Abstract:
A take up roller for use in a continuous roll towel cabinet is shown which can after taking up the desired amount of toweling, be simply collapsed to have a smaller daimeter facilitating easy removel from the center of the accumulated toweling. A three segment cylinder is shown with a pair of end spindles that serve as the central shaft and expanding/collapsing member.

Description:
[0001]    This invention relates to an expandable/collapsible roller assembly and more particularly to a collapsible take up roller assembly for use in continuous roll towel cabinets.  
         BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
         [0002]    In the continuous roll towel industry a roll of clean towel material is placed in a cabinet, fed through a dispensing mechanism so as to present a clean portion of toweling to a user, and the soiled toweling taken up on a take up roll for subsequent laundering or other processing. When the entire roll of clean toweling has been used and wound up on the soiled towel take up roll the soiled toweling must be removed and taken to a laundry for cleaning. As the soiled toweling is wound up on the take up roll it increasingly tightens itself about the roll portion so that it is frequently very difficult to slip or slide the roll of soiled toweling off the take up roll to remove the toweling for laundering.  
           [0003]    Various expandable/collapsible reels, sleeves and spindles have been proposed for solving particular problems in the slit steel, wire and other industries but they have all been complicated and expensive mechanisms and totally unsuitable for the roll towel industry.  
         OBJECTS OF INVENTION  
         [0004]    Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a collapsible roller assembly that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.  
           [0005]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a simple, economical yet rugged collapsible take up roller for a roll towel cabinet.  
           [0006]    It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a collapsible take up roller assembly that can be substituted for conventional take up rollers in continuous roll towel devices without requiring changes in the existing roll towel devices.  
           [0007]    It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a collapsible take up roller assembly that can be made of economical water and corrosion resistant materials.  
           [0008]    These and other and further objects of the present invention are obtained in one embodiment in which three outer roll segments are maintained in a collapsed condition by three elastic o-rings and expanded to operative position by axial insertion of a pair of spindle members, having at least one truncated cone caming member mounted thereon, adapted to mount the take up roller assembly in a conventional roll towel cabinet 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is a plan view of a collapsible roller assembly according to the present invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is an end view of FIG. 1 taken from the left end;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is an interior plan view of a segment of the roller in FIG. 1;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line  44  of FIG. 2;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is a plan view of the left hand spindle of FIG. 1; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line  6 - 6  of FIG. 5. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]    Referring now to FIG. 1 collapsible roller assembly  10  has a cylindrical body portion  12  made up of three segments  14 ,  16 , and  18 . As may be seen best in FIGS. 2 and 4 each segment comprises about 120 degrees of said cylindrical body portion  12  with the outer surface forming approximately one third of the circumference of the body portion  12 . Each segment  14 - 18  has a rib  20  extending the full longitudinal length thereof.(see FIGS. 3 and 4) Each segment  14 - 18  also has three small grooves  22  (FIG. 3) in the outer surface thereof one at each end and one in the middle.  
         [0016]    Positioned within body portion  12  at each end thereof are spindle members  24  (see FIGS. 1 and 5) which act not only as the mounting shafts for the roller assembly  10  in a continuous roll towel machine, but also function as the caming members for expanding the segments  14 - 18  into the paper receiving position when the spindles are in the full axial inserted position. Three elastic “O” rings  26  (FIG. 1) are mounted in the grooves  22  and are sized to keep the segments  14 - 18  in the retracted or collapsed position unless forced to the expanded position, by the cam surfaces of the spindle members  24 , as shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0017]    As shown in FIG. 5 spindle members  24  include a shaft  27  carrying a pair of truncated cones  28  and  28 ′ fixed thereto by suitable means such as spring roll pins  29 . Shaft  27  also carries at the outer end a knob  30  or a gear  32  as the case may be, as required to interface with a particular application. The space between the knob  30  and gear  32  and the outer cone members  28  are provided to serve as shaft mounting areas when installed in a roll towel machine. Cone members  28  and  28 ; each have three radial slots  34  (FIG. 6) formed to receive ribs  20  of the segments  14 - 18  when assembled thereabout. In this fashion the spindles  24  and roller segments  14 - 18  are maintained in proper radial alignment. Cone members  28  and  28 ′ also each have a tapered cam surface  36  and two flat circumference surfaces  38  and  40  with surface  40  having the larger diameter.  
         [0018]    The cylindrical body portion segments  14 - 18  each have six interior cavities  41  spaced along the length thereof and separated by annular ring members  42 ,  44 , and  46 . Ring members  42  and  44  are sized to coperate with cam surfaces  38  to hold the segments  14 - 18  in the expanded position when spindles  24  are fuly inserted into the segments.  
         [0019]    When assembled as shown in FIG. I spindles  24  are inserted into the roller segments until circumference  40  which functions as a flange abuts the ends of the roller segments  14 - 18 . In this position spindle surfaces  38  contact the smaller diameter inner segment rings  42  and  44  and hold the segments in the expanded roller configuration (see FIG. 2). When the spindles  24  are withdrawn to the collapsed position the rings  42  and  44  slide down the cam surfaces  36  allowing the “O” rings  26  to compress the roller segments  14 - 18  into the collapsed position about shaft  27 . As the spindles  24  are withdrawn from within the roller segments the flange surface  40  of the cone  28 ′ on the inner end of the spindles is stopped by rings  46  on the inner surface of the roller segments  14 - 18 .  
         [0020]    As shown in FIG. I the outer end of the left hand spindle has formed thereon a mounting knob  30  adapted to fit in the cabinet roll mounting bracket and the right hand spindle has a gear  32  on the end thereof to operatively engage with the towel transport mechanism of the towel cabinet to drive the take up roller assembly.  
         [0021]    In operation the collapsable roller assembly  10  is installed in a towel cabinet in the expanded condition and a towel web is wrapped around the body  12 . When the desired amount of towel is taken up by the roller assembly body  12  the entire assembly of soiled towel and collapsible roller is removed from the cabinet. The two spindles  24  are then pulled along the longitudinal axis outwardly to the collapsed position and the roller segments  14 - 18  are drawn together by the “O” rings  26  which decreases the roller diameter sufficiently so that the roller assembly  10  can be easily removed from the rolled up soiled towel. The roller assembly  10  may then be reinstalled in the towel cabinet and the cycle restarted. The soiled towel may then be sent to the laundry in the normal course. A very simple, easy to operate and economical to manufacture collapsible roller assembly is thus provided.  
         [0022]    While there are given above certain specific examples of this invention and its application in practical use, it should be understood that they are not intended to be exhaustive or to be limiting of the invention. On the contrary, these illustrations and explanations herein are given in order to acquaint others skilled in the art with this invention and the principles thereof and a suitable manner of its application in practical use.