Apparatus for dispensing toilet tissue from coreless rolls

Apparatus for alternately dispensing toilet tissue from coreless rolls of toilet tissue includes a dispenser having a cover movable between two positions to alternately expose rolls of coreless toilet tissue within the dispenser. A partition having an opening is affixed to the cover and movable with the cover. A pair of coreless roll spindles are mounted within the dispenser in axial alignment with one another and with the partition opening. The partition opening alternately receives the coreless roll spindles when the cover moves between the two positions. The disclosed apparatus can be used to retrofit an existing dispenser normally employed to sequentially dispense toilet tissue from two adjacent rolls of toilet tissue having cores.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing toilet tissue from 
coreless rolls of toilet tissue. More particularly, the invention can be 
employed to modify a multi-roll dispenser normally used to dispense tissue 
from rolls of toilet tissue having cores to dispense tissue from rolls not 
having center cores. 
BACKGROUND ART 
It is known in the prior art to retain two rolls of toilet tissue having 
cores in a dispenser cabinet, one of the rolls being available for use 
while the other is stored in the dispenser cabinet in reserve and made 
available for use only when the first is exhausted. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,670, issued Nov. 28, 1961, discloses one such 
arrangement wherein the dispenser comprises a base or back wall which 
carries a semi-cylindrical housing hinged to the base. The housing is 
provided with a single removable mandrel which carries two axially aligned 
toilet tissue rolls. One of the rolls, which is the reserve roll, is 
enclosed or covered by a slidable cover so that the roll is not accessible 
for use until the other roll is exhausted. The cover is axially slidable 
in the housing only when the roll in use is completely exhausted. The 
dispenser disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,670 is not suitable for use 
with coreless rolls of tissue. 
The following patents are also representative of the present state of the 
prior art in this field: U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,339, issued Dec. 6, 1994, 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,682, issued Feb. 15, 1983, U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,874, 
issued Mar. 8, 1983, U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,926, issued Sep. 30, 1975, U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,656,699, issued Apr. 18, 1972, U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,465, issued 
Nov. 16, 1971, U.S. Pat. No. 2,944,749, issued Jul. 12, 1960, U.S. Pat. 
No. 2,889,121, issued Jun. 2, 1959, U.S. Pat. No. 2,805,030, issued Sep. 
3, 1957, U.S. Pat. No. 2,699,903, issued Jan. 18, 1955, U.S. Pat. No. 
2,571,321, issued Oct. 16, 1951, U.S. Pat. No. 3,584,802, issued Jun. 15, 
1971, U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,096, issued Nov. 23, 1971, U.S. Pat. No. 
2,632,606, issued Mar. 24, 1953, U.S. Pat. No. 2,908,451, issued Oct. 13, 
1959, U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,357, issued May 16, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 
2,908,450, issued Oct. 13, 1959, U.S. Pat. No. 3,281,089, issued Oct. 25, 
1966, and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 184,678, issued Mar. 24, 1959. 
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION 
The present invention relates to an apparatus which allows for the 
sequential dispensing of toilet tissue from coreless toilet tissue rolls 
maintained side-by-side within the confines of the apparatus. The 
principles of the invention are applicable to retrofit an existing 
dispenser of the type generally shown in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. 
No. 3,010,670 or incorporated in dispensers during manufacture thereof. 
The apparatus also encompasses unique coreless roll spindles which 
restrict free-wheeling of the coreless tissue roll when unwinding takes 
place. 
The apparatus includes a dispenser having spaced end walls, mounting 
elements located at the end walls, a cover selectively movable between two 
positions for alternately selectively individually exposing rolls of 
toilet tissue mounted between said end walls, and a partition defining a 
partition opening. 
The partition is affixed to the cover and movable with the cover when the 
cover moves between the two positions. 
The apparatus also includes a pair of coreless roll spindles, each of the 
coreless roll spindles for supporting a coreless roll. 
Spindle mounting means is employed for mounting the coreless roll spindles 
in substantial axially alignment on the mounting elements. The partition 
opening alternately receives the coreless roll spindles when the cover 
moves between the two positions. 
The apparatus coreless roll spindles are for rotatably supporting coreless 
paper rolls. Each coreless roll spindle includes a spindle shaft having a 
base and a distal end spaced from the base. 
A mounting member is attached to the spindle shaft at the base for mounting 
the spindle shaft at selected location. 
At least one roll engagement element is rotatably mounted on the spindle 
shaft between the base and the distal end for positioning between the 
spindle shaft and a coreless paper roll. The at least one roll engagement 
element has an axis of rotation and outer peripheral surface, a portion of 
the outer peripheral surface being located further from the axis of 
rotation and from the shaft than the remainder of the outer peripheral 
surface. 
The at least one roll engagement element is constructed of deformable, 
resilient material and urged into constrictive frictional engagement with 
the spindle shaft by a coreless paper roll to resist rotation of the 
coreless paper roll relative to the spindle shaft when a coreless paper 
roll surrounds and is in engagement with the at least one roll engagement 
element. 
Other features, advantages, and objects of the present invention Will 
become apparent with reference to the following description and 
accompanying drawings.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a prior art dispenser device of the type disclosed 
in U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,670, referenced above. The dispenser 10 is utilized 
to sequentially dispense toilet tissue from two adjacent conventional 
rolls of toilet tissue having cores. In the interest of simplicity, such 
rolls have not been shown; however, reference may be had to U.S. Pat. No. 
