US 11,109,724 B2 · Systems, methods, and apparatus for dispensing sheets of material

Abstract

A sheet dispensing apparatus to dispense sheets from a sheet material card having a plurality of sheets. The sheet dispensing apparatus includes a door, a door plate, a back plate, and a motor including a motor shaft, wherein the motor is operatively connected to the door plate, and a motor wheel is operatively connected to the motor shaft. The motor wheel is driven by the motor shaft to detach a sheet from the sheet material card. The apparatus further includes a first light pipe having a first end and a second end, wherein a signal transmitted at the first end of the first light pipe is received at the second end if the correct sheet material card is being used. A second light pipe receives a signal at the first end and receives the signal at the second end, if the sheet material card is not present or out of sheets.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A sheet dispensing apparatus for dispensing one or more sheets from a plurality of sheets, the apparatus comprising:

a light pipe;
a first transmitter to transmit light, the first transmitter spaced from a first end of the light pipe, the first transmitter adapted to transmit light through the first end of the light pipe;
a first receiver to receive light, the first receiver spaced from a second end of the light pipe to receive light transmitted by the first transmitter through the light pipe;
a dispensing mechanism configured to dispense one or more sheets from the plurality of sheets;
and
a controller operatively connected to the dispensing mechanism and to the first receiver, the controller including a processor and a memory configured to store program instructions and the processor is configured to execute the stored program instructions to:
determine whether the transmitted light is received or not received by the first receiver;
and
if received, enable the dispensing mechanism to dispense a sheet from the plurality of sheets.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Systems, methods, and apparatus for dispensing sheets of material

Life of this patent

Systems, methods, and apparatus for dispensing sheets of material

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20