JPH0514576B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a towel dispensing machine, and more particularly to a cassette-type towel dispensing machine in which towels can be attached/detached, transported, and stored in a cassette. It is.

[Conventional technology] Conventionally, towels are pulled out in a lube shape,
You wipe your hands with the front part of this loop-shaped towel, and after use, you pull out the unused part of the towel to a predetermined length and roll up the used part, keeping the loop at all times. The gift is known.

In such a towel dispensing machine, a supply roller around which unused towels are wound and a take-up roller around which used towels are wound are arranged above and below, and a roller that can freely rotate and move up and down between them is arranged vertically. A pair of upper and lower drive rollers are arranged in an interlocking relationship, with the upper drive roller being in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the unused towel, and the lower drive roller being disposed in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the used towel. There is.

Therefore, when an unused towel is pulled out, the take-up roller is rotated via the pair of upper and lower drive rollers in an interlocking relationship, and the used towel can be wound up.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the straight line connecting the axes of the supply roller and the take-up roller and the straight line connecting the axes of the pair of upper and lower drive rollers are on the same axis.

Therefore, when an unused towel that has been pulled out in a loop is pulled downward, the downward load applied to the unused towel acts perpendicularly toward the axis of the drive roller located on the upper side.

When this phenomenon occurs, the load applied vertically downward is greater than the rotating force of the unused towel, so the rolled unused towel cannot be rotated, the drive roller cannot rotate, and the unused towel cannot be rotated. You will not be able to extend your legs.

Furthermore, in the past, the user had to manually attach an unused towel and remove a used towel, which caused problems in that attaching and detaching was troublesome and unhygienic.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, the unused towel wound around the supply roller and the winding roller around which the tip of the unused towel is wound are arranged in advance. A rolled-up cassette is provided, and the towel is attached to and removed from the main body via this cassette.

[Function] By adopting the above-described structure, the towel can be supplied to the user with the towel already attached to the cassette, the user can attach and detach the towel via the cassette, and can directly touch the towel. You can put on and take off the towel without touching it.

[Example] The details of the present invention will be described below based on the example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 and subsequent figures illustrate one embodiment of the present invention. The towel dispensing machine according to the present invention is composed of a main body 1, a cassette 2, and drive rollers 3, 4.

The main body 1 includes a top plate 5, a back plate 6, and left and right side plates 7,
It consists of 7.

A protruding piece 8 is horizontally protruded on the inside of the left and right side plates 7, 7 and at a position closer to the top plate 5 side.

Further, a support frame 9 is protruded from inside the lower end portions of the side plates 7, 7 with its upper surface being horizontal. Further, a notch 10 is formed in the middle of the front edge of the side plates 7, 7, respectively.

A lock lever 11 is fixed to the inner surface of the side plates 7, 7 in correspondence with the notch 10. The lock lever 11 is connected to the side plate 7 by screws 12 at its base end.
The free end side faces the notch 10.

A protrusion 13 having a right triangular cross section is provided on the inner surface of the lock lever 11 on the free end side. The protrusion 13 has a slope on the front side and an upright wall on the inside.

This lock lever 11 is elastic, and the notch 1
It can be elastically deformed toward 0.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, recesses 14 are formed on the upper and lower inner sides of the back plate 6, one each on the left and right, and a spring 15 is provided with its base end fixed in the recess 14. installed.

In the free state, this spring 15 projects outward a predetermined distance.

On the other hand, a long hole 16 is formed vertically in the side plates 7, 7 at a position closer to the back plate 6, and drive rollers 3, 4 are rotatably and slidably inserted into this long hole 16. installed.

The structure of the drive rollers 3 and 4 is shown in FIG.

The drive rollers 3 and 4 are formed in the same straight line and have the same length, and a belt-shaped sandpaper 1 is provided on the circumferential surface of the drive rollers 3 and 4.
7 is wound spirally.

The drive rollers 3, 4 have shafts 18,
19, 20, and 21.

One shaft 18, 20 of the drive rollers 3, 4 is rotatably supported on a support plate 22, and the shafts 19, 21 are rotatably supported on the other support plate 22.

The support plate 22 has a width corresponding to the elongated hole 1 on its inner peripheral surface.
6, and the shafts 18 to 21 are rotatably supported at the upper and lower ends of this protrusion 23.

Further, the protrusion 23 is fitted into the elongated hole 26 so as to be able to move up and down.

Furthermore, gears 24 and 25 are fixed to the shafts 18 and 20 on the outside of the support plate 22 via lock pins 26.

Further, the other shafts 19 and 21 are prevented from coming off by screws 27 on the outside of the support plate 22.

Although the driving rollers 3 and 4 are spaced apart by a certain distance, the gears 24 and 25 are in mesh with each other.

On the other hand, the cassette 2 has left and right side plates 28, 28, as shown in FIG. A support frame 30 is provided at the lower ends of the side plates 28, 28 in parallel with the support frame 29 and protrudes toward the main body 1 side with the same amount of protrusion.

