Flexible sheet material dispenser with automatic roll transferring mechanism
First Claim
1. A dispenser for rolls of flexible sheet material wound on cores, the cores having ends extending beyond the sides of the rolls, the dispenser comprising:
- a housing having opposite sidewalls, each sidewall having a guide track comprising a substantially vertical channel formed between lateral walls for receiving and guiding the core ends;
a substantially vertically disposed holding lever pivotably attached to each sidewall, said holding levers including an upper projection adjacent an upper end of said guide track for retaining a reserve roll of flexible sheet material at an upper reserve position along said guide track and a lower projection adjacent a lower end of said guide track for retaining a dispensing roll of flexible material at a lower dispensing position along said guide track;
a transfer roller supported in said housing adjacent the lower end of said guide track for contacting a full roll of sheet material; and
dispensing means including at least one roller supported in said housing adjacent the dispensing roll and laterally of said transfer roller for dispensing sheet material from the dispensing roll and out of said dispenser;
said transfer roller and said lower projections of said holding levers being located in said housing a predetermined vertical distance from one another so that said transfer roller contacts the roll surface of a full dispensing roll until a predetermined amount of sheet material is dispensed from the dispensing roll, said lower end of said guide tracks being positioned with respect to said dispensing means to locate the dispensing roll out of contact with rollers of said dispensing means.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A dispenser for rolls of flexible sheet material wound on cores is disclosed. The dispenser holds multiple rolls and includes guide tracks for guiding the rolls through the dispenser. A holding lever pivotably connected to each side of the dispenser selectively holds the rolls in position in the dispenser and has its pivoting motion controlled by a sensing plate which contacts a lower dispensing roll to sense when the sheet material is substantially depleted. The lower dispensing roll is always held out of contact with rolls of a dispensing mechanism, in one embodiment initially by a transfer roller and thereafter at a constant vertical axis by the holding levers and, in another embodiment by the holding levers alone. A shield is located between the roll surface of the lower dispensing roll and the rollers of the dispensing mechanism.
76 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A dispenser for rolls of flexible sheet material wound on cores, the cores having ends extending beyond the sides of the rolls, the dispenser comprising:
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a housing having opposite sidewalls, each sidewall having a guide track comprising a substantially vertical channel formed between lateral walls for receiving and guiding the core ends; a substantially vertically disposed holding lever pivotably attached to each sidewall, said holding levers including an upper projection adjacent an upper end of said guide track for retaining a reserve roll of flexible sheet material at an upper reserve position along said guide track and a lower projection adjacent a lower end of said guide track for retaining a dispensing roll of flexible material at a lower dispensing position along said guide track; a transfer roller supported in said housing adjacent the lower end of said guide track for contacting a full roll of sheet material; and dispensing means including at least one roller supported in said housing adjacent the dispensing roll and laterally of said transfer roller for dispensing sheet material from the dispensing roll and out of said dispenser; said transfer roller and said lower projections of said holding levers being located in said housing a predetermined vertical distance from one another so that said transfer roller contacts the roll surface of a full dispensing roll until a predetermined amount of sheet material is dispensed from the dispensing roll, said lower end of said guide tracks being positioned with respect to said dispensing means to locate the dispensing roll out of contact with rollers of said dispensing means. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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2. A dispenser for rolls of flexible sheet material wound on cores, the cores having ends extending beyond the sides of the rolls, the dispenser comprising:
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a housing having opposite sidewalls, each sidewall having a guide track comprising a substantially vertical channel formed between lateral walls for receiving and guiding the core ends;
a substantially vertically disposed holding lever pivotably attached to each sidewall, said holding levers including an upper projection adjacent an upper end of said guide track for retaining a reserve roll of flexible sheet material at an upper reserve position along said guide track and a lower projection adjacent a lower end of said guide track for retaining a dispensing roll of flexible material at a lower dispensing position along said guide track;a transfer roller supported in said housing adjacent the lower end of said guide track for contacting a full roll of flexible sheet material; dispensing means supported in said housing adjacent the dispensing roll and laterally of said transfer roller for dispensing sheet material from the dispensing roll and out of said dispenser, said dispensing means including at least a feed roller and means for urging sheet material from the dispensing roll into contact with said feed roller; said transfer roller and said lower projections of said holding levers being located in said housing a predetermined vertical distance from one another so that said transfer roller contacts a full dispensing roll until a predetermined amount of sheet material dispensed from the dispensing roll, said lower end of said guide tracks being positioned with respect to said dispensing means to locate the dispensing roll out of contact with rollers of said dispensing means; a shield disposed in said housing around said feed roller, said shield being located between said feed roller and a dispensing roll supported by said lower projections of said holding levers in said dispensing position to prevent contact of the sheet material from the dispensing roll with the feed roller prior to said urging means urging the sheet material into contact with said feed roller; sensing means for sensing the reducing diameter of the dispensing roll as sheet material is dispensed from the dispensing roll; release means for releasing said holding levers to allow the levers to pivot from a holding position in which the upper and lower projections are positioned to hold rolls of sheet material in the reserve and dispensing positions to a release position in which the reserve and dispensing rolls are free to move downwardly along the said guide tracks; coupling means for coupling said sensing means to said release means to activate said release means when the diameter of the dispensing roll has been reduced a predetermined amount so that the dispensing roll is substantially depleted but has a remaining length of sheet material; and said housing including storage means for holding a substantially depleted dispensing roll after the holding levers are allowed to pivot to the release position, said storage means being located in said housing with respect to said transfer roller so that the remaining length of sheet material from the roll in said storage means remains in contact with the transfer roller to thereby contact and simultaneously feed sheet material from a full reserve roll. - View Dependent Claims (8, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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3. A dispenser for rolls of flexible sheet material wound on cores, the cores having ends extending beyond the sides of the rolls, the dispenser comprising:
