Method and apparatus for dispensing flexible sheet material

• US 5,441,189 A
• Filed: 07/14/1993
• Issued: 08/15/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP (KOCH Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Georgia-Pacific Corporation
• Inventors: Formon, John S., Jespersen, Paul W.
• Primary Examiner(s): JONES, EUGENIA A
• Application Number:
  US08/091,409
• Time in Patent Office: 762 Days
• Field of Search: 225/2, 225/4, 225/15, 225/96, 225/106, 225/103, 83/334, 83/335, 83/337, 83/339, 83/660
• US Class Current: 225/2
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 10/3643 by pulling the paper
• CPC Class Codes: B26F 1/20 with tools carried by a rotating drum or similar support B26F1/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/12 With preliminary weakening
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/21 Merely to provide lead-end for manual grasping
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/321 Preliminary weakener
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 225/393 Web restrainer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/4804 Single tool action drive
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/4812 Compound movement of tool during tool cycle
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/9314 Pointed perforators

Abstract

A dispenser for cutting and feeding a web of flexible sheet material is described in which a feed roller carries a web cutting blade and a spring connected to an eccentric crank affixed to the feed roll. While initial movement of the web through the mechanism and actuation of the cutter to effect partial separation of the web material is produced by the user'"'"'s pull on the web, such pull also loads the spring which, upon unloading, delivers the cut web material from the dispenser. The spring is designed to gradually arrest rotation of the feed roll and to be exhausted of stored energy at a predetermined position of the feed roll whereupon the uncut segments of web material are efficaciously severed and the leading end of the succeeding web material is automatically positioned where it can be readily grasped by a subsequent user.

Claims

1. A method of dispensing a web of flexible sheet material without need of a positive stop mechanism from a dispenser having a discharge opening and containing a feed roll traversed by said web, knife means for perforating the web as the web traverses the feed roll, and an energy storing spring operatively connected to said feed roll, comprising the steps of:

pulling the web to impart rotation to said feed roll and to load said spring over one portion of the rotational cycle of said feed roll;

actuating said knife means for perforating said web to produce a line of cut therein containing a plurality of residual unsevered segments;

driving said feed roll by the energy stored in said spring over another portion of the rotational cycle of said feed roll to deliver the portion of said web containing said line of cut to a predetermined position accessible to a user; and

thereafter, severing said web along said line of cut by causing said feed roll to rotate beyond a position corresponding to said predetermined position of said web portion containing said line of cut in which said spring is again loaded to generate against the pull of the user tensile stresses in said residual segments that increase gradually until said segments break.

2. The method of claim 1 in which said severing step is effected by pulling the web to reload said spring following said perforating step.

3. The method of claim 2 including the step of bringing said feed roll to rest with said perforated web at said predetermined position prior to said severing step.

4. The method according to claim 1 in which said step of perforating said web occurs prior to said feed roll driving step.

5. The method according to claim 4 including the step of relaxing the load on said spring following severance of said web to return the end of the remainder of said web to said predetermined position.

6. The method according to claim 5 including the step intermediate said perforating and said severing steps of restricting the tensile strain imparted to said unsevered web portion.

7. The method according to claim 6 in which said tensile strain restricting step is effected by biasing said web against said feed roll.

8. The method according to claim 7 in which said dispenser includes a pinch roll in operative position with respect to said feed roll for isolating the partially severed web from the tensile force generated by pulling said web, and said web-biasing step is performed by manually urging said pinch roll toward said feed roll.

10. A dispenser according to claim 8 in which said spring is connected to said feed roll as, when relaxed, to dispose said line of cut in said predetermined position outside said discharge opening.

12. A dispenser according to any one of claims 9 or 10 in which said feed roll includes an eccentric crank drivingly connected thereto and said spring having one end connected to said crank and the other end fixedly secured with respect to said chassis.

13. A dispenser according to any one of claims 1, 3 or 4 including a pinch roll cooperating with said feed roll downstream, in the material-moving sense, from the point of engagement of said perforating means with said web and operative to bias said material against said feed roll for isolating said cut web from a tensile force applied to said web by said user, and means for biasing said pinch roll toward said feed roll.