Further, the lower support frame 30 is provided with a bottom plate 31, and a gap 32 is formed over the entire length of the support frame 30 between the bottom plate 31 and the tip side of the support frame 30.

Furthermore, a protruding piece 33 is provided on the upper end of the side plates 28, 28 in a horizontal state and protrudes outward, and the side plates 28, 28, including the corners of this protruding piece 33, are provided with a long protruding piece 33 in a perpendicular state. A hole 34 is formed.

In addition, side plates 28 and 28 are provided opposite to this elongated hole 34.
A notch 35 is formed on the same straight line including the upper surface of the proximal end of the lower support frame 30 .

Furthermore, a notch 6 having the same shape as the notch 10 is provided in the middle of the front edge of the side plates 28, 28 at a position facing the lock lever 11 of the main body 1.
are formed, and a guide bar 37 is horizontally suspended between the side plates 28, 28 above these notches 36.

On the other hand, the one indicated by numeral 38 is an unused towel.
It is wound around a supply roller 39 in advance, and shafts 39a at both ends of the supply roller 39 are fitted into the elongated hole 34 and are rotatably supported at the lower ends thereof.

On the other hand, what is indicated by the reference numeral 40 is a winding roller;
A shaft 40a protruding from both ends thereof is fitted into a notch 35 formed on the side of the support frame 30, and is rotatably supported at its lower end.

Then, the lower end of the unused towel 38 is pulled out, passes outside the guide bar 37, draws a loop length L of a predetermined length, and extends from the outside of the bottom plate 31 to the gap 32.
It is wound inside from the lower side and wound around the winding roller 40 from the front side a plurality of times.

The width of the bottom plate 31 determines the loop width l of the towel.

The gears 24 and 25 are formed to have the same number of teeth so that the drive rollers 3 and 4 rotate at the same speed, but the number of teeth varies depending on the diameter of the unused towel, the diameter of the take-up roller, etc. The loop length L is determined so that the loop length L always maintains a predetermined length.

On the other hand, the reference numeral 41 indicates a towel fixing device, which is formed as a bent band of a predetermined width from elastic metal, synthetic resin, or the like.

A circular arc-shaped part 42 having a large diameter of about 1/4 circle is formed at the upper end of the fixture 41, and a circular arc-shaped part 42 having a large diameter of about 1/4 circle is formed at the lower end, and a 1/4 circle is formed at the tip of a bent part 43 extending in the horizontal direction.
A circular arc-shaped portion 44 having a small diameter is formed.

The large and small arcuate portions 42 and 44 are formed so as to face in the same direction, and in the illustrated example, to be convex upward.

The large arc-shaped portion 42 has approximately the same curvature as a fresh towel, and the small arc-shaped portion 44 has approximately the same curvature as the take-up roller 40.

In addition, there are upper and lower parts inside the fixture 41.
A pair of symmetrical arc-shaped projections 45, 45 are formed toward the inside.

A guide bar 37 is held between these projecting pieces 45, 45.

Further, the upper end of the fixture 41 is provided with an L toward the top.
A projecting piece 46 that is bent and extends in a letter shape is provided in a protruding manner.

This protruding piece 46 extends further upward from the upper end of the cassette 2, and has a protruding amount sufficient to securely contact the front edge of the top plate 5 of the main body 1.

Next, a method of using this embodiment configured as described above will be explained.

First, an unused towel 38 is attached to the cassette 2.

Since the unused towel 38 is already wrapped around the supply roller 39, the shafts 39a at both ends of the supply roller 39 are fitted into the elongated holes 34.

Next, the tip of the unused towel is pulled out, passed through the outside of the guide bar 37, the front side of the bottom plate 31, the bottom of the bottom plate, and the gap 32, and then passed through the take-up roller rotatably supported in the notch 35. Wrap around 40 several times.

At this time, the unused towel pulled out is made to form the optimum loop length L.

Next, the fixture 41 is attached, but at this time, first press the large arc-shaped part 42 onto the upper side of the unused towel 38 located above, and then press the small arc-shaped part 4
4 together with the towel onto the winding roller 40, and the guide bar 37 is fitted together with the towel between the projecting pieces 45, 45.

When the fixture 41 is attached in this way, the fixture 41 is attached to the guide bar 3 by the projecting pieces 45, 45.
7 to the cassette 2 side, and the large and small arcuate portions 42 and 44 are elastically pressed against the unused towel 38 and the take-up roller 40, and the unused towel 38 and the take-up roller 40 are held in the cassette. Fasten to the side.

In this manner, the cassette 2 with the unused towel attached is packaged in a plastic film bag or shrink-packed and delivered to the user.

The user unpacks the package and attaches the cassette 2 to the main body 1 of the dispensing machine fixed to the wall.

