CAROUSEL TISSUE DISPENSER

Abstract

A tissue dispenser comprising a housing and a carousel with a plurality of spindles is disclosed herein. Each spindle is designed to retain coreless tissue rolls and is rotatably held within the housing. The invention features a locking mechanism incorporated into each spindle, comprising a pivotable locking spoke. This spoke, when in a locking position, aligns with the spindle and interferes with the housing to prevent carousel rotation until the tissue roll is fully depleted. Upon depletion, the spoke automatically moves to a nonlocking position, allowing carousel rotation for roll replacement. The dispenser further includes a bracket at the outlet to prevent premature roll removal, reducing wastage. The design ensures efficient tissue dispensing while enhancing vandal resistance and reducing maintenance efforts.

Claims

1. A tissue dispenser comprising, a housing; a carousel comprising a plurality of spindles, the spindles configured to retain respective coreless tissue rolls and wherein the carousel is rotatably retained within the housing for positioning each of the rolls at an outlet of the housing in turn for dispensing tissue via the outlet, wherein each spindle comprises a locking spoke pivotable with respect to the spindle between locking and nonlocking positions, wherein: in the locking position, the spoke is held in alignment with the spindle by a surrounding roll and wherein a distal end thereof aligns to interfere with the housing to prevent rotation of the carousel; and in the nonlocking position the spoke moves out of alignment with the spindle once the surrounding roll is depleted and wherein the distal end thereof moves out of alignment so as to not interfere with the housing to allow rotation of the carousel.

2. The dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outlet is at a bottom of the housing and wherein the spoke is freely pivotable with respect to the spindle so that the spoke falls by gravity to the nonlocking position when at the bottom outlet.

3. The dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spindle comprises a free end and a fixed end and wherein the spoke is pivotally coupled to the spindle towards the free end.

4. The dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distal end protrudes beyond a backplate of the carousel to interfere with the housing.

5. The dispenser as claimed in claim 4, wherein the housing defines a stopping face perpendicular to a rotational plane of the carousel.

6. The dispenser as claimed in claim 5, wherein the stopping face is directly beneath a rotary axis if the carousel.

7. The dispenser as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a one-way rotation mechanism interfacing the carousel and the housing.

8. The dispenser as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a bracket at the outlet of the housing defining a stopper plate segmenting a cross section of carousel at the outlet to prevent a roll from being pulled off a respective spindle when the spindle is at the outlet of the housing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of the present invention, preferred embodiments of the disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0016] FIG. 1 shows a top perspective exploded representation of a tissue dispenser in accordance with an embodiment;

[0017] FIG. 2 shows a front cross-section of a sensor arrangement of the dispenser in accordance with an embodiment

[0018] FIG. 3 shows a side cross-section illustrating a spindle of the dispenser having a spoke in a locking position;

[0019] FIG. 4 shows a side cross-section illustrating the spoke of FIG. 3 and a nonlocking position;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

[0020] FIG. 1 shows a tissue dispenser 100. The dispenser 100 comprises a housing 101. The housing 100 may be formed by a front shell 101A which connects to a rear shell 101B, thereby defining an interior. A locking mechanism 106 may lock the shells 101A and 101B together for access only by authorised maintenance personnel.

[0021] The interior of the housing 101 contains a carousel 102. The carousel 102 comprises a plurality of spindles 103. The embodiment shown in the illustration comprises five spindles 103 although this number may vary.

[0022] The spindles 103 are configured to retain respective coreless tissue rolls 104 thereon. Coreless means that the tissue rolls 104 do not have a cardboard core and comprise a roll of a length of tissue paper only. As such, once the roll 104 is fully depleted, the length of tissue paper is completely pulled from the respective spindle 103, thereby leaving the spindle 103 free.

[0023] The carousel 101 is rotatably retained within the housing 101 for positioning each of the rolls 104 at an outlet 105 of the housing 101 in turn for dispensing tissue therefrom from the outlet 105. In the preferred embodiment shown, the outlet 105 is located at the bottom of the housing 101.