3,010,670 for a depiction thereof. 
The dispenser 10 includes a back mounting wall 12 for mounting the 
dispenser on a wall or other surface. Hinged to the back wall 12 is the 
dispenser body or housing 14. Suitable lock means is employed to 
selectively latch the housing 14 in closed position relative to the back 
wall as shown in FIG. 1. 
Housing 14 has spaced end walls 16. Attached to the two end walls 16 within 
the interior of the housing are mounting elements 18, only one of the 
mounting elements being illustrated in FIG. 2. Each mounting element 
defines a recess 20 which receives an end of an elongated roll support or 
mandrel 22 which is utilized to support two adjacent rolls of toilet 
tissue having cores as further described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,670. FIG. 
1 shows the mandrel mounted and FIG. 2 shows the mandrel removed from the 
mounting elements. 
Dispenser 10 additionally includes a slidable cover 24 which is movable 
between two positions for alternately selectively individually exposing 
rolls of toilet tissue mounted on the elongated roll support 22 so that a 
consumer can manually dispense toilet tissue from the exposed roll. In 
FIG. 1 the cover 24 is shown being located at one position assumed thereby 
at the extreme right hand side of the housing as viewed from the dispenser 
front, it being understood that movement of the cover 24 to the left will 
expose the right hand roll. 
A partition 26 is affixed to the cover 24 and moves therewith within the 
interior of the housing 14. A track 27 on the housing 14 opposite the 
cover is slidably engaged by the partition to stabilize the partition. The 
partition 26 defines a partition opening 28 for receiving the elongated 
support 22 when the elongated support is in place within the housing. The 
partition includes two partition portions 30, 32 disposed side-by-side, 
the partition opening being in the form of an open-ended slot defined by 
the partition portions. 
The arrangement just described prevents movement of the slidable cover to 
expose a reserve roll having a core until the other roll having a core is 
exhausted, it being understood that the partition abuts against the end of 
the roll in use to prevent movement of the cover until exhaustion of the 
abutted roll. Again, U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,670 can be referred to for 
additional details. 
The dispenser just described is not suitable for use with coreless rolls of 
toilet tissue. The mandrel 22 cannot be inserted into the coreless roll. 
In addition, the partition opening 28 is such that it will allow movement 
of the partition and cover before a coreless roll is depleted. Coreless 
rolls have very restricted central apertures much smaller in diameter than 
the diameter of cores found in conventional rolls of toilet tissue. 
In order to retrofit dispenser 10 to allow the use of coreless toilet 
tissue rolls, elongated roll support or mandrel 22 is removed from the 
recesses 20 of mounting elements 18. The mandrel is replaced by two 
coreless roll spindles 40 of a specified character. See FIGS. 2 and 6-9. 
Each spindle 40 includes a spindle shaft 42 having a base 44 and a distal 
end 46. The distal end 46 comprises a tapered enlargement tapering in the 
direction away from the base. 
Rotatably journaled on spindle shaft 42 between the base and distal end are 
a plurality of roll engagement elements 50 and 52. The roll engagement 
elements 50, 52 are generally toroidal or donut-shaped. Elements 50 are 
symmetric with respect to their axes of rotation about spindle shaft 42. 
On the other hand, elements 52 have offset centers of rotation; that is, 
with respect to each roll engagement element 52, a portion of the outer 
peripheral surface thereof is located further from the axis of rotation 
and from the shaft than the remainder of the outer peripheral surface. At 
least elements 52 are constructed of deformable, resilient material, such 
as plastic material. 
The spindles are inserted tapered end first into the constricted central 
opening of a coreless roll of toilet tissue and then the spindle is 
manually pushed fully into the roll so that the roll is tightly disposed 
about the roll engagement elements 50, 52; that is, the elements are 
located between the roll and the spindle shaft. This will cause 
deformation of at least some of the roll engagement elements, in 
particular elements 52, to deform the elements and urge them into 
constrictive frictional engagement with the spindle shaft. This will 
prevent free wheeling of the coreless roll during unwinding thereof by a 
consumer. 
Positioning of a coreless roll on the spindles will normally take place 
with the spindles removed from the housing 14 as shown in FIG. 2. The 
spindles are then positioned on the mounting elements 18. The shaft of 
each spindle is attached to a mounting member 54 including an enlarged 
segment 56 which is positioned between an end wall 16 and a mounting 
element 18 and a segment of reduced size 58 which is located in and 
projects from mounting element recess 20 to hold the spindle in place. The 
spindles will be axially aligned when both are seated in position relative 
to the housing 14. 
As indicated above, the partition opening 28 in cabinets of the type shown 
in U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,670 is sized for use in conjunction with toilet 
tissue rolls having cores. It is necessary to reduce the effective size of 
this opening so that the cover 24 cannot be manually shifted prematurely 
when coreless toilet tissue rolls are employed. 
This is accomplished by an insert 60 which defines an insert opening 62 
smaller than the partition opening and slightly larger than the cross 
section of a spindle. 
The insert 60 incorporates tabs on the sides thereof which are spaced apart 
to define recesses 64 at the sides of the insert which slidably receive 
partition portions 30, 32 to attach the insert to the partition, insert 
opening 62 being in alignment with the spindles when the inserted is fully 
seated. This will prevent movement of partition 26 and thus cover 24 until 
a coreless roll on a spindle is virtually completely depleted.