An improved towel dispenser includes a rotatable driveshaft mounted in a one-way clutch bearing fitted with a pinion which engages a vertically oriented press bar assembly including at its lower portion a rack which engages the pinion to advance paper towel through a dispensing nip upon pivotable motion of the press bar assembly. A dispensing chute located below the dispensing nip includes a lower shelf configured to direct web forwardly toward the front portion of a dispenser. The gear rack is preferably an internal gear rack integrally formed with a unitary press bar assembly member. The dispensing chute is configured such that an angle between a cutting-blade and the outer lip of the shelf makes an angle with a vertical of at least about 25.

A bandage strip includes a plurality of flat adhesive bandage packages of conventional configuration, having sealed therein an adhesive bandage with a pad and an adhesive substrate for adhering to as patient and holding the pad in place on the patient's skin. The packages are adhered to an elongated substrate in end-to-end, spaced relation to form a flat, elongated bandage strip, with perforations in the substrate between the packages. A user can dispense a length of substrate, sever it at the perforations, and remove the bandage from the substrate for use in the conventional manner. A bandage dispensing device is attachable to the wrist of a user for convenient dispensing of bandages from a strip of individually packaged bandages.