US 10,588,469 B2Granted

Sheet product dispenser

AssigneeGPCP IP Holdings LLC

InventorsBrian Scott Borke, Jacob Charles Dahl, David Warren Murphy, Ryan Joseph Schuh, Kevin Michael Swanson

Life of this patent

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Abstract

Some example product dispensers that accommodate two full paper towel rolls are provided herein. The product dispenser may employ separate dispensing mechanisms for each product roll and may include roll holders that articulate out from the housing to facilitate easy loading and access to replacement and loading of the other product roll. A roll partition may be utilized to separate the web paths of the two product rolls and enable rotation of front roll holders. Example funnel covers and nip covers can aid with intuitive installation. Example roll holders with retention mechanisms help prevent unintentional dropping of the installed product roll. Other beneficial features include utilizing motor operation sensing to dispense a desired sheet length, automatic/assisted loading into the dispensing mechanism, automatic switching between dispensing of product rolls, and always dispensing from the smaller product roll first. Many other features/structures of example product dispensers are also described herein.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A sheet product dispenser comprising:

a housing including a base portion and a cover, wherein the cover is movable relative to the base portion to define an open position and a closed position;
a first roll holder configured to support a first product roll;
a second roll holder configured to support a second product roll;
a first dispensing mechanism configured to receive sheet product of the first product roll and dispense a portion of the sheet product of the first product roll;
a second dispensing mechanism configured to receive sheet product of the second product roll and dispense a portion of the sheet product of the second product roll;
a first product level sensor configured to sense a characteristic of the first product roll corresponding to an amount of product remaining on the first product roll;
a second product level sensor configured to sense a characteristic of the second product roll corresponding to an amount of product remaining on the second product roll;
and
a controller, wherein the controller is configured to:
determine, based on sensor data from the first product level sensor, the amount of product remaining on the first product roll;
determine, based on sensor data from the second product level sensor, the amount of product remaining on the second product roll;
determine, based on the determined amount of product remaining on the first product roll and the determined amount of product remaining on the second product roll, which of the first product roll or second product roll has less product remaining;
and
operate, in an instance in which the first product roll has less product remaining than the second product roll, the first dispensing mechanism to dispense the portion of the sheet product of the first product roll or operate, in an instance in which the second product roll has less product remaining than the first product roll, the second dispensing mechanism to dispense the portion of the sheet product of the second product roll.

11 more elements

A method comprising:

providing a sheet product dispenser, wherein the sheet product dispenser comprises:
a housing including a base portion and a cover, wherein the cover is movable relative to the base portion to define an open position and a closed position;
a first roll holder configured to support a first product roll;
a second roll holder configured to support a second product roll;
a first dispensing mechanism configured to receive sheet product of the first product roll and dispense a portion of the sheet product of the first product roll;
a second dispensing mechanism configured to receive sheet product of the second product roll and dispense a portion of the sheet product of the second product roll;
a first product level sensor configured to sense a characteristic of the first product roll corresponding to an amount of product remaining on the first product roll;
a second product level sensor configured to sense a characteristic of the second product roll corresponding to an amount of product remaining on the second product roll;
and
a controller;
determining, based on sensor data from the first product level sensor, the amount of product remaining on the first product roll;
determining, based on sensor data from the second product level sensor, the amount of product remaining on the second product roll;
determining, based on the determined amount of product remaining on the first product roll and the determined amount of product remaining on the second product roll, which of the first product roll or second product roll has less product remaining;
and
operating, in an instance in which the first product roll has less product remaining than the second product roll, the first dispensing mechanism to dispense the portion of the sheet product of the first product roll or operate, in an instance in which the second product roll has less product remaining than the first product roll, the second dispensing mechanism to dispense the portion of the sheet product of the second product roll.

12 more elements

A sheet product dispenser comprising:

a housing including a base portion and a cover, wherein the cover is movable relative to the base portion to define an open position and a closed position;
a first roll holder configured to support a first product roll;
a second roll holder configured to support a second product roll;
a first dispensing mechanism configured to receive sheet product of the first product roll and dispense a portion of the sheet product of the first product roll;
a second dispensing mechanism configured to receive sheet product of the second product roll and dispense a portion of the sheet product of the second product roll;
one or more product level sensors configured to sense at least one of a characteristic of the first product roll or a characteristic of the second product roll, wherein the characteristic of the first product roll corresponds to an amount of product remaining on the first product roll, wherein the characteristic of the second product roll corresponds to an amount of product remaining on the second product roll;
and
a controller, wherein the controller is configured to:
determine, based at least on sensor data from the one or more product level sensors, the amount of product remaining on the first product roll and the amount of product remaining on the second product roll;
determine, based on the determined amount of product remaining on the first product roll and the determined amount of product remaining on the second product roll, which of the first product roll or second product roll has less product remaining;
and
operate, in an instance in which the first product roll has less product remaining than the second product roll, the first dispensing mechanism to dispense the portion of the sheet product of the first product roll or operate, in an instance in which the second product roll has less product remaining than the first product roll, the second dispensing mechanism to dispense the portion of the sheet product of the second product roll.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/481,113Filed 6 Apr 2017 · continuation
Priority: 11 Apr 2016
Published: US 2017/0290471 A112 Oct 2017
Granted: 17 Mar 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

A47K 10/3687
With mechanical dispensing, roll switching or cutting devices: with one or more reserve rolls
A47K 10/36
Dispensing from a web, e.g. with mechanical dispensing means: with mechanical dispensing, roll switching or cutting devices
A47K 10/3612
The cutting devices being motor driven: with drive and pinch rollers
A47K 10/3625
The cutting devices being motor driven: with electronic control means

Family

Application62/320,829Us provisional application · filed 11 Apr 2016
Application62/453,829Us provisional application · filed 2 Feb 2017
Application15/479,656Parent of this continuation · filed 5 Apr 2017
US 2017/0290473 A1Pre-grant publication · published 12 Oct 2017
US 11,395,566 B2Related patent
US 2017/0290471 A1Published application
US 10,588,469 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.