Abstract:
The specification discloses a sheet material dispenser for which the angle between axis along which sheet material is dispensed and the dispenser container may be changed. A dispensing funnel is provided on a ball that rotates about its center within a socket mounted on the container. Sheet material extends from the center of a stationary supply of sheet material around a guide bar, through openings in the ball and the container, and to the exterior of the container through the opening of the funnel. Sheet material is manually extracted from the funnel. A stabilizing member extends into a hollow core to the supply of sheet material to stabilize the supply. An access hole is formed in the container to allow adjustment and refeeding of sheet material without unlocking the container.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to sheet material dispensers and, more specifically, to novel, improved sheet material dispensers designed such that the angle at which sheet material is dispensed may be changed, a supply roll of interconnected sheet material is stabilized during dispensing, sheet material is guided towards a dispensing port to prevent jamming, and sheet material may easily be adjusted within the machine should such sheet material become jammed. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A number of sheet material dispensers and other superficially related dispensers have heretofore been proposed. Those of which applicant is aware are disclosed in: (a) U.S. Pat. No. 2,806,591, issued 17 September 1957 to Appleton for &#34;DISPOSABLE TISSUE RECEPTACLE&#34;; U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,642, issued 22 April 1986 to Blythe et al. for &#34;DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR A COLLECTION OF INTER-CONNECTED SEVERABLE SHEET MATERIAL AND METHOD OF DISPENSING&#34;; U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,822, issued 30 September 1975 to Giberstein for &#34;DEVICE FOR PACKAGING AND PRESENTATION OF KNITTED OR HOSIERY ARTICLES SUCH AS, MORE PARTICULARLY, STOCKINGS OR TIGHTS&#34;; U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,390, issued 9 October 1979 to McCabe for &#34;PAPER TOWEL DISPENSER&#34;; U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,167, issued 21 March 1967 to Knox for &#34;RIBBON DISPENSER&#34;; U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,973, issued 22 September 1987 to Rose et al. for &#34;WARMING DEVICE FOR DISPOSABLE TOWEL DISPENSER&#34;; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,027, issued 5 September 1989 to Yano for &#34;BAG ROLL CUTTING DEVICE&#34;; and (b) a brochure for Merfin&#39;s &#34;SINGLE SHEET PAPER TOWEL DISPENSER&#34;. 
     Each of the foregoing references contains drawbacks rendering the sheet material dispensers disclosed therein inflexible and/or inefficient for dispensing of sheet material. For example, all of the references cited above have fixed dispensing orifices. Accordingly, the towel dispenser disclosed therein are severely limited in mounted options because their fixed dispensing orifices prescribe the mounting position. 
     In addition, none of these references allow adjustment and correction of the sheet material contained therein when such sheet material is jammed, without opening the container in which the sheet material is stored. 
     The McCabe and Yano patents disclose means for stabilizing rolls of interconnected sheets. However, the sheets in those patent are dispensed from the outside of the supply rolls. The stabilizing means disclosed therein could not be adapted to stabilize a supply roll of sheet material that dispenses sheets from the center. 
     In the above-cited Knox and McCabe patents, elongate orifices are disclosed that, effectively, guide interconnected sheets out of a dispensing orifice. Niether of the guiding orifices of the dispensers disclosed in Knox and McCabe would be effective at guiding sheets off of a roll of sheets when sheets are drawn from the center of the roll of sheets and the roll of sheets is stationary. Accordingly, the guiding action disclosed in these patents would be ineffective in a wide variety of situations. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Disclosed herein is a new and novel sheet dispenser that does not contain any of the above-discussed, or other, disadvantages of heretofore proposed sheet dispensers. 
     Generally speaking, the novel sheet material dispenser disclosed herein includes a container for containing a supply of sheets in roll form, a cover for covering a service opening of the container, and a dispenser mounted on the container and having a dispensing orifice with a dispensing axis defined therethrough, wherein the angle between the container and the dispensing axis is changeable by moving the dispenser. By moving the dispenser, sheets may be dispensed to a person standing in different places relative to the sheet dispenser. 
     In addition, the sheet dispenser of the present invention may include one or more guide bars mounted within the container for guiding the connected sheets from the supply of such connected sheets to the dispenser. Providing such a guide bar or guide bars allows placement of the dispenser at different locations on the container, depending at different locations on the container, depending on the desired mounting location of the container, such that jamming of the connected sheets along the sheet path is prevented. 
