Patent ID: 7007883

Claim:
An apparatus for dispensing elongated material from a roll of material, comprising: at least one spindle for supporting the roll of material; a brake for applying a braking force to the at least one spindle; a movable guide member for defining a portion of the path the elongated material is to follow, the guide member being movable in response to increased tension in the material to shorten the path of the material and movable in response to decreased tension in the material to lengthen the path of the material; a pivoted lever; and an elongated biasing member coupled at one end to the guide member such that the guide member applies a force to the biasing member corresponding to the tension in the material, the biasing member being movably coupled to the lever and configured to apply a force to the lever corresponding to the tension in the material in response to movement of the guide member, wherein the force applied to the lever by the biasing member is greater than the force that the guide member applies to the biasing member; wherein the lever and the brake cooperate to reduce the braking force when the movable guide member moves to shorten the path length of the material and to increase the braking force when the guide member moves to lengthen the path length.