Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02725010 2010-12-08
INTERLEAVED TOWEL DISPENSER
Field of the Technology
The present disclosure relates generally to a towel dispensing device,
and various methods associated with such a device. More particularly, this
disclosure relates to a towel dispenser that dispenses interleaved towels, and
various
methods associated with such an interleaved towel dispenser.
Background
A variety of paper towel dispensing arrangements currently exists.
One common arrangement includes a paper towel dispenser having pre-folded,
interleaved paper towels or sheets that are pulled from an opening in the
dispenser.
The paper towels are interleaved so that a tab of a second following paper
towel is
delivered when a first paper towel is pulled from the dispenser.
In conventional interleaved dispenser arrangements, multiple
interleaved paper towels are sometimes dispensed at once without the user
intending
to take or use more than one towel. This over-dispense of multiple paper
towels can
be due simply to the interleaved arrangement of the towels, or by the user
inadvertently grasping more than one sheet of paper towel at a time (e.g., by
pinching together and pulling multiple paper towels at one time). The extra
paper
towels dispensed are often discarded without use, or left on the restrootn
sink, for
example, where the extra towels can become wet and possibly contaminated.
Improvements to interleaved paper towel dispensers, generally to
eliminate waste of paper towels and provide a user with an easy to use device,
is
needed.
Summary
One aspect of the present invention relates to an interleaved towel
dispenser that permits dispense of only one interleaved towel at a time. In
use, a
first towel is held by a separating arrangement and is accessible to a user
through an
opening in the dispenser. When the first towel is grasped and pulled, a second
following towel interleaved with the first towel is drawn toward the opening.
The
separating arrangement retains the second following towel such that the first
towel
being pulled separates from the second towel. The first towel is released or
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dispensed to the user; the second following towel is retained, but is
accessible fir
use.
A variety of examples of desirable product features or methods are set
forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent
from the
description, or may be learned by practicing various aspects of the
disclosure. The
aspects of the disclosure may relate to individual features as well as
combinations of
features. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description
and the
following detailed description are explanatory only, and are not restrictive
of the
claimed invention.
Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. I is a front perspective view ofa towel dispenser, in accordance
with the principles disclosed;
FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the towel dispenser of FIG. 1,
illustrated with an opened front cover;
FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the towel dispenser of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of two interleaved stacks of towels that
can be used in the towel dispenser of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is an exploded, front perspective view of the towel dispenser
of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of the towel dispenser of FIG. 1,
illustrated without the front cover;
FIG. 7 is an enlarged side elevation view of a portion of the towel
dispenser of FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the towel dispenser of FIG. 1,
illustrated with a first interleaved towel awaiting use;
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the towel dispenser of FIG. 8,
illustrated with the first interleaved towel being removed from the towel
dispenser:
FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the towel dispenser of FIG. 9,
illustrated with the first interleaved towel removed from the towel dispenser;
and
FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the towel dispenser of FIG. 10,
illustrated with a second interleaved towel awaiting use.
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Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary aspects of the
present disclosure that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever
possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to
refer
to the same or like parts.
In interleaved towel dispensers, the interleaving of the individual
towels is relied upon to deliver a leading portion or tab of a following
towel. In
conventional arrangements, however, a clump of multiple towels are sometimes
delivered from a single pull of a towel tab.
The present disclosure relates to an interleaved towel dispenser that
meters or controls dispense of interleaved towels. As previously described,
such
conventional interleaved towel dispensers often dispense more individual
towels
than what is needed by a single user, resulting in towel waste and/or mess.
The
extra dispensed towels are sometimes left out in the open, for example upon a
sink
ledge, where the extra towels can become wet and/or contaminated. The present
towel dispenser eliminates unintended dispensing of paper towels by delivering
a
single towel from a stack of interleaved towels. The towel dispenser can be
constructed for installation within an existing towel dispenser frame, can be
constructed to mount within a recessed space of a wall, and/or can be
constructed to
mount flush to a wall.
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the towel dispenser 10 generally
includes a housing 12, a plurality of interleaved towels 14, and a separating
arrangement 16 (see also FIG. 3) that dispenses only one interleaved towel
from the
housing 12 at a time. The housing 12 defines a bottom opening 24 (see also
FIG. 3)
through which the interleaved towels are dispensed.
The housing 12 of the towel dispenser 10 generally includes a frame
18 and a cover 20. The cover 20 is pivotally connected to the frame 18 at
hinge
locations 26 (FIG. 3). The cover 20 provides access to an interior 22 of the
housing
12 when pivoted to an open position (for loading of the interleaved towels 14,
for
example), and generally encloses the contents of the interior of the housing
12 when
pivoted to a closed position.
The plurality of interleaved towels 14 of FIG. 2 includes a stack of
pre-cut individual paper towels. The individual towels can be single fold or
multifold. Referring to FIG. 4, two stacks of interleaved towels 14 are
illustrated in
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isolation. Each stack of individual towels 14 has a top interleaved towel 28
and a
bottom interleaved towel 30. A bonding material 32, such as an adhesive
material,
is provided on one or both of the top interleaved towel 28 and the bottom
interleaved
towel 30. In conventional arrangements, it is often difficult or time
consuming to
attempt to interleave a top towel of an existing stack with the bottom towel
of a new
stack when replenishing a dispenser, instead the new stack is simply placed
upon the
existing stack. When the existing stack is depleted, a user is required to
reach up
within the dispenser to attempt to grasp the leading tab of the bottom towel
of the
new stack. In the present arrangement, the adhesive material 32 connects two
stacks
of interleaved towels 14 to automatically continue towel dispense Without
requiring
a user to reach within the dispenser to manually re-establish a leading towel
tab.
