Patent GB-1008385-A (GB)
Title: Towel dispensing machine
Inventor: KIENEL JOSEPH EDWARD
IPC: A47K10/26
Filed: 1962-09-17
Abstract: 1,008,385. Dispensing towels. CALLAWAY MILLS CO. Sept. 17, 1962, No. 35295/62. Heading G4V. [Also in Division B6] In a towel dispensing machine of the kind wherein the insertion of a soiled towel causes the delivery of a clean towel, the soiled towel receiving means is associated with inspection apparatus which prevents the delivery of a clean towel if the soiled towel is not of the correct length and bulk. The machine is completely enclosed in a cabinet having a removable front provided with a safety switch, a slot for receiving a soiled towel, a slot for delivery of a clean towel, an operating button, an electric towel-counter, and a warning lamp which glows when all the clean towels are dispensed. A soiled towel 92 has one corner manually inserted on a pointed hook 22, which protrudes through the slot in the cabinet, carried retractably on an arcuate member 56 secured to a shaft which is driven through one revolution by a motor drive 66, and the hook 22 is withdrawn within the member 56 by a fixed cam 88 to release the towel which falls to the base of the cabinet. As the soiled towel is fed into the cabinet by the member 56, it passes between two opposed guides which confine it sidewise and stretch it, and it then operates three sensing members two of which are spaced apart a distance which is the length of a correct towel, and the other is spaced from the member 56 a distance equivalent to the greatest bulk of a correct towel. When these three members are operated, they cause three links to be moved to a position where notches therein coincide, and a further link having a V-shaped end falls into the notches to operate a switch (120, not shown) in the electric circuit. The towel also opens a switch during its feed, which ensures that the circuit to the clean towel dispenser is not completed until the soiled towel is completely within the cabinet. Thus, when a correct soiled towel is received fully into the cabinet, a motor unit 238 is energized to cause a clean towel to be dispensed. An incorrect soiled towel is fed into the cabinet, but no clean towel is dispensed. Separating clean towels.-A stack of clean towels 202 rests on a platform 204 which is vertically slidable on rods 208 and urged upwardly by springs 210. The separator comprises needles on the outer face of a shoe 242 pivoted on the periphery of a drum 228 and retractable through a slot within the drum by a fixed cam 233. The drum is rotated through one revolution about a fixed shaft 230 by a motor drive 238 and chain and sprocket means, and a towel 202 is carried by the needle shoe 242 upwardly at the rear, and over to the front of the cabinet where it is stripped by fixed arms 249, released by the retractable shoe, and falls through the delivery slot in the cabinet front. A member 256 on the drum opens the motor switch when the drum returns to separating position. The shaft 230 of the drum 228 is supported in a frame 212, 214 which is slidable vertically on fixed guides 216, and is counterweighted by a weight 224 attached to a cable 220 which passes over pulleys 222. The weight 224 is so selected that the drum 228 would press slightly on a stationary stack of towels 202; but the stack is urged upwardly against the drum by the springs 210 whereby the uppermost towel at all times is in substantially the same vertical position, and the drum releases a towel always at substantially the same height above the delivery slot. When the towel stack becomes depleted, the platform 204 operates a switch which causes a warning lamp to be lit and opens the machine circuit to prevent further operation of the machine. Specifications 951,333 and 1,008,386 are referred to.