Refill device for a dispensing system

Abstract

A dispensing system has a dispenser for sections of a material web wound onto a roll. A support bar is provided, on each end, a bearing journal protruding out from the roll. At least one of the two bearing journals has a mating surface which is not designed as a rotational surface. The dispenser has a guide for each bearing journal that extends to a dispensing position. A counter surface for the mating surface is provided at the beginning of the guide for each bearing journal that has the mating surface. The insertion of the roller into the dispenser is only possible if the mating surface coincides with the counter surface, which extends to in the dispensing position. The roller is rotatably arranged about the central area of the supporting rod, which does not rotate in the dispensing position.

Claims

1. A refill device for a dispensing system comprising: a material web wound to form a roll; a support bar having a central region and two bearing journals each forming an end part of said support bar respectively projecting on both sides from said roll, said central region having a substantially cylindrical outer contour; at least one of said two bearing journals having a mating surface, said mating surface being configured to not be a rotation surface; and said roll of said material web being rotatably disposed on said central region of said support bar, wherein a winding of said material web encloses said central region of said support bar to cause a breakaway torque of at most 0.2 Nm to be introduced for drawing off the material web, and wherein a follow-on torque for unwinding the material web effective after overcoming the breakaway torque lies between 0.0025 Nm and 0.1 Nm.

2. The refill device according to claim 1, wherein said roll of said material web is a coreless roll.

3. The refill device according to claim 1, wherein the breakaway torque required for drawing off the material web is at most 0.1 Nm.

4. The refill device according to claim 1, wherein the follow-on torque for unwinding the material web effective after overcoming the breakaway torque is substantially 0.05 Nm.

5. The refill device according to claim 1, wherein said mating surface is formed in an end-side groove of said bearing journal.

6. The refill device according to claim 5, wherein said groove is configured in a dove-tail shape.

7. The refill device according to claim 1, wherein a first one of said two bearing journals is provided with said mating surface, and wherein a diameter of a second one of said bearing journals is smaller than a diameter of said central region of said support bar.

8. The refill device according to claim 7, which comprises a conical transition region formed between said central region of said support bar and said second bearing journal.

9. The refill device according to claim 1, wherein said bearing journal provided with said mating surface and said central region of said support bar have the same diameter.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a dispenser equipped with a dispensing material roll;

(2) FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal section through a support bar with an material roll indicated in dashed lines;

(3) FIG. 3 shows a schematic illustration of a guide for the support bar on a side wall of the dispenser;

(4) FIGS. 4 to 6 show exemplary embodiments for bearing journals having end-side grooves;

(5) FIG. 7 shows a second exemplary embodiment of a material roll having a projecting support bar; and

(6) FIG. 8 shows an illustration, according to FIG. 3, of a second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(7) Since they are cut from a strand, material webs 12, in particular of domestic roll paper or sanitary roll paper, wound to form rolls 3, in general require bearing journals 4, 5 projecting on the end sides when, after opening a lid 25, they are inserted into guides 21, 24 of a dispenser 20 (cf. FIG. 1) and are rotatably mounted in a dispensing position 10 therein. The bearing journals 4, 5 here are provided on the ends of a support bar 1, wherein in the FIGS. 2, 3 and 7 a simple cylindrical bearing journal 4, which fits into a groove of a guide 24 of the dispenser 20, is drawn on the left. However, it is in principle also possible for the bearing journal 4 and the guide 24 thereof to be likewise configured as per the possibility described in the following for the bearing journal 5, shown on the right, and the guide 21 thereof, as shown in FIG. 8.

(8) In order to be able to insert the rolls 3 into the various guides 21, 24 of the dispenser 20 in a positionally correct manner only, such that the material web 12 is always drawn off from the same side of the roll 3 (FIGS. 1, 7), the guide 21 is configured as a ridge 22 which projects from the wall of the dispenser 20 and which is continuous from the insertion position 15 through to the dispensing position 10 and onto which the correspondingly configured region of the bearing journal 5, in the insertion position 15, can be pushed. The bearing journal 5, therefore, on the free end side, has a groove 8 which is configured so as to be conversely disposed to the ridge 22 on the wall of the dispenser 20. The side walls of the groove 8 are mating surfaces 9 which, in contrast to the circumferential surface of the bearing journal 5, do not represent rotation surfaces but which are, in particular, planar, counter surfaces 23 being provided on the ridge 22. Since the ridge 22 extends not only in the insertion position 15 on the commencement of the guide 21 but across the entire length thereof up into the dispensing position 10, the roll 3 may rotate on the central region 2 of the support bar 1 when, as can be seen from FIG. 3, the roll 3 is pushed into the dispenser 20, from the insertion position 15 (on the right in FIG. 3) into the dispensing position 10 (on the left in FIG. 3), since the support bar 1 with the bearing journal 5 has to follow the curvature of the ridge 22, and, in the dispensing position 10, rotates on the support bar 1 when the material web 12 is drawn off in the direction of the arrow 11. The support bar 1 preferably is composed of a cost-effective plastic and, in the central region 2, displays recess clearances 6 in order to achieve dimensions which, without material accumulations worth mentioning, are within the capabilities of injection molding.

(9) Between the innermost winding of the material web 12 and the support bar 1 there is dynamic friction, on account of which an advantageous braking effect is achieved when drawing off the material web 12 and, consequently, material wastage is avoided. However, the braking effect must not be so high that the material web 12 tears off in a wrong manner and/or cannot be drawn off at all. Favorable conditions exist when the breakaway torque (static friction), that is to say the force with which the end of the material web 12 hanging from the roll 3 has to be pulled, is 0.1 Nm, at most 0.2 Nm, and when the follow-on torque, after overcoming the breakaway torque, which is required for overcoming the dynamic friction does not drop below 0.0025 Nm.

(10) FIGS. 4 to 6 show various cross-sectional shapes for the groove 8 in the support bar 1 and the ridge 22 on the dispenser 20. While FIGS. 3 and 7 show a rectangular or square cross section, the cross section in FIG. 4 is configured to be triangular, in FIG. 5 to be dove-tail shaped and in FIG. 6 to be trapezoidal. A dove-tail shaped configuration as per FIG. 5 has the additional advantage that the support bar 1 is also held in its longitudinal direction on the ridge 22. In FIG. 6 a circumferential groove 7 in the bearing journal 5 is also shown, such that a support bar of this type may also be employed in a dispenser according to EP 1 927 308 mentioned at the outset.

(11) A simplified implementation of a roll 3 is shown in FIG. 7, in which a clearance 13 remains between the winding and the support bar 1.

(12) FIG. 8 shows a variant in which both guides 21, 24 of the dispenser and both bearing journals 4, 5 are configured so as to be of the same type. Only the width of the ridges 22 of the two guides 21, 24 and the width of the grooves 8 in the end sides of the two bearing journals 4, 5 differ, in order for the roll 3 to be inserted only in the correct position. The bearing journal 4, in its diameter, is reduced in a conical manner, in order to make possible and/or facilitate the insertion of the support bar 1 into a roll 3 which has been wound in a coreless manner. This support bar may also display material recess clearances 6 in the central region 2.