     Another embodiment of the sheet dispenser disclosed herein provides a stabilizer that partially penetrates a hole in the center of the supply of connected sheets to stabilize the supply. The supply is thus prevented from caving in upon itself after most of the sheets have been dispensed from the supply. The stabilizer may be movable to allow easy loading of the supply of connected sheets. 
     Additionally, an access opening may be provided in the container along the sheet path to allow adjustment of the sheets along a sheet dispensing path without opening of the cover, which may be locked and accessible only by personnel of a janitorial or maintenance service. 
     The dispenser of the present sheet dispenser may be a ball and socket arrangement having a dispensing nozzle protruding from the ball. The sheet material is dispensed through a dispensing orifice in the nozzle, and the ball is rotatable within the socket such that the dispensing angle is changeable. 
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     From the foregoing, it is apparent that the proviso of a novel, improved sheet dispenser is one primary and important object of the invention. 
     Other, also important, but more specific objects of the invention include the provision of a sheet dispenser that: 
     (a) allows easy dispensing of sheets to persons standing in various positions in relation to the sheet dispenser; 
     (b) allows flexible installation of the sheet dispenser; 
     (c) allows provision of a dispenser at different places on the container of the sheet dispenser; 
     (d) prevents jamming of the sheets within the sheet dispenser; 
     (e) allows easy access to a sheet path within the sheet dispenser so that jamming and/or obstructions in the sheet path may be cleared; 
     (f) stabilizes a supply roll of connected sheets contained in the sheet dispenser; and 
     (g) allows easy installation of replacement supply rolls of connected sheets. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the sheet dispenser of the preferred embodiment; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the sheet dispenser with its cover removed showing a roll of connected sheets and a stabilizer of the preferred embodiment; 
     FIG. 3 is a side view of the sheet dispenser with its cover in a closed position; 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of the sheet dispenser with its cover partially opened; and 
     FIG. 5 is a side, cross-sectional view of the sheet dispenser of the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the preferred embodiment depicting the details of the dispenser through which sheet material is manually extracted. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 1 depicts a sheet dispenser 2 constructed in accordance with, and embodying, the principles of the present invention. Sheet dispenser 2 is mounted on a mounting surface 4. 
     A cover 8 is rotatably attached to a container 6 by hinges schematically indicated at 9 (FIGS. 3 and 4) under hinge ears 10. Cover 8 rotates about a hinge axis indicated by reference character 9a (FIG. 2). 
     The container 6 has left side, right side, front, rear, and bottom walls 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, and 6e, respectively. A dispenser 12 is mounted on the lower front portion of container 6. Sheet material, indicated by reference character 14, is dispensed through dispenser 12 along a dispensing axis indicated by reference character A (see FIG. 4). 
     FIG. 2 depicts sheet dispenser 2 with cover 8 removed. A service opening 16, which is formed in container 6, allows a supply roll 18 to be inserted into or removed from container 6 and also allows cleaning and maintenance of the interior thereof. Service opening 16 extends over the entire top portion of container 6 and through a substantial portion of front 6C of the container 6. 
     Supply roll 18 consists of a series of individual sheets 20. The individual sheets 20 in supply roll 18 are connected to two adjacent individual sheets 20 at perforated junctions 22. By application of an appropriate force along perforated junctions 22, adjacent individual sheets 20 may easily be separated from each other. 
     Supply roll 18 sits within container 6 on a support member 24. In this embodiment, supply roll 18 does not move relative to support member 24; instead, the point at which sheet material 14 is removed from hollow core 26, indicated by reference character 28, spirals outward around the center of core 26. As sheet material 14 is removed from supply roll 18, the diameter of hollow core 26 increases and the thickness of rolled individual sheets 20 decreases until the final, outside layer of individual sheets 20 is removed, at which time sheet dispenser 2 is empty. 
     A stabilizing bar 30 is connected to an L-shaped bracket 32 by a screw 34. L-shaped bracket 32 is slideably mounted on the back wall 6d of container 6 by U-shape mounting brackets 36. L-shaped bracket 32 slides up into a loading position and down into a stabilizing position relative to container 6 such that stabilizing bar 30 is removed from or partially inserted into hollow core 26 of supply role 18. When bracket 32 is in the loading position, bracket 32 and stabilizing bar 30 protrude through service opening 16 (FIG. 4) to allow roll 18 to be loaded into container 6. 
