Abstract:
A dispenser has a cover and a housing body. Within the housing body is a pair of rollers having a nip area therebetween. When the cover is open, a disengagement mechanism may be manually depressed to increase the space between one end of the rollers, while the space between an opposing end of the rollers remains substantially unchanged to facilitate the removal of a jam in the nip area of the dispenser.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing lengths of absorbent material from a roll or stack of absorbent material such as paper towels, toilet paper or other wiping materials.  
         [0003]     2. Description of Related Art  
         [0004]     In conventional sheet dispensing apparatus, material from a supply roll or stack of absorbent material is incrementally dispensed through a dispensing opening in a housing. In some dispensers, the sheets may pass between a drive roller and a pinch roller, while still connected to the supply roll and then are dispensed through the dispensing opening. A cutting device may be at the dispensing opening to separate the lengths of material from the supply roll upon dispensing.  
         [0005]     A problem with conventional devices is that the material may become jammed in the nip area between the drive roller and the pinch roller. This requires the device to be serviced to remove the jam before the dispenser can properly continue dispensing material.  
         [0006]     Several attempts have been made to solve the above-noted problem including a recent attempt shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,994,408 to Brunnel. The device of Brunnel is complicated in that it requires not only a specialized pinch roller, but a specialized housing as well.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     An object of the invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art, or to alleviate the shortcomings of the prior art at least in part.  
         [0008]     Another object of the invention is to have a relative simple device for removing a jam that can preferably be used in existing housings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]     The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following details description of preferred embodiments thereof, given with reference to the accompanying drawing figures, in which:  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a dispenser according to the invention;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of material advancing parts and the jam removing parts of the dispenser according to  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a side view of a cassette according to an embodiment of the invention showing a first end of a pinch roller in a first position;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a side view showing the first end of the pinch roller of  FIG. 3  in a second position;  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a view of the rear mounting wall with a front cover open and a cassette removed from a housing;  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is a front view with the front cover closed;  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  is a partial sectional view of a dispenser through line  7 - 7  of  FIG. 6  showing the relative position of the pinch roller and drive roller in an operating position; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  is a partial sectional view of a dispenser through line  8 - 8  of  FIG. 6  showing the relative position of the pinch roller and drive roller in an jam clearing position. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]      FIG. 1  shows a dispensing apparatus  10  that includes a housing  12  having a front cover  15 , which may be articulated to the housing in any manner that allows the front cover  15  to be pivotally mounted to the housing  12 . Alternatively, the front cover can be mounted to the housing and be detachable from the housing in an open position. The front cover is retained in a closed position using a lock assembly  25 .  
         [0019]     Within the housing is a roll of absorbent material R (see  FIG. 7 ). As the roll R unrolls, the advancing sheet is fed between pinch roller  2  and drive roller  5 . As seen in  FIG. 2 , the pinch roller  2  is adjacent to a primary roller, which in this embodiment is a drive roller  5  to create a nip area  11 . The pinch roller  2  is rotatable with the drive roller  5  to tension absorbent material being unrolled from the roll R when the drive roller  5  is operated.  
         [0020]     As further seen in  FIG. 2 , the pinch roller  2  has a first end  4  and a second end  6 . As seen in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the first end  4  of the pinch roller  2  is movable from a first position where the pinch roller  2  and the drive roller  5  are contacting or closely adjacent to each other, to a second position where the ends of the pinch and drive rollers  2 ,  5  are spaced relatively further apart from each other. Whilst the first end  4  of the pinch roller  2  is being moved between the first and second positions, the second end  6  of the pinch roller  2  remains substantially in place, but pivots to keep a distance between the second end  6  of the pinch roller  2  and a second end  9  of the drive roller  5  substantially unchanged as seen in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . In the first position, the pinch roller  2  may be in contact with the drive roller  5 .  
         [0021]     In a preferred embodiment, a disengagement mechanism  19  may be a means for pivoting the pinch roller to effectuate movement of the first end  4  of the pinch roller  2  from the first position to the second position.  FIG. 2  shows the disengagement mechanism  19  having a shaft  14  and a button  16 . A slot  20  that is inclined with respect to a longitudinal axis of the shaft  14  may be near a bottom of shaft  14 . The slot  20  receives the first end  4  of the pinch roller  2 .  
         [0022]     In the embodiment of  FIG. 2 , the first end  4  of the pinch roller  2  extends through a support plate  13 . The support plate has a slot  22  that is inclined in a direction opposite to that of slot  20  so that the disengagement mechanism  19  is able to move in a vertical plane (see  FIGS. 3 and 4 ). Alternatively, it is within the scope of the present invention that the disengagement mechanism  19  moves the first end of the drive roller with respect to the pinch roller.  