In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 2, the adhesive material 32 is
provided on an area of the top towel 28 of the stack of individual towels 14.
In FIG.
4, a second optional or alternative adhesive area is shown in dashed line on
the
bottom towel 30. The adhesive material/area can include or be defined by a
double-
sided adhesive strip or a volume of adhesive material deposited on the
particular
towel, for example. Additional details of stacks of paper material
incorporating
adhesive material for attachment to other paper material stacks are described
in U.S.
Patent Application 12/583,189, which application is incorporated in its
entirety
herein by reference.
Referring now to FIG. 5, an exploded view of the towel dispenser 10
is illustrated. The frame 18 of the housing has a back panel 34 and opposing
side
panels 36. Two support shelves, including a forward support shelf 38 and a
rearward
support shelf 40 extend between the side panels 36. The support shelves 38, 40
support the stack of interleave towels 14 when loaded and stored within the
interior
of the housing. The support shelves 38, 40 are spaced apart so as to define a
gap G
between the shelves. The interleave towels 14 feed through the gap G to the
bottom
opening 24 of the housing during use.
Referring now to FIGS. 5-7, the separating arrangement 16 of the
present dispenser 10 includes a first roller 42 and a second roller 44. The
first and
second rollers 42, 44 are located adjacent to the bottom opening 24 of the
housing
12. The first roller 42 is a front roller located toward a front of the
housing 12 and
the second roller 44 is a rear roller located toward a rear of the housing 12.
Opposite
ends of each of the first and second rollers 42, 44 are positioned and
supported
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within a slot 46 formed in each of the side panels 36 of the frame 18. The
rollers 42,
44 rotate in the direction shown by arrows (FIG. 7) during dispense of a
towel.
Bushings or bearings 48 can be assembled onto the rollers 42, 44 to aid in the
rotational movement of the rollers 42, 44.
The rollers 42, 44 are arranged to provide a nip area N (FIG. 7)
between the rollers. In particular, one of the first and second rollers 42. 44
is biased
toward the other roller by springs 50; the other roller being located at a
fixed
location relative to the frame 18. In the illustrated embodiment, the second
roller 44
is located at the fixed location (i.e., at an end 52 of the slot 46) while the
springs 50
bias the first roller 42 toward the second roller 44. Referring to FIG. 7, the
springs
50 each have a first end portion 54 and a second end portion 56. The first end
portions 54 of the springs 50 interconnect to a fastening clement 66 located
on the
respective side panels 36 of the frame 18. The second end portions 56 of the
springs
50 bias the first roller 42 rearward against the second roller 44. In use, the
force or
"nip" provided between the rollers 42, 44 by the springs 50 retains individual
towels
of the stacked interleaved towels 14, as will be described in greater detail
hereinafter. In an alternative embodiment, other devices or methods that
create a nip
area can be used in lieu of springs.
Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, the interleaved dispenser 10 further
includes an advancement device 58 (such as a wheel or gear) interconnected to
one
of the first and second rollers 42, 44. The advancement device 58 advances a
leading interleaved towel of the stack of interleaved towels through the nip
area N of
the rollers 42, 44 toward the bottom opening 24 when the dispenser 10 is
initially
loaded.
Referring now to FIG. 8, a cross-section of the interleaved towel
dispenser 10 is illustrated. The stack of interleaved towels 14 is
schematically
shown with a first towel 60 awaiting use and a second following towel 62
interleaved with the first towel 60. The first and second rollers 42, 44 of
the
separating arrangement 16 retain the first towel 60 in an awaiting-use
position until
removed by a user. When positioned in the awaiting-use position, the
individual
towel (e.g., first towel 60) is visible to the user. That is, the awaiting use
towel (e.g.,
60) extends through the bottom opening 24 of the housing 12 such that a
leading
portion of the awaiting-use towel is located below an exterior 64 of the
housing.
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When the first towel 60 is pulled for removal, the first and second
rollers 42, 44 rotate for dispense of the first towel; the second following
towel 62
interleaved with the first towel 60 is pulled or drawn along with the first
towel
toward the bottom opening of the housing. Referring to FIG. 9, during such
removal
of the first towel 60, both the first towel 60 and the second following towel
62
become located within the nip area N between the first and second rollers 42,
44.
Referring to FIG. 10, once the rollers 42, 44 have rotated by the pulling
action on the
first towel to a position at which the first towel is no longer in the nip
area N of the
rollers, the first towel 60 is released; the second following towel 62 however
is
retained by the "nip" between the rollers. In particular, the second following
towel
62 is now retained in the awaiting-use position, as shown in FIG. 11.
The separating arrangement retains the second following towel such
that the first towel being pulled separates from the second towel. That is, by
allowing release of a first towel (e.g., 60) and by retaining a second
following towel
(e.g., 62) during removal of the first towel, the separating arrangement 16
facilitates
separation of the towels and allows dispense of only one interleaved towel at
a time.
Further, the present dispenser 10 makes accessible to the user only the
awaiting-use
towel (e.g., 60 (FIG. 8) or 62 (FIG. I I )). That is, a user cannot
inadvertently grasp
or pinch together multiple towels. By this arrangement, towels are dispensed
one by
one to eliminate unintended towel waste. If additional toweling is needed, the
user
can simply obtain the following awaiting-use towel from the interleaved towel
dispenser as previously described.
The above specification provides a complete description of the
present invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, certain aspects of the
invention
reside in the claims hereinafter appended.
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