US3301617A

US3301617A - Paper dispensing apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3301617A
Application number: US470507A
Authority: US
Inventors: Thomas E Goodwin; Ott Edwin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1965-07-08
Filing date: 1965-07-08
Publication date: 1967-01-31
Anticipated expiration: 1984-01-31

Description

Jan. 31, 1967 Q O DWW ETAL 3,301,617

PAPER DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed July 8, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l SOURCE OF POWER INVENTORS THOMAS EGOODWIN EDWIN orr ATTORNEY Jan. 31, 1967 ooDwm ET AL 3,301,617

PAPER DISPENSING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 8, 1965 s R mm M m 10 o G 4 5T A N WW m i Y v ...D M L ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,301,617 PAPER DISPENSING APPARATUS Thomas E. Goodwin, Ronceverte, W. Va. 24970, and Edwin Ott, Fairlea, W. Va. 24902 Filed July 8, 1965, Ser. No. 470,507 2 Claims. (Cl. 312-39) This invention relates to improvements in a paper dispensing apparatus and more particularly to the dispensing of paper sheets in which the sheets are defined by perforations and carried in roll form.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide for the dispensing of paper sheets from a roll by power, such as an electric motor, wherein the movement of the sheet and therefore the length of the sheet is manually controlled.

More specifically, the invention embodies a housing containing a roll of paper having sheets defined by trans verse perforations with a novel spaced multiple drive for the sheets to maintain transverse alignment during the dispensing operation.

Another object of the invention is the provision of power means applied directly to the multiple feed rollers thereby insuring instant direct starting and stopping of the feeding operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a receptacle suitable in dimension for insertion in the wall of a building and in which provision is made through a hinged door in the exposed receptacle front for the convenient relacement of the roll of paper to be dispensed and the positioning of the sheet on the roller for instant feeding of the sheet without a threading operation in connection with the feeding mechanism.

These and other objects of the invention will more clearly hereinafter appear by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the instant specification and wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation with portions of the front wall removed;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section through the apparatus; and

FIG. 5 is a diagram of the power supply to the motor and assembly.

The present invention includes a housing which basically has appropriate dimensions not only for retaining a roll containing strips of paper and its feed mechanism, but also which will be appropriate for seating in a conventional wall structure so that the receptacle will be substantially flush with the outer wall face with the exception of the hinged door which projects beyond the face of the housing to provide room therein for a roll of paper when at its maximum dimensions which occur before any of the paper has been dispensed therefrom. Likewise, the front of the housing contains and carries with it a feeding roll which is adapted to cooperate with power feeding mechanism contained in the body of the housing, as will be more clearly hereinafter described.

The housing includes a back wall 1,

side walls

2 and 3, top wall 4, bottom Wall 5 and spaced upper front wall section 6 and lower front wall section 7. The lower front wall section 7 is preferably removably connected with the

side walls

2 and 3 by the use of inwardly projecting side flanges 8 which are identical at each side and bottom flange 9 which engages the front portion of bottom wall 5. Suitable fastening means, such as screws 10, engage in elongated slots 11 for providing convenient connection between the flanges 8 and the adjacent side wall portions, the slots 11 permitting quick and convenient seating and adjustment of the associated parts.

Patented Jan. 31, 1967 The upper front wall section 6 is shown as a depending flange formed by forward projection of the top wall 4 and the front wall section 6 is bent to provide an inwardly extending flange 14 to which are secured the upper leaves 15 of a hinge assembly, the lower leaves 16 of the hinge assembly being welded to the top flange of door 17. The door 17 includes side flanges 18, both of which are identical and which abut adjacent side wall portions of the

side walls

2 and 3.

The door 17 includes an upper flat portion 19 which is substantially flush with the depending upper portion 6 of the front wall of the housing and a main medial outwardly offset portion 20 which merges with the flat wall portion 19 of the door and terminates at its bottom portion at 21, the bottom portion being cut away so that termination of the front wall 20 is spaced from the inner marginal edge of the door structure and spaced, when in closed position, from the adjacent front wall section 7, which latter section extends slightly thereabove.

