CA1335982C - Low operating force stop mechanism and dispensing method for rolled web dispensers - Google Patents

Abstract

A stop mechanism for a feed roller associated with a cutter in a dispenser for flexible rolled web material has a stop lever which provides a substantial mechanical advantage. The increased mechani-cal advantage permits the vacuum cups of a vacuum cup timer to be effortlessly and reliably set. The stop lever has a long actuating arm which pivots about a pivot point. The long actuating arm creates a substantial mechanical advantage for setting the vacuum cups in vacuum-gripping engagement. The mechanism advantage greatly enhances the low pull force requirement and smooth operation of the dispenser.

Description

PATENT

LOW OPERATING FORCE STOP MECHANISM AND
DISPENSING METHOD FOR ROLLED WEB DISPENSERS

This invention relates to a one-revolution stop mech~ni.cm for a dispenser and a tlicpen.cing method for rolled web material of the flex-ible sheet type such as paper toweling. The stop me-h~ni.cm has a low operating force and is associated with the feed roller in the dispenser to allow the feed roller to undergo one revolution and then be stopped in di.cpen.eing an individual sheet of the rolled web material.
Di.cpen.eers for rolled flexible sheet material, such as paper toweling, are well-known in the art and many of these ~liepeneers include mech~ni.cme for perforating or severing a web of material to divide the web into individual sheets. Towel dispensers have also been developed with various mech~ni.cm.c or te-~hniques to provide a waste-restricting system, namely, the li.cpeneer permits only a single indi-vidual sheet to be ~ eed to the intenllinE user at one time with a delay being provided before the user can gain access to a second indi-vidual sheet.
For sanitary re~conc, towel llicpencers in public washrooms should preferably be operable by merely pulling down on an exposed portion of the towel web with no need to touch parts of the Aispellcer such as cranks, buttons or levers commonly present in many prior art types of towel ~li.cpen.cers, these actuators serving to activate the towel dicpencer in supplying the length of towel web or individual toweling sheets.
At the same time, for the sake of economy, the tiicp~n.cer should eliminate unnece-ee~ry waste of paper toweling while still not unduly restricting use of the toweling to the intending user. Certain ~icpen.cerS now on the market accomplish these objectives by such ~ 1335982 devices as spring-operated one-revolution stop feeding mech~nicmc and vacuum cup timers. Spring-operated devices have the disadvan-tage that in being cocked while the towel is being withdrawn from the dispenser, a substantial drag is placed on the web of paper toweling, often resulting in it being prematurely torn where it is held by the wet fingers of the intending ucer. Prior art vacuum cup timers pro-vide the needed time delay between withdrawal of individual towel sheets to thus reduce waste but have the disadvantage that the desired precet time intervals cannot be reliably maintained especially at very short time interval settings.
In addition, in paper towel licper-.cers where the towel web is severed or perforated internally, a device must be provided to prevent the premature separating of individual towels from the following web as it uncoils from the supply roll of toweling. Strong, thus, harsh, paper toweling is therefore required.
Figure 1 represents one example of a towel licpe~.cer known in the prior art. The ~licpencer 30 has a cabinet 31 adapted to be mounted at a convenient location for intending users of the paper toweling supplied from the rolled web material carried within the cabinet 31. A portion of the cabinet 31 is broken away to display a portion of the one revolution stop mech~nicm and other components mounted within the cabinet 31.
A roll 1 of flexible web material is mounted on a yoke 33, the yoke being pivoted at 34 to the backplate of the dispenser cabinet 31.
Yoke 33 has a pair of yoke arms with cups 32 rotatably mounted at the outer ends of the yoke arms, these cups being inserted at each core end into the central tubular core of the towel roll 1. With thic rather conventional mounting for roll 1, due to gravity the roll rests against the backplate of cabinet 31 to provide a slight braking action and prevent overcpinning of the roll when the paper towel web i_ being removed.
The web W withdrawn from roll 1 is threaded counterclockwise around a pinchroller 3. The web then passes clockwi~ce around the rear~ide of a feed roller-4 to pa8~ counterclockwi~e over an exit pinchroller 37. Pinchroller~ 3 and 37 are pre~ed again~t the feed ~ 3 ~ 1335982 roller 4 by springs (not shown) with all rollers being supported by appropriate bearings (not shown) in the siclepl~tes of the rlicpencer cabinet 31. The web W then exits through opening 26 in cabinet 31 to be accessible to intending users of the paper toweling material com-ing from roll 1. Preferably a tab length T of the toweling web W of about 3 inches will extend outside the tlicpencer beyond opening 26 to be available for grasping by the intending users of the web material.
This preferred length T of web material is automatically fed from the ~iepencer 30 in conjunction with the operation of a one-revolution stop mech~nicm.
