Patent ID: 8919689
Filing Date: 2014-12-30
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
1. A dispenser to deploy and expand unexpanded web material from a spiral wound roll of said web material, wherein: the unexpanded web material is flexible; the unexpanded web material is substantially longer than it is wide; the unexpanded web material is die cut so that it produces a three-dimensional lattice when expanded; the unexpanded web material comprises an uncut longitudinal strand positioned along a transverse edge of the web material and running along the entire length of the web material; the roll comprises a hollow cylindrical core around which the unexpanded web material is wound, said core having two opposite ends each at a transverse edge of the unexpanded web material; and the roll further comprises two annular shaped core plugs that are inserted at the two opposite ends of the hollow cylindrical core; said dispenser comprising: a) a base; b) a support column affixed to and perpendicular to the base; c) an axle for mounting the roll of unexpanded web material, wherein the axle is affixed to and perpendicular to the support column at a distance from the base; d) a guide wheel assembly through which the unexpanded web material is threaded, wherein the guide wheel assembly is affixed to the base and the support column, and wherein the guide wheel assembly further comprises at least three guide rollers that contact and hold the unexpanded web material at the at the uncut longitudinal strand in at least three places; and e) a braking assembly to retard unraveling of the unexpanded web material from the roll, wherein the braking assembly further comprises: whereby, as the unexpanded web material is pulled through the guide wheel assembly by applying a diagonally transverse force, the unexpanded web material expands in both the longitudinal and transverse directions.