A printer includes a housing; an openable top cover disposed at the top of the housing; a printing unit disposed in the housing and comprising a printing portion fixedly mounted within the housing and a roll portion fixed to the openable top cover; and a paper channel between the printing portion and the roll portion; and a paper outlet between a top portion of the housing and the openable top cover, the paper channel leading to the paper outlet the printer further including a movable paper-tearing mechanism disposed in the paper outlet, the movable paper-tearing mechanism moving away from the paper outlet when the openable top cover is opened and into the paper outlet and overlapping partly the openable top cover when the openable top cover is closed, where an extension of the paper channel is between the movable paper-tearing mechanism and an upper surface of the openable top cover.

A dispenser for dispensing a flexible, rolled sheet material can include a housing and a supply of the sheet material supported within the housing for feeding the sheet material along a path defined through the housing. A feed roller can be rotatably mounted within the housing and have a body that engages the sheet material to pull the sheet material from the supply to dispense a selected amount of the sheet material therefrom. The dispenser also can include pressing rollers positioned adjacent the feed roller and biased to engage the sheet material between the pressing rollers and the feed roller, and a cutting mechanism arranged along the body of the feed roller that can have a cutting blade operatively connected to the body of the feed roller and actuated with rotation thereof to at least partially cut or perforate a selected portion of the sheet material.

An electronic dispenser for dispensing flexible sheet material. A control circuit in the housing receives a plurality of signals and controls dispensing of the sheet material from the housing. A tear bar is mounted within the housing for severance of sheet material by the user. A pivotally mounted pawl member is located proximate to the tear bar such that movement of sheet material into the tear bar for severance pivots the pawl member from a first position to a second position. A signal means associated with the pawl member is located such that movement of the pawl member to the second position causes the signal means to send a signal to notify the control circuit that the sheet material has been removed. The dispensing mechanism is operative in a first mode to be responsive to a signal from a proximity sensor to dispense a sheet of material, and is operative in a second mode to dispense a next sheet in response to the signal means being activated by movement of the pawl member to the second position in response to dispensed sheet material being removed from the dispenser.

An electronic dispenser for dispensing flexible sheet material. A control circuit receives a plurality of signals and controls dispensing of the sheet material. A tear bar is mounted within the housing for severance of sheet material by the user. A pivotally mounted pawl member is located proximate to the tear bar such that movement of sheet material into the tear bar for severance pivots the pawl member from a first position to a second position. Movement of the pawl member to the second position causes a signal to be sent to notify the control circuit that the sheet material has been removed. The dispensing mechanism is operative in a first mode to be responsive to a signal from a proximity sensor to dispense a sheet of material, and is operative in a second mode to dispense a next sheet in response to the signal generated by movement of the pawl member to the second position in response to dispensed sheet material being removed from the dispenser.

The present disclosure is in one aspect directed to a dispenser for flexible rolled sheet material. The dispenser can include a dispenser housing containing a support mechanism configured to hold at least one supply roll of sheet material, and a control circuit to control dispensing of sheet material from the dispenser housing. The dispenser housing also can include a dispensing mechanism to drive the sheet material along a discharge path from the dispenser housing through the discharge upon receiving a signal from the control circuit, and a tear bar mounted within the dispenser housing for severance of the sheet material by a user. In addition, the dispenser can include a static charge dissipation system with an antenna to dissipate static charge generated upon operation of the dispenser. Other aspects also are described.