The feed roller 4 has an internal knife 40 which is mounted laterally offset from the rotational axis of feed roller 4. Knife 40 is supported within the feed roller to project through an opening (not shown) in the feed roller periphery to essentially sever the web mate-rial when it passes over the feed roller surface as the feed roller 4 makes a single revolution. The web material is thus perforated to leave only, for e~mple, three uncut ~ inch long tabs connecting suc-cessive sheets in the web. This trar~velse perforating of the web material in cabinet 31 defines individual sheets which are of a length equal to the feed roller circumference so that the web W is formed with a row of perforations between one sheet and the next succee~ling sheet.
ne~Ailc of the mounting and operating mechanism for the cuttir~
knife 40 are not shawn but the c~ ction may be of the sliding cutter c~ ction disclosed in U.s. Patent No. 4,712,461 issued DX~3~ber 15, 1987 to ~A~l~P~.
Feed roller 4 is rotatably mounted on shaft 32 which extends thn~h an c~L~Liate bearing which is carried by the ~ ~~11 of cabinet 31. Shaft 32 extends outwardly beyond the bearing and has a feed wheel 36 fixedly secured to its outer end. The feed wheel 36 has a control t:~b 38 which oo~cl~es with a stop lever 41 to constitute the active o~~ s of the st~p l.~,ism as described in Je~r~ u.s. Patent No. 4,732,306, issued March 22, 1988.
u.S. Patent No. Re 28,911 to Jespersen et al dated July 20, 1976 the use of a conventional vacuum cup timer to provide a time delay ~cn withdrawal of 13~5982 individual towel sheets. The operation of this type of timer will be expl~ined with reference to Figures 2 and 3 which are taken from Figure 10 of the Re. 28,911 patent.
Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the one-revolution stop mecll~nicm in an unlatched position as used in the dispenser disclosed in the Re. 28,911 patent. The -~h~ include- a f~ed wheel 240 which i~ driven by the towel w~b being pull~d from the dispen~r. The mech~ni~m also includes a stop lever 230 which pivots about pivot pin 232. Stop lever 230 has a cam follower 234 and a stop lug 236 which engage c~mming pin 238 formed on feed wheel 240.
As shown in Figure 2, cam follower 234 is positional in the rotational path of c~mming pin 238. The rotation of feed wheel 240 causes c~mming pin 238 to engage the underside of cam follower 234, raising cam follower 234 upwardly. Stop lever 230, thus, pivots in a clockwise direction about pivot pin 232. As stop lever 230 pivots, vacuum cup 242 is drawn into vacuum-gripping relationship with vac-uum cup 244. As feed wheel 240 continues to rotate, c~mming pin 238 passes under and out of engagement with cam follower 234 to arrive at the position shown in Figure 3. In this p~sition, vacuum cups 242 and 244 are in full vacuum-gripping relationship and stop lug 236 is in engagement with c~mming pin 238. The vacuum-gripping force of vacuum cups 242 and 244 maintain stop lever 230 in the position shown in Figure 3, thus preventing further rotation of feed wheel 240 due to the engagement of c~mming pin 238 with stop lug 236. The arrested motion of feed wheel 240 results in increased pulling force on the towel which permits an individual sheet of paper toweling to be torn from the web along preformed perforations.
Vacuum cups 242 and 244 remain in vacuum-gripping relation-ship for a predetermined period of time which is regulated by needle valve 254. Needle valve 254 allows a controlled flow of ambient air into the vacuum environment between vacuum cups 242 and 244 in order to regulate the period of time during which the cups remain in vacuum-gripping relationship. Af ter the vacuum-gripping relation-ship is destroyed by the entry of ambient air between vacuum cups 242 and 244, stop lever 230 is returned to its unlatched position as shown in Figure 2 by spring 256 for the start of another cycle.
Though vacuum cup timers perform their intended function, they suffer from a number of disadvantages. As mentioned above, the desired preset time delay interval cannot be reliably maintained, especially at very short time interval settings. Another such disad-vantage is that a relatively large amount of compression force is required in order to engage the vacuum cups in a vacuum-gripping relationship. Creation of such a large force also creates a corre-spo~ ng drag on the towel web, often resulting in premature tearing of the towel. This particular disadvantage is awl ~ssed in the Re. 28,911 patent by m~king one cup of a relatively hard resilient material and the other of a relatively soft resilient material. The use of a soft resilient material also provides a better cushion for absorp-tion of forces generated by the abrupt arresting of feed wheel move-ment, thus minimi7in~ wear of the stop mech~nism compo~ents.
Though the use of resilient material for one of the vacuum cups presents a solution to the high compression force problem, other problems are created. For example, manufacturing cost are increa~sed due to the need to fabricate cups from two different materials. There are obvious eConomip-s to be re~li7ed if both cups are of the same design and material. In addition, reducin~ the hardness of the vacuum cups also reduces the vacuum-gripping force between the cups.
Sll~RY OF THE INVE~1TION
It is an objective of an a~pect of the ~L~lL invention to provide a tawe1 di~ which can be operated at a 1aw user pu11 farce.
It is an objective of an a~pect of the ~ese~lL invention to ~vide a u.~ L~ ticn stop me~anism for a di~L which reguires su)~Ldl,Lially less force to cycle than such me~anisms krK~wn in the prior art.
It is an objective of an ~;pect of the ~L~es~,L invention to provide a C~ ro1ution stop mechanism which permits a towel ~lis~ to be used with a wide variety of soft-ply paper towels.