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a housing having opposite sidewalls, each sidewall having a guide track comprising a substantially vertical channel formed between lateral walls for receiving and guiding the core ends; a substantially vertically disposed holding lever pivotably attached to each sidewall, said holding levers including an upper projection adjacent an upper end of said guide track for retaining a reserve roll of flexible sheet material at an upper reserve position along said guide track and a lower projection adjacent a lower end of said guide track for retaining a dispensing roll of flexible material at a lower dispensing position along said guide track; a transfer roller supported in said housing adjacent the lower end of said guide track for supporting a full roll of sheet material in a sheet transfer position; and dispensing means including at least one roller supported in said housing adjacent the dispensing roll and laterally of said support roller for dispensing sheet material from the dispensing roll and out of said dispenser; said transfer roller and said lower projections of said holding levers being located in said housing a predetermined vertical distance from one another so that said transfer roller contacts and supports the roll surface of a full dispensing roll at said sheet transfer position with its core ends above and out of contact with said lower projections until a predetermined amount of sheet material is dispensed from the dispensing roll and the dispensing roll is supported by said lower projections at said dispensing position after the predetermined amount of sheet material dispensed, said lower end of said guide tracks being positioned with respect to said dispensing means to locate the dispensing roll out of contact with rollers of said dispensing means when said dispensing roll is positioned at said sheet transfer position and said dispensing position.
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4. A dispenser of rolls of flexible sheet material wound on cores, the cores having ends extending beyond the sides of the rolls, the dispenser comprising:
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a housing having opposite sidewalls, each sidewall having a guide track comprising a substantially vertical channel formed between lateral walls for receiving and guiding the core ends; a substantially vertically disposed holding lever pivotably attached to each sidewall, said holding levers including an upper projection adjacent an upper end of said guide track for retaining a reserve roll of flexible sheet material at an upper reserve position along said guide track and a lower projection adjacent a lower end of said guide track for retaining a dispensing roll of flexible material at a lower dispensing position along said guide track; a transfer roller supported in said housing adjacent the lower end of said guide track for supporting a full roll of flexible sheet material in a sheet transfer position; dispensing means supported in said housing adjacent the dispensing roll and laterally of said transfer roller for dispensing sheet material from the dispensing roll and out of said dispenser, said dispensing means including at least a feed roller and means for urging sheet material from the dispensing roll into contact with said feed roller;
said transfer roller and said lower projections of said holding levers being located in said housing a predetermined vertical distance from one another so that said transfer roller contacts and supports a full dispensing roll at said sheet transfer position with its core ends above and out of contact with said lower projections until a predetermined amount of sheet material is dispensed from the dispensing roll and the dispensing roll is supported by said lower projections at said dispensing position after the predetermined amount of sheet material is dispensed, said lower end of said guide tracks being positioned with respect to said dispensing means to locate the dispensing roll out of contact with rollers of said dispensing means;a shield disposed in said housing around said feed roller, said shield being located between said feed roller and a dispensing roll supported by either said transfer roller in said sheet transfer position or said lower projections of said holding levers in said dispensing roll with the feed roller prior to said urging means urging the sheet material into contact with said feed roller; sensing means for sensing the reducing diameter of the dispensing roll as sheet material is dispensed from the dispensing roll; release means for releasing said holding levers to allow the levers to pivot from a holding position in which the upper and lower projections are positioned to hold rolls of sheet material in the reserve and dispensing positions to a release position in which the reserve and dispensing rolls are free to move downwardly along the said guide tracks; coupling means for coupling said sensing means to said release means to activate said release means when the diameter of the dispensing roll has been reduced a predetermined amount so that the dispensing roll is substantially depleted but has a remaining length of sheet material; and said housing including storage means for holding a substantially depleted dispensing roll after the holding levers are allowed to pivot to the release position, said storage means being located in said housing with respect to said transfer roller so that the remaining length of sheet material from the roll in said storage means remains in contact with the transfer roller to thereby contact and simultaneously feed sheet material from a full reserve roll at the sheet transfer position.
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30. A method for dispensing sheet material from a dispenser wherein the sheet material is wrapped in a roll about a core and the sheet material is dispensed from the dispenser through a dispensing mechanism including at least one feed roller, comprising the steps of:
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supporting a full dispensing roll of the sheet material in the dispenser with the roll surface of the roll in contact with a transfer roller and out of contact with rollers of the dispensing mechanism; dispensing sheet material from the roll through the dispensing mechanism to diminish the diameter of the supported dispensing roll; supporting the dispensing roll of sheet material at a constant axis during at least a major portion of the dispensing of the sheet material by holding the core of the dispensing roll at a fixed vertical position so that the roll surface of the dispensing roll remains out of contact with rollers of the dispensing mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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Specification