     A female portion 96 of one of hinges 9 rotatably attaches cover 8 onto container 6. Male portions schematically indicated at 9C (FIGS. 3 and 4) of the hinges 9 are located on the inside surfaces of cover 8 at hinge ears 10. Hinge ears 10 cover female portions 38a, and female portions 38a mate with the male portions 38b of the hinges, when cover 8 is attached to container 6. 
     A front portion 40 of container 6 is generally curved to conform to the curved outer surfaces of support member 24 and supply roll 18. 
     In this embodiment, a flat surface 42 is formed on front portion 40. Dispenser 12 is attached to container 6 at flat surface 42. Flat surface 42 is downwardly slanted to prevent cover 8 from contacting and interfering with dispenser 12 when cover 8 is rotated away from the closed position. More particularly, as a front edge 8a of cover 8 downwardly rotates about the hinge axis 9, it swings outward away from dispenser 12 and does not contact the dispenser 12. When front edge 8a contact bottom wall 6e of container 6, cover 8 is fully rotated into the open position. 
     The supply roll 18 may be inserted into or removed from container 6 through service opening 16 formed therein when cover 8 is opened as shown in FIG. 4. 
     In this embodiment, dispenser 12 comprises a hollow ball 44 revolving within a socket 46 attached to the inside of flat surface 42 by screws 51. Inner surface 46a around hole 46b in socket 46 is semi-spherical and concentric with a circular orifice 42a in flat surface 42. A bevelled edge 42b around orifice 42a is formed on flat surface 42. A semi-spherical surface 42c around orifice 42a is contiguous with inner surface 46a, and these contiguous surfaces form a semi-spherical socket surface 47. The outer, spherically-shaped surface of ball 44 has a slightly smaller radius of curvature than socket surface 47. Ball 44 thus mates with similarly formed semi-spherical socket surface 47 formed by contiguous inner surfaces 46a of socket 46 and 42c around orifice 42a. A funnel 48 extends from ball 44 towards the outside of dispenser 2. 
     A first circular opening 44a is formed in ball 44 at the point at which opening 48a of funnel 48 intersects ball 44. A path is thus created from the interior of ball 44, through opening 48a, to the exterior of container 6. 
     A second circular opening 44b is formed in ball 44 opposite first opening 44a (FIG. 6). The dimensions of opening 44b are determined according to the following criteria: (a) the opening 44b should not be so large that ball 44 pops out of socket 46 when funnel 48 is moved into an extreme position in which funnel 48 contacts edge 42b of lower front surface 42; and (b) the opening 44b should be wide enough to allow sheets 14 to pass therethrough when funnel 48 is moved into the extreme position. If opening 44b is too small and interferes with sheet material 14, a bevelled edge 44c around opening 44b could exert sufficient force along a seam 22 of interconnected sheets 20 to separate one such sheet from another inside container 6. End 14a of sheet material 14 would then need to be re-fed through the opening 48a in funnel 48. 
     The dispensing axis indicated by reference character A extends through the opening 48a in the funnel 48. When ball 44 revolves within socket 46, a dispensing angle between dispensing axis A and flat surface 42 is changed. Broken lines in FIG. 5 indicate the position of funnel 48 when ball 44 is moved within socket 46 in a limited range between upper and lower positions. Funnel 48 contacts edge 42b of flat surface 42 to define the range of movement between the extreme upper and lower positions. While the movement of ball 44 within socket 46 is shown in two dimensions in the drawing, such a ball and socket arrangement allows the ball to rotate or revolve in all directions about the center of the ball. 
     A notched mounting projection 52 is formed on the upper end of socket 46. Support member 24 is mounted at one end on notched mounting projection 52 and at the other end on a mounting ledge 54 formed on the inner back surface of container 6. 
     Support member 24 has a hole 56 formed therein that is substantially coaxial with hollow core 26 of supply role 18. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, stabilizing bar 30 is also substantially coaxial with hollow core 26 and extends partially in this embodiment approximately one-third of the way, into hollow core 26. 
     A guide bar 58 is mounted on mounting ears 60 downwardly extending from support member 24. In this embodiment, with the dispenser 12 located at the front of container 6, guide bar 58 is mounted such that it is substantially parallel to flat surface 42 and perpendicular to the sides of container 6. Guide bar 48 is mounted slightly toward dispenser 12 from the vertical axis of hollow core 26. 
     A stop ledge 62 is formed on the inside of back wall 6d of container 6. L-shaped bracket 32 contacts stop ledge 62 when stabilizing bar 30 is extended into hollow core 26 of supply role 18. 