` -6- 1335982 It is an objective of an aspect of the present invention to provide a one-stop revolution mechanism which is efficient and r~ hl e in operation.
It is an objective of an aspect of the present invention to provide a towel di~ wherein individual towels reliably separate from the web outside of the di~
The rolled web ~icpeneer of this invention basically overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of prior art I;el~c~rs by elimi-nating the use of feed-out springs altogether and provides a great improvement over the conventional use of vacuum cup timers. The present invention provides a fully reliable momentary stop and time delay which makes p~esihle the use of very soft and weak paper tow-eling, with the I~ cer being operated solely by p~ ng on the paper web of toweling while still providing the desired waste restricting system.
The ~1~pencçr for rolled web flexible material of this invention overcomes the disadvantages rlicc~cced above with reference to prior art proi-~ealc by providing a stop mech~nicm for the feed roller which has a substantial advantage over conventional stop lever designs.
Thus a relatively small force by the user in pnlling a towel from the cl~ r is translated in a corY~-;po~ cly larger force for setting the vacuum cup~e into vacuum~ripping en~dgement. As a result, operation of the .I;ei~n~,r is made much easier. The stop lever in accordance with Ap~lic~nt~s invention has a long actuating arm which pivots about a pivot point. The long actuating arm creates a substan-tial merhAn;cal advantage for setting the vacuum cups in vacuum-gripping engagement. The me~hAn;cal advantage afforded by the stop lever of Applicant's invention greatly enhances the low pull force requirement and smooth operation of the disp~n~er. The pneumatic and elastic characteristics of the stop mer-hAn;sm which incorporates Applicant's stop lever serves as an efficient way of absorbing the energy generated when the dispensing merhAn;~m is cycled and abruptly stopped.

