Patent ID: 8079543

Claim:
A towel dispenser, comprising: (a) a housing for receiving toweling, the housing comprising, (i) a main body, (ii) a loading door that is configured to rotate relative to the main body between, (A) a closed position, in which the housing is configured to dispense towels therefrom, and (B) an open position, in which the housing is configured to receive toweling therein, and (iii) a guide system configured to guide the toweling while towels are dispensed from the housing, the guide system comprising a first roller attached to the main body and a second roller attached to the loading door, the first and second rollers being configured to allow toweling to pass therebetween without being separated; (b) wherein the second roller comprises an axis of rotation that is fixed relative to the loading door regardless of whether the loading door is in the closed position or the open position, or transitioning therebetween, and wherein an axis of rotation of the first roller is substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of the second roller regardless of whether the loading door is in the closed position or the open position, or transitioning therebetween; (c) wherein the loading door comprises a curved body, a lip, and two walls at opposite lateral ends of the curved body and extending generally perpendicularly to the lip, the curved body including an interior curved surface that is semicircular in profile and generally corresponds in curvature to that of a roll of paper towels; and (d) wherein the loading door is configured to generally rotate about the axis of curvature of the curved surface when the loading door is rotated between the closed position and the open position, the axis of curvature of the curved surface being generally parallel to the axes of rotation of both the first and second rollers.