output end.

23. A dispenser as in

claim 21

, wherein:

said dispenser has a housing with an opening at said output end, said opening having a blind end and an access, said access being sufficiently narrow to prevent manual access by said user therethrough;

said controller is configured to feed one of said sheets for each of said inputs and further configured to feed just enough of said roll, such that a perforation line separating said one of said sheets is held, after of feeding of said feed mechanism, between said access and said blind end, whereby, when said one of said sheets is separated from said remainder at said perforation line, a new leading end defined as a result, is guarded against access by said user until a new input by said user.

24. A dispenser for dispensing sheets defined by perforations in a roll of paper held thereby, said dispenser comprising:

a housing with an opening, said opening having a blind end and an access, said access being sufficiently narrow to prevent manual access by a user therethrough;

a motorized feed mechanism with an output end from which a leading end of said roll of paper is fed to make at least one of said sheets accessible to allow said user to tear said at least one of said sheets from a remainder of said roll;

a controller connected to control said feed mechanism and configured to feed said at least one of said sheets responsively to an input generatable by said user;

said controller being further configured to stop said feed mechanism at a point at which said perforation line is held between said access and said blind end, whereby, when said one of said sheets is separated from said remainder at said perforation line, a new leading end defined as a result, is guarded against access by said user until a new input by said user.

25. A dispenser as in

claim 24

, wherein:

said controller includes a paper leading edge detector between said access and said blind end;

said controller including a displacement encoder connected to said feed mechanism to detect successive increments of a feeding of said paper by said feed mechanism;

said leading edge detector being positioned such that a detection of said leading edge after said feed motor is started and a continued running of said feed motor subsequent to said detection for a predefined number of said increments is effective to position new leading edge at said point.

26. A dispenser for dispensing sheets defined by perforations in a roll of paper held thereby, said dispenser comprising:

a motorized feed mechanism with an output end from which a leading end of said roll of paper is fed to make at least one of said sheets accessible to allow said user to tear said at least one of said sheets from a remainder of said roll;

a controller connected to control said feed mechanism and configured to feed said at least one of said sheets responsively to an input generatable by said user;

said controller including a plurality of paper leading edge detectors;

said controller including a displacement encoder connected to said feed mechanism to detect successive increments of a feeding of said paper by said feed mechanism;

said leading edge detectors being positioned such that a detection of said leading edge by at least one of said leading edge detectors after said feed motor is started and a continued running of said feed motor subsequent to said detection for a predefined number of said increments is effective to position new leading edge at said point, whereby said leading edge is detected even if said leading edge is not defined by a contour of said perforation.

27. A method of dispensing a flexible sheet material having spaced apart, transverse tearing lines from a dispenser, said method comprising:

activating a motor to advance a predetermined length of the sheet material from a dispenser;

sensing the leading edge of the advancing sheet material to control the amount of sheet material to be dispensed; and

tearing a leading segment of the sheet material along one of the tearing lines.

28. The method of

claim 27

, further comprising preventing the advancing of additional sheet material until the advanced segment of sheet material has been torn off.

29. The method of

claim 27

, wherein said motor is activated by sensing the presence of a user.

30. A method of dispensing a flexible sheet material comprising sensing the presence of a user, activating a motor to advance a first segment of a sheet material from a dispenser when the presence of a user is sensed, and preventing further advancement of the sheet material until said first segment is removed from the sheet material.

31. The method of

claim 30

, further comprising sensing of the first segment when dispensed but not removed from the sheet material.

32. The method of

claim 30

, further comprising sensing a leading edge of the advancing first segment and dispensing a predetermined amount of sheet material from said sensing of the leading edge.

33. A method of controlling a powered towel dispenser that feeds separate sheets defined by perforations in a roll of towel material held by said dispenser, said method comprising the steps of:

detecting a request for a sheet of said towel;

power-feeding said towel material from said roll responsively to said step of detecting;

detecting a leading edge of said towel material and triggering a counting of counting successive incremental feedings of said towel material by an encoder responsively to second step of detecting and terminating said power-feeding when said a count resulting from said counting reaches a predefined value, said predefined value being effective to dispense a single one of said separate sheets.

34. A method as in

claim 33

, further comprising the steps of pausing after said step of terminating and reversing said power-feeding after a lapse of a predefined interval of time where by said single one of said separate sheets is withdrawn into said dispenser.