In addition, the problem with prior art dispensers having conventional spring biased exit pinch rollers is overcome by Applicants dispensers. In Applicant's dispenser, the exit pinch roller is allowed to float in a slot. The slot is in angular relationship with the feed roller such that the web is drawn into biting relationship with the pinch roller when the web is pulled. This arrangement assures that the towel will separate outside the dispenser when pulled.
Other aspects of this invention are as follows:
A dispenser for rolled web material, said dispenser comprising:
a dispenser cabinet having means in said cabinet for mounting a roll of web material;
a feed roller rotatably mounted on a shaft in said cabinet to guide said web from the roll to the exterior of said cabinet, so that said web may be grasped by a user and pulled out of said dispenser;
camming pin means rotatable with said feed roller and spaced radially from the feed roller axis for providing a camming action;
a cutter mer-hAnism associated with said feed roller to transversely perforate said web as it passes over said feed roller;
a stop mec-~n;sm for stopping the operation of said feed roller and said cutter mech~nism to arrest the movement of said web for a predetermined period of time after a predetermined length of said web has been withdrawn from said dispenser, said stop meC~An;cm including lever means mounted to pivot in a plane normal to the axis of said feed roller for activating said stop mechanism, said lever means having a first engagement arm, a second engagement arm and an actuating arm, a first end of said arms terminating at the pivot point of said lever means, said first engagement arm being adapted to engage said camming pin means to raise said - 7a -first engagement arm to a high level and said actuating arm to a low level as said feed roller rotates, said second engagement arm being adapted to engage said camming pin means after said first engagement arm has been raised, said second engagement arm holding said camming pin and preventing said feed roller from rotating for a predetermined period of time wherein a feed wheel is fixedly secured to said shaft means and said camming pin means is carried by said feed wheel, said camming pin means is formed of a cam portion and a shank portion, said shank portion ext~n~;ng along a side of said feed wheel to a center portion of said feed wheel, said shank portion being attached to said feed wheel at said center position.
A dispenser for rolled web material, said dispenser comprising:
a dispenser cabinet for at least one roll of web material;
a feed roller rotatably mounted on a shaft in said cabinet to guide said web from the roll to the exterior of said cabinet, so that said web may be grasped by a user and pulled out of said dispenser;
a camming lug rotatable with said feed roller and spaced radially from the feed roller axis;
a cutter mechAnism associated with said feed roller to transversely perforate said web as it passes over said feed roller; and a stop mechAn;sm for stopping the operation of said feed roller and said cutter me~hAn;æm to thus arrest the movement of said web for a predetermined period of time after a predetermined length of said web has been withdrawn from said dispenser, said stop me~-hAn;cm including a stop lever pivotably mounted at a pivot point adjacent said feed roller and in a plane normal to the axis of said feed roller, said stop lever having a long actuating arm, a short actuating arm and a - 7b -recipient arm, all of said arms extenA;ng from said pivot point, said long actuating arm having a long arm camming lug engagement surface and said short arm having a short arm camming lug engagement surface, said recipient arm including a vacuum cup attached at one end for forming a vacuum to stop movement of said stop lever, the distance between the feed roller axis and said pivot point being at least one-half the distance from said pivot point to said vacuum cup and said long arm camming lug engagement surface being in line with said pivot point when said camming lug contacts said long arm camming lug engagement surface, and when said camming lug engages said short arm camming lug engagement surface said top lever pivots and releases said feed roller upon release of said vacuum cup.
The above objectives and features of the invention will become apparent upon consideration of the detailed description of a preferred emho~;ment of the invention in connection with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a side elevational view, with portions in section, of a mechAn;cal rolled web dispenser.
Figure 2 is an elevational view of the stop mechAn;cm and associated elements used in a prior art dispenser, wherein the stop mechAn;sm is in an unlatched position.
Figure 3 is an elevational view of the stop me~hAn;cm and associated elements used in a prior art disp~ncer, wherein the stop merhA~;sm is in a latched position.
Figure 4 is a side elevational view of a rolled web dispenser in accordance with Applicant's invention displaying the stop mechAn;sm associated with the feed roller and feed wheel.
Figure 5 is a side view of a stop lever and vacuum cup timer in accordance with Applicant's invention.

- 7c -Figure 6 is a side elevational view of a vacuum cup timer in accordance with Applicant's invention.
Figure 7 is a side elevational view showing the operation of the exit pin roller in a prior art dispenser.
Figure 8 is a side elevational view showing the operation of an exit pin roller in accordance with Applicant's invention.
Figure 9 is a side elevational view of another embodiment of the vacuum cup timer of Applicant's invention.
Figure 10 is a front side elevational view of another embodiment of the camming lug which cooperates lS with the stop lever of Applicant's invention.