         [0023]     The support plate  13  may include an opening such as a slot or a circular hole, such as hole  24  that receives the first end  7  of drive roller  5 . A second support plate  23 , which is similar to the first support plate  13 , but does not necessarily include the disengagement mechanism, has additional openings  32 ,  34  to receive the respective second ends  6 ,  9  of the pinch roller and the drive roller. The support plate  13  and the second support plate  23  may further include a pin  27  to pivotally receive cutting member  29 . Bushings, such as bushing  26  may be on the first end  4  of the pinch roller to provide a bearing surface between the first end  4  and the support plate  13  as well as a spacer between the disengagement mechanism  19  and the support plate  13 .  
         [0024]     In a presently preferred embodiment, the dispensing apparatus  10  may be a hands-free dispenser that dispenses a length of material upon certain conditions being met, such as the activation of a sensor. Such an embodiment may include a motor  40  and an object detection device  50 . The motor  40  drives the drive roller  5  when the motor  40  is triggered to activate, upon the object detection device  50  detecting an object. The object may be a user&#39;s hand. However, the type of sensing is not limited in this invention, and could be for example passive or active infrared sensing, or capacitive proximity sensing.  
         [0025]     In addition, other embodiments are envisioned such as the “hands-free mechanical” type dispenser or a dispenser that is activated by a mechanical lever or the like.  
         [0026]     The roll of absorbent sheet material R to be dispensed from the dispenser may either be a continuous imperforate roll, which is detached from the roll by the user pulling the dispensed sheet against a cutting blade, or may instead be a partially pre-cut web in which the force of the user pulling on the dispensed sheet serves to sever the tabs that connect the dispensed sheet to the next sheet to be dispensed, as is common in hands-free mechanical dispensers. Those pre-cuts can be made either during manufacturing converting of the roll, or in-situ by a blade in the dispenser that pre-cuts the tail of the sheet as it is being dispensed. It is also possible to employ the invention in a dispenser for discrete folded pieces of absorbent sheet material.  
         [0027]     In a presently preferred embodiment, the motor  40 , the object detection device  50 , the drive roller  5 , the pinch roller  2 , the cutting member  29  and the disengagement mechanism  19  are part of a removable cassette  60 . As seen in  FIGS. 2 and 5 , the cassette  60  may be attached to a rear mounting surface  70  of the housing  12  using one or more screws  62 . The rear mounting surface  70  may also include tabs  75  that mate with a notch in the rear of the cassette  60 .  
         [0028]     Although description is made with respect to a disengagement mechanism being on the side of the cassette  60  opposite the gears  66  of the drive roller  5 , it is contemplated that a disengagement mechanism could be on either or both sides of the cassette  60 .  
         [0029]     Returning to  FIG. 1 , to support the roll of material R (see  FIG. 7 ), it is contemplated that a roll receiver (not shown) may be inserted into the ends of the roll of material R, which in turn may be supported on roll support arms  33 ,  35 . Alternatively, the receiver may only be at one end of the roll R and supported by the support arm  33 , and the other end of the roll may be supported by the roll support arm  35  without a receiver being inserted into the second end of the roll R. In this embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 1 , for example, the support arm  35  has an extension piece  37  that inserts into the second end of the roll R.  
         [0030]     As to the roll or stack of absorbent material, the term absorbent material as used herein embraces not only paper products such as paper towels and napkins, but also absorbent nonwoven materials not normally classed as papers or tissues. Such nonwoven materials include pure nonwovens and hybrid nonwoven/pulp webs whose properties are similar to those of tissue paper, but which are based for example on nonwoven or airlaid materials containing low amounts of synthetic fibers, binders, wet strength agents and the like. An example of such a material would be a wetlaid or foam-formed hydraulically entangled nonwoven material comprising at least 30% by weight pulp fibers and at least 20% by weight manmade fibers or filaments.  
         [0031]     In operation, as seen in  FIGS. 1 and 7 , a web of material is unwound from the roll R and is fed between the pinch roller  2  and the drive roller  5 . A feed button (not shown) may be used to energize the drive roller  2  to facilitate the movement of the web into the nip between the pinch roller  2  and the drive roller  5 . The web is then fed through an outlet opening  65  in the front cover  15 . The front cover  15  is then closed and locked in place using lock assembly  25 . The dispensing apparatus is now ready to dispense sheets of absorbent material through the outlet opening  65 .  
         [0032]     When the sheets are not being dispensed from the dispensing apparatus because of a jam or other malfunction, a maintenance person or other person authorized to unlock the locking assembly  25  may unlock the locking assembly  25  and then rotate the front cover  15  toward him/her. This person would then manually depress the button  16  of the disengagement mechanism  19  to move the pinch roller  2  from the first position to the second position to relieve tension on the web of material. Once the tension on the web of material is relieved, the web of material may be readily dislodged from the nip area  11  to remove the jam.  
         [0033]     The invention has been described in detail with respect to presently preferred embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that changes or modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The invention should not be limited by the disclosed embodiments and rather should be defined by the appended claims.