At this time, the cassette 2 is placed opposite the main body with the support frames 29 and 30 facing the main body, and the protrusion 33
on the upper side of the protruding piece 8, and the lower surface of the support frame 30 on the support frame 9.
Press fit into the main body 1 so that it is positioned above the main body 1.

Then, the protrusion 13 of the lock lever 11 is pressed against the outside of the side plates 28, 28, and the lock lever 11 is elastically deformed outward.

Then, when the protrusion 13 eventually gets over the side plate 28, it fits into the notch 36, and the cassette 2 is locked.

At this time, the spring 15 provided on the back plate 6 is elastically deformed and compressed.

Unused towels can be attached together with the cassette in one operation as described above.

When the cassette 2 is installed, the protrusion 46 of the fixture 41 hits the front edge of the top plate 5 of the main body 1,
The unused towel 38, the winding roller 40, and the guide bar 30 are removed from between the large and small arc-shaped parts 42, 44 and the projections 45, 45, and the fixture 41 is automatically removed.

In this state, the user wipes his hands using the front side of the looped unused towel, and after use, pulls the front side of the looped towel downward.

At this time, a downward load is applied to the unused towel, but the axis of the unused towel and the driving rollers 3 and 4
Since the axis of the drive roller 3 is offset from the axis of the drive roller 3, no load is applied perpendicular to the axis of the drive roller 3, and the load at the time of pulling out functions as a rotational moment of the unused towel 38, so that the towel can be pulled out reliably.

At the time of pulling out this towel, there are 38 unused towels.
is in contact with the drive roller 3, the drive roller 3 is rotated, the drive roller 4 is rotated via the gears 24 and 25, the winding roller 40 in contact with this is rotated, and the used towel is wound up. .

When the amount of used towels to be wound increases, the diameter of the used towels wound around the winding roller 40 increases, and the drive rollers 3 and 4 are pushed up through the elongated hole 16, but the drive roller 3 is always unrolled. It is in contact with the used towel 38.

Therefore, an amount of used towel corresponding to the amount pulled out is wound up, and the loop length L is always kept approximately constant.

Use continues in this manner, and when all the unused towels are used up, the cassette 2 is removed and replaced with a new one.

In this case, push the front ends of the lock levers 11, 11 outward with your fingertips to remove the protrusion 13 from the edge of the notch 36 of the cassette 2.

Then, the spring 15 provided on the back plate 6 of the main body 1 extends and pushes the edges of the support frames 29, 30, so that the cassette 2 is pushed forward a predetermined distance.

After being pushed out a predetermined distance, the side plate 28 of the cassette
28, pull it out from the main body 1, and replace it with a new cassette 2 as described above.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but includes within its scope various modifications, design changes, etc. without departing from the technical idea of the present invention.

[Effects] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the towel is attached in advance to a cassette that can be attached to and detached from the main body, so all operations for attaching and detaching the towel to the main body are performed only through the cassette. This eliminates the need to touch the towel directly, making it extremely hygienic.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure explains one embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is an exploded perspective view, Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the drive roller, Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cassette, Figure 4 is a longitudinal side view of the cassette, and Figures 5 and 6 are the state in which the cassette is installed. FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Main body, 2...Cassette, 3, 4...Drive roller, 6...Back plate, 7...Side plate, 8...Protrusion piece, 9...Support frame, 11...Lock lever, 13
... Protrusion, 14, 34 ... Long hole, 24, 25 ...
Gear, 28... Side plate, 29, 30... Support frame, 3
1...Bottom plate, 33...Protrusion piece, 35...Notch part, 3
7... Guide bar, 38... Unused towel, 39
... Supply roller, 40 ... Take-up roller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A casing-like main body that is open at the front side and the lower side and is fixed to a wall surface, a cassette that can be attached to and removed from the main body, and vertical parts formed on the left and right side plates of the main body. The upper and lower parts 1 are installed in a long hole so that they can be raised and lowered freely.
The cassette has an unused towel pre-wound around a supply roller, and a take-up roller around which the tip of the unused towel is wound, respectively contacting the upper and lower sets of driving rollers. A cassette-type towel dispensing machine characterized by being pre-installed. 2. The main body 1 has horizontal protrusions and support frames that support the upper and lower ends of the cassette on the upper and lower inner surfaces of the left and right side plates, and the cassette is mounted on the inner side of the front end of the left and right side plates. 2. The cassette type towel dispensing machine according to claim 1, further comprising a lock lever for holding the cassette in the attached state, and a spring for pushing out the cassette on the back plate side of the main body. 3 At the top of the cassette, a vertical slot is formed into which a supply roller wrapped with unused towels is rotatably fitted, and at the base of the cassette, both ends of the take-up roller are located on the same axis as this slot. A rotatably supported notch is formed, and a straight line passing through the long hole and the notch is located on the front side of an axis passing through the long hole into which the driving roller is fitted. The cassette type towel dispensing machine according to item 2.