Dispenser for multiple rolls of sheet material

In a dispensing cabinet having a housing which includes upper and lower portions and houses means for sequentially dispensing wound sheet material from a primary roll and a reserve roll including a drive roller and a pressure roller rotatably supported to form a nip through which the sheet material passes, means rotatably supporting the primary roll with the sheet material therefrom extending through the nip, means supporting the reserve roll with a leading end portion of the sheet material therefrom extending adjacent the nip and overlying the sheet material from the primary roll, means for rotating said drive roll to dispense the sheet material from the cabinet and a transfer assembly for permitting said sheet material from the primary roll to be fed into the nip and for subsequently causing the sheet material from the reserve roll to be fed between the nip when at least substantially all the sheet material has been dispensed from the primary roll, the improvement comprising

• said pressure roller including a pair of axially spaced, circumferentially extending recesses;
• said transfer assembly comprising a one-piece transfer unit including
• a transfer arm having opposite ends and extending transversely generally parallel to the rotational axes of said drive and pressure rollers,
• a pair of axially spaced transfer fingers extending downwardly from said transfer arm which are registrable with the recesses in said pressure roller and under which a leading end portion of the sheet material from the reserve roll is disposed,
• a sensing arm having opposite ends and extending transversely and generally parallel to the rotational axis of the primary roll, said sensing arm having a sensing surface facing upwardly relative to the upper portion of the cabinet housing and over which the sheet material being unrolled from the primary roll rides, and
• a web section interconnecting each end of said transfer and sensing arms;
• means supporting said transfer unit for pivotal movement between a non-transfer position wherein said transfer fingers are spaced away from the nip and a transfer position where said fingers are disposed to push the sheet material from the reserve roll into the nip and, in response to subsequent rotation of said drive roller, causes the sheet material from the second roll to be fed through the nip;
• and
• spring means for applying a biasing force on and urging said transfer unit toward the transfer position whereby sheet material from the primary roll riding over the sensing surface of said sensing arm and cooperating with a pulling force applied on such sheet material by said drive roller applies a downward force on said sensing arm to overcome the biasing force of said spring means and holds said transfer arm in a non-transfer position and whereby, in response to the tail portion of the sheet material being detached from the primary roll, said spring means moves said transfer unit to the transfer position.