Within the housing are a pair of angularly arranged bracket members 25 in the form of elongated blocks, which blocks 25 are welded to the inner faces of

side walls

2 and 3 in aligned association and are each formed with aligned open-ended slots or recesses 26 for the reception of the ends 27 of a roll 28 mounting a roll of paper 28a. It is to be understood that this device is primarily for use in the dispensing of toilet paper which is in perforated strip form and wound into conventional rolls.

Beneath the supporting blocks or bracket members 25 which mount the rolls of paper 28a are similar angularly arranged blocks 29 welded to the

sides

2 and 3 of the housing and formed with recesses or slots 30 for the reception of the ends 31 of a drive roller 32. The drive roller 32 is formed with spaced series of annular grooves 32a which receive driving bands 33 which, because of the position of the roll in the fixed brackets 29, project outwardly beyond the front wall section 7 to maintain the paper out of contact with this front wall of the housing so that it will flow freely during a feeding operation. The upper blocks 25 carrying the roll of paper may be welded or otherwise secured to the inner side wall faces and are arranged at an upwardly and forwardly projecting angle to facilitate the insertion of rolls in the sockets or slots 26. Similarly the lower blocks 29 are fixed to the inner faces of the side walls of the housing at an angle so that the sockets for the driving rollers will be convenient for replacement and repair should such an occasion occur. Both the mounting block assemblies 25 and 29 are within the area of the hinged door 17 so that the opening of the door exposes both the feed roller 32 and the paper roll 28.

For driving the feed roller 32, a source of power is provided and is indicated generally as an electric motor 34 which drives a pulley 35 mounted on a shaft 36 carried in a bracket 37 including a base plate 38 and an outwardly extending angle 39, the base plate 38 being fixed to the rear wall 1 of the housing and the outwardly extending angle portion 39 projects therefrom and mounts the drive mechanism including a suitable reduction gear assembly and the pulley 35 which drives the belt 40, which latter engages in an annular recess 41 formed in the drive roller 32 intermediate of the pair of friction driving bands 33. The annular recess 41 for the drive belt 40 transmitting power from the motor driven pulley 35 is spaced intermediate a pair of friction bands in a position to balance the drive roller and maintain the application of friction on the sheet uniform throughout the length of the drive structure. The reduction gear may be of any type to obtain the proper relative speed of rotation between the motor and pulley.

Cooperating with the drive roller 32 and the frictional bands 33 is a friction roll 44 mounted in brackets 45 carried in each of the side walls of the door 17. The peripheral surface of the frictional roll 44 is closely adjacent the friction drive bands 33 providing an area therebetween suflicient for the passage of paper therethrough compensating, of course, for the friction drive bands 33 which are made of soft elastic material and which will distort under pressure when the drive roller 44 carried by the door is in operating position, as shown in FIG. 4, when the door is in closed position.

The lower front section 7 of the housing mounts a switch 46 actuated by push button 47 which closes the circuit from a source of power to the motor 34 to drive the latter and cause the transmission of power from the motor, reduction gear, and through the belt 40 to the roller 32.. As shown in FIG. 4, the strip 50 is fed from the roll between the drive roller 44 as long as power is supplied to the electric motor 34 by pressure on the push button 47 which actuates the spring switch in the switch housing 46. Removal of pressure from the push button 47 permits the contacts of the switch to separate and shuts off the source of power to the motor, terminating the feeding of the strip from the roll of paper.

In FIG. is shown a diagrammatic view of the power system wherein the electric motor 34 is connected with a source of power and a normally open switch 47 controls the power from the power source to the motor 34, the motor 34 driving the pulley 35 through any suitable reduction gear assembly indicated. Power from the pulley 35 is transferred by belt 40 to the drive roller 32 carrying the driving bands 33.

