Patent ID: 6039102
Filing Date: 2000-03-21
Classification: B65H,Y10T

Abstract:
A dispenser from which sheet material having opposite major surfaces may be manually dispensed, said dispenser comprising:a frame;means on said frame adapted for carrying the sheet material and for defining a passageway having a first side generally parallel to said surfaces of said sheet material, through a portion of which passageway a portion of the sheet material carried on the frame can be pulled;a cutting member having a sharp cutting edge adapted for transversely cutting the sheet material and an elongate contact surface generally parallel to and spaced from said cutting edge;means mounting said cutting member on said frame along said first side of and transverse to said passageway for movement relative to said frame between:a) a retracted position at which said cutting edge is spaced from said passageway and positioned to restrict contact between a person using the dispenser and said cutting edge, and at which retracted position said contact surface extends along said first side of said passageway, andb) a cutting position to which the cutting member can be moved from said retracted position by manually tensioning the sheet material being pulled from the dispenser around the contact surface of the cutting member, at which cutting position said cutting edge is positioned to intersect and transversely sever the tensioned sheet material; andmeans for biasing said cutting member to said retracted position;said means mounting said cutting member on said frame mounting said cutting member for pivotal movement relative to said frame about a cutting member pivot axis generally parallel to and spaced from both said contact surface and said cutting edge between said retracted and cutting positions; and said contact surface being disposed so that when said cutting member is moved to said cutting position by said tensioned sheet material said tensioned sheet material extends from the sheet material carried on said frame to said contact surface with said cutting edge engaging said sheet material therebetween; andat least a portion of said frame and at least a portion of said cutting member being provided by a unitary polymeric molding having an elongate relatively thin resiliently flexible section between said frame and said cutting member providing both said means for mounting said cutting member on said frame for pivotal movement and said means for biasing.