14. A dispenser according to claim 13 in which said pinch roll is operably positioned between the surface of said feed roll and said discharge opening.

15. A dispenser according to claim 13 in which said pinch roll biasing means comprises journal means mounting said pinch roll for rotation, and means for moving said pinch roll in said journal means toward said feed roll under the urging of the grasp of said user in pulling said web from said dispenser.

16. A dispenser according to claim 15 in which said journal means comprises opposed elongated slots in said chassis for reception of the ends of said pinch roll, said slots being disposed forwardly of said feed roll and each having a generally horizontal longitudinal axis extending toward said feed roll.

9. A dispenser operable to dispense sheets separated from perforated flexible web material without the presence of a dedicated stop mechanism, comprising:

a chassis forming a housing having a material discharge opening;

means carried by said chassis for feeding a continuous web of flexible sheet material;

means for perforating said web to produce therein a transverse line of cut containing residual unsevered segments of web material for maintaining the continuity of said web;

a feed roll mounted on said chassis for rotation through an operating cycle in which said web is conducted from said feed means into operative relation to said perforating means and thence to a predetermined position with respect to said discharge opening to be grasped by a user for pulling said web from said dispenser and thereby impart rotational movement to said feed roll; and

a spring operatively connected to said feed roll forming an energy storing means that is loaded during rotation of said feed roll through an initial portion of said operating cycle, unloaded during another portion of said operating cycle in which said feed roll is rotated to conduct said sheet material web with the line of cut thereon to a position accessible by said user, and reloaded by further rotation of said feed roll, whereby said spring upon reloading, is operative to independently generate against the pull of said user a resistive force sufficient to impart tensile stresses in said residual segments that increase gradually until said segments break.

11. A dispenser according to claim 9 in which said spring is connected to said feed roll to impart said resistive force to said feed roll subsequent to achieving its unloaded, relaxed condition in the operating cycle of said feed roll.

17. A dispenser operable to dispense sheets separated from perforated flexible web material without the presence of a dedicated stop mechanism, comprising:

a chassis forming a housing having a material discharge opening;

means on said chassis for supplying a continuous web of flexible sheet material;

a cutter for perforating said web to produce therein a transverse line of cut containing residual unsevered segments of web material for maintaining the continuity of said web;

a feed roll mounted on said chassis for rotation through an operating cycle in which said web is conducted from said supply means into operative relation to said cutter and thence to a predetermined position exteriorly of said discharge opening to be grasped by a user for pulling said web from said dispenser and thereby impart rotational movement to said feed roll; and

a spring operatively connected to said feed roll forming an energy storing means that is loaded during rotation of said feed roll through an initial portion of said operating cycle, unloaded during a succeeding portion of said operating cycle in which said feed roll is rotated to conduct said sheet material web with the line of cut thereon to a position accessible by said user exteriorly of said discharge opening, and reloaded upon further rotation of said feed roll, whereby said spring, upon reloading, operates to generate in said feed roll a resistive force acting on said web against the pull of said user to impart tensile stresses in said residual segments that increase gradually until said segments break.

18. A dispenser according to claim 17 in which said feed roll has a generally cylindrical surface about its axis of rotation, and the surface of said web material traversing said cylindrical surface along a substantial portion of the length thereof.

19. A dispenser according to claim 18 in which said cutter is operably mounted within the interior of said feed roll, and a cutter operator effective to extend said cutter substantially radially through said cylindrical surface of said feed roll for penetrating the engaged portion of said web material.

20. A dispenser according to claim 19 including pinch roll means for biasing said web material to said feed roll surface on opposite sides of said cutter-operator on said feed roll, whereby said cut web is isolated from tensile forces applied to said web remote from said cutter.

21. A dispenser according to claim 20 in which said pinch roll means includes an exit pinch roll located downstream, in the material-moving sense, from the point of engagement of said cutter with said web and operative to bias said material against said feed roll for isolating said cut web from a tensile force applied to said web by said user, and means for biasing said pinch roll against said feed roll.