The side walls 18 of the hinged door frictionally engage the

side walls

2 and 3 of the housing when the door is in closed position and in addition the weight of the door and of the mounting blocks 45 tend to retain the roller 44 in engagement with the sheet 50 so that appropriate tension and proper constant feeding of the sheet is available. In addition, the driving bands 33 on the feed roller 32 can be replaced and larger or smaller drive bands can be substituted, it being understood that these bands will be made of a resilient plastic, such as rubber or rubber composition and the like.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that the sockets in which the ends 27 of the roll 28 and the ends 31 of the drive roller 32, because of the inclination of the

slots

26 and 30, respectively, will tend to retain their seated position, the angle of the walls of the slots providing frictional resistance against the tendency of either of these rolls to become displaced.

In use, pressure applied to the switch 47 will result in a continuous feeding of the sheet 50 and removal of pressure from the switch element 47 will cause instantaneous termination of the feeding of the sheet. Certain of the parts, such as the reduction gear, will be conventional, the reduction gear being indicated in dotted lines at 60 and being suitable to provide a speed rotation of the drive roller 32 by the belt 41 which will properly feed the sheet 5 0 from its roll 28a in a manner which will not sever the perforations in the sheet within the housing. Should it occur that the sheet is improperly severed within the housing, due to imperfect perforations in the sheet, the situation can be promptly corrected by lifting the door 17 by gripping the bottom marginal edge 21 of the door and manually lowering the sheet to a position so that it will be gripped by the drive roller 32 and roll 44. The same is true with respect to replacement and repair of the parts of the apparatus, the door providing convenient access to all parts of the apparatus.

What is claimed is:

1. In a paper dispensing apparatus including a housing defined by a back wall, side walls and end walls, a front wall structure including an upper section and a lower section spaced from the upper section, a door hinged to the upper section and including an outwardly offset portion including an outer wall and side walls, said outer wall extending below the lower section of the housing and terminating in spaced relation thereto, means removably mounting a roll of paper in the upper section of said housing, a feed roller removably mounted in said housing below said paper roll mounting means, a plurality of spaced friction feed bands removably mounted on said feed roller and extending outwardly to a point substantially flush with the outer surface of the front wall sec tion of the housing; an electric motor in said housing, belt means driven by said electric motor and engaging said feed roller to drive the latter, switch means for connecting a source of power to said motor to selectively drive said feed roller, and a pressure roll mounted in the offset portion of said door and movable with said door to cooperate with the feed bands of said feed roller to apply pressure toward said feed roller to facilitate the feeding of the paper.

2. The structure of claim 1 characterized in that an upper portion of the front wall of the housing and the upper portion of the door extend inwardly in parallel relation and are hinged together by a hinge assembly including a pair of hinged leaves which are fixed to the respective inwardly projecting portions.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 898,949 9/1908 Wilks 226-402 2,924,493 2/1960 Preble 312-39 2,973,958 3/1961 Casey 226- 3,210,139 10/1965 Ciervo 312 39 FOREIGN PATENTS 494,699 7/1950 Belgium.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Examiner.

Claims

1. IN A PAPER DISPENSING APPARATUS INCLUDING A HOUSING DEFINED BY A BACK WALL, SIDE WALLS AND END WALLS, A FRONT WALL STRUCTURE INCLUDING AN UPPER SECTION AND A LOWER SECTION SPACED FROM THE UPPER SECTION, A DOOR HINGED TO THE UPPER SECTION AND INCLUDING AN OUTWARDLY OFFSET PORTION INCLUDING AN OUTER WALL AND SIDE WALLS, SAID OUTER WALL EXTENDING BELOW THE LOWER SECTION OF THE HOUSING AND TERMINATING IN SPACED RELATION THERETO, MEANS REMOVABLY MOUNTING A ROLL OF PAPER IN THE UPPER SECTION OF SAID HOUSING, A FEED ROLLER REMOVABLY MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING BELOW SAID PAPER ROLL MOUNTING MEANS, A PLURALITY OF SPACED FRICTION FEED BANDS REMOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID