Electric paper cabinet

Abstract

An apparatus for dispensing paper towels of predetermined length includes a housing, a supply roll of a continuous paper web, means for advancing the paper web outside the case, means for at least partially cutting the paper web protruding from the case, and a motor for driving both such means. The motor is an electric d.c. motor which is rotated in a first direction until a paper web of predetermined length is advanced outside the case. The rotation is then reversed so that the paper advancement is stopped and the paper web is out. A first unidirectional coupling means is arranged between the motor and the advancing means and a second unidirectional coupling means is arranged between the motor and the cutting means to selectively actuate either of the advancing or cutting means according to the rotational direction of the motor. The length of the dispensed towel is an integer multiple of an elementary length and the number of elementary lengths by which the paper web is advanced before being but is selected by properly setting a number of switches.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.