Figure 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 11-11 in Figure 10.
Figure 12 is a rear side elevation view of the c~mming lug shown in Figure 10.
Figure 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 13-13 in Figure 12.
Figure 14 is an enlarged elevational view of the center portion of Figure 10.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREF~l~R~n EMBODIMENTS
Figure 4 illustrates one embodiment of the one-revolution stop mech~nism of Applicant's invention. Web W withdrawn from roll 1 is threaded counterclockwise around a pinchroller 3 through a nip 2.
The web then passes clockwise around the rearside of feed roller 4 to pass counterclockwise over exit pinchroller 6 through a nip 5. The web then exits through opening 27 in cabinet 31 to be accessible to inte~-ling users of the paper toweling material coming from roll 1.
Preferably a tab length 7 of the toweling web W of about 3 inches will extend outside the ~ pen~er beyond opening 27 to be available for grasping by the intending users of the web material. This preferred length 7 of web material is automatically fed from the dispenser 30 in conjunction with the operation of the stop meçh~ni~m in accordance with Applicant's invention.
The feed roller 4 has an internal knife as Icnown in the art which is mounted laterally offset from the rotational axis of feed roller 4. The knife is supported within the feed roller to project through an opening (not shown) in the feed roller periphery to essen-tially sever the web material when it passes over the feed roller sur-face as the feed roller makes a single revolution. The web material is thus perforated to leave only three uncut ~ inch long tabs connecting successive sheets in the web. This transverse perforating of the web material in cabinet 31 defines individual sheets which are of a length equal to the feed roller circumference so that the web W is formed with a row of perforations between one sheet and the next succeeding sheet.

, ,, Feed roller 4 is rotatably mounted by a shaft which extends through a bearing which is carried by the sidewall of cabinet 31 at pivot point 19. The shaft extends outwardly beyond the bearing and has a feed wheel 8 fixedly secured to its outer end. The shaft and feed wheel 8 are driven by the towel web being pulled from the dis-penser. The feed wheel 8 has a c~mming lug 9 which cooperates with a stop lever 15.
Stop lever 15 is pivotally mounted at point 11 on one of the side plates of ~ pen.cer cabinet 31 and is provided with a recipient arm 12, a long actuating arm 18 and a short actuating arm 1~. Vac-uum cup 13 is attached to the end of arm 12 which cooperates with vacuum cup 14 as shall be discussed below.
As web W is being pulled from the ~ pen.cer by a user, actuat-ing lug 9 rotates with feed wheel 8 and engages surface 10 of stop lever 15 as shown in Figure 5, thus c~ ng a movement of stop lever 15 about pivot point 11. A~ ~top lever 15 pivot~, vacuum cup 13 i~ brought into vacuum ~ng~3 -lt with vacuum cup 14 to expel air trapped between the vacuum cups. This is the compression stroke of stop level 15. The air P~pelled from between vacuum cups 13 and 14 causes a vacuum to be created between the cups. The vacuum causes stop lever 15 to be held in a latched position as shown in Figure S.
During this initial period, feed wheel 8 continues to rotate until lug 9 engages surface 16 of short arm 17. When this occurs, feed roller 4 and the f reedom of movement of the web material are abruptly stopped. Thus, the pull applied by the inten~inc user on the web sepa-rates the web along the row of perforations for the user to receive an individual sheet.
Thus in sllmm~ry~ when web W is pulled through the dispenser, feed roller 4 is caused to rotate which in turn causes feed wheel 8 to rotate in a corl~l,onding m~nner. After feed wheel 8 has rotated a predetermined distance, lug 9 engages and slides across surface 10 of arm 18, thereby causing arm 18 to pivot upwardly about pivot point 11. Accordingly arm 12 causes vacuum cup 13 to engage vac-uum cup 14. The relatively high mechanical advantage of long arm 18 pivoting stop lever 15 about point 11 causes cup 13 to firmly engage - lo- 1335982 fixed cup 14, thu~ ~xpelling air trapped in cavity 20 (See Figure 6) formQd by the vacuum cup~. A seal 50 i~ formed by the lip~ of the mating vacuum cups, thus holding arm 12 down by the pneumatic pressure created by the vacuum. Arm 1~ is therefore held in a latched upward position so that lug 9 engages surface 16 to interrupt the rotation of feed wheel 8.
The low force required to create the relatively high mechani-cal advantage provided by stop lever 15 for setting vacuum cups 13 and 14 i8 abruptly rever~ed by the high pneumatic force holding arm 12 in position 21 a~ ~hown in Figure 5 and the relatively low mechanical leverage force exerted by arm 17 to resist the rotational force of lug 9 as lug 9 engages surface 16 of arm 1?. When vacuum cups 13 and 14 are compressed, they perform a most critical function.
Both the pneumatic and elastic characteristics of Applicant's stop mech~nicm serves to absorb the energy generated when the mech~ni.sm is cycled and abruptly stopped. As feed wheel 8 rotates and lug 9 strikes surface 16 of short arm 1~, stop lever 15 tries to rotate around pivot 11 and separate vacuum cups 13 and 14. How-ever, due to the position stop lever 15 has now taken, the forward rotation of the mech~nicm is arrested, energy is dissipated and the towel web separates along perforations.
Applicant has found that the relationship between dimen.cio~.c A and B and radius C of stop lever 15, as illustrated in Figure 5, can be optimi7ed to achieve smooth and effortless operation of the stop mech~nicm. The relatively long length of arm 18 provides a signifi-cant mechanical advantage for sitting vacuum cups 13 and 14 in vacuum-gripping relation.
~ t has been found that dimension A should be at least one-half that of dimension B. Such a length permits a relatively small amount of c~mming force from lug 9 to be translated into a relatively large force at the end of arm 15 for setting vacuum cups 13 and 14 in vac-uum gripping relationship.
The mechanical advantage manifest by the construction of Applicant~s stop lever is made evident by the greatly reduced force required of the user to pull a single towel from the dispenser. In B