[0024] The dispenser 100 may comprise a coaxial handle plate 109 connected to the carousel 102 via an outlet 110 through the front shell 101 to allow a user to turn the carousel 102 by turning the handle plate 109.

[0025] As is evident from FIG. 2, the carousel 102 may stop at a plurality of rotary positions so that a one of the rolls 104 is positioned at the outlet 105 for dispensing.

[0026] With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, each spindle 103 comprises a locking spoke 107 pivotable with respect to the spindle 103 between a locking position shown in FIG. 3 and a nonlocking position shown in FIG. 4.

[0027] In the locking position shown in FIG. 3, the spoke 107 is held in alignment with the spindle 103 by a surrounding roll 104. In this position, a distal end 108 aligns to interfere with the housing 101 to prevent rotation of the carousel 102. As such, the user would not be able to turn the carousel 102 using the handle plate 109.

[0028] However, in the nonlocking position shown in FIG. 4, the roll 104 is depleted so that the tissue thereof is fully pulled from the spindle 103. As such, the spoke 107 moves out of alignment with the spindle 103 thereby causing to the distal end 108 to move out of alignment so as to not interfere with the housing 101, to allow rotation of the carousel 102. As such, once a roll 104 is depleted, the user can rotate the carousel 102 via the handle plate 109 to move the next full roll 104 to the outlet 105 for dispensing.

[0029] In a preferred embodiment where the outlet 105 is at a bottom of the housing 101, the spoke 107 is freely pivotable with respect to the spindle 103 at a pivot point 111 so that the spoke 107 falls by gravity to the nonlocking position shown in FIG. 4 when the spindle 103 is at the bottom outlet 105.

[0030] The spindle 103 may have a distal free end 112 and the proximal fixed end 113 connected to a backing plate 114 of the carousel 102. The spoke 107 may be pivotally coupled to the spindle 103 towards the free end 112 thereof. As such, as is illustrated in FIG. 4, the spoke 107 is angled so that when a new roll 104 is pushed onto the free end 112 the spindle 103, the cylindrical centre of the roll 104 easily deflects the spoke 107 to the locking position.

[0031] The distal end 107 of the spoke 107 may protrude beyond the backplate 114 of the carousel to interfere with the housing 101. The housing 101 may define a stopping face 115 perpendicular to a rotational plane 116 of the carousel 102. The stopping face 115 may be directly beneath a rotational axis 117 of the carousel 102.

[0032] The dispenser 100 may comprise a one-way rotation mechanism interfacing the carousel 102 and the housing 101. With reference to FIG. 1, the one-way rotation mechanism may comprise the carousel 102 comprising circularly orientated deflecting tabs 118 which interfere with notches 119 of a circular track 120 of the rear shell 101B there behind. Each notch 119 has an angled face and an orthogonal face to thereby allow the deflecting tabs 118 to only travel in one direction around the track 120. The notches 119 may be located so that the carousel 102 stops at the afore described rotary stop positions.

[0033] The stopping face 115 may be operably orientated orientation to the operation of the one-way rotation mechanism so that the spoke 107 prevents the carousel from being rotated in one direction whilst a non-depleted roll 104 remains at the outlet of the housing 101 whilst the one-way mechanism prevents the carousel 102 being rotated in an opposite direction.

[0034] The dispenser 100 may comprise a bracket 121 at the bottom of the housing 101 defining a plate 122 segmenting a bottom cross-section of the carousel 102 to thereby prevent a roll 104 being pulled off a respective spindle 103 when at the bottom of the housing 101. To replenish the dispenser 100, new rolls 104 would be inserted over spindles 103 away from the bracket 102 and rotated behind the stopper plate 122.

[0035] The bracket 121 may segment only a portion of the carousel 102 at the opening 105 so that a maintenance person can replenish the dispenser 100 by opening the front shell 101A and inserting new rolls 104 over the spindles 103 exposed above the stopping plate 122. As such, the maintenance person need not rotate the carousel 102 to replenish the carousel 102.

[0036] The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specific details are not required in order to practise the invention. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention are presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed as obviously many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the following claims and their equivalents define the scope of the invention.