     An access hole 64 is formed in the bottom surface 6e of container 6 (FIG. 5). Access hole 64 is dimensioned and situated to allow easy access to sheet material 14 within container 6. Hole 56, guide bar 58, and funnel 48 are all easily accessible through access hole 64. 
     Supply rolls 18 are loaded into and sheet material 14 is dispensed from sheet dispenser 2 in the following manner. 
     To load a supply roll 18 into container 6, cover 8 is rotated, as shown in FIG. 4, in a counter-clockwise manner to expose the service opening 16. L-shaped bracket 32 is then raised to raise stabilizing bar 30 and allow supply roll 18 to be placed onto support member 24. Once supply roll 18 is placed onto support member 24, the L-shaped bracket is lowered until its bottom end contacts stop ledge 62. At that time, stabilizing bar 30 partially penetrates hollow core 26 of supply roll 18. 
     In the present embodiment, the end 14a of sheet material 14 on the surface of hollow core 26 is pulled down through hole 56 in support member 24 by reaching through access hole 64 in the bottom of container 6. The end 14a is then fed around guide bar 58 and through the opening 48a in funnel 48 of dispenser 12. Cover 8 may then be closed. 
     Sheet material 14 is dispensed through funnel 48 of dispenser 12 merely by pulling on the end of sheet material 14 that protrudes through funnel 48. The surface friation of the inside surface of funnel 48 applies a dispensing force along the dispensing axis in opposition to the force supplied by a person pulling on the end of sheet material 14. When an individual sheet 20 of sheet material 14 is entirely withdrawn from funnel 48, the perforated junction 22 between the first individual sheet 20 and the following individual sheet 20 leaves the funnel 48. The dispensing force applied by the surface friction of funnel 48 is of appropriate magnitude to cause the first individual sheet 20 to tear away from the following individual sheet 20 at the perforated junction 22. 
     The diameter of the opening in funnel 48 may be varied to change the surface friction applied to the sheet material. In addition, the texture or material of the inside surface of the opening in funnel 48 may also be varied to change of the surface friction. Accordingly, various weights of sheet material such as paper, non-woven toweling, wipes, or plastic bags may be dispensed from the sheet dispenser 2 of the present invention merely by varying the diameter and/or surface texture of the opening in funnel 48. The essential characteristic of the sheet material 14 is that it is flexible and have perforations to allow individual sheets to be perforated. 
     Guide bar 58 is designed such that it rolls or has very low surface friction so that a force necessary to separate one individual sheet from another individual sheet along the perforated junctions is not applied to the sheet material at guide bar 58. Guide bar 58 allows sheet material to be dispensed at various angles to the axis of hollow core of supply role 18 without jamming or allowing one individual sheet to separate from another individual sheet within container 6. Additionally, more than one guide bar may be arranged within container 6 as appropriate to allow placement of dispenser 12 on, for example, a side wall or top of container 6. 
     Stabilizing bar 30 prevents supply roll 18 from caving in upon itself when supply roll 18 becomes weakened after most of the sheet material 14 has been dispensed therefrom. Instead of falling in upon itself, which often causes jamming of sheet material 14 within paper dispensers, the collapsing inner surface of supply roll 18 contacts stabilizing bar 30 and is held in an upright position, thereby allowing dispensing of sheets from hollow core 26 without jamming. 
     However, stabilizing bar 30 is fixed at only one end. The other, in this case lower, end is free and does not obstruct the spiraling movement of the point 28 at which sheets are being removed from hollow core 26 around the axis of hollow core 26. 
     Should the sheet material 14 become jammed inside container 6, or should two individual sheets be separated at a perforated junction inside container 6, the user may obtain sheet material merely by reaching into the interior of container 6 through access hole 64. Sheet material 14 may be dispensed directly through access hole 65, if necessary, or the end of sheet material 14 may be rethreaded by the user through the opening funnel 48 of dispenser 12. 
     In the present invention, the ball 44 and socket 46 of the dispenser 12 may be made either of disposable or durable materials, depending on the environment in which the sheet dispenser will be used. If disposable materials are used, the ball 44 may be replaced or substituted to accommodate different types of sheets to be dispensed. 
     Furthermore, dispensing device 12 need not comprise a ball and socket. Any device that allows the dispensing angle to be changed may be used as a dispensing device. 
     The invention may be embodied in forms other than disclosed above without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the invention. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by appended claims rather than by the foregoing description; and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.