- 11- 133598~

addition, the smooth c~mming action of lug 9 along surface 10 results in the smooth operation of the stop mech~nicm which is apparent to the user.
As shown in Figure 5, radius C is chosen such that surface 10 is in line with pivot point 11 while lug 9 is in engagement with surface 10 as illustrated in Figure 5. This orientation of surface 10 with pivot point 11 creates an easy pro~,l~ion of force between surface 10 and lug 9 ac lug 9 passes through its toggle point between surface 10, lug 9 and pivot point 19.
After a predetermined delay, it is necessary to provide a vent-ing device to induce air back into the vacuum created when vacuum cups 13 and 14 were compres_ed so that ch~mhPr 20 can be reformed.
The venting device can be on either the moving cup 13 or the fixed cup 14. Needle valve 25 shown in Figure 6 serves this purpose. An orifice 22 is provided in vacuum cup 14 which cooperates with stem 23. Air can be metered into ch~mher 20 by moving stem 23 rel-ative to orifice 22 and allowing the air to bleed past threads 24.
Figure 9 illustrates another embodiment of the vacuum cup timer of Applicants invention. In this embodiment, flat plate 29 replaces vacuum cup 14.
Figures 10-14 illustrate another embo~liment of lug 9. Lug 9a e,~lerld~ from the center portion of feed wheel 8 and has a shank portion 9b. Shank portion 9b provides additional shock absorption characteristics and has been found by Applicant to lend considerable reliability to the stop mech~nicm.
In paper towel flicpencers where the towel web is severed or perforated internally, a device must be provided to prevent the pre-mature separating of individual towels from the following web as it uncoils from the supply roll of toweling. In prior art dispensers, spring biased exit pinch rollers were used as shown in Figure ~. To be effective, a high degree of force is required to hold this type of pinch roller in contact with the feed roller, requiring greater force to cycle the mech~nicm~ Strong, thus, harsh, paper toweling is therefore required.

If a lower spring force is used to lower the energy requirements for cycling the mechanism in order to dispense a soft plush towel, the lower pinch roller would move out of contact with the feed roller when the towel web is pulled out of the dispenser shown in Figure 7.
In this case the towel will separate at point 25, or further back in the mech~nicm, thus making the dispenser appear to be empty.
Applicant'~ di~penaer overcome~ thi~ problem by the use of a lower pinch roller 6 which i~ mounted in a slot 51 a~ ~hown in Figure 8. Slot 26 is in angular relationship E, as illustrated in Figure 8, with the feed roller so as to move away from nip 5 when the mech~nicm is cycled and into a biting relationship when the web is pulled. This assures that the towel will separate outside the dispenser past point 5. In the above configuration, shaft 2? is allowed to float so that the portion of web 7 exerting the most pressure on roller 6 will be held the firmest at point 5.
It should be obvious from the above-discussed apparatus embod-iment that numerous other variations and modifications of the appa-ratus of this invention are possible, and such will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly the scope of this invention is not to be limited to the embodiment disclosed, but is to include any such embodiments as may be encomp~csed within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Claims (11)

1. A dispenser for rolled web material, said dispenser comprising:
a dispenser cabinet having means in said cabinet for mounting a roll of web material;
a feed roller rotatably mounted on a shaft in said cabinet to guide said web from the roll to the exterior of said cabinet, so that said web may be grasped by a user and pulled out of said dispenser;
camming pin means rotatable with said feed roller and spaced radially from the feed roller axis for providing a camming action;
a cutter mechanism associated with said feed roller to transversely perforate said web as it passes over said feed roller;
a stop mechanism for stopping the operation of said feed roller and said cutter mechanism to arrest the movement of said web for a predetermined period of time after a predetermined length of said web has been withdrawn from said dispenser, said stop mechanism including lever means mounted to pivot in a plane normal to the axis of said feed roller for activating said stop mechanism, said lever means having a first engagement arm, a second engagement arm and an actuating arm, a first end of said arms terminating at the pivot point of said lever means, said first engagement arm being adapted to engage said camming pin means to raise said first engagement arm to a high level and said actuating arm to a low level as said feed roller rotates, said second engagement arm being adapted to engage said camming pin means after said first engagement arm has been raised, said second engagement arm holding said camming pin and preventing said feed roller from rotating for a predetermined period of time wherein a feed wheel is fixedly secured to said shaft means and said camming pin means is carried by said feed wheel, said camming pin means is formed of a cam portion and a shank portion, said shank portion extending along a side of said feed wheel to a center portion of said feed wheel, said shank portion being attached to said feed wheel at said center position.

2. A dispenser according to Claim 1, wherein said cutter mechanism includes a cutting blade mounted within said feed roller.

3. A dispenser according to Claim 1, wherein said first engagement arm has a cam follower surface which engages said camming pin means, said surface being aligned with the pivot point of said lever means.

4. A dispenser according to Claim 1, wherein said camming pin means extends from the peripheral side edge of said feed wheel.

5. A dispenser according to Claim 1, wherein said cam portion being located adjacent the peripheral side edge of said feed wheel.

6. A dispenser for rolled web material, said dispenser comprising:
a dispenser cabinet for at least one roll of web material;
a feed roller rotatably mounted on a shaft in said cabinet to guide said web from the roll to the exterior of said cabinet, so that said web may be grasped by a user and pulled out of said dispenser;
a camming lug rotatable with said feed roller and spaced radially from the feed roller axis;

a cutter mechanism associated with said feed roller to transversely perforate said web as it passes over said feed roller; and a stop mechanism for stopping the operation of said feed roller and said cutter mechanism to thus arrest the movement of said web for a predetermined period of time after a predetermined length of said web has been withdrawn from said dispenser, said stop mechanism including a stop lever pivotably mounted at a pivot point adjacent said feed roller and in a plane normal to the axis of said feed roller, said stop lever having a long actuating arm, a short actuating arm and a recipient arm, all of said arms extending from said pivot point, said long actuating arm having a long arm camming lug engagement surface and said short arm having a short arm camming lug engagement surface, said recipient arm including a vacuum cup attached at one end for forming a vacuum to stop movement of said stop lever, the distance between the feed roller axis and said pivot point being at least one-half the distance from said pivot point to said vacuum cup and said long arm camming lug engagement surface being in line with said pivot point when said camming lug contacts said long arm camming lug engagement surface, and when said camming lug engages said short arm camming lug engagement surface said top lever pivots and releases said feed roller upon release of said vacuum cup.

7. The dispenser according to Claim 6, wherein said stop lever pivots without the aid of spring bias.

8. The dispenser according to Claim 6 further comprising a lower pinch roller mounted in said dispenser cabinet within a slot fixed at an angular relationship to a radius of said feed roller, said lower pinch roller moving out of biting contact with said feed roller when said cutter mechanism is being cycled and into biting contact with said feed roller, without the aid of spring bias, when said web material is being pulled and separated into sheets.

9. The dispenser according to Claim 6, wherein said predetermined period is determined by a timer.

10. The dispenser according to Claim 9, wherein said time is a valve associated with said vacuum cup such that air is allowed to enter the vacuum cup and destroy the vacuum created.

11. The dispenser according to Claim 6, wherein said vacuum cup contacts and forms said vacuum with another stationary vacuum cup.